(2012). Seeking the "Truth" in the Stories We Tell: The Role of Critical Race Epistemology in Higher Education Research. Review of Higher Education, v36 n1 suppl p31-67 Fall. This article focuses on how critical race theory informed the author's epistemological perspective and methodological approach as she analyzed Mexican American educational narratives and formulated her identity as a scholar. Using a storytelling technique employed in CRT, the author weaves together her position as the translator of participants' stories with her conceptualization of the formation, reproduction, and resistance of master narratives. She then illustrates the process of uncovering master narratives and counter-narratives in two Mexican American Ph.D. participants' life narratives in an effort to present multiple truths about educational attainment. The article concludes with considerations for researchers wishing to employ critical race epistemology. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)… [Direct]
(2012). Critical Literacy: Foundational Notes. Theory Into Practice, v51 n1 p4-11. The term "critical literacy" refers to use of the technologies of print and other media of communication to analyze, critique, and transform the norms, rule systems, and practices governing the social fields of everyday life (A. Luke, 2004). Since Freire's (1970) educational projects in Brazil, approaches to critical literacy have been developed through feminist, postcolonial, poststructuralist, and critical race theory; critical linguistics and cultural studies; and, indeed, rhetorical and cognitive models. This article traces the lineage of critical literacy from Freire through critical pedagogies and discourse analysis. It discusses the need for a contingent definition of critical literacy, given the increasingly sophisticated nature of texts and discourses…. [Direct]
(2024). Teaching Minoritised Children in South Korea: Perspectives of Teachers in Early Childhood Education and Care. Educational Review, v76 n5 p1158-1179. Most policies and teaching practices in early childhood education and care (ECEC) are based on the developmental paths of children from mainstream middle-class, White, European, heterosexual households. The common discourse often summed up as universalism significantly minoritizes children deviating from this "norm" and pathologizes their differences. Efforts toward bringing about changes in the ECEC field can start by examining individual ECEC teachers' views on and teaching practices for minoritised children in various contexts. Set in South Korea, which has recently been populated by a relatively small yet exponentially growing minoritised population, this qualitative study examines ECEC educators' approaches to teaching ethnolinguistically minoritised children. We interviewed nine ECEC teachers who have taught a small number of minoritised children throughout their careers. We found that the ECEC teachers valued sameness and harmony over difference and emphasised good… [Direct]
(2017). Los Guerreros Acad√©micos: 30 Academically Invulnerable Mexican-American Students Who Forged Their Way into America's Most Selective Universities. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of California, San Diego. "Undermatching" refers to college ready students who select and enroll in colleges with selectivity levels significantly lower than their academic profile, resulting in attending a non-competitive college, a two-year college, or foregoing applying to college altogether. The current research trend examining the topic of Undermatching focuses on studies of low-income students in aggregate, ignoring the fastest growing racial/ethnic student demographic: "Latinxs." Latinx students, as a subgroup, undermatch at the highest rate compared to all subgroups within the demographic of low-income, first generation students. While the majority of high-performing, low-income, Latinx students Undermatch, there is a small percentage of students from this demographic who avert undermatching and in fact properly match to selective colleges. This phenomenological study explored the behaviors, practices, and experiences, of 30 Mexican-American college sophomores (15 females and 15… [Direct]
(2017). Transfer Student Success: Latinx Students Overcoming Challenges at Two- and Four-Year Institutions towards Baccalaureate Degree Attainment. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Loyola University Chicago. As the largest post-secondary educational system, community colleges enroll nearly 35% of all college students (American Association for Community Colleges, 2014). However, the vast majority of students attending two-year institutions aspiring to vertically transfer (from community college to four-year institution), fall short of their academic goals and do not obtain a baccalaureate degree (Student Success Score Card, 2013). To this end, the extant literature has illustrated students of color, especially Latinx and African American students, transfer and graduate at disproportionately lower rates than their white counterparts. Qualitative researchers have explored this phenomenon; yet, often fall short of highlighting the specific experiences of students of color. Moreover, these studies regularly focus on the barriers or influencers that inhibit persistence, rather than exploring the narratives of students of color that successfully navigated the institutional systems. That said,… [Direct]
(2017). Walking on Egg Shells: Colorblind Ideology and Race Talk in Teacher Education. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Washington. Background/Context: Teacher education students in the U.S., regardless of their personal beliefs, knowledge, and levels of awareness, are racially positioned to participate in an education system and society embedded in colorblind ideology. More research is needed that describes the ways in which colorblind ideology informs how teacher education students understand and talk about race, racism, and education. This study addresses this knowledge gap by focusing on the dispositional and discursive narratives of individual teacher education students and their relationship to larger ideological, institutional, and structural contexts. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how teacher education students understand and talk about race, racism, and education in the context of colorblind ideology. This study narrows the research lens to focus deeply on the vantage points of teacher education students, their life histories and experiences, and how they think and talk about race,… [Direct]
(2017). Investigating Disproportionality through the Experiences of Formerly Incarcerated People of Color with Special Needs. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, California State University, East Bay. Since the United States' inception, the foundation of the country has been built upon inequities. From unfair assessment practices to ability tracking and arbitrary discipline, the African American/Latino K-12 educational experience has been exclusionary, subsequently paralleling the disproportionality for people of color incarcerated within the justice system. The disproportionality observed in special education programs and the prison system creates what some have called "second generation segregation" (Alexander, 2010; Ahram, Fergus, and Noguera, 2011; Ferri and Connor, 2005). While an emerging body of literature shows that persons of color who have disabilities and records of disciplinary infractions are more likely to be incarcerated (Peguero and Shekarkhar, 2011; Noguera, 2003; Ladson-Billings, 2004; and Ahram, Fergus and Noguera, 2011), this literature does not highlight the factors that set these students on the school-to-prison pipeline. Using Structural Inequity,… [Direct]
(2017). Interruption of Community: A Chronicle of the Journey from Segregation to Dis-Integration. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Neumann University. Traditional research often excludes the voices of marginalized populations such as African Americans, who are usually written about instead of being allowed to tell their own stories (King, 2005). This research gives African Americans the opportunity to "tell their stories" of segregation and integration. Leaving the telling of our stories to others may have already had severe consequences, such as the perpetuation of stereotypes of African Americans, their communities and their academic abilities (Brown, 2009). This research hopes to shine a different light on the cohesiveness of the Black community and the Black academic experiences these participants had during the 1950s-1970s. There were 20 participants identified from yearbooks, social media and snowball sampling; from the 20, nine were selected to be interviewed. All participants were African American, male or female, and were selected based on other criteria such as age and where they attended school between the… [Direct]
(2014). "Our Common World" Belongs to "Us": Constructions of Otherness in Education for Sustainable Development. Critical Studies in Education, v55 n3 p369-386. The aim of this article is to analyse how good intentions in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) discursively construct and maintain differences between "Us" and "Them". The empirical material consists of textbooks about sustainable development used in Swedish schools. An analysis of how "Us" and "Them" are constructed and maintained is done with help from critical race theory, whiteness studies and Popkewitz' notion of double gestures, exclusion through intentions of inclusion. The analysis departs from five dichotomies: tradition/civilisation, dirtiness/purity, chaos/order, ignorance/morality and helped/helping. We consider these dichotomies as cogwheels operating in an "Otherness machinery". Through this machinery, "We" are constructed as knowing, altruistic, conscious and good. The Other is simultaneously constructed as "uncivilised" or as a "bad" Other in need of higher moral standards. With… [Direct]
(2014). Racialised Norms in Apprenticeship Systems in England and Germany. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, v66 n3 p330-347. In this paper, we consider the issue of the under-representation of young people from minority ethnic/migrant backgrounds in apprenticeships in England and Germany. Whilst there are many studies on apprenticeships in England and Germany, few focus on under-representation or discrimination, even fewer on ethnic under-representation, and there are no comparative studies of the topic. We review the existing literature and drawing on Critical Race Theory, we argue that most studies on apprenticeships and ethnicity tend to confirm rather than challenge stereotypes of these minority groups, and to view young people as autonomous agents able to make (relatively) free choices. We argue that connections should be made between ethnic under-representation and studies of the racial segmentation of the labour market. Drawing on these studies of the labour market, we suggest, innovatively but perhaps somewhat controversially, that it is likely that racialised norms shape expectations of the worker… [Direct]
(2014). Unpacking Internalized Racism: Teachers of Color Striving for Racially Just Classrooms. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v17 n3 p367-387. Within racial inequitable educational conditions, students of color in US schools are susceptible to internalizing racism. If these students go on to be teachers, the consequences can be particularly detrimental if internalized racism influences their teaching. Framed in Critical Race Theory, this article investigates the process pre-service teachers of color took in unpacking their internalized racism as they strive for racially just classrooms. In-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted with black (four) Latina (four) and Asian American (four) women enrolled in a social justice-oriented urban teacher education program in California. Data revealed that participants in this study: (1) had experienced racism and internalized racism in their K-12 education; (2) had done self-work prior to enrolling in their teacher education program to begin the process of unpacking internalized racism; and (3) felt that critical dialogues about internalized racism within teacher preparation… [Direct]
(2014). The Racialised Educational Landscape in Australia: Listening to the Whispering Elephant. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v17 n2 p176-201. Recent political and educational policy shifts within Australia have renewed concerns with achievement and engagement "gaps" when Indigenous and non-indigenous school students are compared. The position taken for this article however, hopes to demonstrate that this shift is unlikely to result in improved outcomes because of an ongoing failure to account for the racialised underpinnings of the Australian educational setting. To illustrate this, the body of the article offers four "Chronicles" that draw attention to the pervasive presence of negative racialised assumptions that contribute to sustaining educational inequities. The "Chronicles" are based on my experiences as a classroom teacher, and subsequently informed by exposure to ideas from Critical Race Theory as a graduate education researcher. The narrative style adopted here accepts the assertion that "Chronicles" are a valid, suitable and insightful approach to analyse and learn about… [Direct]
(2014). Beyond School-to-Prison Pipeline and toward an Educational and Penal Realism. Equity & Excellence in Education, v47 n4 p410-429. Much scholarly attention has been paid to the school-to-prison pipeline and the sanitized discourse of "death by education," called the achievement gap. Additionally, there exists a longstanding discourse surrounding the alleged crisis of educational failure. This article offers no solutions to the crisis and suggests instead that the system is functioning as it was intended–to disenfranchise many (predominately people of color) for the benefit of some (mostly white), based on economic principals of the free market. We begin by tracing the economic interests of prisons and the prison industrial complex, juxtaposing considerations of what we call the "educational reform industrial complex." With a baseline in the economic interests of school failure and prison proliferation, we draw on the critical race theory concept of "racial realism," to work toward a theory of educational and penal realism. Specifically, we outline seven working tenets of… [Direct]
(2021). Campus Ecology and the Engagement Motivations of Black Males at Small, Private Liberal Arts Colleges. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Sam Houston State University. Background/Context: Although predominantly White institutions (PWIs) promote that opportunities for positive engagement and success are provided for all students who seek them out (Bourke, 2016; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Love, 2004), Black male counterstories tell a different tale of Black male college outcomes (see Brooms, 2017; Harper, 2009a; Hotchkins & Dancy, 2015; Iverson & Jaggers, 2015; Smith, Allen, & Danley, 2007; Smith, Yosso, Solorzano, 2007; Smith et al., 2016). Small liberal arts colleges have been theorized as providing students with distinctive educational experiences when compared to other institution types (Kuh, 2003). However, Strayhorn and DeVita (2010) contended that liberal arts colleges did not offer these same results for Black males. Further, other researchers noted that, compared to their White peers, African American students and other students of color experienced their predominantly White liberal arts campuses as more racialized and… [Direct]
(2013). Check Yo'self before You Wreck Yo'self and Our Kids: Counterstories from Culturally Responsive White Teachers? . . . To Culturally Responsive White Teachers!. Interdisciplinary Journal of Teaching and Learning, v3 n2 p68-81 Sum. Numerous studies show the effectiveness of culturally responsive teaching with urban students of color. Yet few articulate the dynamics of how whiteness impacts the delivery of culturally responsive teaching. Using critical "whiteness" studies, critical race theory, and Black feminist concepts, this article interrogates the effectiveness of White teachers who engage in culturally responsive teaching without first interrogating their whiteness. Counterstories are used as well as responses from White teacher candidates who matriculated in an urban-focused teacher education program that explicitly focuses on culturally responsive teaching to provide answers to three poignant questions — What happens when cultural responsiveness is co-opted by the White liberal agendas in teacher education? How genuine can the essence of cultural responsivity be if it narrowly focuses on the "Other" without exploring the "White" self? And, what potential implications does… [PDF]