(2018). Implicit Bias of Education Leaders and the Achievement Gap between Black and White Students in Suffolk and Nassau County, New York High Schools. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, St. John's University (New York), School of Education and Human Services. Researchers have been studying the racial achievement gap for years but somehow closing it has not happened systemically. Many scholars have postulated that implicit bias and systemic racism have contributed in perpetuating the achievement gap between African American and White students. The purpose of this study was to determine if implicit bias and structural racism influenced education policies and decisions among a diverse group of educators and education administrators in diverse districts in Suffolk and Nassau Counties in New York. This study was qualitative in nature. Semi-structured interviews with educational leaders (upper and lower level administrators), classroom teachers, and deans, were conducted in diverse Long Island, New York high schools in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The participants' ages and years of service varied. They ranged from 14 years of service to 30 plus years. There were even two participants who were retired. The researcher asked a series of prepared… [Direct]
(2018). Pedagogies of Repair: Community College and Carceral Education for Adult Learners. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Oregon. This dissertation examines the relationship between community colleges and prisons as similar institutions that absorb and manage displaced workers, economic refugees, and dispossessed adult populations. Based on interviews with adult learners in two community college settings, I discuss how these two seemingly distinctive institutions work together to subvert individual and collective desires for self-determination through policies and pedagogies that institutionalize discouragement and emotional management. Specifically, I am concerned with what it means for working-class adults to participate in higher education in the context of precarity and incarceration-literally and figuratively. Drawing from the growing field of scholarship that underscores the consolidation of practices and interdependency between academia and incarceration (Chatterjee, Davis, 2003, 2005, Meiners, 2007, Sojoyner 2016), the contexts I have chosen for this project are two institutions where students gather… [Direct]
(2014). The Mathematical Experiences of Black Males in a Predominantly Black Urban Middle School and Community. International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology, v2 n3 p206-222 Jul. There is a growing body of research focused on the mathematical experiences of Black males in the United States of America. This research has emerged to challenge the dominant narrative in mathematics education focused on Black males' low performance on international, national, and state standardized tests. There is very little research that has explored the impact of high-stakes testing in mathematics on Black males in urban areas. Using qualitative research methods, this study examines the middle school mathematics experiences of four Black males and provides insight into their responses to challenges they face in urban communities, schools, and math classrooms. Critical race theory was used to illuminate Black males' desire to be challenged in the classroom and describe the community, school, and classroom conditions that impact their lived realities and mathematics experiences…. [PDF]
(2014). The Mathematical Experiences of Black Males in a Predominantly Black Urban Middle School and Community. Online Submission, International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology (IJEMST) v2 n3 p206-222 Jul. There is a growing body of research focused on the mathematical experiences of Black males in the United States of America. This research has emerged to challenge the dominant narrative in mathematics education focused on Black males' low performance on international, national, and state standardized tests. There is very little research that has explored the impact of high-stakes testing in mathematics on Black males in urban areas. Using qualitative research methods, this study examines the middle school mathematics experiences of four Black males and provides insight into their responses to challenges they face in urban communities, schools, and math classrooms. Critical race theory was used to illuminate Black males' desire to be challenged in the classroom and describe the community, school, and classroom conditions that impact their lived realities and mathematics experiences…. [PDF]
(2016). Not Black Like Me: The Cultural Journey of an Early Childhood Program. Early Childhood Education Journal, v44 n5 p429-436 Sep. Universities and colleges across the United States have been increasingly intentional in their effort to become educational institutions with a culture reflective of all their students, faculty and staff. However, achieving a proportionate representation of faculty for the community of students they serve seems to be a goal yet to be achieved by the higher education institutions. Closing this gap of representation of faculty and students is critical for allowing students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to access support and mentorship from faculty with whom they can identify. This paper describes the approach employed by an Early Childhood program of a southern university with faculty from culturally diverse backgrounds significantly underrepresented. Diverse students within the institution are unable to connect with a faculty member with whom they can identify. The faculty in this program took the initiative to discuss how the learning environment offered to… [Direct]
(2023). Testimonios of Civic Pedagogy: Developing Critical Literacy Skills Using Civics and Holocaust Studies. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of South Florida. Civics using Holocaust Studies offer a variety of pedagogical advantages. Regardless of the topic, Holocaust events can be used to build critical analytical skills and cultivate essential literacy skills about the social world. Further, the Holocaust can be used to introduce and grapple with the complex/abstract ideas of the civics content. Given the relationship that social studies has to critical literacy development, civics used in conjunction with Holocaust resources present teacher(s) (educators) with the opportunity to explore (theoretical) concepts foregrounding manifold relationships making up the social world. This research aimed to examine how secondary students connect to the social world and civics content to become active citizens through the use of Holocaust lessons. Specifically, this research was interested in understanding how the relationship between race, socioeconomic status, and critical literacy skill development impacted secondary students' comprehension and… [Direct]
(2011). Challenging Majoritarian Tales: Portraits of Bilingual Teachers Deconstructing Deficit Views of Bilingual Learners. Bilingual Research Journal, v34 n3 p279-300. This article argues that teacher-education programs often promote surface conceptions of inclusivity that limit preservice teachers' ability to understand and build upon the lived experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse youth. Conventional wisdom implies that teachers of color are native informants of these lived experiences; however, teacher educators should create opportunities for all teacher candidates to challenge prevalent myths about communities of color. Using critical race theory (CRT) and Latino critical race theory (LatCrit) the authors discuss a framework whereby teacher educators invite their students to construct counterstories through practices such as eliciting autonarratives, providing opportunities for reflective writing assignments, and coaching for equity. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)… [Direct]
(2013). "Putting Herself on the Line": African American Female Teacher Leaders as Exemplars of Social Justice Leadership. New Educator, v9 n3 p210-225. Existing scholarship on teacher leadership fails to account for the perspectives of African American female teacher leaders. In this article, we profile 3 African American female teacher leaders located at different trajectories on historical and professional timelines. Our analysis is grounded in understandings from the intersection of social justice leadership, critical race theory in education, and narrative inquiry methodology. Examination of the experiences and practices of these teacher leaders provides an account of the sociohistorical context and challenges reflective of their lives and work as advocates for excellence and equity in education for marginalized students and their families…. [Direct]
(2013). Separate Schooling for Black Adolescent Mathematics Learners. For the Learning of Mathematics, v33 n3 p7-13. Findings from a 1.5 year study of black adolescent mathematics students attending an African-centered school in the US are used to highlight the benefits of separate schooling for this population of students. Critical race theory is used to frame a dialogue surrounding the ways in which this type of school environment and embedded racialized practices can provide a safe space that serves the interests of black youth and empowers their mathematics and racial identities. The essay concludes with a discussion of pros and cons of separate schooling and a call to action for this schooling for young black mathematics learners…. [Direct]
(2013). Fractured Memories, Mended Lives: The Schooling Experiences of Latinas/os in Rural Areas. Bilingual Research Journal, v36 n2 p228-243. This study explored how Mexican immigrant and first-generation Mexican youth resist, conform to, and persist in schooling. Using Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) as a framework, evidence of the "sticky mess" of racial inequalities (Espinoza & Harris, 1997) was shown to impact the lives of all participants. However, the strength of community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005, 2006) mitigated the youths' negative school experiences. Analysis of the dialogic semistructured focal group interviews that comprise the data set focused on the students' family, life in Mexico, and schooling experiences both in Mexico and the U.S…. [Direct]
(2013). \They Think Minority Means Lesser than\: Black Middle-Class Sons and Fathers Resisting Microaggressions in the School. Urban Education, v48 n2 p171-197 Mar. The current literature on Black middle-class men is sparse, leaving little to be known about the raced, classed, and gendered experiences for many Black middle-class male students and their families. Employing qualitative methodology, this study uses critical race theory (CRT) to examine the educational experiences of Black middle-class high school male students through the counterstories of Black students and their fathers. This study highlights various microaggression events experienced by the male students as well as the forms of cultural wealth drawn upon by the fathers to divert the potential negative outcomes of school racism. (Contains 1 table and 5 notes.)… [Direct]
(2013). Racial Diversity Sounds Nice; Systems Transformation? Not So Much: Developing Urban Teachers of Color. Urban Education, v48 n3 p451-479 May. This article argues that economic exclusion, standardized testing, and racially biased definitions of teacher quality continue the exclusion of teachers of color from the urban teaching force. The authors highlight two urban programs designed to address such barriers and situate such efforts within a critical race theory framework that identifies ways urban communities can increase control through local teacher development. The article concludes by presenting a teacher evaluation model that integrates school, district, and university perspectives with urban students, families, community-based organizations, and teacher self-perceptions to redefine teacher effectiveness. (Contains 2 figures and 2 notes.)… [Direct]
(2013). Revolutionary Reforestation and White Privilege in a Critical Race Doctoral Program. International Perspectives on Higher Education Research This chapter expresses the need for an increase or reforestation of Black scholarship and examines the complexity of race in a White privileged institution of higher education. It is written with an understanding of Critical Race Theory's counter-narrative benefits and models the power of voice in the classroom of a Black student and a White teacher and their roles in creating a "safe space for race talk" in the classroom. [For the complete volume, "Social Justice Issues and Racism in the College Classroom: Perspectives from Different Voices. International Perspectives on Higher Education Research. Volume 8," see ED591557.]… [Direct]
(2010). Critical Race Theory as an Analytical Tool: African American Male Success in Doctoral Education. Journal of College Teaching & Learning, v7 n10 p11-23 Oct. While access to higher education for racial and ethnic minorities improved over the last half of the 20th century, the percentage of these populations obtaining terminal degrees does not approach their respective percentage of society at large. By interviewing five African American males who completed a doctoral program at a Majority White Institution (MWI), this study seeks to identify some consistent themes among successful graduates. Using Critical Race Theory as an analytical framework, meaning is constructed in an effort to provide insight into those traits, practices and situations that contributed to the success of the participants in the study. (Contains 1 table.)… [Direct]
(2015). Transitioning Normalcy: Organizational Culture, African American Administrators, and Diversity Leadership in Higher Education. Review of Educational Research, v85 n4 p667-697 Dec. In this article, we present findings from a review and synthesis of historical and contemporary research to examine the concept of diversity leadership in higher education as it pertains to African American administrators at predominantly White colleges and universities. Through the use of critical race theory, we first argue that to understand the leadership disparity of African Americans and other administrators of color in higher education, one must begin by examining the cultural context in which predominantly White institutions originate, exist, and operate through the intersection of group relations. Second, we argue that due to a historical pattern of exclusivity, the title of administrator is considered whiteness property in higher education. As a consequence, the disparity between African American administrators and their White counterparts has become an organizational norm in higher education. Last, we posit that if true diversity leadership is to exist within the… [Direct]