(2019). Understanding College "Burnout" from a Social Perspective: Reigniting the Agency of Low-Income Racial Minority Strivers towards Achievement. Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education, v51 n5 p677-698 Dec. Research indicates that health problems are becoming increasingly complex and prevalent among college students, while largely going without recognition or treatment. Low-income racial minority students may have additional personal and academic issues associated with demonstrating grit and overcoming barriers to entry (i.e. institutional racism) over the course of their lives. When the campus environment is not socially or culturally supportive of racial minority and first-generation college students, there is an added risk of mental health deterioration stemming from isolation for these students. The struggle to persist in college, and do so alone, can lead many to experience symptoms of impending "burnout," or disengagement from academic settings. Drawing from a sample of interviews with low-income racial minority strivers–students who were once highly engaged–this paper offers insight into both causes and solutions for college burnout. Findings suggest that it is… [Direct]
(2019). Tests, Measurements, and Selection in the Belgian Congo during the 1950S: The End of Racist Clich√©s?. Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education, v55 n3 p493-510. Research into the history of colonial education in Congo has shown that, for a long time, it was dominated by the idea of gradual development of the masses. Here, the problem of selecting an intellectual elite hardly arose. It was only in the 1950s that a growing number of voices began to clamour for the Congolese to be permitted to study in secondary schools and universities. However, psychological testing was not the first means of resort in the selection of an elite. Nevertheless, following the Second World War, the sentiment that psychological testing might be helpful began to take hold in Belgium. Drawing on various international developments, a handful of specialists took up the issue. The analysis of their work shows that much of what Linstrum contended concerning the history of psychological research in the British Empire, also applies to Congo. Despite their modest number, these studies cannot simply be viewed as pretext for the racism deeply ingrained in colonial circles…. [Direct]
(2019). Reclaiming Multicultural Education: Course Redesign as a Tool for Transformation. Multicultural Perspectives, v21 n3 p151-158. Despite the potential of multicultural education as a tool for critical analysis and social change, how such a curricula is implemented often falls short of this promise (Sleeter, 2014). Specifically, courses that discuss "multiculturalism" in terms of tolerance and color-blindness fail to provide students with a compelling rationale or viable means to examine social justice and equity issues and, thereby, become inspired to take action against the social inequities that such examination can yield (Giroux, 2005; Sleeter & Grant, 2008). The abundance of curricular materials that emphasize acceptance and tolerance while deemphasizing critical analysis is and problem posing is just one example of how the transformative power of multicultural education can become muted by the dominant narrative of tolerance (Hill, 2012; Sleeter, 2014; Smith, Flores, & Gonzalez, 2016). To counter such silencing, educators who believe in the transformative nature of multicultural… [Direct]
(2014). Taking the Bull by the Horns: The Critical Perspectives and Pedagogy of Two Black Teachers in Anglophone Montreal Schools. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v17 n4 p494-517. In the midst of the complicated racial-linguistic landscape that is Montreal, Quebec, the educational experiences of the relatively small population of Anglophone Blacks are often invisibilized within the education literature, and relatively little attention is paid to the nature of Black students' and educators' struggles with racism and Eurocentricity within Anglophone schools in Montreal. This article makes a contribution to the empirical literature concerning these groups. It shares the experiences of, and racism witnessed by, two Black teachers in Montreal. Their narratives paint a compelling picture of the consequences and effects of educating Black students within a colour-blind context in Montreal schools, as well as the pedagogies and personal philosophies they work through to resist and challenge the context of denial within Canadian education. The article ends with a discussion of the ways in which the teachers' pedagogies align with critical anti-racist praxis, and… [Direct]
(2023). Addressing Food Insecurity Experienced by Elementary School Students through a Weekend Backpack Program. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. Food insecurity is a problem for millions of people in the United States. In 2020, 10.5 percent of US households were food insecure, and for people of color, the numbers were even greater. With the United States' history of discrimination against Black and Brown people in areas such as housing, employment, and education, racism is clearly a root cause of the problem. The theory of improvement for this dissertation in practice hypothesizes that increased access to free and nutritious foods will improve the physical, social, and academic outcomes of our students. To address this problem of practice, I implemented a supplemental weekend program that provided backpacks filled with nonperishable food items to students impacted by food insecurity. The inquiry questions that guided this improvement project were: (1) How do parents view the backpack program's impact on their child(ren) and family?, (2) What are the teachers' perceptions of the impact of the weekend backpack program on their… [Direct]
(2018). A Critical Case Study on (Anti)Blackness, Geography and Education Pathways in Twinsburg Heights, Ohio. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. In policymaking, social movements, and media, education pathways are presented as the primary solution for low-income Black communities. To examine this dominant belief, this study utilized a critical case study approach to investigate a historic Black suburban neighborhood, Twinsburg Heights, in Northeast Ohio. The study combined Black Studies, Geography, and Education to understand Black residents' experiences in three sites: the neighborhood, K-12 schools, and higher education. Using a multi-generational sample, 46 residents were interviewed about their education and life pathways. Residents' pathways were contextualized in the geographic history of (under)development in the Heights neighborhood based on archival documents, a local documentary, and oral histories. Findings show Black people's education opportunity is produced and their life pathways are structured at the intersection of anti-Blackness, capitalism, and geographic domination. At the same time, Black people practice… [Direct]
(2015). Social Justice Education in a Diverse Classroom: Examining High School Discussions about Race, Power, and Privilege. Equity & Excellence in Education, v48 n4 p549-570. High school students who participate in social justice education have a greater awareness of inequities that impact their school, community, and society, and learn tools for taking action to address these inequities. Also, a classroom that consist of students with a diverse set of identities creates an ideal circumstance in which a teacher can build upon student differences in order to facilitate meaningful discussions about social justice, especially issues of race. Therefore, in this article we use qualitative case study approaches to examine a high school course on social justice education, paying specific attention to the classroom pedagogy and dialogue on issues of race, power, and privilege. The course was purposefully diverse in enrollment, which brought students together who might not have had interactions with each other prior to the class. We employ Hackman's (2005) five components of social justice education (SJE) as a framework for the analysis of the pedagogy and… [Direct]
(2019). Unconscious Bias in Schools: A Developmental Approach to Exploring Race and Racism. Harvard Education Press In "Unconscious Bias in Schools," two seasoned educators describe the phenomenon of unconscious racial bias and how it negatively affects the work of educators and students in schools. "Regardless of the amount of effort, time, and resources education leaders put into improving the academic achievement of students of color," the authors write, "if unconscious racial bias is overlooked, improvement efforts may never achieve their highest potential." In order to address this bias, the authors argue, educators must first be aware of the racialized context in which we live. Through personal anecdotes and real-life scenarios, "Unconscious Bias in Schools" provides education leaders with an essential roadmap for addressing these issues directly. The authors draw on the literature on change management, leadership, critical race theory, and racial identity development, as well as the growing research on unconscious bias in a variety of fields, to… [Direct]
(2016). Toward a Race-Based Understanding of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in the Science Classroom. AERA Online Paper Repository, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (Washington, DC, Apr 8-12, 2016). The racial and ethnic makeup of the United States is in constant flux and is expected to experience substantial increases over the next four decades. The problem the American educational system face is attempting to problematize race/racism in its educational system and creating a system to counteract that. The disparity we face grows as teacher education programs graduate primarily White female teacher candidates, who express trepidations teaching students of diverse populations. I explore specific confines of urban schools, as a starting point to establish a strong theoretical rationale for the continued investigation of a race-based analysis of CRP, in science. I also propose an inclusive model for teacher preparation that embraces critical conversations about race…. [Direct]
(2016). Promoting Critical Racial Awareness in Teacher Education in Korea: Reflections on a Racial Discrimination Simulation Activity. Asia Pacific Education Review, v17 n2 p203-215 Jun. Though historically perceived as an ethnically homogenous country, rapid demographic changes in the Republic of Korea have resulted in increasing diversity. However, current multicultural education programs struggle to promote acceptance and appreciation of this diversity. This paper details one pedagogical activity, a racial discrimination simulation activity designed to allow learners to experience discrimination to critically reflect on more subtle forms of oppression in society and classroom contexts. The activity was implemented in a graduate school teacher education program in Korea with 55 learners over a 4-year period. Pre-participation surveys, classroom discussions, blog postings, and reflections were analyzed using grounded theory to investigate learner reactions. Learners reported a strong disconnect between race and Korea and classrooms in Korea. Based on findings, immediate attention is necessary in teacher education programs to prepare teachers to talk about race and… [Direct]
(2023). Exploring Engagement through Critical Pedagogy for Black Students in a GED Program. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Dayton. This study examines and utilizes Critical Race Theory to understand how pedagogical training fails to train educators in recognizing and countering racism in standardized testing and General Equivalency Diploma (GED) preparatory courses. Black students continue to have the lowest pass rates in GED test performance based on a study of race and ethnicity, and this study examines a potential connection between the lack of critical pedagogy in GED preparational courses and the practices of GED teachers to address persistent inequities that add to race-based disparities. This research inquiry contributes to closing the race gaps in GED test scores for Black students by incorporating GED preparatory testing using critical pedagogy and multiculturalism to offer solutions to the ongoing and persistent failure rates in high-stakes testing. Examining educational disparities must include countering the lack of multiculturalism and anti-racist pedagogy in the GED test and preparatory courses…. [Direct]
(2012). "You've Got to Teach People that Racism Is Wrong and Then They Won't Be Racist": Curricular Representations and Young People&'s Understandings of "Race" and Racism. Journal of Curriculum Studies, v44 n5 p599-629. This paper critically examines the discursive (mis) representation of "race" and racism in the formal curriculum. Combining qualitative data derived from interviews with 35 young people who were enrolled in a Dublin-based, ethnically diverse secondary school, with a critical discursive analysis of 20 textbooks, the paper explores parallels between young people's understandings of "race" and racism and curricular representations of these constructs. It is argued that the formal education system reinforces, rather than challenges, popular theories of racism, and endorses the ideological framework of colour-blind racism by providing definitions and explanations which individualize, minimize, and naturalize racism. The analysis centres on four major inter-related themes: (1) the individualization of racism; (2) the attribution of racism to difference; (3) the role of narratives of denial and redemption in the construction of an "anti-racist" state; and (4)… [Direct]
(1973). Education and Racism: An Action Manual. This document is the culmination of a year of cooperative effort between the Michigan Education Association's Human Relations Division and the Human Relations Section of the National Education Association Teacher Rights. These two groups spent the 1971-72 school year working together, with invaluable assistance from New Perspectives on Race, Inc. to develop a program that addresses itself to institutional racism, the most crucial issue confronting the American education system. The contents are organized in two parts. Part I, \Racism and its manifestations in education,\ includes discussions of such topics as prejudice, racism, racist behaviors to be avoided, and becoming \antiracist/racists.\ Part II, \Antiracism activities,\ includes discussions of a curriculum on racism, and a workshop design for racism. The latter is described in some detail. The design for a different kind of racism workshop for teachers was developed cooperatively with the Michigan Education Association's… [PDF]
(2017). Wilful Ignorance and the Emotional Regime of Schools. British Journal of Educational Studies, v65 n4 p499-515. This article explores how ignorance of vulnerability–particularly of others' vulnerability–may be produced and maintained in schools, especially in the context of pedagogical engagement with difficult histories. A focus on ignorance forces educators to ask not only about the epistemological presence of "difficult knowledge" in schools, but also how epistemological absences operate affectively, formulating particular "emotional regimes" of ignorance. The article shows how the denial of others' vulnerability–in the name of race/racism, nation-state/nationalism and the like–invokes and moulds particular emotional regimes that reproduce the ignorance of vulnerability underlying difficult histories. It is argued that only with a systematic analysis of the production and reproduction of emotional regimes of ignorance can educators conceive of vulnerability as being a pedagogical resource for ethical response and political resistance to regimes of ignorance in… [Direct]
(2019). The Roadmap for Racial Equity: An Imperative for Workforce Development Advocates. National Skills Coalition The ethnic and racial diversity of the residents of the United States of America is one of the country's unique strengths; however, Black, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Native, and certain Asian American workers face wide racial inequities in educational attainment, employment, and income. Additional workforce policies are needed now to counter decades of intentional, structurally racist policies and advance racial equity in educational attainment, employment, and income. As long as these disparities exist, the country is undercutting its own economic competitiveness. Racial workforce diversity is a key driver of America's economic growth as it is one of the most important predictors of business sales revenue, customer numbers, and profitability. This report builds the case for creating a racially inclusive workforce and recommends both state and federal workforce development policies that advance racial equity. It recognizes that the challenges faced by people of color with deep… [PDF]