(2024). Role, Representation, Resistance, and Response: Black Women Senior Leaders in Predominantly White Institutions of Higher Education. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania. Although notably underrepresented in role and research, Black women bring a strong presence to higher education institutions–leading academic, research, and business operations from senior and executive roles. Black women senior leaders serve as change agents strategically leading their organizations to become better, stronger, and more effective in supporting the health, longevity, and competitiveness of their institutions. This dissertation study explored how Black women senior leaders experience their place in higher education, including their ability to navigate and lead in traditionally White male spaces of leadership. This research sought to understand Black women's leadership experiences and practices including challenges and resistance to their leadership and how they address them, and how their social identities inform and impact these experiences. The study used a broad, emic focused qualitative approach informed by the theoretical frameworks of intersectionality, critical… [Direct]
(2022). Subverting Whiteness and Amplifying Anti-Racisms: Mid-Level District Leadership for Racial Justice. Journal of School Leadership, v32 n5 p456-487 Sep. This counternarrative study positions two distinct bodies of literature in conversation: mid-level district leadership in the literature on educational change and anti-racist approaches to leadership framed through Critical Race Theory and Critical Whiteness Studies. Interviews with twelve, mid-level district leaders committed to anti-racism in Ontario, Canada, reveal fundamental differences in leaders' knowledges and capacities compared to those identified in the literature on educational change and promoted in the corresponding leadership frameworks in Ontario. In centering power, racialization, and whiteness as a logic of oppression, anti-racist approaches to leadership fundamentally reconstitute conceptions and enactments of leadership. Findings speak to the importance of knowledge(s) about race and racialization, racism and intersecting oppressions, and how whiteness subverts anti-racist efforts. Findings also speak to developing capacities such as: visioning that both owns… [Direct]
(2022). Disrupting Inequitable Practices in Special Education: Privileging Student and Family Voices. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, City University of New York Hunter College. Black, Latinx, and other minoritized students have long been overrepresented in the high-incidence, subjective, disability classifications including Learning Disability, Speech and Language Impairment, Emotional Disturbance, and Intellectual Impairment. Special education places these students on trajectories that deny them access to quality education and the same postschool outcomes and opportunities as their nondisabled peers. Using Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), and grounded theory analysis this study foregrounds the voices of minoritized middle school students receiving special education under high-incidence classifications. DisCrit allowed for an investigation of how student's intersecting marginalized identities impacted their experiences as special education students. Further, Education Journey Mapping was used to explore the experiences of Jason, a Black middle school student labeled with a Speech and Language Impairment, as he coped with life at the… [Direct]
(2022). The Experiences of African American College Junior and Senior STEM Majors at Three Historically White Institutions. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana State University. This qualitative study explored the experiences of African American college junior and senior science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors attending three historically White institutions (HWIs) in the Midwest using theoretical frameworks of social learning theory (Bandura, 1977), social cognitive career theory (Lent et al., 1994), and critical race theory (CRT; Delgado & Stefancic, 2017; Tuitt & Carter, 2008). This study used participants' voices to explore their experiences and examine strategies they employed that prompted their decisions to continue persisting in high stakes STEM environments that involved isolation, racial bias, and/or gender discrimination, and challenges to their intellectual ability. Despite such challenges, study participants were successful academically. Five themes emerged during participant interviews: (a) modeled values: champions of work ethic and education; (b) minoritized lenses of STEM: culture, identity, and experiences; (c) the… [Direct]
(2022). PLC to CRT: How a Professional Learning Community Influences Middle School Mathematics Teachers' Culturally Responsive Teaching Efficacy. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Massachusetts Lowell. The COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd are recent, powerful reminders of institutional inequities in the United States. Culture consciousness in U.S. classrooms, though not a new concept, remains one that is hotly contested as frameworks like critical race theory and cultural sustaining pedagogies are debated, compared, and contrasted. Of little debate, is the notion that educators must continue to improve their capacity to construct culturally aware learning environments that empower children from historically oppressed groups. This is particularly important in mathematics classrooms as careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are increasingly in demand and routinely among the highest paying. Disparities in STEM education will exacerbate existing disparities in society (ACT, Inc., 2017). This study measured the effectiveness of a professional learning community (PLC) model in impacting teaching efficacy related to culturally responsive… [Direct]
(2022). A Cultural Historical Comparison of In-School and Out-of-School STEM Activity Systems for African-American Girls. Cultural Studies of Science Education, v17 n2 p511-540 Jun. African-American women continue to be underrepresented in science and engineering field despite years of interventions, including providing out-of-school time STEM experiences. Although some out-of-school time programs have shown impacts in participants' content knowledge and skill acquisition, impacts on science identity development have been mixed, with some research indicating that participants' struggle to access science identities developed in out-of-school time in a formal educational setting. In order to better understand the barriers to accessing and developing science identity across contexts, this study uses a combined framework of Activity Theory, communities of practice, and Critical Race Theory to compare the in-school and out-of-school time STEM experiences of African-American girls. Using data collected in both settings, activity systems for an out-of-school time STEM Club and an in-school seventh grade science classroom are reconstructed and examined for… [Direct]
(2022). The Role Academic Strategies Play in the First-Year College Experience of African-American Males with ADHD. Online Submission, Ed.D. Scholarly Research Project, Bradley University. First-Year African American males with ADHD do not persist beyond the first year of college due to barriers experienced in PWI environments. The purpose of the qualitative phenomenological action research study with a disability critical race theory framework was to investigate the role educational strategies played in the college experience of first-year African American males with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The study examined five research questions. How do African American males with ADHD describe their first-year college experience, during the first year of college experience, what factors do African American males with ADHD see as contributing or not contributing to academic success, how often do African American male college students with ADHD request assistance for academic strategy support such as time management, tutoring support service, and test-taking strategies. For African American male college students with ADHD, what is the process for… [PDF]
(2022). When Being Special Ain't so Special: Educator Race and Gender as Predictors of Black and Latino Male Special Education Referrals. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Ashland University. The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomenon of implicit bias in the referral process for special education. The study explored the relationship between independent variables such as student and teacher race/ethnicity, gender of teacher, teachers' years of teaching experience, and how likely teachers would refer a male student for special education and if there are significant differences in teacher rating of severity based on a student's race/ethnicity in Ohio's eight large urban school districts. This qualitative, correlational study used a survey methodology that included pictures to examine if student and teacher demographic variables predicted how likely a teacher would refer Black and Latino male students for special education evaluation. Critical race theory and social exclusion theory guided this research. Results from a Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression, and ANOVA revealed that years of teaching experience was associated with a higher likelihood to… [Direct]
(2022). Climbing the Broken Ladder: A Narrative Exploration of How Racially and Economically Minoritized Students Successfully Navigate the College Pathway. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, St. John's University (New York). Sixty six years after Brown v. Board of Education's (1954), disparities in educational opportunity and outcomes continue to be a major civil rights issue that threatens the well-being of our society (Chetty et al,., 2018; Farmer-Hinton, 2008a). Despite the often-explored systemic barriers and oppressive forces, many do enroll in college and persist (Harper et al., 2018). This research applied the frameworks of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Yosso's Community Cultural Wealth Model (CCW) to explore the barriers low-income Black and Latinx students face in accessing higher education and examine what these students might have in the way of personal assets that would explain their enrollment and intent to persist (Bryan et al., 2020; Holland, 2017; Solorzano & Yosso, 2001; Yosso, 2005). Data was collected through semistructured interviews with six low-income Black and Latinx students who shared stories about their precollege and college experiences. The interviews revealed that these… [Direct]
(2019). Including Critical Whiteness Studies in the Critical Human Resource Development Family: A Proposed Theoretical Framework. Adult Education Quarterly: A Journal of Research and Theory, v69 n4 p315-337 Nov. While the human resource development (HRD) literature has made strides to incorporate critical race theory, critical Whiteness studies has not been substantively addressed. White experiences need to be incorporated into organizational learning literature in racialized ways. Unpacking the racialized experiences of Whites in organizational settings is important because it challenges the often-unstated assumption that White experiences are normal and neutral. The uncritical centering of Whiteness is part of what makes the marginalization of racialized others possible, and critical Whiteness studies research seeks to contribute to the decentering process. This article integrates literature exploring racialized White experiences from disciplines, including history, sociology, theology, and legal studies within an existing framework for HRD. This research will place special emphasis on aspects of critical Whiteness that relate to the workplace. The purpose of this article is to advance a… [Direct]
(2019). Anti-Deficit Narratives: Engaging the Politics of Research on Mathematical Sense Making. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, v50 n4 p401-435 Jul. This article identifies a self-sustaining system of deficit narratives about students of color as an entry point for studies of cognition to engage with the sociopolitical context of mathematical learning. Principles from sociopolitical perspectives and Critical Race Theory, and historical analyses of deficit thinking in education research, support the investigation into the system. Using existing research about students' understanding of a limit in calculus as context, this article proposes a definition of a deficit perspective on sense making and unpacks some of its tenets. The data illustration in this article focuses on the mathematical sense making of a Chicana undergraduate student. The analysis uses an anti-deficit perspective to construct a sensemaking counter-story by a woman of color. The counter-story challenges existing deficit master-narratives about the mathematical ability of women of color. The article closes with a proposal for an anti-deficit method for studying the… [Direct]
(2019). The Dehumanization of Black Males by Police: Teaching Social Justice–Black Life Really Does Matter!. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, v39 n2 p111-131. Despite the contemporary public's discourse regarding the embrace of human diversity within the United States, Black males still are perennially brutalized, killed, and negatively stereotyped. Recent events regarding police killings underscore the reality that even though Black males have the same constitutional and civil rights as all other citizens, in practice their rights are often violated or denied. The negative stereotypes of Black males is problematic because it creates an environment and negative perception of them that causes some police officers to claim that they feared for their life before shooting. In this article the authors discuss the history of police oppression and killing of Black males and offer critical race theory as a theoretical perspective that helps to explain this pervasive social inequity. More important, the authors provide practical classroom narratives, assignments, and strategies that may hold promise in addressing the problem of police brutality and… [Direct]
(2019). Preparing Primary Trainee Teachers to Teach Children from Black, Asian and Other Minority Ethnic (BAME) Backgrounds or Groups: Participation, Experiences and Perceptions of Trainee Teachers. Teacher Education Advancement Network Journal, v11 n2 p39-49. This research was conducted in response to the exit survey of a cohort of Primary PGCE trainee teachers at a UK University in a predominantly White area who indicated low confidence in teaching children from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds at the end of their course. The research aimed to find out why trainee teachers felt unconfident in teaching children from BAME groups or backgrounds. Using qualitative methods, findings were analysed using a Critical Race Theory framework. Many of the trainee teachers who participated in this research demonstrated a lack of understanding of their own White privilege and a deficit discourse when discussing children from BAME backgrounds. The study explores how ITE, which is often short and already crammed with content, could embed quality training in race and diversity throughout courses in a way that will both challenge individual perceptions and encourage trainee teachers to examine structural barriers within schools…. [PDF]
(2019). Teaching While Black: Racial Dynamics, Evaluations, and the Role of White Females in the Canadian Academy in Carrying the Racism Torch. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v22 n1 p21-37. For racialized academics, life in the academy can be marred by racial violence that leaves them caught between their commitment to their craft, desire for educational attainment and development, and the mental anguish that can dominate their existence. Drawing from experiences of the author and other Black faculty members in Canadian tertiary academic institutions, I provide a theoretical exposition recognizing the role of narratives as an act of counter-storytelling. I draw upon Black feminist epistemology, critical race theory, and critical theory to examine how the experiences of Black academics remain under-theorized, marginalized, and often erased within 'strong/angry Black woman/man' caricatures. I highlight how racial evaluation filters reinforce racism and affects the careers of Black academics. I also discuss the role that White women, who are charged with decision-making power, have come to play in carrying the 'racism torch' in the academy while adhering to the tropes of… [Direct]
(2019). Diversity in Literature and Students' Connection. Online Submission The claim that most teachers at the middle-level grades do not have inclusive materials throughout their curriculum and may or may not understand the impact of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and thus, students of various ethnicities will not be as engaged in their learning was proved using questionnaires. These questionnaires were created in such a way as to provide reliable and valid results and were measured both quantitatively and qualitatively. A full literature review on the importance of the topic CRT has been conducted as to prove the need for this study. The results were processed through data analysis software to determine the descriptive and inferential statistics. These statistics were analyzed to determine if there is any correlation in the results of different groupings. The findings of this comparison were used to write recommendations to the unit office for future professional development opportunities for the staff to ensure diversity and inclusiveness of literary… [PDF]