(2021). Unbroken: A Critical Autoethnography of a Black Woman's Doctoral Experience during BLM. Journal of Effective Teaching in Higher Education, v4 n2 p65-83. In this critical autoethnography, I examine my lived experiences as a Black woman doctoral student during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Further, as I recount my academic journey in the wake of assaults to Black life and resulting Black resistance, I discuss the pedagogical interventions of Black women faculty members that made me feel as if my life and work mattered in their classrooms. I revisit spoken word poems and class assignments written between 2015 and 2017 along with news articles documenting national events occurring at the time as relevant texts to help me explore and understand my experiences. I utilize Critical Race Theory as an analytic lens, focusing on the following tenets: persistence of racism, critique of color-evasiveness, and counterstorytelling. I conclude with implications regarding how introducing graduate students to critical theory and methodologies can equip them with the tools to empirically explore and articulate their lived realities…. [PDF]
(2021). My Journey into the 'Heart of Whiteness' Whilst Remaining My Authentic (Black) Self. Educational Philosophy and Theory, v53 n3 p245-256. The dire implications of navigating the overwhelming whiteness of the education system for Black women is foregrounded by the author's autoethnography about her educational journey and experiences. Within it, the author illustrates the key role of her Black identity – despite being immersed in whiteness– to provide a strong sense of self, pride and resilience, which ultimately leads to her survival in the unequal spaces of the education system. By way of her own educational experiences, the author shares how she becomes motivated to embark upon a PhD as a way to centre and affirm Black identities and in order to make palatable spaces within the hostility of whiteness. Drawing on her PhD research, which is framed by Black feminist epistemology, Critical Race Theory and Bourdieu's theory of practice, her findings, based on the semi-structured interviewing of 25 other Black British women graduates, illustrates that the participants share similar educational experiences and responses…. [Direct]
(2021). "They Act Like They Went to Hell!": Black Teachers, Racial Justice, and Teacher Education. Journal for Multicultural Education, v15 n2 p201-212. Purpose: While Black teachers have engaged in racial justice-oriented teaching for centuries and the body of research on racial justice-oriented teachers is growing, very little is known about how teachers come to this work. The purpose of this paper is to focus on where and how Black teachers who teach with racial justice aims learned to engage in this work. Design/methodology/approach: This is a narrative inquiry (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000) study that was designed and analyzed using a critical race theory lens. Findings: Participants learned to engage in racial justice-oriented teaching from their lived experience, particularly from their K-12 teachers who showed why this kind of teaching was necessary. Additionally, participants were highly skeptical of whether or not teacher education programs could prepare White preservice teachers to engage in this kind of teaching. Originality/value: There is very little research focusing on how Black teachers come to engage in racial… [Direct]
(2021). State Education Officials Must Restore a Sense of National Character in Public Schools. Backgrounder. No. 3571. Heritage Foundation The new Biden Administration promptly reversed the Trump Administration's ban on training the federal workforce in the ideology of Critical Race Theory (CRT). CRT has its intellectual origin in Critical Theory, a philosophy based on applying Marxism to every area of life–counter to America's promise of freedom and equality under the law. CRT teaches that America is racist at its core, and that the existing societal institutions must be dismantled. The reversal of the ban sent the momentum for combatting CRT to the states, where legislatures and governors are currently considering the impact of CRT's Marxist roots and intolerance of other ideas on K-12 curricula. This "Backgrounder" discusses why state education officials must resist the ever-increasing application of CRT in public schools in order to restore a sense of national character. Key takeaways in this report include: (1) CRT upends civil rights and equal protection under the law by treating people differently,… [PDF]
(2021). Teaching the New Majority: Addressing Race and Racism through Culturally Responsive Teaching. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Montclair State University. Studies have shown that culturally responsive teaching and its praxis appear very differently in various K-8 classrooms, while addressing race and racism are often absent from the classroom. However, these studies also support that pedagogical theories and practice such as these address the needs of students of color. Therefore, through a critical race theory lens, I explored teachers' life history, how this influenced their classroom practice, and how they addressed race and racism in their professional lives. Narrative inquiry methods were used to uncover answers to addressing race and racism in the classroom through three teachers' culturally responsive instruction. The results indicated that even if a teacher is culturally responsive, they may not be addressing race and racism, and teachers have different comfort levels with addressing race and racism in the classroom. I then provide ways for teacher educators to create and support pedagogy and experiences to enhance this kind of… [Direct]
(2013). Derrick Bell's Post-"Brown" Moves toward Critical Race Theory. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v16 n4 p442-469. The late Professor Derrick Bell is renowned as the intellectual architect who drafted the blueprints that guided the initial development of critical race theory (CRT). Prior to the advent of CRT, Professor Bell wrote extensively on initiatives designed to improve the lives of African Americans. Among his most influential scholarship, "Serving Two Masters" from the 1976 "Yale Law Review" emerged as a seminal foundational piece for CRT. We found that Bell's post-"Brown" litigation and frustrations were captured in several powerful law review journals from 1970-1976. During this time, he wrote extensively on minority admissions programs, school litigation strategies, racial remediation, equal employment, and of course the "Brown" decision and its aftermath. These early works attended to the details of how legal remediation for racism in various forms could be considered and approached, but more often were ignored and denied. These same works… [Direct]
(2015). Putting Critical Race Theory to Work in Australian Education Research: "We Are with the Garden Hose Here". Australian Educational Researcher, v42 n3 p371-394 Jul. There is a rekindled concern for the achievements of Indigenous learners in schooling in Australia. In part, this focus returned to view within mainstream discourses linked with growing neo-liberal influences and efforts to make education more countable and accountable. The emphasis on "Indigenous education" is given shape and substance by a collection of policy, assessment, curriculum and pedagogic "closing the gap" initiatives. Teachers are on the front-line putting into action practices that may realise these policy aspirations, raising questions for me about how teachers come to know and make sense of this suite of initiatives. In this article I draw on interview data with teachers from a suburban high school as they explain their understanding of the "closing the gap" policy framework. The article is organised into two sections, firstly I introduce Critical Race Theory in education and I put to work some of its ideas to examine the "gap"… [Direct]
(2018). Prison Reform and Redemption for Whom?. Texas Education Review, spec iss p60-71 Fall. This paper examines the ways in which people of color are systematically disadvantaged by the criminal justice system in the United States and questions who the true beneficiary of prison reform is. I review specific economic and educational policies that have contributed to this disenfranchisement, such as the School-to-Prison Pipeline, and policies surrounding the use of private prisons. I use Critical Race Theory as a lens to understand racial inequality in our criminal justice system and the ways in which criminal justice reform has failed to consider race in its policies. I conclude by examining the Trump administration's efforts at addressing the problems with our criminal justice systems and offer policy recommendations…. [PDF]
(2018). The Power of Language: Exploring Foundations of Neoliberalism in Federal Financial Aid Policy. Journal of Negro Education, v87 n2 p140-153 Spr. Despite claims that colleges and universities are isolated from ideological preferences, sociopolitical discourse regularly shapes policies and practices of postsecondary education. This article considers how national discourse on federal aid for postsecondary education during the 1970s reflected a monumental shift in higher education policy. Specifically, we critique neoliberalism, a tenet of critical race theory (CRT), to examine key testimonies from six expert educational leaders during a 1978 hearing on the Middle Income Student Assistance Act (MISAA). The key testimonies examined in this article highlight how language shifted the focus of national discourse on federal financial aid from public to private good, and from equal opportunity for traditionally underrepresented populations to equitable education for all…. [Direct]
(2018). Race as a Durable "and" Shifting Idea: How Black Millennial Preservice Teachers Understand Race, Racism, and Teaching. Peabody Journal of Education, v93 n1 p106-120. The rapidly changing landscape of 21st-century education has sparked intense conversations around the need for a more racially and ethnically diverse PK-12 teacher population. Drawing from critical race theory and racial formation, I describe findings from a qualitative case study that examined how a group of black millennial preservice teachers understand race and racism. Findings from the study illuminate that race and racism continue to hold relevance for the participants, even as they recognized generational differences in how these issues operate in past and present social relations. Additionally, as the participants express both sophisticated and simplistic understandings about racism, social media and university spaces allow students to expand their knowledge about race and racism…. [Direct]
(2018). What's in a Name … Or a Face? Student Perceptions of Faculty Race. Journal of Political Science Education, v14 n2 p177-196. Utilizing Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a conceptual framework, this study examines student perception of faculty of color in academia from student professor preference. Using an experimental design to test the effect of race on selection of faculty with whom to take a course, we showed student participants two types of pairings of faculty: first, pairs of photos of faculty of different races, and same age and attractiveness, then names of faculty, paired by different race were shown. The study provided evidence of racial bias with a strong preference for courses taught by White faculty by various subgroups of students, providing a snapshot of what faculty of color potentially stand to face in classroom environments…. [Direct]
(2024). Disrupting Disproportionality: A DisCrit Perspective on School Psychologist Training, Credentialing, and Certification for Racial Equity Systems Leadership. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. Racial disproportionality in special education reflects the manifestation of modern-day segregation in our education systems (Anyon, 2009; Artiles et al., 2016; Artiles, 2022). Due to their specialized training and positionality as key stakeholders in special education eligibility processes, school psychologists are uniquely suited to impact disproportionality. In California, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) have recently aligned standards to prepare school psychologists for practice. Using a disability critical race theory (DisCrit) lens, this study examines the experiences of those tasked with implementing these standards as well as the key documents that reflect them, specifically School Psychologist Performance Expectation 8 (SPPE 8): Human Diversity (SPPE 8; CCTC & NASP, 2020), given its connection to racial equity. The study also investigates how school psychology training programs prepare… [Direct]
(2024). Up from Slavery: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study of the Perilous Passage of Black Students in Doctoral Programs. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Massachusetts Boston. This dissertation explores the impact of racism, the campus racial climate, and the racial climate of graduate programs on the lived socialization experiences of Black students in doctoral programs. This dissertation utilizes a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to explore the experiences of Black doctoral students, discusses the historical context within which graduate programs seek to socialize Black students to the academy, and describes the inherent challenges associated with the socialization of Black students to academic norms. This dissertation uses Critical Race Theory (CRT), the Campus Racial Climate (CRC) framework, and racial socialization to better understand the lived socialization experiences of Black doctoral students in the academy. This dissertation focuses on Black students and situates Black students within the context of the racism that permeates society, the campus racial climate, and the racial climate of graduate programs, while considering… [Direct]
(2024). Understanding the Impact of Student Engagement Activities on Black American Males' Persistence in Community College: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Drexel University. Community colleges serve as the primary educational pathway for Black American males. Despite years of high enrollment by Black American males in community college, their persistence rates in community college continue to decline. The continued persistence decline has concerned community college leaders. Community colleges have attempted to implement initiatives to increase Black male persistence rates and address the outcome disparity, but the decline continues. The purpose of this qualitative interpretive phenomenological study was to understand the impact of engagement activities on Black American males' persistence in community colleges. With the conceptual framework being guided by the main principle tenets of Critical Race Theory and Involvement Theory, the overarching research question and subquestions that guided this research included: 1) How do Black American males describe the role of student engagement in their desire to persist in community college? a) How do Black… [Direct]
(2024). The Spirit-Murdering of Black Students from White Educators. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Missouri – Saint Louis. In this collection of autoethnographies, four researchers explored our deeply personal experiences and encounters with racialized oppression in the form of spirit-murder. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Whiteness Studies, this dissertation explores how two white educators have committed spirit-murder against Black students and how two Black educators have both experienced spirit-murder as students and have spirit-murdered their Black and Brown students as classroom teachers. We wanted to elevate our voices using counter-stories as a tenet of CRT and examples of our teaching practices. We aimed to elicit relatable suggestions to combat spirit-murdering from white educators toward Black students during their grade school and college experiences. All four educators hoped that by sharing, we exposed not only the existence and effects of spirit-murder and ways we were working to eliminate these unfair acts and practices but also ways to better support Black children in… [Direct]