(2021). 'You Guys Are Bilingual Aren't You?' Latinx Educational Leadership Pathways in the New Latinx Diaspora. International Journal of Leadership in Education, v24 n1 p84-107. Existing research suggests that Latinx educational leaders in the U.S. positively impact Latinx student outcomes and home-school relationships. Yet, much of this research has been conducted in traditional U.S. Latinx immigrant destinations. We know little about the Latinx leadership experiences in regions where Latinx communities are smaller, yet growing quickly such as the New Latinx Diaspora. Using Latina/o Critical Race Theory, this study analyzed in-depth interviews with five Latinx administrators in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Participants' counter-stories revealed three key findings: their bilingualism was an asset and liability in their early careers, they demonstrated deep persistence in the face of racism and sexism and they often experienced isolation as either the one or one of a few leaders of color in their districts. Their counter-stories illustrate how changing demographic contexts such as those in the New Latinx Diaspora can impact teaching and leadership demands on… [Direct]
(2021). Black African Parents' Narratives on Apartheid Schooling and School History. Perspectives in Education, v39 n3 p3-16. This paper was motivated by the anecdotal experiences of the lead author on the views of middle-class Black African parents who did their schooling under apartheid and who were parents of high school learners in contemporary post-apartheid South Africa. In this paper narrative inquiry was used to engage with ten purposively selected Black African parents. In the process their narratives of schooling under apartheid and the parental choices they made on the subjects their children studied were constructed. As a theoretical lens Critical Race Theory was used to allow the parents to tell their counter-stories. These parents were adamant that their children should not study history. This was partially rooted in their own apartheid-era schooling experiences. For the most part the Black African parents tried to live their unfulfilled dreams and ambitions through their children by getting them to study science and mathematics as this was directly linked to upward-mobility, middle-classness,… [Direct]
(2023). A Soul-Centered Approach to Educating Teachers: A Black Education Network (ABEN). Myers Education Press "A Soul-Centered Approach to Educating Teachers" has been created by A Black Education Network (ABEN), a national organization whose mission is to reverse the backward slide of Black students by utilizing culturally informed research, technology, and visionary community networking within the African Diaspora to facilitate academic and cultural excellence wherever scholars are. This interactive book presents portraits, narratives, and essays to illustrate the impact of ABEN on Black educators and those they serve. Traditional teacher education, curriculum, and instruction is largely disconnected from the lived experiences of diverse students and their communities. Current debates around Critical Race Theory and its application to curriculum call into question culturally responsive practices while others are striving for ways to support equitable practices in the classroom. Questions about these practices include, What does teacher and learning look like when grounded in… [Direct]
(2023). Navigating the Classroom with Equality: A Qualitative Descriptive Study of Teachers' Perceptions of School Discipline and Strategic Interventions. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Northcentral University. In public education systems, there is a rising cause for concern over the disproportionality in administrating discipline to students, primarily students of color, compared to their White peers. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore teachers' perceptions of disparities in the administration of discipline between students of color and White students. The participating teachers suggested strategic interventions to limit or eliminate disparities in school discipline. Fifteen purposefully sampled public school teachers engaged in semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions to address the research topic and the framework of critical race theory, which focuses on the relationships between race, racism, and power. The findings indicated that students of color continue to be disproportionately disciplined compared to their White peers. Other key findings suggest that educators lack the cultural competency to deal with diverse classroom settings and need… [Direct]
(2023). Exploring the Experiences of Black Geotechnical Engineers in Employee Recruitment and Retention as It Relates to Increasing Diversity within the Field of Engineering: A Phenomenological Study. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Delaware State University. Over the years, there has been an underrepresentation of Black males in the Geotechnical Engineering field in the United States. White men have dominated the Geotechnical Engineering sector, and that practice continues today. According to Fatourou et al. (2019), the disparity of Blacks in the engineering workforce is a universal matter that speaks to race discrimination. Since the 20th century, Blacks have been underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions (Fatourou et al., 2019). Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological inquiry was to explore geotechnical engineering employee recruitment and retention of Black engineers in the Midwest region of the United States, particularly in the transportation department. The study utilized Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, Maslow's Hierarchy-of-Needs Theory, and the Critical Race Theory as the underpinning frameworks for this study. A snowball sampling technique was used to identified the nine… [Direct]
(2023). "If These Walls Could Talk": Exploring Decision Making for Diversity Professionals Working at a Historically White Institution. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Northern Arizona University. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are commonly used words on college campuses to describe support for students of color on campus. Rarely are these terms ever utilized to examine how staff conducting diversity work are experiencing their respective institutions. In this study, I explored how staff of color performing diversity work navigate working at a historically white institution (HWI)–given their lived experiences. The focus of this study is through a racialized lens utilizing Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Racial Formations as the theoretical frameworks. Plantation politics is applied as the conceptual framework to draw connections to how HWIs act as contemporary plantations using ongoing violent practices. This study was conducted through a qualitative inquiry approach by using a semi-constructed interview process. Music elicitation is also used in this study to allow space for collaborators to express their experiences through song. The findings yield numerous shared ideals… [Direct]
(2023). Perceptions of Leadership Preparation Programs: Meeting the Needs of Black Students. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Concordia University Chicago. University preparation programs are designed to prepare educators and future educators for educational leadership positions, such as school principals or superintendents. While degree programs are designed to increase the effectiveness of future school leaders and prepare students for the job requirements, research on the efficacy of such programs is mixed. Courses in principal preparation programs have little connection to k-12 issues or relevance to the expectations and demands of the modern-day administrator. More specific, preparation programs do not adequately prepare school leaders to address issues regarding the impact of race and class on students. Using critical race theory and social justice theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how leaders in urban schools describe their leadership training and their ability to support the social-emotional wellbeing of Black students. Data was collected through interviews with 10 school leaders and a review… [Direct]
(2023). Elementary Teachers' Perceptions Regarding Behaviors That Lead to Disproportionate Referrals by Race. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Walden University. Disproportionate office referrals through teachers in Grades 3-5 based on their students' race are documented. At a Title I elementary school in the northeastern part of Virginia, non-White students are referred to the office for behavior issues 5% more times than their White peers. Guided by Bell's critical race theory, the purpose of this study was to examine Grade 3-5 elementary teachers' perceptions regarding types of behaviors that are leading to disproportionate numbers of office referrals for non-White students. A basic qualitative research design was employed. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 8 purposefully sampled teachers to explore teachers' perceptions about behaviors that challenge teachers' authority in the classroom, how they establish understandable classroom rules for all students, and support they need to address behavior issues proactively rather than reactively. Using open and axial coding to analyze data, four themes were identified: disrespect… [Direct]
(2022). The Career Pipeline Experience of Ethnically and Racially Diverse College and University Presidents of Higher Education in the United States. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, New England College. The ethnic and racial representation disparity gap among college presidents in the United States is 83% White and 17% ethnically/racially diverse (Gagliardi et al., 2017). In this qualitative study, I explored the career pipeline experiences of a cohort of 10 ethnically and racially diverse college presidents in the United States. Critical race theory and grounded theory were used to guide this research process, and snowballing sampling techniques was used to recruit potential study participants. The data collection process produced six categorical experiences from participants: (a) experiences of diverse college and university presidents in pursuing doctoral study; (b) being an ethnically and racially diverse professional in higher education; (c) the persisting diversity representation gap in the presidential career pipeline; (d) increasing the number of diverse college or university presidents; and (e) mentors, intentional connections, and final thoughts. As a result of this study,… [Direct]
(2023). The Story of DACA as Told by Friends of the Court: The Role of Interest Convergence, Color-Evasiveness, and Exceptionality in Policy Discourse. American Journal of Education, v129 n3 p297-324 May. Purpose: In this study, we examine the policy discourse in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) case before the US Supreme Court, a case with implications for education. The case drew a wide range of interested groups who weighed in on the policy as amici curiae, "friends of the court," offering perspectives about the implications of the case and constructing an overall narrative of DACA within policy discourse. Research Methods/Approach: The theoretical framework guiding the study combines Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Undocumented Critical Theory (UndocuCrit). Using this lens, we identified the discourse regarding issues of race and immigration status in the collective story of the DACA policy as told by amici curiae, including multiple educational stakeholders. Through an iterative process, we employed theory- and data-driven coding to qualitatively analyze the 44 briefs amici curiae submitted to the Court. To bolster the trustworthiness of the findings, we… [Direct]
(2022). "Stories of a Healing Way": A Navajo Woman's Media Production for Cultural Representation and Identification. Reading Research Quarterly, v57 n1 p131-148 Jan-Mar. Little research has been conducted on the multimodal writing of contemporary Native American women that would refute stereotypical and outdated notions of Indigenous peoples as a dying population. This case study was undertaken to address that gap in the extant research by examining the writing practices of a young Native American woman to determine why and how she composed and participated in participatory media of personal zines and social media to represent her gender and cultural identities. The inquiry was conducted from multiple perspectives of literacy as a social and semiotic practice, the new literacies, tribal critical race theory, and Indigenous feminist theory. Data were triangulated by observations, formal and informal interviews, questionnaires, screenshots, and the participant's video recordings of her storytelling. I analyzed these data by thematic and semiotic analyses. Findings demonstrated how she crafted comic strip stories and do-it-yourself media to create,… [Direct]
(2022). Time for the School Choice Movement to Embrace the Culture War. Backgrounder. No. 3683. Heritage Foundation Critical race theory (CRT) and the high-profile projects pushing the radical ideology's discriminatory ideas are trying to divide Americans by skin color and pit them against each other. The cultural fissures are manifesting in education, with heated arguments about curricula and classroom activism. This "Backgrounder" estimates how engaging in cultural issues facing this country could produce important gains for school choice advocates. It analyzes results of a nationally representative survey that asks a variety of questions about both cultural issues and school choice. Overall, respondents are supportive of school choice and strongly oppose social justice ideology. These findings are consistent with other surveys. Moreover, respondents who are skeptical about the woke agenda tend to be most supportive of school choice. This "Backgrounder" presents three important findings. First, that support for school choice is moderately high. Second, that radical cultural… [PDF]
(2022). Indian International Students' Experiences with Racism. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, California State University, Fresno. Despite being one of the largest populations of international students in the U.S., Indian international students have been mostly ignored by scholars. Further, research about international student experiences has mostly failed to take a critical look and rather focused on how students can adjust and assimilate to U.S. culture. Using critical race theory, racist nativism, and caste as theoretical frameworks, this interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) study examined the lived experiences of Indian international undergraduate students with racism in the U.S. As such, this research shifts the focus from how students can assimilate to how their universities can create a better climate on campus for them. This qualitative IPA research utilized two semi-structured interviews, with video logs in between. The data were analyzed to interpret how the participants made sense of their experiences with racism and discriminatory policies and practices. I found that the participants… [Direct]
(2022). Rules for Academic Reformers. James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal For decades, observant Americans have looked upon institutions of higher learning with dismay. The reasons for their anxiety varied; some were upset at the increasing politicization, others at rising costs, and so on. But it seemed as if there were no way to turn back the tide of higher education's degradation. That may be starting to change. Academia is moving into very extreme territory politically, promoting false, conjectural, and dogmatic theories such as critical race theory and indigenous science instead of long-accepted theories tested by proven methods. This extremism is heightening awareness among ordinary Americans about academia's alarming direction, and some are starting to get involved in campaigns to push back against the radical agenda. The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal has been on the forefront of the struggle to end the abuse of our colleges and universities for several decades. Today, with increasing potential to attract new allies to its cause, it is… [PDF]
(2018). Journeys of Resilience: American Indian Students with Disabilities Overcoming Barriers to Pursue Higher Education. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Arizona. In this study I investigated the journeys of five American Indian students with disabilities (AISD) pursuing higher education in the Southwest region of the United States. Specifically, the AISD's journeys were examined to identify: (1) student perceptions and social and institutional conditions that served as barriers to pursue higher education; and (2) what conditions in the experiences of AISD facilitated overcoming barriers to pursue higher education. This qualitative study used critical ethnography and grounded theory methods to collect AISD stories that spanned their childhoods, transitions to college, and current placement in college. Navhongvita (Joseph & Windchief, 2015) was the conceptual model implemented to organize the data and Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribalCrit) (Brayboy, 2005) and Dis/ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) (Annamma, Connor, & Ferri, 2016) were the theoretical lens used to interpret findings. The role of home community and educational… [Direct]