(2019). Peer Support and STEM Success for One African American Female Engineer. Journal of Negro Education, v88 n2 p181-193 Spr. This research used counter-storytelling, a critical race theory methodology, to chronicle the lived experiences of one African American female PhD engineer as she recounted her undergraduate, master's, and doctoral STEM experiences at three postsecondary institutions. Using interviews and narrative to capture her first-hand perspective as a woman engineer of color, peer support was revealed as a dominant factor in her attainment of a PhD in engineering. The two counter-stories presented are related to positive and negative peer support in STEM. These narratives serve as valid evidence for one woman's experiences in STEM and emphasize the role of race and racism on peer networks and STEM success. Though showing this one case, the findings have implications for how higher education institutions can provide structures where supportive peer networks can emerge to support women of color and students of color in STEM…. [Direct]
(2024). Sustaining an Evidence-Based Student Engagement Intervention: The Case of Check & Connect. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Minnesota. Educators across the U.S. struggle to provide an equitable education to their diverse students. Since the 2020 COVID pandemic and the national call to end racism after George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis, chronic absenteeism and students' substantial mental health challenges have disrupted their efforts. Schools have struggled more than ever to simply educate their students, much less utilize evidence-based interventions to ensure that students graduate from high school prepared for success in postsecondary education and adult life. Evidence-based programs, which have been shown to support educational goals, cannot produce outcomes if they are not sustained, which, unfortunately, is frequently the case. Check & Connect (C&C), an evidence-based student engagement/dropout prevention intervention, was piloted in Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) in 1990 and has been implemented ever since. Although there have been multiple internal and external evaluations of it, none have… [Direct]
(2024). Beyond Recidivism: A Qualitative Study of How Black Men Describe Their Educational Journey after Incarceration. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Northcentral University. Since the early 1970s, exponential and unprecedented growth of incarceration rates of Black youths became a critical issue. One in twenty persons, or 5% of the total United States population serve at least six months in federal state prisons by age 40. Recidivism rates in excess of 50% compounded the problem. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how Black male youths formerly incarcerated in the Northeast United States described their perceptions of the GED program in prison, and their perceived implications for a journey to re-entry. Research questions involved why, and how Black male youths formerly incarcerated in the Northeast United States described their perceptions of the GED program in prison, and their perceived implications for a journey to re-entry. Reintegration theory provided the theoretical framework to address GED program completion and recidivism. Ten Black former prisoners completed semistructured interviews lasting 30 to 45 minutes and… [Direct]
(2024). For the Love of Black Children: Towards Black Liberatory Educational Subversion. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of San Francisco. American K-12 schooling is one cog in a system of structural racism, with antiblackness as a foundational pillar (Brown University, 2015; Dumas, 2014; Dumas & ross, 2016). Within the structurally racist institution of education, Black students are most likely to experience criminalization, adultification, invisiblization, ostracization, and tokenization in school settings (Brown University, 2015; Bryan, 2020; Epstein, Black, & Gonzalez, 2017). For Black students in suburban schools, especially, the antiblack messaging can be more consistent and direct, having deleterious effects on their development (Chapman, 2017; Ferguson, 2002). Centering my work inside a suburban school district via a Black women-founded-and-run non-profit, this study explored the "homeplaces" (hooks, 2014/1994) Black educators create amidst the backdrop of systemic antiblackness. I introduce the conceptual framework, Black Liberatory Educational Subversion (BLES), that codifies the fugitive and… [Direct]
(2019). "Exploring This Whole Thing of Social Justice" Narrative as a Tool for Critical Sociocultural Knowledge Development in Teacher Education. Pedagogies: An International Journal, v14 n1 p62-77. Many teacher education programs provide teachers with opportunities to read, write, and discuss critical pedagogy, with the hope that such work will allow them to develop more equitable and just teaching practices. Yet, there often remains a gap between the theoretical discussions of teaching and learning in teacher education classrooms and the pedagogical practice in those teachers' K-12 classrooms. In this study, we examine how one teacher, Gabriela, used narratives to make connections between her third-grade classroom and the critical concepts she was exploring in a teacher education course. Embedded within an ethnographic case study of an inservice teacher education program, we used a discourse analytic approach to examine both the sociocultural knowledge and the identities Gabriela constructed through narrative as she engaged with issues of language, race, and power within the course. We consider some of the affordances of narrative in this space, including how it allowed… [Direct]
(1993). On the Superiority of Black Colleges. Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, n1 p60-66 Fall. Presents an interview with William H. Gray III who discusses the educational advantages of the nation's historically black colleges (HBCs). Subjects include increasing funding and enrollments at HBCs and the reality of confronting racism after graduation. White isolation in higher education is briefly discussed. (GLR)…
(2014). Does Racism Exist in the Online Classroom Learning Environment? Perceptions of Online Undergraduate Students. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Capella University. In U.S. history, racism has existed in traditional brick-and-mortar academic institutions for hundreds of years. With the increase of online learning–a strategic and effective form of education for many academic institutions of higher education–the question being asked is, Does racism exist in the online classroom learning environment? This qualitative study examined the perspectives and experiences of college students regarding their experience with racism in online learning. The finding of this research revealed that while the majority of the participants never witnessed or experienced racism in the online learning environment, there were occurrences that suggested it exists and that the incidents can cause confusion and lack of motivation for the learner. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web… [Direct]
(2022). America's Empathy Deficit: Our Bloody Heirloom and the Invisible Backpack. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Northeastern University. This study was designed to examine the on-campus experience of Black male visual and performing arts students at Storytelling University (pseudonym), a predominantly white institution in the Northeast, particularly how those experiences shape their careers as storytellers in mainstream media. The analysis of this research is expressed through a creative format illustrated in an open letter addressing Storytelling University and its role in perpetuating the problem of practice. The inquiry shares the firsthand expression of the researcher's experience as a Black male visual and performing arts student at the research host site almost two decades prior. The open letter uniquely reveals the parallel between the lasting impact of white privilege in American society and how higher education institutions have played a considerable role in the continued underrepresentation, marginalization, and racial disparities of Black male storytellers seen in mainstream media today. This research… [Direct]
(2023). A Role for Pre-College Programs: Cultural Capital and School Outcomes for Black Students Seeking Higher Education. ProQuest LLC, D.L.S. Dissertation, Georgetown University. Racial and ethnic minority groups face extraordinary challenges in access to and success in higher education due to the complicated history of racism in the US educational system and society. This thesis focuses on past and current practices that affect educational equity, college completion, and post-undergraduate success for Black first-generation college students attending predominantly white institutions (PWI). The intersection of K-12 and higher education is explored, including the role pre-college programs can play in efforts to encourage students from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue and succeed in postsecondary education. Pre-college programs, whether federal, community-based, or university-affiliated, are one intervention that guides and prepares students for the cultural norms, skills, and behaviors of postsecondary education through the lens of cultural capital–skills, knowledge, abilities, and behaviors obtained through educational attainment and deemed valuable by… [Direct]
(2022). Promotion, Tenure, and Advancement through the Lens of 2020. Proceedings of a Workshop. In Brief. National Academies Press The COVID-19 pandemic upended nearly every aspect of academia, leading colleges and universities to reexamine how they instruct their students and how they reward their faculty. But the pandemic was not the only disruptive event that took place in 2020. Colleges and universities have been forced to address issues related to productivity, teaching, student learning, mentoring, service, and innovative research in the context of remote or hybrid work–all amplified by the increased attention to and discussion of systemic racism, widespread economic hardships, and extreme environmental events. To help leaders of higher education understand how one particular issue–the current faculty reward, advancement, and hiring system–has changed and continues to change in response to several of the events of 2020, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) commissioned a set of papers. These papers formed the basis for a series of four virtual workshops held… [Direct]
(2020). Leading through a Critical Lens: The Application of DisCrit in Framing, Implementing and Improving Equity Driven, Educational Systems for All Students. Journal of Educational Administration, v58 n5 p489-505. Purpose: This article focuses on the strategic importance of framing cultural changes in special education through a critical lens. The article explores why cultural responsivity must be understood from a critical perspective that accounts for the historical sedimentation of racism that exists within special education organizational policies and practices. This sedimentation affects current and future organizational features that sustain historical, persistent and pernicious racial and ableist structures, relationships and outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: By examining the role of power within organizational systems, the authors trace its contribution to reproduction of these systems through special education leadership. Special education leaders along with their peers in general education can frame transformative change through a systemic lens designed to address structural, regulatory and cultural practices that perpetuate raced and ableist outcomes. The pernicious and… [Direct]
(2020). There Is No Return to Normal: Harnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future. Occasional Paper No. 49. National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment The United States is in a period of reckoning from which institutions of higher education are not exempt. Rather, we exist at the intersection of the chaos wrought by the novel coronavirus and the spread of outrage about systemic racism beyond Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC) communities. The resulting almost universal sense of loss and uncertainty leads many of us to believe that individuals have little-to-no power to inform, never mind implement, change. Systemic problems require systemic solutions. There can be no return to "normal." We instead invite our assessment colleagues to question the unexamined assumptions which underlie our heretofore taken-for-granted approaches to assessing and documenting our students' learning; to reconnect with their foundational beliefs and values; and to fully engage with the uncertainty and complexity of the current moment. This paper offers readers a developmental approach for reflection, identifying potential leverage… [PDF]
(2023). Exploring Senior Black Leaders' Interpersonal Relationships with Their White Counterparts at Predominantly White Institutions and the Impacts on Their Roles. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Morgan State University. Leadership in higher education revolves around relationships between leaders and campus stakeholders. Senior Black leaders (SBLs) at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) carry an extra burden in navigating relationships due to the salience of their race. They face many challenges around racism, microaggressions, and other discriminatory practices which affect them psychologically, socially, and educationally. Therefore, it is critical to understand SBLs' interpersonal relationships with their White counterparts and how those relationships affect their roles. This study employed critical race methodology, centering the unique voice of color, using stories and counter stories to describe SBLs' relationships with their White colleagues and the impacts on their roles. This study interviewed 20 participants. Participants served at different PWI types in positions including president, vice president, and associate/assistant vice president in finance, diversity, equity, and inclusion,… [Direct]
(2015). Race and Language Learning in Multicultural Canada: Towards Critical Antiracism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, v36 n1 p3-12. Issues of race constitute an emerging area of inquiry in language education. Yet, race, racialisation and racism are still stigmatised topics of discussion in everyday and professional contexts in multiracial and multiethnic countries. Canada is especially an interesting context in this regard due to its official policy of multiculturalism that constructs a national identity of tolerance towards diversity. Drawing on the author's personal experience, this article presents some fundamental ideas for critical antiracism which call into question the commonly accepted antiracist agenda in research and practice. These ideas include decolonising antiracism (moving beyond white vs. non-white dichotomy to scrutinise power relations between non-white settlers and aboriginal people), de-essentialising antiracism (paying increased attention to economic privilege) and de-simplifying and de-silencing antiracism (paying more attention to multifaceted forms of racism and making issues of racial… [Direct]
(2023). Latina Spiritualities as Protective Factors within Higher Education: A Critical Analysis of the Literature. ProQuest LLC, Psy.D. Dissertation, Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Psychology. Within higher education institutions, Latinas are grossly underrepresented, inadequately supported, and often face discrimination within their academic environment. Overall, Latinx populations encounter racism, sexism, familial and cultural expectations, as well as societal pressures, that impact their educational journey and perceptions of self. Latinas, who make up a unique minority group within Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), are actively working to break through the "glass ceiling," a term that describes the ability to see their potential success as educated women. In light of these challenges, Latinas may be able to lean on the spirituality of their indigenous roots as a source of strength, encouragement, and support as they navigate academia. Recent literature has highlighted concepts of religious coping that stem from indigenous spirituality, such as resilience and well-being in domains such as psychology, theology, and academia. Indigenous forms of… [Direct]