(2017). Stumbling in the Dark: Principal Sensemaking of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports Policy and Practice in Racially Diverse Schools. AERA Online Paper Repository, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (San Antonio, TX, Apr 27-May 1, 2017). Existing literature underscores the over disciplining of students of Color. Research indicates programs like Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) are successful in decreasing disproportionate discipline for minority students in urban schools. No studies have addressed how urban school leaders make sense of PBIS within the racialized context of their schools. The purpose of this study explore ways principals make sense of PBIS policy in the racial context of their schools. This study also explores the role of racialized discourses in principal Sensemaking of the racialized context. A collective multiple case study was conducted applying Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Sensemaking Theory (SM) as a way to understand principals' cognition and action regarding disproportionate discipline in their schools. Data was collected through interviews, district data analysis, and document analysis. Results were interpreted using CRT and SM tenets. Findings indicated that two types of… [Direct]
(2017). In Real Time: From Theory to Practice in a Critical Race Pedagogy Classroom. i.e.: inquiry in education, v9 n1 Article 3. This qualitative research study employs a teacher action research methodology to study how a teacher develops and implements a critical race pedagogy (CRP) curriculum. CRP pairs the liberatory practices of critical pedagogy (Friere, 1970), such a problem-posing classroom and praxis, with the maxims of critical race theory (Delgado & Stefancic, 2000). Situated in a high school teacher pipeline program, this study details how a teacher-researcher developed a curriculum focused on teaching about racial injustice and educational inequality to a group of minoritized youth interested in the teaching profession. The research outlines key levers in her classroom, such as building a classroom community, selecting a range of critical texts, and harnessing dialogue to co-construct knowledge. The author also reflects on challenges that surfaced when moving from theory to practice, such as democratizing the classroom and the unfinished nature on becoming, and offers insights that contribute… [PDF]
(2017). "A Bright Future" for "Something New and Highly Significant" or a Bit of a Damp Squib?: (Neo-) Marxist Reflections on Recent Theoretical Developments in "Britcrit" in the Journal "Race, Ethnicity and Education". Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, v15 n3 p57-104 Dec. Critical Race Theory (CRT) has a relatively long history in the United States, from where it originated, dating back to the 1980s. Its presence in UK academic literature, however, is more recent, having surfaced in the first decade of the twenty-first century. I focus in this paper on developments in CRT in the UK from January 2012 to January 2018, as part of an ongoing attempt to evaluate CRT from a (neo-) Marxist perspective. My argument is that while "BritCrit" analysis employs (a limited number of) CRT concepts, there is a clear tendency for UK-based Critical Race Theorists to deploy a range of other theoretical perspectives, including Marxism. Thus, a distinctively British CRT has failed to take off in the way its founders had hoped. I speculate that this may well be related to CRT's inability to theorise the multifarious nature of racism in the UK, specifically those forms of racism that are either non-colour-coded or hybridist…. [PDF]
(2017). Trying to Build a Classless Utopia in the Land of Racial Democracy: The Lack of Racial Discussion within the Educational Materials of the Brazilian Landless Rural Workers' Movement. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v20 n2 p264-276. The hegemonic ideology of racial democracy and rural cultural norms of racial silence continue to inform racial identities and national racial discourse in Brazil, in this case within the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST), a left-wing movement for agrarian reform. In this article I engage in textual analysis of a textbook from the MST's youth curriculum, arguing that the language used in this textbook does not recognize the centrality of race in world or Brazilian history, but rather focuses on the role of social class in marginalization. I also argue that race is largely ignored in the textbook's description of the MST itself, despite the organization working in rural areas that are predominantly indigenous or Afro-descendant. Lastly, I argue that language is used which implicitly separates the MST leadership from indigenous and Afro-Brazilian populations. The implications of these findings are analyzed through the lens of critical race theory and Brazilian rurality…. [Direct]
(2017). Only STEM Can Save Us? Examining Race, Place, and STEM Education as Property. Educational Studies: Journal of the American Educational Studies Association, v53 n6 p628-641. The rhetoric about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in urban schools reflects a desire to imagine a new city that is poised to compete in a STEM-centered future. Therefore, STEM has been positioned as a critical part of urban education reform efforts. In various US cities, schools labeled as "failing" are being repurposed as selective STEM-intensive academies to build a STEM education infrastructure. In Memphis, Tennessee, this process makes visible issues with educational inequity, exacerbated by school choice and gentrification processes. In this article, I use whiteness as property, a tenet of critical race theory, to examine STEM education in Memphis as a case of urban STEM-based education reform in the United States. I describe claiming STEM education as property as a 2-phase process in which middle-class Whites in urban areas participate to secure STEM education by repurposing "failed" Black schools and to maintain it by… [Direct]
(2022). Latinas in the Principal's Office: A Phenomenological Study. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Northcentral University. The problem addressed by this study was that many Latina principals are faced with racial and ethnic discrimination, are condemned by their cultural community for not balancing cultural and professional expectations, are disproportionately placed in urban campuses with predominantly minority students, and lack mentors. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain clarity about Latina principals' experiences relating to racial and ethnic discrimination and the condemnation of their cultural communities with the intent to improve Latina principals' experiences. Latinx critical race theory (LatCrit) and counterstorytelling were the chosen conceptual frameworks used to understand how Latina principals overcome barriers to make them successful school principals. Homogenous purposive sampling and chain-referral sampling were implemented to recruit eight Latina principals. The study consisted of an in-depth interview via WebEx as means to gather data, Google Docs and ATLAS.ti to… [Direct]
(2022). Exploring the Racial Gap in Study Abroad Participation at U.S. Colleges and Universities through a Mixed-Methods Analysis of Student Intention. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Michigan State University. The study abroad experience is an important fixture of American higher education, with politicians, institutions, and mainstream media calling for increased participation. Participation in study abroad can potentially benefit students' personal, academic, and career development. However, historical educational data have shown that some groups, such as Students of Color, have been underrepresented in study abroad participation at American colleges and universities. To better understand the racial gap in study abroad participation, this study combined the Theory of Planned Behavior and critical race theory to explore the intersections of race and racism with factors (i.e., attitude, subject norm, perceived behavioral control) that predict students' intention to study abroad, and the role of social and non-social environmental influences on these factors (e.g., advertisements, advisers). The results indicated that for Students of Color and White students, racial identity and expected… [Direct]
(2022). A Diversity of Tactics: Exploring the Contexts, Negotiations, and Motivations of Teachers Doing Antiracist Work. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Colorado at Denver. There is both a longstanding legacy of white supremacy in education, and a plethora of resistance movements to white supremacy. Correspondingly, there are scores of teachers who uphold white supremacy at the classroom level (through curriculums, pedagogies, behavior policies, procedures, and more), and many who work to challenge and critically interrogate racism in their classrooms. Yet, despite the wealth of scholarship that has, for decades, worked to critically challenge and uproot racism in schools (see Delpit, 1988; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Love, 2019; Lynn & Parker, 2006), and despite the fact that there are surely teachers who undertake this work (as evidenced in the scholarship), there is still less that is known about who these critical teachers are and how they arrived at this place of being/becoming educators who engage in antiracist practices. As such, this grounded theory study adds to the scholarship on antiracist education by exploring, through questionnaires and… [Direct]
(2022). Reimagining School Discipline: A White, Female Principal's Experience Implementing Restorative Practices and SW-PBIS. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Educators and researchers have been exploring alternative approaches to school discipline such as School-wide Positive Interventions and Supports (SW-PBIS) and Restorative Justice. While these programs and practices along have been determined to be effective in reducing instances of discipline disproportionality (McIntosh et. al., 2018; Stewart Kline, 2016), there has been little research analyzing the effectiveness of both approaches implemented in tandem. Using an autoethnographic design, this study critically analyzes the beliefs and perceptions of one white, female school principal as she combines SW-PBIS and Restorative Practices at her racially diverse, Title I elementary school. Through the collection of raw data, reflexive journaling, and reflecting on public, archival data sets, the researcher explored the essence of her own identity as a white, female principal by addressing the following research questions: 1) How has implementing restorative practices and SW-PBIS… [Direct]
(2023). A Social Justice Biology Curriculum to Strengthen Community College Students' Critical Consciousness. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago. The existing body of research presents two contrasting views of community colleges, one portraying them as a "second chance" for individuals, offering an accessible route to higher socioeconomic status. The second views community colleges as a deceptive cover designed to divert marginalized people away from prestigious colleges and to "blue-collar" occupations. Drawing inspiration from Paulo Freire's concept of critical consciousness, I propose a third perspective, a liberatory viewpoint. This approach involves offering an education that raises students' awareness and empowers them to enact positive transformations in their lives. Looking to nurture critical consciousness in science majors, I infused the traditional biology curriculum with social justice issues in two Biology II sections at a community college in the Midwestern U.S. with an institutional focus on healthcare careers. Based on conversations with students, I selected issues directly connected to… [Direct]
(2022). Revealing Hidden Figures: Critical Analysis of Girls and Women of Color in STEM Picture Storybook. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, George Mason University. The more individuals consume media that portray people who participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as white and able-bodied men, the more likely individuals within STEM communities will only recognize those who fit that image as belonging there, thereby alienating individuals who do not fit the portrayed media image (Carlone & Johnson, 2007; Farland-Smith et al., 2017; Rawson & McCool, 2014). Additionally, reports indicate a lack of diverse representation in children's literature (Cooperative Children's Book Center, 2018; Huyck & Dahlen, 2019). Specifically, girls and people of color are significantly less likely to be portrayed as participating in STEM in children's literature (Farland-Smith et al., 2017; Kelly, 2018). While many researchers have explored the representation and misrepresentations of girls and people of color within children's literature (Campbell et al., 2016; Gooden & Gooden, 2001; Yoo-Lee et al., 2014), few have… [Direct]
(2022). African American Principals' Efficacy for Narrowing the Exclusionary Discipline Gap for African American Students: A Phenomenological Study. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Bowling Green State University. Suspension and expulsion (exclusionary discipline) continue to be common forms of punishment in American schools (Hoffman, 2014). Exclusionary discipline often occurs as a result of "zero-tolerance" policies. School districts enacted zero-tolerance policies in the 1990s to address school shootings and fears about a perceived escalation of crime rates. Increased reliance on exclusionary discipline to maintain school safety intensified the racial disparities between Black and White students (Skiba & Rush, 2006). Creswell (2013) describes a phenomenological study as one that "focuses on describing what all participants have in common as they experience a phenomenon" (p.76). The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand how African American principals perceive their (a) efficacy for narrowing the exclusionary discipline gap for African American students and (b) for facilitating discussions about implicit racial bias. In addition, the study was… [Direct]
(2012). Using Critical Race Theory to Analyze How Disney Constructs Diversity: A Construct for the Baccalaureate Human Behavior in the Social Environment Curriculum. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, v32 n1 p46-61. Utilizing the basic tenets of critical race theory, the authors draw upon the expertise of multicultural scholars to raise consciousness and facilitate BSW classroom dialogue about microagressions perpetrated in Disney animations. Microaggressions pervade our media partly because they typically operate outside the threshold of the dominant culture's conscious awareness. Our main consciousness-raising method is to expose social work students to microagressions depicted in Disney animations and then use the classroom as a counterspace to process the experience. We note that utilizing critical race theory to become conscious of microaggressions within Disney animations is the first step toward eradicating them…. [Direct]
(2020). Justice Systems Student Perceptions of Multicultural Teaching and Learning: A Qualitative Descriptive Study. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Grand Canyon University. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the perceptions of justice systems students in the Midwest regarding the need for multicultural teaching and learning and preferred course content and pedagogy in undergraduate criminal justice education. Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Marchesani and Adams' Multicultural Teaching and Learning Model informed this study's research questions which asked what perceptions do justice systems students have regarding the need for multicultural teaching and learning in undergraduate criminal justice education, what preferences do justice systems students have regarding course content and multicultural teaching and learning, and what preferences do justice systems students have regarding pedagogy and multicultural teaching and learning in undergraduate criminal justice education. Purposive and snowball sampling helped recruit 15 justice systems students that participated in face-to-face interviews and a focus group. An inductive… [Direct]
(2020). #SHAPEsoWhite. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, v25 n3 p240-258. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the racial/ ethnic diversity of SHAPE America's teacher of the year program using Critical Race Theory. As such, the goal was to identify and map potential racial biases within the institutional structures of SHAPE America's teacher of the year program. Research design and methods: This paper used an exploratory research design using online Physical Education Teacher of the Year online profiles, social media requests, emails, and demographic questionnaires. Data collected from the design included the breakdown of nominees and recipients between 2008-2018. Data were analyzed in two different ways. First, the data were inductively analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequency and percentages of SHAPE America Teachers of the Year. Second, a critical race lens was used to interpret the descriptive statistics in relation to the selection process and larger social issues. Results: The overwhelming number of SHAPE teachers of… [Direct]