(2015). Documenting Experiences of Gay Latinos in Higher Education Using "Testimonio". ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of San Francisco. This qualitative study focuses on the stories of six self-Identified Gay Latinos in a higher education. The participant's stories are documented using "Testimonio." The six men were uniquely situated to give their "testimonios" about their campus experiences of seeking support in that they were the narrators of the experiences. Key findings indicated a pipeline of support which began with supportive families. Multidimensional identity was well defined by the participants as understanding of being both Latino and Gay. The participants, while exploring campus spaces for support, found themselves navigating through one identity or the other resulting in a process of "selective identity." Ultimately, the participants made decisions about safe-supportive spaces based on how they identity. Certain spaces such as LGBTQ resources did not meet their multidimensional needs. All participants found support with one or more campus resource from which they could… [Direct]
(2017). Cultural Care and Inviting Practices: Building Relationships in an Urban Elementary School. Teacher Perspectives in Forming Positive Teacher-Student Relationships Based on Care and Equity. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Duquesne University. This dissertation in practice investigates teacher perceptions of the influence of cultural care and invitational education (IE) on the formation of a positive teacher-student relationship with students of color in an urban elementary school. Cultural care is a theory of practice that utilizes a social-emotional approach for school improvement and to promote positive student outcomes. It is defined as a verbal or nonverbal gesture that displays a genuine interest in another person's social, emotional, mental, and physical well-being; simultaneously recognizing and acknowledging race and culture as a vital part of a person's identity. Cultural care must include respecting, valuing, and embracing culture from a value- and strengths-based perspective. Conducted through qualitative participatory action research, this study examined teacher practices and perceptions in order to evaluate the influence of cultural care. The study utilizes elements of the theoretical frameworks of IE,… [Direct]
(2017). Black World Language Instructors in Higher Education: Social Justice-Based Perspectives and Pedagogies. ProQuest LLC, D.E. Dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The field of world language education is one that has historically been dominated by traditional pedagogical practices and perspectives that limit the opportunity for rich, critical examination of course content. This often leaves much to be desired in students' learning experiences for many students, and frequently causes students of color to feel alienated from the language learning process. There has been a recent shift within the field in which social justice pedagogies are utilized by educators in an effort to create more meaningful learning experiences for students. This study explores the former learning experiences of three Black, post-secondary Spanish instructors and examines their pedagogical practices as they explore social justice-based phenomena and question and challenge systems of inequity and injustice with their students through use of the target language. The pedagogies implemented within the classrooms are based on the educators' own perceptions of what it means… [Direct]
(2017). The Academic Search: Unconscious Bias and Its Impact on the Recruitment and Evaluation of Faculty Candidates. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Oakland University. In this study, I examined the academic search process and the role that unconscious bias plays in the evaluation and recruitment of faculty candidates. The academic search process and participants' beliefs, values, and attitudes regarding how they evaluated faculty candidates and made decisions regarding shortlist placement were examined. I used a descriptive exploratory design employing a mixed method methodology. Data were collected from an online survey extended to 3,978 participants. The survey was administered to sociologists across the United States who had served on an academic search committee. I examined the attributes that were important to search committee members when evaluating or ranking candidates for shortlist placement, investigated search committee members' awareness of their propensity to express subtle bias behavior against African American faculty candidates, and analyzed responses to open-ended questions that were designed to examine personal search committee… [Direct]
(2017). Teacher Perception of the Role of Race and Culture in Special Education Referrals for African-American Males at an Urban Elementary/Middle School. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Morgan State University. Disproportionality in special education identification has been long debated by researchers and scholars in the field of education, yet understanding of this phenomenon remains limited (Sullivan & Bal, 2013). Racial, gender, and cultural biases are integral aspects of the special education process, especially for African-American males (Harry & Anderson, 1995; Fiedler, Chiang, Haren, Jorgensen, Halberg, & Borsen, 2008). African-American males have been overrepresented in special education for decades. Cultural mismatch, unexamined biases and assumptions, and stereotypes of African-Americans contribute to the high rate of special education referrals for African-American males. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to determine if teacher perception of race and culture plays a role in the referral of African-American male students to special education. Qualitative research methods, specifically case study research methods, were used to gather data for this study. A… [Direct]
(2009). Promoting Equity in Children's Literacy Instruction: Using a Critical Race Theory Framework to Examine Transitional Books. School Library Media Research, v12. The purpose of this study was to examine books that support transitional readers to determine the representation of people of color. The findings were analyzed using critical race theory (CRT), a theoretical framework that places race at the center of educational research and discourse. The results indicate that despite the increasing ethnic and racial diversity in the United States, children of color are rare in transitional books. Even rarer are authors of color. The authors conclude that this lack of representation of people of color in transitional books is a subtle form of racism that denies children of color the kinds of resources research suggests they need to become motivated, engaged, and proficient readers. In the tradition of CRT, the article closes by offering nine strategies school librarians can employ to promote equity in literacy instruction for children of color. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)… [PDF]
(2009). \Who You Callin' Nappy-Headed?\ A Critical Race Theory Look at the Construction of Black Women. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v12 n1 p87-99 Mar. The spring 2007 furor over New York City syndicated radio personality Don Imus' racist and demeaning characterization of a group of African American women on a college basketball team set off a firestorm of debate and discussion throughout US media. However, little of this discussion focused on the broader constructions of Black women as unattractive, undesirable, and morally suspect. These constructions from popular culture find their way into education when Black women as teachers and mothers continue to face a separate and different set of standards about what it means to be a good teacher and/or a good mother. This paper uses a set of films about teaching and teachers as \texts\ that define and re-define what it means to be a teacher or a mother and explores the implications of these constructions for teaching and teacher education through a critical race theory perspective. (Contains 11 notes.)… [Direct]
(2009). Participatory Action Research and Critical Race Theory: Fueling Spaces for "Nos-Otras" to Research. Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education, v41 n1 p106-120 Mar. Drawing on the intersections of a justice oriented participatory action research and critical race theory, this essay explores the possibilities for research embedded in the theoretical, ethical and methodological overlaps between the two. Using the Echoes project as a case study, a participatory collective of intentionally diverse youth from New York and New Jersey brought together in the long shadow of Brown, to document and perform educational injustice in their schools, the essay asks social scientists what it means to engage research that takes seriously the idea of mutual implication, or what Anzaldua (Borderlands/La Frontera, The New Mestiza, 1999) calls nos-otras–whereby research is designed to seek knowledge at the nexus of everyday lived experience and intricate social systems; to ask questions that allow individuals to hold multiple, even opposing, identities; to provoke analyses that requires historical re-memory; to destabilize naturalized power hierarchies. Research… [Direct]
(2018). African-American Female Students and STEM: Principals' Leadership Perspectives. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, The George Washington University. As the U.S. becomes more diverse, school leaders, major corporations, and areas of national defense continue to investigate science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education issues. African-American female students have historically been underrepresented in STEM fields, yet educational leadership research, examining this population is limited. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how principals support African-American female students in schools with a STEM program. The Critical Race Theory (CRT) was used as a theoretical framework to highlight the inadequacies to support educational inequalities. The application of the CRT in this study is due to the embedded inequality practices within the educational system, that have resulted in the underrepresentation of African-American female students in STEM. To complement CRT, the transformative leadership model was also utilized to examine the emancipatory leadership practices principals utilized. These theories… [Direct]
(2020). Structured Whiteness: A Study of Social Studies Teachers Who Teach in Predominantly-White Public School Districts. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, School of Graduate Studies. Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a powerful and insightful theoretical framework that examines the way race plays a role in American society and, by extension, its education system. However, much of the empirical work framed by CRT is qualitative and explores the way race plays a role in the educational experiences of marginalized students and/or is used to prepare white teachers to educate marginalized students. This study sought to use quantitative methodology framed by CRT to study teachers who teach in predominantly-white districts, examine their critical multicultural educational competencies, their critical consciousness, and finally their knowledge of CRT and comfort level with its basic premises. As the one of the basic premises of CRT posits that "racism is normal in American society" (Ladson-Billings, 1998), it therefore becomes crucial to employ CRT as a framework to study predominantly white districts as well as districts populated by marginalized students. The… [Direct]
(2013). Identifying Educational Motivation Factors and Barriers for Native American Males Making the Secondary to Postsecondary Transition. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, New Mexico State University. This qualitative study examined the motivating factors and barriers of Native American male students acquiring postsecondary education. This study sought to understand the similarities and differences between motivating factors and barriers as they corresponded to their decisions to attend or not attend college. Further, key issues regarding the motivating factors and barriers for attending and completing college were examined. The major motivational factors were support and encouragement from family. The primary barriers were lack of funding and transportation. From a Tribal Critical Race Theory perspective, this study brought to the educational leadership field the structural inequalities related to programmatic and leadership in secondary and higher education institutions for Native American males. Findings suggested programs need to be developed assisting Native American men to make a successful transition from high school to college. [The dissertation citations contained here… [Direct]
(2013). Minority within a Minority Paradox: Asian Experiences in Latino Schools & Communities. Multicultural Education, v20 n2 p17-26 Win. Drawing on Critical Race Theory (CRT), the authors report on narratives of education collected from three young Asian women living in and attending a predominately Latina/o community and school. The authors explored how Asians and Latina/o groups intersect in a majority minority community. Specifically, they sought to understand: (1) How young Asian women positioned themselves with respect to their Latina/o peers; and (2) How race, culture, and stereotypes impacted the friendships they were able to develop, the ways they perceived themselves and their Latina/o peers, and the specific nuances that this minority-within- a- minority context provided. The purpose of the research was to understand the complexities of minority students living and attending school in a predominantly minority community that is ethnically different from those students. The findings focus on four concepts: minority-to-minority racialized experiences, the bell curve demystified, friendship formation, and where… [PDF]
(2013). Stories of Multiracial Experiences in Literature for Children, Ages 9-14. Children's Literature in Education, v44 n4 p359-376 Dec. This study analyzed 90 realistic novels written and published in the United States between the years 2000 and 2010 and featuring mixed race characters. The researchers examined specific textual features of these works of contemporary and historical fiction and employed Critical Race Theory to contextualize the books within paradigms about multiracial identity. Findings indicated three broad trends in representations of mixed race identity with an almost equal number of novels falling among three descriptive categories. Books in the Mixed Race In/Visibility category depicted stereotypical experiences and provided little or no opportunity for critique of racism. Mixed Race Blending books featured characters whose mixed race identity was descriptive but not functional in their lives. Mixed Race Awareness books represented a range of possible life experiences for biracial characters who responded to social discomfort about their racial identity in complex and credible ways. This study… [Direct]
(2013). Critical Multimodal Hip Hop Production: A Social Justice Approach to African American Language and Literacy Practices. Equity & Excellence in Education, v46 n3 spec iss p342-354. This article features key findings from a study that highlights the transformative impact of a pedagogical approach that employs Critical Multimodal Hip Hop Production (CMHHP). The study took place in an extended day program in a northern California public middle school among a group of 30, urban, African American, Chicano/a/Latino/a, and Asian youth. The authors utilize a theoretical lens informed by research on African American Language (AAL) and literacy practices, critical media literacy, social justice education, critical pedagogy, and critical race theory to contextualize the outcomes of using such a pedagogical approach. Through interviews, description of key critical pedagogical strategies, and an analysis of the lyrical content of two students' multimodal hip hop productions, the authors demonstrate how CMHHP was used to engage youth in (1) facilitating a participatory action research project; (2) synthesizing data from the research project and theorizing about the data in… [Direct]
(2013). Beyond the Face of Race: Emo-Cognitive Explorations of White Neurosis and Racial Cray-Cray. Educational Foundations, v27 n3-4 p3-20 Sum-Fall. In this article, the authors focus on the emotional and cognitive context that underlies whiteness. They employ interdisciplinary approaches of critical Whiteness studies and critical race theory to entertain how common White responses to racial material stem from the need for Whites to deny race, a traumatizing process that begins in childhood. First, the authors begin with an overview of the interconnected property of race to show how this co-production is linked. Then they offer an emotional-based perspective of White racialization and how such a racialization impacts emo-cognitive behaviors. They then overlay how those expressed behaviors, White neurosis, co-produce racial cray-cray (an African-American euphemism for utter craziness). Finally, inspired by the creative works of critical race scholar Derrick Bell (1987, 1992), who wrote parables to illustrate how mechanisms of White supremacy work their way into the everyday fabric of American life, the authors also weave a… [PDF] [Direct]