(2024). Critical Quantitative Literacy: An Educational Foundation for Critical Quantitative Research. AERA Open, v10 n1. Education research has recently seen the emergence of two distinct frameworks guiding the application of quantitative methods through a more critical and equity-oriented lens. These two frameworks are critical quantitative (CritQuant) studies and quantitative critical race theory (QuantCrit). Although different in their intellectual traditions, they both acknowledge the oppressive history of quantitative methods and the need to improve the criticality of quantitative research in education. For applied quantitative research in education to become more critical, it is imperative that learners of quantitative methodology be made aware of its historical and modern misuses. This directive calls for an important change in the way quantitative methodology is taught in educational classrooms. Critical quantitative literacy (CQL) is introduced in this manuscript as a paradigm for teaching, learning, understanding, and applying quantitative methods in a way that supports the application of… [PDF]
(2023). Affirming Black Sociality in a Time of Anti-CRT Legislation, White Emotionality, & Immunitary Whiteness. Thresholds in Education, v46 n1 p114-125. This article uses white emotionality to critically conceptualize recent legislative efforts to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT). This undertaking is theoretically motivated by immunitary whiteness and is methodologically informed by Black whiteness studies, particularly the importance of W. E. B Du Bois' reflections on education. These reflections form the basis for biopolitical interrogations of how the current moment negates but might otherwise affirm educational life. The former is analyzed both historically by the Kanawha County textbook controversy of 1974 and presently through Florida's 2021 change to the state's Required Instruction Planning and Reporting statute. Toward the latter, this article posits Black sociality as way of affirming educational life against present historical negations embodied by the current wave of anti-CRT legislation…. [PDF]
(2024). Navigating the Field While Black: A Critical Race Analysis of Peer and Elder Advice to and from Black Evaluators. American Journal of Evaluation, v45 n2 p263-279. The field of evaluation has experienced greater professionalization in the areas of evaluator education and training. Growth in these areas included sensitivity to issues of diversity, with efforts to attract and retain evaluators of color. Currently, there is limited scholarship on navigating a world with more opportunity but still dealing with being Black. Motivated by our identities as Black evaluators, we explored the education, training and socialization concerns experienced by Black evaluators and the advice they would offer. Through content analysis of semi-structured interviews and the utilization of Critical Race Theory as a framework, we garnered advice to and from Black evaluators on how to (a) navigate the politics in evaluation; (b) engage in reflection and reflexivity; (c) network and collaborate; (d) mentor and bring others along the way; and (e) develop as a professional evaluator. We offer a synthesis of these findings in the discussion and articulate further… [Direct]
(2022). "Somos pero no somos iguales"/We Are but We Are Not the Same: Unpacking Latinx Indigeneity and the Implications for Urban Schools. Urban Education, v57 n9 p1539-1564 Nov. Applying several critical race theories as analytical frameworks, the authors present and analyze counterstories of Indigenous Latinx students attending an urban high school in a "new Latinx diaspora" community, underscoring points of convergence as well as the ways their experiences were distinct from those of their Latinx peers. The findings suggest that urban school improvement efforts often ignore Latinx Indigeneity and further alienate students. As such, more complex and nuanced understandings of Latinx communities are required to improve the quality of education offered to them. The article concludes by exploring the implications of this work for educators and researchers…. [Direct]
(2024). Decolonising the African Doctorate: Transforming the Foundations of Knowledge. Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research, v88 n4 p1611-1627. Despite revolutions, ongoing student protests, and long-standing transformational efforts, African higher education remains steeped in a colonial model, with current structures, approaches, and purposes paralleling Western universities. The doctorate, the highest level of formal education one can attain, reflects this commitment to Western domination, relying upon European conceptions of knowledge to shape the entire research process. Thus, knowledge construction in higher education, and particularly in the African doctorate, has remained fixed to Eurocentrism. This conceptual article presents a critical race theory model to transform the African doctorate towards a social justice orientation, arguing for investments in race-conscious, Black affirming approaches that recognise doctoral researcher positionalities and African languages as ways to disrupt socio-political and racialised contexts. This transformation requires re-alignment of the entire research endeavour through an Ubuntu… [Direct]
(2021). White Hoarders: A Portrait of Whiteness and Resource Allocation in College Algebra. Journal of Higher Education, v92 n7 p1164-1185. This study uses "Critical Race Theory," "Settler Colonialism," and "Critical Whiteness Studies" to frame how property is recognized only under the auspices of whiteness. In the college algebra classroom, this is born out through white entitlement, racialized senses of sharing, and resource allocation. This study uses portraiture to depict how "white hoarding," as the co-option of resources by white students, marginalizes and disenfranchises Students of Color…. [Direct]
(2021). Whites-Only Anti-Racist Groups: Promise & Perils. Multicultural Education, v28 n1-2 p9-16 Fall 2020-Win. The purpose of this collaborative reflective article is to explore the promises and problems of whites-only anti-racist groups. Throughout the article, the authors analyze such groups by applying three lenses to a set of critiques of whites-only anti-racist groups: (1) critical race theory (CRT); (2) journaled experiences of the first two authors who participated in such a group; (3) and reflections on those journaled experiences by the third author…. [PDF]
(2024). The Bans on Teaching CRT and Other 'Divisive Concepts' in America's Public Schools. Journal of Educational Administration and History, v56 n1 p69-83. The Arizona state legislature has aimed to pass a series of bills banning those in schools from teaching topics associated with inclusion, social justice, and equity. Since 2020, the legislature has targeted teaching 'critical race theory' (CRT), often (mis)using the term to refer to any ideas related to systemic discrimination and racial inequality. The debates on the need to educate children about race and racism are ongoing, and school leaders in Arizona have been cast into the debate on the CRT bans. In this study, I put actor-network theory (ANT) to work to explore how school leaders navigate the uncertainties, contradictions, and controversies of the debate and potential bans. I demonstrate the ways in which ANT is particularly useful in exploring controversies in education leadership and policy that bring to the fore the uncertainties of who is acting, when, with what and whom — for what purposes…. [Direct]
(2024). Using Counter-Narrative to Disrupt Dominant Perspectives in Education: An Exploration of the Pedagogy and Positionality of Selected Black Women Faculty. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, v21 n4 p509-531. This paper considers the relationship between Black women and literacy and how our pedagogy is embodied through our stories. The stories we share, live, make, and remake, contribute to our positional locations in the world and our physical bodies. I explore connections between emotional scars Black women carry caused by societal and academic norms, and how our teaching experiences in predominantly white spaces lead some of us to disrupt dominant perspectives within literacy education. Counter-narrative (Yosso, 2006) is one pedagogical tool Black Women faculty use to disrupt these dominant perspectives. Black women's faculty narratives help scholars understand how we are positioned within universities and ways we disrupt dominant perspectives in education through research methods and literacy pedagogy. I draw upon Critical Race Theory (Ladson-Billings, 1998) to demonstrate its usefulness in literacy contexts. This research has implications for educational inquiry and pedagogical… [Direct]
(2023). A "Totally, Acceptably Racist Environment": Examining Anti-Black Racism in a School of Social Work. Journal of Social Work Education, v59 n2 p391-406. Social work education is considered an important venue for advancing the field's commitment to anti-racism. This research employed collective autobiographical methods within a Critical Race Theory framework to explore Black social work students' experiences of anti-Black racism in the learning environment of a Predominantly White Institution. Data was analyzed through a collaborative, inductive approach. Analysis revealed four interrelated themes: 1) racial microaggressions directed at Black students; 2) the perceived complicity of school administration in maintaining a racist environment; 3) the harm that an anti-Black racist learning environment caused to Black students; and 4) a relational approach to challenging anti-Black racism in the learning environment. Findings underscore the need for increased attention to racism in the implicit social work curriculum…. [Direct]
(2023). Disrupting White Hegemony: A Critical Shift toward Empowering Black Male Youth through Group Work. Journal of School-Based Counseling Policy and Evaluation, v5 n1 Article 3 p21-25. Despite the unique and pressing needs of Black male students in schools, there has been a significant gap in the availability of culturally responsive group counseling models to support and empower this population. In this commentary article, I discuss the theory and research underlying the ASE group model for Black male middle school youth. Drawing on Steen et al. (2023) use of Critical Race Theory for reconceptualizing the ASE group model, I expound on the concept of white hegemony in school counseling. School counselors may unconsciously impose white cultural norms and values on students, hindering the effectiveness of the ASE model. To counteract white hegemony, I propose several strategies for creating a more inclusive, healing, and growth centered group environment…. [PDF]
(2024). Safe Spaces and Critical Places: Youth Programming and Community Support. LEARNing Landscapes, v17 n1 p47-62. In this article we explore the work of two after-school programs in Toronto, Ontario. Our Youth Success (OYS) is a community-based mentoring program dedicated to lowering the push-out rates of students of Spanish and/or Portuguese-speaking descent. In the Youth Speak Program (YSP), community activists use spoken word poetry and rapping as a vehicle for Black students to express their emotional lives. The data we present come from two separate studies which both used ethnographic approaches, focusing on observation and interviews with participants (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2019). Using Critical Race Theory (CRT), we examine interview data on how the pedagogical relationships developed in these spaces promote the wellbeing of Latinx and Black youth beyond academic outcomes. We argue that these spaces provide insight into the transformative possibilities of critical pedagogies for the wellbeing and healing of communities who have long been marginalized from mainstream institutions…. [PDF]
(2024). Supporting Displaced Students in US Higher Education: Examining Institutional Policy and Practice. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v27 n4 p519-537. Despite welcoming millions of displaced individuals over the past 50 years, there is limited policy consideration of US higher education access for displaced learners. This study threads together Critical Race Theory and racialized organization theory to examine institutional websites and key administrator interviews to consider institutional policies and practices centering on displaced learners — refugees, asylees, and Temporary Protected Status holders — in public higher education institutions in Houston, Texas, and Sacramento, California. The findings capture how the essentialization of marginalized populations — through a lack of engagement with displaced learners and limited data on displaced populations — obscures the unique needs of these individuals. Additionally, the findings point to how institutions work to center displaced students, despite policy voids. These findings expand the literature on displaced learner access to US higher education beyond students to focus… [Direct]
(2023). Underrepresentation of Minoritized Groups in STEM Education: The Development of a Survey. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education, v12 n1 p146-169. The current school system has an underrepresentation of People of Color teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Presently, there is a lack of data gathering tools to explore the STEM experience of Students of Color. This article focuses on the development of a survey using a Critical Race Theory framework to better understand the impact of race on the STEM education pipeline for underrepresented, racially minoritized (URM) learners. This article will review the survey's development process consisting of (a) creation of initial survey; (b) pilot study using interviews to receive feedback; (c) modifying the survey based on the feedback from the pilot study; and (d) implementation of the revised survey. Ultimately this instrument will support inquiry around racial representation in STEM education…. [PDF]
(2023). Storytelling, Mathematics, and Community. North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (45th, Reno, NV, Oct 1-4, 2023). In this plenary discussion, Dr. Chao presents his research framework and reflections from engaging in Digital Mathematics Storytelling within Black, Asian American, and Asian American communities in multiple countries. The framework, based heavily around storytelling, counter-storytelling, and Critical Race Theory, has been employed as a workshop to elicit mathematics video stories from youth and mathematics teachers. Here, Dr. Chao reflects on what he's learned from these workshops and how he's started to recognize not only the power of storytelling for forging mathematics and community identities, but the dangers to our society because of social media and weaponized uses of mobile video everywhere. He ends by calling for a new critical digital media literacy within our field of mathematics education. [For the complete proceedings, see ED657822.]… [PDF]