(2023). Good Citizenship and the "True and Inspiring Story of America": A Critical Policy Analysis of the South Dakota Civics and History Initiative. Peabody Journal of Education, v98 n5 p500-515. In the aftermath of the Capitol Insurrection, many states sought to bolster civic education through efforts such as the South Dakota Civics and History Initiative (SDCHI). This study examined the SDCHI through a Critical Policy Analysis and Critical Race Theory lens to understand how the initiative and related rhetoric reflected, protected, and perpetuated Whiteness as property. To answer this question, we conducted an inductive content analysis of 40 policy documents. Our analysis generated a microhistory and two thematic findings that underscored the contradictions in policy rhetoric, rationales, and implementation to reveal how the SDCHI perpetuated White supremacy by reinforcing a single-narrative master script of American history and identity. Collectively the findings pointed to the ways that Whiteness as property functioned to thwart efforts toward socially just and culturally responsive education. By critically examining these policy mechanisms, this study seeks to inform the… [Direct]
(2023). °Culture Empowers!: The Pathways to Degree Attainment of First-Generation Latinx Student-Athletes. Journal of Latinos and Education, v22 n3 p990-1004. One's culture has the capacity to nurture and empower. Thereby, college students rely on their cultural capital to persist and graduate. However, the current system of higher education favors one type of culture over others, which presents a number of challenges for those who are members of the non-dominant groups, such as Latinxs, first-generation students, and student-athletes. As such, this study sought to explore the interplay of various forms of cultural capital as pathways to degree attainment of first-generation Latinx student-athletes. Under the guise of Latinx critical race theory, this qualitative study found cultural capital to be an essential pathway to degree attainment of first-generation Latinx student-athletes. Specifically, three themes emerged from the findings: (1) immigration status as a source of inspiration; (2) embracing Latinx cultural capital in athletic endeavors; and (3) fighting negative stigma about Latinxs through athletic and academic achievement. The… [Direct]
(2023). Virtual Game Boys: An Examination of Black Male Cyberbonding Play as Navigation of a Hispanic Serving Institution. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), v36 n3 p301-313. This critical qualitative study uses education journey maps (EJMs) as undergirded by critical race theory to examine how three Black male collegians use "cyberbonding play" to navigate the geographies of racism while attending a Hispanic-serving Institution (HSI). Sociospatial dialectic is applied in concert with educational journey mapping to center participants in a collaborative research process. Education journey maps (EJMs) created by participants explained the multidimensional value of contextualized counter-cartography narratives to understand the benefits of engaging in play across physical and virtual geographies. Each EMJ was created by participants using: (a) constructive prompts; (b) continual access; (c) genuine reciprocity; and (d) expressed authentic gratitude (Annamma, 2018). Unfurled digital and physical spaces yielded two emergent themes that comprised "cyberbonding play": (1) "Get what you came for!"; and (2) User Friendly. Study… [Direct]
(2023). Parental Anxieties over Student Learning Dissipate as Schools Relax Anti-COVID Measures. Education Next, v23 n1 p20-27 Win. Activists fed up with school closures, masking policies, and curricular choices interrupted school-board meetings around the nation. The parental protests, together with school responses to the COVID pandemic, acquired a partisan edge. Republican and Democratic governors regularly disagreed about the necessity of mask wearing, social distancing, and vaccinations for the young. The districts that kept school doors closed longest were usually located in Democratic-leaning places the media labels blue. How have American parents at large responded to these conflicts? Have measures designed to slow the COVID pandemic antagonized them? Have progressive attempts to introduce concepts rooted in Critical Race Theory into school curricula weakened parental attachments to district schools? Are more parents fleeing to alternative forms of schooling? Have education policy and practice become more partisan? The authors asked about these matters in the Education Next survey administered online to a… [Direct]
(2023). Persistently Present, yet Invisible? Exploring the Experiences of High-Achieving Black Students in the Greater Toronto Area. Canadian Journal of Education, v46 n4 p1013-1050. Through employing critical race theory, seen-invisibility, and circuits of dispossession as theoretical frames, this article complicates discourses around equity and Black student achievement by examining the underexplored experiences of high-achieving Black Canadian students in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Drawing on focus group data with four adolescent participants, the study finds that they experienced violent forms of racialization in their educational environments through a lack of physical, social, and intellectual space to exist as both Black and high-achieving. This rendered them persistently present due to their race, yet invisible in the perceptions of their intellect. Central to this article is an articulation, unpacking, and thus granular analysis of the particular ways that racialization can operate within education systems to "still" marginalize Black students and erect complex barriers–"even when" they demonstrate strong academic performance…. [Direct]
(2023). Reflecting on the Experiences of Syrian Refugee Young Adults in Adult Education in Quebec: The Practitioners' Perspective. Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, v29 n1 p233-254 May. Much research focuses on schooling for refugee children in resettlement contexts; however, limited research addresses young adult refugees (YAR) between 16-24 years in the adult education (AE) system. This paper strives to fill this gap by providing the perspectives of 12 AE practitioners who welcomed and worked with Syrian YAR in Quebec, Canada. Practitioners' experiences and challenges faced with this refugee population reveal strategies needed to enable YAR to flourish and attain their objectives, including a call for systemic change in AE. Critical race theory and the capabilities approach set the conceptual framework guided by a narrative inquiry methodology. Semi-structured interviews provided the data that were thematically analyzed through collaborative work. From our understanding of the effectiveness of AE approaches for YAR, it is clear, based on the insights provided by the practitioners, that the face of AE has changed, and its current approach does not work for the YAR… [Direct]
(2023). Black Men Wanted: Exploring the Situational Factors Related to the Retention of African American Male High School Teachers. Journal of Education Human Resources, v41 n4 p708-728. As the nation's high school student population becomes increasingly diverse, the lack of minority teachers, particularly African American male teachers, is a concern. This case study of African American male high school teachers in a mid-sized market in the Midwest sought to identify the motivations for teaching, the barriers prior to and during teaching, and the roles these individuals are asked to fill in their schools. Ten individuals participated in semi-structured interviews for which critical race theory served as the theoretical framework. By expanding the conversation on race and racism within the educational system, this research sought to expose what injustices African American male teachers experience, not only during their time in school, but later during their careers as educators. This research gives voice to a silenced minority and increases our understanding to help us address the question, "Where are the Black men?" Finally, recommendations are offered to… [Direct]
(2023). No Safe Space: School Climate Experiences of Black Boys with and without Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. School Psychology Review, v52 n3 p250-263. Black boys often experience oppression and marginalization in schools. Black boys with disabilities in secondary school are frequently targeted with inequitable and biased discipline practices, exacerbating the school-to-prison pipeline. As such, it is important to examine the school climate experiences of Black boys to inform the creation of safe, predictable and affirming school environments. Using Critical Race Theory and Dis/ability Critical Race Studies as a framework, the current study examined the school climate experiences of Black boys with and without emotional and behavioral disorders (N = 16,031). Overall perceptions of school climate were similar across groups, but moderation analyses demonstrated that Black boys with EBD reported significantly more peer victimization and lower levels of peer support, order and discipline, and safety than Black boys without EBD. Disability classification also moderated the relationship between peer victimization and cultural acceptance,… [Direct]
(2023). Stories of Teacher Candidates of Color in a Teacher Preparation Program: Using Community Cultural Wealth to Disrupt Majoritarian Narratives. Teacher Educator, v58 n3 p324-346. Society portrays a deficit perspective on teachers and communities of color. Our research serves as a tool to name these inequitable stereotypes and disrupt majoritarian narratives by highlighting the stories of former teacher candidates of color (TCoC). This qualitative research study utilized in-depth semi-structured interviews with each participant to capture their counter stories. This research focuses on the General Knowledge Test (GKT), a licensure examination, which must be passed to gain entrance to the College of Education. Although our participants continued to experience difficulties during their teacher preparation program, they resisted against gatekeeping mechanisms and refused to allow the GKT to dictate their goals of becoming educators. We came to this research with a critical lens to centralize the counter-stories of TCoC and to raise questions about equity and justice. Using Critical Race Theory and Community Cultural Wealth, we attempt to disrupt and dismantle… [Direct]
(2022). An Exploratory Study to Determine Whether Implicit Racial Bias Is in Classrooms and How to Prevent Potential Problems Awareness and Consequences from K-12 Teachers' Perspectives. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Trevecca Nazarene University. Applying critical race theory and colorblind ideology, this phenomenological qualitative study explored implicit racial bias in educators and whether that affected learning. From a target pool of educators from the three school districts, 146 completed an online questionnaire. Twenty-six of those educators agreed to be interviewed, of which 10 were randomly selected. The findings revealed that racial bias existed, but most felt that it did not affect student learning. Participants stressed the need for diversity training for new educators and seasoned ones. [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 page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta…… [Direct]
(2022). Science as White Property: BIPOC Elementary Teachers' Science Experience and Its Impact on Their Pedagogy. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Southern California. Science as White Property is a study that utilizes critical race theory to tell the counter stories of nine BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) elementary educators. Their narratives tell a story of resilience and transcendence in spite of the inequities in their K-12 science education, which were reified by their teacher education programs. Their truths illustrate the macro and micro level barriers they have encountered as educators to break the cycle of inequity and deliver science education that liberates, empowers, and honors their cultural wealth. [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 page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta…… [Direct]
(2023). Digital Storytelling of Two "Underperforming" and "Misbehaving" Boys of Color in a 2nd-Grade Classroom. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, v37 n3 p366-386. Disparities in school discipline data indicate that children of color, particularly boys, receive more frequent and harsher disciplinary actions than their white peers, and this begins in early schooling. Within today's print-centered, bodily restricted school curricula, literacy instruction is often reduced to highly controlled, leveled readers and narrowly tailored writing tasks. Drawing on data from a qualitative study, we present the literary counter-stories of two boys of color in an urban 2nd-grade classroom, both from low-income, single-parent families, each being initially reported as "low performing" and having "misbehavior issues" prior to 2nd grade. Framed by the critical theoretical perspectives of critical race theory, intersectionality, and raciolinguistics, the study investigates digital literacies, multimodality, and identity performances embedded in two juxtaposed cases. The findings address the significance of cultivating boys of color as… [Direct]
(2020). Reading Islamophobia in Education Policy through a Lens of Critical Race Theory: A Study of the 'Funding Freeze' for Private Islamic Schools in Australia. Whiteness and Education, v5 n1 p54-73. This paper draws on critical race theory to explore the reproduction and enactment of Islamophobia in education policy. It will focus on an unprecedented policy intervention in which the federal Australian government withdrew funding from the largest Islamic private schools in the country. Australia represents a useful context to explore intersections between Islamophobia and the education market; as a diverse country which ardently supports religious protections, it maintains a well-subsidised private school sector, larger than comparable OECD countries. Thus, it is the first incident in Australian public policy in which a private school has had their funding formally withdrawn reportedly due to 'non-compliance' and 'misalignment with Australian values'. This paper focuses on the media reporting of the incident, illuminating consistently negative tropes utilised in relation to Islamic schools. The contradictions of muscular liberalism and secularism are explicated in critical… [Direct]
(2021). Finding a Voice: An Autoethnography of My Odyssey in the Hospitality Academy. Journal of Negro Education, v90 n2 p173-182 Spr. Background: This article combined critical race theory and autoethnography to discuss the plight of a Black male scholar that discussed his journey from a criminal upbringing to the hospitality academia. More specifically, this article aimed to demonstrate the importance of one's paradigm and their scholarship voice within hospitality scholarship. The problem was journal gatekeepers (e.g., reviewers and editors) have the power to accept or to deny manuscripts that failed to appeal to their backgrounds or personal experiences or subjective paradigm of sound scholarship. Researchers have disparate scholarly lenses and research interests that inspired their purpose as a scholar. This purpose might galvanize researchers to investigate or to explore theories and concepts in ways that do not align with the collective thought of many gatekeepers in their genre of research. However, research paradigms are shaped by individual pathways and unique journeys taken to become a scholar. Objective:… [PDF]
(2021). White Privilege and Power in the NYS Opt-Out Movement. Teachers College Record, v123 n5. Background: Part of a special issue on the high-stakes testing opt-out movement, this article focuses its analysis on the movement within New York State, and examines white privilege and power within one specific organization, the NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE). Specifically, I examine how the public-facing work of NYSAPE addressed (or ignored) race and/or racism in their efforts to resist high-stakes testing. I also ask, in what ways do their public stances affirm and reinforce white privilege and power? Purpose: I explore the opt-out movement in New York State, and argue that it is a movement that has been largely dominated by white privilege and power. Employing critical race theory (CRT; Bell, 1980, 1992) as analytical and methodological tools (DeCuir & Dixson, 2004; Yosso & Sol√≥rzano, 2002), I briefly examine the development and policy positions of NYSAPE, a coalition of grassroots parent, educator and community organizations. Research Design: This qualitative… [Direct]