(2021). Sharpening Justice through DisCrit: A Contrapuntal Analysis of Education. Educational Researcher, v50 n1 p41-50 Jan-Feb. Calls for justice-centered education approaches have gained traction over the years. Yet given the entrenched inequities that disproportionately harm multiply-marginalized students of color, it is evident that they remain incomplete. Using a specific incident as our launching point, we explore current conceptualizations of justice through a disability critical race theory (DisCrit) contrapuntal reading of four prolific intellectuals whose work is often not in conversation: Nancy Fraser, Iris Marion Young, Mia Mingus, and Talia Lewis. We query, (a) How does the author conceptualize justice? (b) How does the author consider difference in relationships to justice? and (c) How does the author (re)imagine potential ways to remedy injustice? By recognizing connectedness and maintaining tensions framed within DisCrit, this article enumerates expansive conceptualizations of justice through centering multiply-marginalized communities of color…. [Direct]
(2021). Studying and Challenging Racism in Higher Education: Naming Bad Faith to Understand the "Logic" of Racism. Education Sciences, v11 Article 602. In this conceptual essay, the author argues that bad faith is a valuable concept in understanding and challenging racism in higher education. The philosopher Lewis Gordon argues that racism is a manifestation of bad faith. For the actor who sees Black people as less than human, for example, no evidence will allow the actor to see otherwise. Bad faith is the disavowal of any disconfirming evidence which allows actors to maintain their worldviews. The author draws from high profile examples of racism in higher education as conceptual cases to make his argument. Specifically, the author demonstrates how attacks upon Critical Race Theory in education, the currency of critiques of microaggressions research, and the perennial difficulty to name racist violence on campus as hate crimes operate upon a logic of racism through bad faith…. [PDF]
(2021). Standardizing Indigenous Erasure: A TribalCrit and QuantCrit Analysis of K-12 U.S. Civics and Government Standards. Theory and Research in Social Education, v49 n3 p321-359. This article details a national study of U.S. K-12 civics and government state-mandated standards, drawing specific attention to how Indigenous nationhood and sovereignty are represented. Utilizing QuantCrit methodologies informed by Tribal Critical Race Theory, this study makes visible colonial logics embedded within state civics and government standards that normalize the erasure of Indigenous nationhood, or that subtly and discursively erase Indigenous nationhood in other ways. Additional attention is also given to states that explicitly affirm contemporary Indigenous nationhood and sovereignty within the standards. By examining the ways state standards erase and/or affirm Indigenous nationhood and sovereignty, our hope is to support Indigenous and allied educators in their collective efforts to transform standards in their respective states to more responsibly reflect and support Indigenous nationhood and sovereignty…. [Direct]
(2021). Reshaping Public Memory through Hashtag Curation. Across the Disciplines, v18 n1-2 p191-200 Nov. Social media campaigns such as #BlackLivesMatter have demonstrated Twitter as a powerful tool for anti-racist social activism. This article traces one local hashtag, #BeingMinorityatTCU, which has resurged on the TCU campus in the wake of a university lawsuit. Drawing from Critical Race Theory (Delgado, 1989; Martinez, 2014; Yosso, 2013), specifically counterstory, and public memory scholarship (Greer, 2017; Grobman, 2017; Crawford et al., 2020), this essay argues that digitally archiving tweets is one approach to amplifying marginalized voices that speak out against institutional racism. Curating hashtags is not just as an alternative to official university record keeping, but also an opportunity for both archivists and users to reflect, process, and move towards change together. [Note: The first page number (200) is incorrect. The correct page number is 191.]… [PDF]
(2021). Civic Reasoning through Paranoid and Reparative Reading: Addressing Conspiracy Theories within Racialized and Queer Publics. Theory Into Practice, v60 n4 p392-401. When classrooms fail to provide racially marginalized students with frameworks that explain their daily experiences, sometimes students turn to conspiracy theories, however inaccurate. This article links marginalized students' critiques of society and paranoid readings of the world with civic reasoning. Through queer and critical race theory, this article offers practices within civics classrooms to address marginalized students' turns to conspiracy theories, rethinking civic reasoning from students' paranoid positionalities as targets of systemic oppression. These practices stem from my teaching a twelfth-grade civics course which centered conspiracy theories, and students' distrust of the government and media. Recommendations for practice include providing terminology and documentation of marginalization; defining the line between conspiracy and conspiracy theory, science and pseudoscience; embracing fallibility as analytic virtue; and repairing students' relationships to science… [Direct]
(2021). Addressing Dehumanizing Mathematical Practices: Using Supervisory Leaders' Experiential Knowledge to Transform the Mathematics Classroom. Journal of Educational Supervision, v4 n2 Article 3 p45-64. Deficit language concerning historically marginalized students pervades much of education today. Black, Brown, and Indigenous children experience marginalization and dehumanizing practices in classrooms instead of participating in a safe space to learn and grow. For this paper we employ a crucial component from Critical Race Theory to address systemic racism in schools: we listen to the lived experiences of professionals of color. These personal narratives open avenues for social justice through critiquing current and historical political, economic, and sociocultural practices and policies. This study examined how four Black collaborators — one high school principal, one middle school principal, one elementary principal, and one special education teacher — each with decades of instructional experience, address four key dehumanizing practices students of color experience in classrooms across the country in their own supervision practices…. [PDF]
(2021). Anti-Oppressive Practice: An Integral Component of a Graduate Curriculum. Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders, v5 n3 Article 4. To be fully prepared to work within an increasingly diverse society, CSD students need to learn more about oppression, racism, equity and inclusion in addition to learning about cultural differences. In this article, a model of Anti-Oppressive Practice (AOP) developed as an integral part of a CSD graduate education curriculum is presented. Rooted in theoretical models including Critical Race Theory and Critical Disability Theory, the AOP curriculum includes eight modules, with each module defining relevant language, introducing concrete action step strategies, and giving students opportunities to practice these steps. Topics include forms of bias, systemic racism, oppression, cultural competence and cultural humility, deficit vs. strength-based models, inclusion and ableism in CSD. Numerous examples of how AOP has been threaded throughout the CSD curriculum in academic and clinical courses are provided…. [PDF]
(2024). The Critical Montessori Model: Supporting the BIPOC Community through Montessori Research and Practice. Journal of Montessori Research, v10 n2 p21-38. Despite an increase in race-related Montessori research over the past decade, the Montessori community lacks a unified framework to examine the Montessori Method and its philosophy through a critical racial lens. Without explicit discussions or universal training about race and whiteness, the Montessori Method can be interpreted through a color-blind lens unless scholars and practitioners explicitly use a critical racial perspective. This paper proposes the Critical Montessori Model (CMM), which centers high-fidelity Montessori practice–including the Montessori materials, child development, respect for and relationships with children, and observation as a learning tool–encompassed by critical race theory, as a way for researchers and practitioners to interpret the Montessori Method. This theoretical model critiques systems of whiteness and instead proposes centering the lived experiences and knowledge of the BIPOC community, drawing from theories such as culturally… [PDF]
(2024). The Experiences and Perceptions of Urban Black Young Adults on Higher Education. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Concordia University Chicago. This basic qualitative research study explored the perceptions and experiences of low-income students of color regarding the value of higher education. Situated in critical race theory (CRT), this study intended to disrupt the deficit-based narratives surrounding the academic achievement and educational decisions of low-incomes students of color. The sample consisted of eleven low-income students of color between the ages of 18 and 21. All participants came from a large metropolitan area of the Midwest. Through in-depth interviews, this study revealed the personal, familial, and societal factors impacting students' perceptions and experiences in higher education. Overall, this study contributed to a nuanced understanding of the challenges encountered by low-income students of color in the pursuit of higher education. By illuminating the voices and experiences of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, this study underscored the importance of implementing a more inclusive and… [Direct]
(2023). A Case Study: Women of Color Advancement to Senior-Level Leadership at Higher Education Institutions. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Texas A&M University – Commerce. The purpose of this research was to explore how the intersection of gender and race influence the advancement of women of color to senior-level leadership positions at higher education institutions. This study discusses perceptions and perspectives on advancement and a variation of obstacles that continue to prohibit and limit opportunities for women of color. It also examines effective strategies women of color utilize and find most helpful in navigating institutional practices and ingrained biases that work in tandem to limit advancement for women of color. The researcher developed an in-depth analysis of women of color with senior-level rankings operating within a public university system. This study represents a single-case study at a public university. Using Pratt-Clarke's (2010) transdisciplinary applied social justice model power domains as the theoretical framework, the analysis was informed through exploratory tools such as intersectionality, theory of gendered… [Direct]
(2022). Rising Stars and Underdogs: The Role Race and Parental Education Play in Predicting Mentorship. Youth & Society, v54 n4 p635-661 May. Research suggests that youth with more financial and social resources are more likely to have access to mentorship. Conversely, the rising star hypothesis posits that youth who show promise through their individual successes are more likely to be mentored. Utilizing a nationally representative sample (N = 4,882), we tested whether demographic characteristics (e.g., race, SES) or personal resources (e.g., academic/social success) are better predictors of receiving mentorship. Regression analyses suggested that demographic, contextual, and individual characteristics all significantly predicted access to mentorship, specifically by non-familial mentors. However, conditional inference tree models that explored the interaction of mentorship predictors by race showed that individual characteristics mattered less for Black and Latino/a youth. Therefore, the rising star hypothesis may hold true for White youth, but the story of mentoring is more complicated for youth of color. Findings… [Direct]
(2023). The Crisis of Michigan's Public School Funding and Its Influence on Human Resources Management. Journal of Education Human Resources, v41 n3 p477-513 Jul. Human resource management (HRM), particularly within urban public school districts, cannot generate adequate resources to compensate for inflation and cannot offer adequate instructional programs similar to those found in larger districts, resulting in inequity in educational opportunities. Studies have emphasized the importance of staffing schools with quality teachers, as this has the greatest effect on student achievement. School district HRM units with high-percentage Black and under-resourced (free and reduced-priced lunch) students are challenged with recruiting, retaining, and compensating highly effective and diverse educators. The challenge is reflected in outcomes such as teacher turnover rates in Michigan's under-resourced districts and districts serving high percentages of Black students. This study sought to explain Michigan's historical and current public school funding structures that exasperate Black and under-resourced districts' HRM pressures, utilizing the… [Direct]
(2020). Inequitable Rewards: Experiences of Faculty of Color Mentoring Students of Color. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, v28 n5 p556-577. Employing the analytical lens of Critical Race Theory, I explored how faculty of color view their mentorship of students of color at predominantly White colleges and universities. The research was conducted through an anonymous online questionnaire shared with faculty of color at 136 predominantly White institutions. Three main themes emerge and show that faculty of color feel: (a) a sense of social responsibility to their communities of color; (b) that this demanding and often specialized work comes at a cost to their professional careers, and; (c) that shared marginalized identities create unique mentorship responsibilities and demands. I then discuss the implications for social justice in higher education…. [Direct]
(2020). The Experiences of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Members of Color with Racism in the Classroom. To Improve the Academy, v39 n2 p129-160 Fall. Using critical race theory, this qualitative study examined the ways nontenure-track faculty members of Color (NTFOCs) experienced racism in their classroom environments. The sample consisted of 24 NTFOCs who worked at 4-year historically White colleges and universities. Findings revealed that NTFOCs experienced racism in their classrooms in three ways: negative evaluations, different treatment than White colleagues, and feeling unsafe in the classroom. While these findings are consistent with the experiences of tenure-track and tenured faculty members of Color, the implications for NTFOCs, particularly in terms of their employment, are stark. The article concludes with recommendations for how educational developers can work to foster equitable working conditions for NTFOCs…. [Direct]
(2020). "Please Hire More Teachers of Color": Challenging the "Good Enough" in Teacher Diversity Efforts. Equity & Excellence in Education, v53 n1-2 p216-228. Policies and programs intended to increase the racial diversity of the US teaching population have failed to make meaningful inroads in an overwhelmingly white profession despite extensive research demonstrating the need for more teachers of color. This article explores teacher diversity efforts in one non-urban district through a qualitative case study grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT). In particular, CRT tenets of interest convergence and the ubiquitous presence of racism in society clarify ways that incremental approaches actually served to reinforce the status quo. Implications call for a radical rethinking of teacher diversity efforts by insisting on a holistic approach to teacher diversity that challenges norms and commonsense practices…. [Direct]