(2021). Low-Income Black Parents Supporting Their Children's Success through Mentoring Circles. Canadian Journal of Education, v44 n1 p93-117. This article presents the results of a parent engagement project called "Mentoring Circles." The project focused on the needs of low-income Black parents who have children enrolled in the Toronto District School Board. Two focus groups, with seven to eight Black parents in each group, were conducted during the summer of 2018. The study drew on theories of community wealth and funds of knowledge (Gonz√°lez et al., 2005; Yosso, 2005), Black feminist theory (Collins, 2000; Crenshaw, 1991), and critical race theory (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012). The Black parent narratives served as counter-stories to stereotypes about Black parent disengagement in low-income communities. The low-income Black parents in the study were very engaged in their children's education and were invested in their academic success. The Black parents strategized to support their children's education by forming supportive peer mentoring networks and advocating for their children though… [PDF]
(2021). Racing the Muslim: Strategies for Teaching Race and Ethnic Studies in the Education Curriculum. Urban Education, v56 n7 p1042-1066 Sep. In this paper, I insert the importance of teaching race through Middle Eastern America and Muslim America. By bringing in critical analysis of Middle Eastern America and Muslim America, I offer theoretical insights and pedagogical strategies in the education curriculum to teach race that will deconstruct, destabilize, and interrogate the dominant White-Black racial logic in the United States. While my theoretical engagement with Critical Race Theory complicates how we theorize race in the United States, I couple the theory with transhistorical, transnational, embodied, performative pedagogical strategies to enable a wide assortment of ways to engage with the dynamism, fluidity, and constantly shifting nature of race and Whiteness through an engagement with scholarship on Middle Eastern America and Muslim America. I present a way to teach race that enriches the curriculum on race in the education program while preparing future educators with resources to support students and expand… [Direct]
(2021). White Preservice Music Educators' Perceptions of Teaching Predominantly Black Student Populations in City Schools. Music Education Research, v23 n3 p335-347. The purpose of this research was to explore how five White preservice teachers described working with predominantly Black student populations in city school music classrooms. Participants with prior K-12 school music experience in primarily White public and private school settings were assigned to student teaching placements in a city school district in the United States. Using critical race theory as a framework, this study focused on three research questions: (1) How do participants' life experiences influence the way they think about teaching racialised student populations? (2) How do participants' student teaching experiences with racialized populations shape their views of music education? and (3) How do participants' student teaching experiences influence their desire to teach in city schools? Findings suggest the participants had a limited understanding of White privilege and did not recognise racial inequalities in American public-school education. And while participants felt… [Direct]
(2021). TribalCrit, Curriculum Mining, and the Teaching of Contemporary Indigenous Issues. Multicultural Perspectives, v23 n2 p78-86. Dominant discourses in U.S. History are typically engaged through a settler-colonial framework. Informed by the ubiquity of commercial presentations, cultural tropes, and caricatures–movies, consumer products, and names–the "presentation" of Native Americans tend to focus on incomplete representations that are cast in the past. This article conceptualizes how teachers can engage anti-colonial perspectives through the practice of curriculum mining and the use of the Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribalCrit) framework in the teaching of contemporary realities of Native Americans. It also traces the presentation of Native peoples in curriculum and the function of traditional narratives. Included in the article is a sample lesson template on contemporary Indigenous issues that is applicable for middle schoolers. A resource section at the end of the article provides supplemental resources that focus on various Indigenous curricula, and news outlets so educators can more adeptly… [Direct]
(2021). Wise-Compassionate Framework: A Leadership Guide to Educational Equity. Journal of Leadership, Equity, and Research, v7 n1. A Wise-Compassionate Framework (WCF) was designed to offer educational leaders a recognizable and comprehensive approach that embodies critical race theory as a guide to the academic, social-emotional, health, cultural, and behavioral needs of all students. The WCF complements and builds upon Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and the Whole School, Whole Community (WSCC) model by infusing compassionate research and social-psychological approaches called wise interventions. The design of the WCF was developed during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The WCF is an educational model that seeks to increase systemic compassion through wise interventions and best practices, both in person and in online settings. Trauma-informed practices, social justice responsibility, and evidence-based research are embodied throughout the tiers of the WCF. This article provides an overview of how the WCF can be utilized in an educational environment. A compassionate approach anchored in… [PDF]
(2021). Black Educators in (White) Settings: Making Racial Identity Visible in Early Childhood Education and Care in England, UK. Journal of Early Childhood Research, v19 n1 p70-83 Mar. The participation of Black educators in the UK's education system has been a source of much debate in recent years. Research indicates having a teaching force that better represents society is critical because of the character, ubiquity, pervasiveness, duration and importance of teaching as a social activity. However, to date, many of the existing studies have taken place in primary, secondary and higher education contexts. The primary purpose of this paper is to draw upon concepts of identity to make Black educator identity visible in the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) context. Secondly, this paper aims to contribute to recent developments around mobilising Black studies as an academic discipline by seeking to explore how Black ECEC educators construct their identity through their professional practice. This paper draws on Critical Race Theory and narrative analysis methods to illustrate the experiences of Black ECEC educators. While this paper does not generalise to the… [Direct]
(2021). Black PlayCrit: Examining the Disruption of Play for Black Male Youth. American Journal of Play, v13 n2-3 p210-229 Win-Spr. Drawing on such academic topics as the white racial frame, critical race theory, Black critical theory, and Black male studies, the authors offer Black PlayCrit, a tool focusing on the specificity of Blackness and anti-Black violence in play. Calling for the adoption of Black PlayCrit in future studies, they suggest researchers should consider practicing its tenets by developing questions that privilege the stories of Black male youths and consider racism a part of their everyday lived experience, including their participation in structured and unstructured play. Protecting young Black males, they argue, requires a shift in the way we view them and how they play in schools and communities. Doing so may make students of play uncomfortable, may push the boundaries of the scholarly understanding of play, and may force the scholarship around play to face harsh realities about the structure of communities and recreational agencies. However, such thoughtful consideration can help create a… [PDF]
(2021). Dis/abled Student Campusmaking: Sites of New Possibility. Education Sciences, v11 Article 745. Scholars have attempted to reveal the structural barriers that dis/abled students cope with and navigate during college, but it remains unclear how these students interpret their experiences on campus and what strategies they employ to manage and respond to unsupportive and hostile campus climates. In this paper, we describe freedom movements that sought to secure equal access to opportunities and rights for people with dis/abilities, and we highlight and explain forms of resistance among d/Deaf and dis/abled postsecondary students. To do so, we draw on dis/ability critical race theory and also advance the concept of "campusmaking," which refers to the ways that students navigate complex campus spaces and create sites of togetherness and resistance. We discuss broader structural and climate issues facing college students with dis/abilities, particularly those who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. In so doing, we gain insight into dis/abled student campusmaking… [PDF]
(2022). International Perspective on Managing Racial Integration in Secondary Schools. Bulgarian Comparative Education Society, Paper presented at the Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES) (20th, Virtual, Jun 2022). The notion that educators are committed to effective facilitation of racial integration in secondary schools has become the keystone in developing a socially just schooling system in South Africa. This paper sets out to determine the role educators play in the transformation of schools towards racial integration, as well as their nature and perception in facilitating racial integration in the truest sense. Findings emanating from this research indicate that the striking down of the policies and educational system of the Apartheid regime has propelled educators from segregated backgrounds into teaching learners from different racially diverse backgrounds. Similarly, most learners for the first time are being taught by racially diverse educators. A qualitative framework is used to investigate firsthand experiences of managing racial integration in relation to educators and school management, and their role in determining successful racial integration in secondary schools in South… [PDF]
(2022). Employing the Urban Education Typology through a Critical Race Spatial Analysis. Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education, v54 n3 p450-480 Sep. The urban education typology put forth by Milner (Urban Educ 47(3):556-561, 2012) offered a conceptual demarcation of three different, yet interconnected types of urban school districts (i.e., urban intensive, urban emergent, and urban characteristic). Nearly one decade after Milner's seminal urban education typology, few empirical or conceptual articles have operationalized this typology across multiple school districts in one region. We enter this scholarly space to reaffirm the typology and its utility in identifying the conditions that create varying educational inequities and transformative opportunities. Through a critical race spatial analysis, we attempt to capture, crystalize, and expand Milner's typology by examining a multitude of data points and intentionally drawing on geospatial data from five linked school districts in Harris County, Texas. Our findings, as viewed through lenses of Critical Race Theory and the Chicana Feminist conceptual framework known as borderlands,… [Direct]
(2022). The Influence of Family on the Educational Trajectories of Sikh College Students. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. The purpose of this research was to understand the influence of family on the educational trajectories of Sikh American college students. I conducted a qualitative study at various research sites and interviewed 30 self-identifying Sikh college students. The theoretical framework and data analysis of this research were guided by Funds of Knowledge, Bourdieuan Theory, and Critical Race Theory. By integrating these three theoretical frameworks, results from this study offer important implications for higher education research and practice including challenging deficit-oriented perspectives of students of color and centering the experiences of students for whom their racial and religious identities intersect. Given they are racialized under the broader Asian American/South Asian American racial categories and simultaneously minoritized due to their non-Judeo Christian religious views, a focus on Sikh college students is critical. Findings from this study reveal important implications… [Direct]
(2022). The Academic Journey of Latinas Who Participated in the Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Arizona State University. The study explored the academic journey of Latinas who participated in the Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program (HMDP) and completed a bachelor's degree. The literature highlighted intersecting influencers that contributed to the Latinx academic journey. To account for this multidimensional nature, I utilized a conceptual framework with strengths in intersectionality and institutional impact: the psychosociocultural (PSC) approach and Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit). This framework set the foundation for a research design that accounted for potential nuances. Using a modified version of Seidman's three-series and Atkinson's life story interviews, I designed three interviews per participant with interview scripts that created space to tailor questions to unique participant responses but still captured context, details, and reflections. The outcome of the data was produced in three modalities: profiles, themes within each research questions, and overall key findings. I utilize the… [Direct]
(2022). Arrested Development: How "This We Believe" Utilizes Colorblind Narratives and Racialization to Socially Construct Early Adolescent Development. Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education, v54 n1 p85-112 Mar. Early adolescents go through developmental changes which are also mediated through social and structural forces that reproduce stratifying hierarchies around race, class, gender, and sexuality. Despite the intersection of early adolescent development with social and institutional forces, critical concepts such as race are often omitted in general discourses of middle level education. It is important that the leading body for middle level education, the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) and their doctrinal text, "This We Believe," explicitly address the nexus of race, early adolescent development, and schooling. In this article, we draw upon critical race theory as a conceptual framework and critical race discourse analysis as methodology to examine how "This We Believe" negotiates the social construction of early adolescent development as rooted in whiteness in addition to the racialized realities of middle level education for students of color…. [Direct]
(2022). Identity Representation: Exploring the Influences That Administrators of Color Have on Students of Color at Predominantly White Institutions. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Southern Nazarene University. The shortage of representation concerning ethnically minoritized individuals in administrative leadership positions at colleges and universities has become relevant as democratic philosophies accompanying equality and diversity remain denied. An absence of mentoring and assistance has been linked to the failure to keep people of color within universities and colleges (Jones, 2001). As a result, students of color struggle to succeed in predominantly White institutions (PWIs). The lack of mentorship could differ between dropping out of college with unexpected student loan debt or graduating with a high-paying career. This qualitative narrative inquiry explores the lived experiences of four administrators of color regarding their paths to obtaining their leadership roles and how they have used their positions to mentor students of color in PWIs. Data were collected and analyzed through the lens of Ladson-Billings and Tate's (1995) Critical Race Theory. The study's findings revealed five… [Direct]
(2022). Student Entry to Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking and the Role of Special Education Staff. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Kansas. This dissertation study examined the mechanisms inside and outside of school that propel and disrupt student entry to domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST). Specifically, this study focused on punitive and isolating responses from school adults that push certain students away from school success and into mechanisms that lead to DMST, such as the school-prison nexus. This study used cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and disability critical race theory (DisCrit) as lenses to make school mechanisms visible. This multiple case study used a critical phenomenological approach to understand the data participants contributed to see not only their experiences, but also considering the inequality and power that affect them. Using poetic inquiry was important to understand the experiences the participant relayed by using abstract words to convey sensory perception, and as a member check. This study illuminated participants' perceptions of what mechanisms pushed or pulled them into… [Direct]