(2021). "The Price of Disaster": The Charter School Authorization Process in Post-Katrina New Orleans. Educational Policy, v35 n2 p235-258 Mar. Charter schools because of their entanglements with privatization remain one of the most publicly contested and controversial educational reform initiatives. Charter schools, in theory, are to balance autonomy and accountability in order to provide students with innovative learning environments and increased achievement on traditional academic measures. The governance of charter schools and the vision espoused in the charter application are central in determining the organization and operation of charter schools. As such, connected to charter schools are the actors that envision them and the processes and policies that enable them. Utilizing the case of post-Katrina New Orleans, I examine the charter authorization process, an understudied aspect of charter school policy. Understood as an objective, colorblind process in mainstream policy articulations, the authorization process regulates entry into educational markets. This paper applies a Critical Race Theory analysis to the… [Direct]
(2021). Race, Dis/Ability, and the Potential of the Co-Taught Classroom: Exploring Co-Teachers' Interruptions of Inequity. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, City University of New York Hunter College. Although the co-taught classroom is the fastest-growing inclusion model in U.S. public schools, an increasingly-diverse student population coupled with the continued overrepresentation of students of color in special education threatens to undermine its potential as an inclusive space that ensures success for all students. This multiphase, critical qualitative study explored how three pairs of co-teachers navigated race and dis/ability within co-taught classroom spaces serving students with multiple, intersecting identities. Informed by Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), Critical Race Spatial Analysis, and the DisCrit Classroom Ecology framework, this study sought to examine how co-teachers' own educational histories and beliefs about race and dis/ability impacted their instructional decision-making processes. Co-teachers' varying levels of critical consciousness were examined through Education Journey Mapping (Annamma, 2018), semi-structured interviews, observations of… [Direct]
(2020). Inequities, Support, and Success: Influences on Native American Students' Sense of Belonging in Public, Postsecondary Education. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, California State University, Stanislaus. Endemic issues of racism and colonialism create barriers to Native American students' access to higher education. Using tribal critical race theory (TribalCrit) as a theoretical underpinning, this study explored how Native American students develop and experience a sense of belonging at a public, postsecondary institution. Using a phenomenological approach, I interviewed and analyzed Native American students' stories regarding their sense of belonging in higher education. Themes emerged that revealed connections between students' educational experiences and connections to their cultural heritage prior to entering college and development of sense of belonging through campus spaces and relationships with faculty, staff, and fellow Native American students that contributed to bicultural efficacy and enculturation. Findings suggest that culturally affirming practices contribute to development of sense of belonging which serves to nourish Native American students' self-affirmation and… [Direct]
(2021). An Interview with Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings. Teacher Educator, v56 n3 p217-228. Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings is the former Kellner Family Distinguished Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She served as president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 2005-2006. Dr. Ladson-Billings has contributed widely to the development of two fields of study, culturally relevant pedagogy and critical race theory as well as their impact on today's teachers, students, and classroom dynamics. Within her numerous publications, her passion for children who are disadvantaged in public schools is evident. Dr. Ladson-Billings developed the theory Education Debt to depict the historical significance of inequality and its pervasiveness within our culture and educational institutions. This article presents a conversational interview with Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings that was conducted on February 20, 2021. In this interview, Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings discusses: (1) who mentored her or… [Direct]
(2021). Teachers of Color: Resisting Racism and Reclaiming Education. Race and Education Series. Harvard Education Press "Teachers of Color" describes how racism serves as a continuous barrier against diversifying the teaching force and offers tools to support educators who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of Color on both a systemic and interpersonal level. Based on in-depth interviews, digital narratives, and questionnaires, the book analyzes the toll of racism on their professional experiences and personal well-being, as well as their resistance and reimagination of schools. Teacher educator and educational researcher Rita Kohli documents the hostile racial climate that teachers of color experience over the course of their academic and professional lives–first as students and preservice teachers and later in their classrooms and schools. She also highlights the tools of resistance these teachers employ to challenge institutionalized oppression and the kinds of professional development and support they need to thrive. Analyzed through the lens of critical race theory,… [Direct]
(2021). Teachers of Color: Resisting Racism and Reclaiming Education. Race and Education. Harvard Education Press "Teachers of Color" describes how racism serves as a continuous barrier against diversifying the teaching force and offers tools to support educators who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of Color on both a systemic and interpersonal level. Based on in-depth interviews, digital narratives, and questionnaires, the book analyzes the toll of racism on their professional experiences and personal well-being, as well as their resistance and reimagination of schools. Teacher educator and educational researcher Rita Kohli documents the hostile racial climate that teachers of color experience over the course of their academic and professional lives–first as students and preservice teachers and later in their classrooms and schools. She also highlights the tools of resistance these teachers employ to challenge institutionalized oppression and the kinds of professional development and support they need to thrive. Analyzed through the lens of critical race theory,… [Direct]
(2020). Experiential Knowledge as Capital and Resistance among Families from Mexican Immigrant Backgrounds. Equity & Excellence in Education, v53 n4 p482-503. This qualitative case study examined the creation process and final artifacts of two biliteracy family projects that children and families from Mexican immigrant backgrounds collaboratively created as part of classroom instruction. Data were collected during five months in a first grade bilingual classroom with 22 students and centered on six focal families. The theoretical lenses of critical race theory and community cultural wealth served to analyze how biliteracy family projects facilitate the integration of children and families' experiential knowledge in a bilingual classroom and how such experiential knowledge emerges as forms of capital in the final products and during the creation process. Findings highlight how children's experiential knowledge and culturally simultaneous identities appeared through a collaborative process, and how parents facilitated and negotiated their children's cultural simultaneity as forms of capital. This facilitation included parental strategies… [Direct]
(2020). Toward an Antiracist Genre Pedagogy: Considerations for a North American Context. TESOL Journal, v11 n4 e554 Dec. This article combines principles from critical race theory and genre pedagogy to show how K-12 English language teachers can engage in antiracist genre-based literacy instruction. Genre pedagogy has become increasingly popular in North America as an approach to supporting multilingual students' literacy development. However, genres of schooling are often treated as ideologically neutral and not related to the structural racism that permeates North American schools. As a result, genre pedagogy is implemented in ways that reproduce dominant practices and reinforce deficit perspectives of multilingual students of color. Therefore, we propose principles for an antiracist genre pedagogy that (1) teaches community countertexts alongside dominant ones, (2) identifies ideologies and knowledge structures in each, (3) increases focus on interpersonal meanings to analyze racializing dimensions of texts, (4) promotes remixing genres for antiracist purposes, and (5) destabilizes the white… [Direct]
(2020). Experiences of Conditionally-Admitted Latinx Students Transitioning to a 4-Year University. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Sam Houston State University. This hermeneutic phenomenological study explored the complex experiences of conditionally-admitted Latinx students during their first semester of enrollment at a public, 4-year university. Previous research on the topic has been built on foundational models of student transition and persistence, but existing theories that shape retention initiatives may not hold true for the diverse cultural backgrounds of Latinx students. Latinx critical race theory (LatCrit) was utilized as a framework to guide the research design and interpretation of findings. Data was collected from individual interviews with participants. The interviews were transcribed and themes were developed through a cycling methodology of immersion, understanding, and abstraction. Themes developed from this analytic process were used to write rich descriptions of the college transition experiences of conditionally-admitted Latinx students during their first few weeks of enrollment. The narratives of participants revealed… [Direct]
(2020). A Case Study Regarding the Short Tenure and High Turnover Rates of African American Female Presidents at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Tennessee State University. This research provided a deeper insight into the problem of short tenure rate and high turnover rate of African American female presidents at Historically Black Colleges and Universities through the use of a case study of interviews. This was accomplished by obtaining personal perspectives and lived experiences of those serving in the capacity of African American female presidents representing four classifications: retired, current, interim, and involuntary/voluntary separation. The framework used for this study was Black Feminism and the Critical Race Theory. The overall summary from the case study provided personal perceptions, insights, and recommendations from representatives of HBCU African American presidents regarding factors that contribute to the short tenure and high turnover rates of African American female presidents. These factors included the following three variables: 1) relationship with the Board of Trustees; 2) relationship with the oversight of the faculty, staff,… [Direct]
(2020). "Entrando en el juego": The Role of Hispanic-Serving Institutions in Fostering Educational and Athletic Outcomes for Latinx Athletes. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, v14 n3 p61-83. Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) enroll the majority of Latinx undergraduate students and constitute the second-largest institutional type in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (D1). Yet, little is known about the role intercollegiate athletics play in fostering educational outcomes for Latinx students at HSIs. Under the guise of Latinx critical race theory, this qualitative study examined how HSIs operate both the federal designation and NCAA D1 membership in relation to athletic participation and completion outcomes for Latinx student-athletes. Document analysis was utilized to disaggregate data from various reports to identify the HSI-D1 institutions and their Latinx athletes' participation, and graduation rates. These findings were then compared to the overall NCAA D1 averages. Among the findings, Latinx student-athletes graduated at higher rates than non-athletes from the HSI-D1s. However, as an aggregate, these institutions had below average… [Direct]
(2020). Desegregation Policy as Cultural Routine: A Critical Examination of the Minnesota Desegregation Rule. Journal of Education Policy, v35 n6 p765-784. Education policies often result in and/or perpetuate inequitable and marginalizing outcomes. To that point, education policy may be viewed as an act of white supremacy. The purpose of this study was to examine the Minnesota Desegregation Rule (MR 3535.0100-0180) as a cultural artifact of race-related policy in US public education. Critical analyses of these types of policies offer a means to understand and document the status and workings of race and racism within a particular socio-political milieu. Three tenets from Critical Race Theory (the permanence of racism, the critique of liberalism, and law as a structural determinant) provided analytic tools to understand how the discourses related to race and racism act as cultural routines. The examination revealed nuances, contradictions, and patterns of power and privilege that serve as masked but powerful cultural signifiers. While legal and policy remedies are positioned as a means to reduce social and structural inequality, the Rule… [Direct]
(2020). Shaking the "Bad Boys": Troubling the Criminalization of Black Boys' Childhood Play, Hegemonic White Masculinity and Femininity, and the "School Playground-to-Prison Pipeline". Race, Ethnicity and Education, v23 n5 p673-692. Few studies have sought to understand the childhood play experiences of Black boys in early childhood education (ECE), and a majority of those that investigate them often socially construct Black boys' play as criminal, dangerous, and monstrous. Considering the dangers of hegemonic masculinity and femininity or the racial and gendered power and privilege White boys and girls bring to societal spaces including playgrounds, little is known about how such power influences the experiences of Black boys who play with them. In this conceptual paper, I draw on critical race theory (CRT) to trouble the criminalization of Black boys' childhood play and hegemonic White masculinity and femininity, which can prove violent and dehumanizing to Black boys. As such, I suggest that similar to the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP), Black boys may become victims of what I call the "school playground-to-prison pipeline (SPTPP)" as a consequence of White children's accusations, fears,… [Direct]
(2020). Black Male Teachers, White Education Spaces: Troubling School Practices of Othering and Surveillance. British Educational Research Journal, v46 n5 p1081-1098 Oct. The absence of male teachers in primary schools has been an ongoing concern for policymakers and schools in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia, and as schools have become more ethnically diverse so have concerns that the teacher workforce should reflect the communities it serves. Pre-service teacher training plays a critical role in this aim, by identifying, recruiting, retaining and training those who demonstrate potential to become teachers in English primary schools. As one of a few studies to explore the racialised and gendered experiences of black male teachers in England, I adopt the use of critical race theory (CRT) to examine how black male teachers are characterised and constructed in white education spaces. Drawing on a larger study, this paper utilises counternarrative, a key precept of CRT, to draw attention to processes of exclusion, othering and surveillance through the experience of David (the main character). Interview and documentary data illuminate institutional… [Direct]
(2017). The Misintegration of the Negro: A Historical Analysis of Black Male Habitus in Sport and Schooling. Urban Education, v52 n6 p745-774 Jul. Drawing from the lenses of critical race theory (CRT) and Pierre Bourdieu's notion of habitus, this article compares the Jackie Robinson story with the Brown versus Board of Education narrative. This juxtaposition illustrates the similarities of these narratives and how interests converged racially. By comparing these historical narratives, we show that there are significant racial contingencies African Americans must internalize to integrate into society. In this sense, we argue that the Jackie Robinson story serves as a powerful and problematic pedagogy for Black males to be part of mainstream society–what we call "expected racial habitus."… [Direct]