(2023). Essential Glossary for Increasing Postsecondary Student Success: Administrators, Faculty, Staff, and Policymakers. Third Edition. Online Submission Language is not static. It flows like a river in response to the riverbank and the rocks that border and run beneath it. In the same way, glossaries are dynamic expressions of current language usage. Developmental education and learning assistance have changed dramatically in recent years, and so must also the language used to describe and define them. This glossary is useful for the wide field of educators involved with promoting student success. It provides precise language and definitions to use when communicating with peers and more effectively influencing administrators, legislators, and the media. Some of these glossary terms are emerging with frequent use while others are declining. This is why this glossary is not static and future editions will continue to reflect the changes in language. Based on advice from some of the reviewers to make this glossary more accessible to readers, I reorganized it into different topical categories rather than a traditional alphabetical order…. [PDF]
(2021). Teaching Race and Racial Justice: Developing Students' Cognitive and Affective Understanding. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, v9 n1 p117-138. Effectively addressing both cognitive and affective dimensions of learning is one of the greatest obstacles to teaching race and racial justice in higher education. In this article, we first explore the need to integrate attention to cognitive and affective development, along with evidence-based strategies for doing so. We then provide a case study of an undergraduate sociology course on environmental justice in which the instructor intentionally adopted holistic pedagogical principles of teaching race. Analyzing student responses from a pre- and post- course survey, course assignments, and instructor observations of student participation, we find that both white students and students of color experienced significant growth in their cognitive and affective understanding of the complexities of race and work toward racial justice. However, results also show how challenging it can be to create the conditions for productive multiracial dialogues that produce extensive affective… [PDF]
(2023). "With Revolutionary Love…": An Endarkened Narrative Inquiry of Black Students' (Re)Membered Experiences in a Black English Teacher's Classroom as Influential to Them Becoming Teachers. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Arkansas State University. This Endarked Feminist Narrative Inquiry explored how three Black, Metropolitan Atlanta High School students' classroom experiences receiving Revolutionary Love (RL) from a Black teacher influenced their decision to become educators. Through RL, the Black teacher embodied a kinship love that 1) holds Black students (and ourselves) accountable, 2) holds space for Black students, 3) helps Black students heal from systemic racism, and 4) helps Black students escape multiplied oppressions. Furthermore, the study investigated whether the Black students'–now classroom teachers–experiences receiving revolutionary love from their Black teacher influenced their pedagogical praxes. Black teachers' past and present roles in the fight for Black liberation and addressing the teacher shortage post-"Brown v. Board of Education" (1954) were reviewed. The data included interviews, a focus group, and autoethnographies. Endarkened Feminist Epistemology (EFE) and Fugitive Pedagogy guided the… [Direct]
(2022). An Educational Act: Understanding Black and Latinx Female Nontraditional Students' Journey to College Completion. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, New York University. Over the last several decades, nontraditional students have increasingly enrolled in postsecondary institutions (Ellis, 2019). This diverse population has altered perceptions of the traditional college student. Nontraditional students drive higher education institutions to reexamine their mission, purpose, sources of support, and delivery programs. Therefore, this study explored how these students navigate postsecondary institutions by focusing on one of the most overlooked student populations: Black and Latinx female nontraditional students (FNSs). Like their White counterparts, FNSs of color navigate postsecondary institutions while balancing multiple roles and responsibilities as students, workers, and oftentimes primary care providers. However, FNSs of color must also attend to the additional burden of systemic racism and discrimination across personal, educational, and professional domains. Grounded in a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology, the study examined the multiple… [Direct]
(2020). We Are All Haunted: Cultural Understanding and the Paradox of Trauma. Philosophy of Music Education Review, v28 n2 p4-23 Spr. In this paper, I explore the question: What would it mean for history to be understood as the history of trauma? First implied by Sigmund Freud (2003/1920) in "Beyond the Pleasure Principle," and later taken up the Cathy Caruth (1991, 1993, 1996), the question has broad implications for music education. The nature of trauma as an enigma, as something experienced but not fully grasped in consciousness that returns to "haunt" its survivors through repetitive phenomena such as flashbacks, nightmares, and unexplainable reactions to sights, sounds, smells, and other stimuli, has been documented to affect not only individuals who have experienced violent events but entire cultures that have experienced trauma such as war, natural disaster, genocide, colonialism, racism, and other forms of trauma that are passed down through generations. Trauma as an enigma raises a variety of paradoxes emerging from its relationship to history and to pedagogy, including the relationship… [Direct]
(2024). Unfiltered Voices: A Qualitative Examination of Attrition and Retention of Black Women Senior Leaders in Higher Education. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania. The journey of Black women into senior leadership roles within higher education institutions is characterized by a complex interplay of personal and professional realms shaped by the intersecting forces of racism and sexism. This dissertation examined the lived experiences of these trailblazing leaders, revealing the systemic barriers they encounter, the resilience they embody, and the strategies they employ to navigate and transform the academic landscape. Through a rigorous qualitative approach, this study gives voice to the narratives of Black women in positions such as university deans, vice-presidents, and provosts. It explores the multifaceted challenges they face, including the questioning of their legitimacy, marginalization, and the persistent confrontation with racist and sexist stereotypes. The research underscores the emotional labor and toll these experiences can have on their well-being and their decision to remain in or leave their leadership roles. Central to this… [Direct]
(2018). Education Reform as Moral Disengagement: The Racist Subtext of the State Takeover of Little Rock School District. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, The College of William and Mary. Public support for market-based education reforms persists despite evidence that these reforms exacerbate the educational marginalization of Black and Brown students. Even among Democrats and ostensibly equity-minded policy actors, support for reforms like charter schools is widespread. How do people come to support racially stratifying policies despite their supposed commitment to ethic of social justice? The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the theories of unconscious racism (Lawrence, 1995a) and moral disengagement (Bandura, 1999) in the state takeover of a majority Black school district by a majority white state government. Methods included a critical race analysis of "Doe v. Arkansas Department of Education" (2016) and a critical discourse study of the state takeover speech of elite white policy actors. Findings included two parallel appeals: to the legal precedent on which Lawrence based the theory of unconscious racism, from the court… [Direct]
(2022). Overcoming Whiteness: An Autoethnographic Account of a Black Female Administrator's Journey at a Community and Technical College. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. Black and racially minority women are underrepresented in administrative positions of authority in higher education, especially at predominantly white institutions (PWIs). These women are forced to work in environments of articulated boundaries that do not permit their voices or perspectives to be heard and they are overwhelmingly disregarded, in comparison to their white counterparts, as competent leaders mainly because of their intersectionality with race and gender. Consequently, Black and racially minoritized women struggle to be included, accepted, and respected as higher education professionals. Additionally, the experiences of Black and racially minoritized women are the result of an environment that encourages discrimination, isolation and exclusion. As a result, Black and racially minoritized women experience feelings of insecurity and invisibility and often self-segregate in order to survive in the environment. While each racially minoritized women encounters differing… [Direct]
(2020). Accountability during Crisis: The Transformative Potential of Institutional Research and Effectiveness in the Struggle toward Racial Justice. Feature: The Community College Context. Volume 6, No. 1. Office of Community College Research and Leadership In this brief, Kaylan Baxter talks about the potentially transformative role of two connected units less commonly associated with racial justice: institutional research (IR) and institutional effectiveness (IE). Institutional research (IR) consists of a wide-ranging set of tasks conducted in support of the decision-making processes of various stakeholders within higher education institutions (Association for Institutional Research, n.d.). Institutional effectiveness (IE) usually includes the functional components of IR along with broader organizational functions, such as strategic planning, assessment, and program review, all at the institutional level (Association for Higher Education Effectiveness, n.d.). Baxter argues the roles of IR and IE must be expanded and center racially conscious modes of measuring and enhancing institutional effectiveness. IR and IE professionals must be reimagined as facilitators of organizational learning about race and racism and be empowered to lead… [PDF]
(2022). Exploring Effects of Institutional, Interpersonal, & Individual Communication on University Students' Attitudes about Diversity and Institutional Belongingness. Intercultural Communication Education, v5 n2 p39-58. University campuses are critical spaces where the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in society are discussed, and debated. However, even as campus communities across the world grow more diverse, higher education institutions are facing an existential crisis–high dropout rates, low enrollments, growing disenchantment with education, and issues of otherization, sexism, and racism on campus. It has never been more necessary for administrators, faculty, staff and all stakeholders to understand the role of effective institutional, intergroup, and individual communication in increasing students' university belongingness, and positively affecting their attitudes towards 'others.' Using the lens of systems theory and intergroup contact theory, this study analyzes how institutional, interpersonal, and individual level factors affect college students' attitudes about diversity, and their university belongingness. An online survey of 432 students from a midsized public… [PDF]
(2017). Making Visible and Acting on Issues of Racism and Racialization in School Mathematics. Brock Education: A Journal of Educational Research and Practice, v27 n1 p35-52. Schools, as social systems, may knowingly or unintentionally perpetuate inequities through unchallenged oppressive systems. This paper focuses on mathematics as a subject area in school practices in which inequities seem to be considered normal. Issues of racism and racialization in the discipline of mathematics are predominantly lived through the practice of streaming where students are enrolled in courses of different levels of difficulty. Such practice denies marginalized groups of students the full benefit of rich learning experiences. These issues should be of concern for activists, advocates, and allies as well as individuals and groups who are systematically and directly affected. The purpose of this paper is to make visible issues of racism and racialization in school mathematics to a range of stakeholders that include: school administrators, teachers, students, parents, education advocates, academics, educational researchers, and politicians. The ultimate goal is that the… [PDF]
(2014). The Politics of Compulsive Education: Racism and Learner-Citizenship. Routledge Research in Education Policy and Politics. Routledge Research in Education Policy and Politics The marketised and securitised shaping of formal education sites in terms of risk prevention strategies have transformed what it means to be a learner and a citizen. In this book, Karl Kitching explores racialised dimensions to suggest how individuals and collectives are increasingly made responsible for their own welfare as "good" or "bad" students, at the expense of the protection of their rights as learner-citizens. Focusing on Ireland as a post-colonial Atlantic state, the book demonstrates how liberal governance, racisms, migration and mass education are interconnected and struggled over at local, national, European and global levels. Using a variety of qualitative studies and analytic approaches, "The Politics of Compulsive Education" details the significance of mass education(s) to the ongoing racialisation of national sovereignty. It draws on in-depth historical, policy, media and school- ≠based research, moving from the 19th century to the… [Direct]
(1989). Anti-Racist Strategies in College and Community. This document summarizes what was learned from a 3-year Manchester (United Kingdom) project designed to combat racism in higher education and the community. The lessons learned from the study are intended to help other colleges focus on the issue of racism and how it can be tackled openly in a community education context. After some background information about the aims of the project, a section on staff development describes a course in which staff considered, among other issues, the "right" way for white staff to respond to black students who had experience with racism that the staff could not share. Lessons learned from the course are summarized in the document, as are working practices decided on by participants in a later seminar course. The findings of an evaluation of the courses are also reported. Curriculum development workshops are described, along with features that contributed to the workshops' success and a checklist for evaluating antiracist materials. A…
(2017). Teaching for Social Justice: Resources, Relationships, and Anti-Racist Practice. Multicultural Perspectives, v19 n3 p133-138. Fear and bigotry have spread through schools on the heels of a presidential campaign that promoted divisiveness grounded in racism and discrimination. This article describes the need for and a path toward explicit anti-racist teaching and anti-racist action to counteract this surge of hate speech. In addition, to create a more equitable and just education system and society, the article outlines actions needed to change key aspects of institutionalized racism and intolerance that are embedded in our schools: a) Correcting the unequal resources leading to inequitable opportunities, programs, teacher and leader distribution; b) providing equal opportunity for the kind of deeper learning demanded in the 21st century: A curriculum that supports critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, and applications of knowledge to real-world problems; c) developing social/emotional as well as academic skills; and d) supporting personalization and relationships so that students… [Direct]
(2021). From School Pushouts to Graduating College: A Counter-Narrative of Highly Educated Black Males. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Valdosta State University. To provide stories of how successful Black males made meaning of their educational experiences and offer current students motivation for focusing on their education, I conducted a qualitative study of four successful Black males from an urban area bordering a large southern city. Successful meant earning a college degree. Data collected through using Seidman's three-phase interview process was transcribed and then analyzed in MAXQDA software using in vivo, emotion, axial, and pattern coding. Sports, relationships, and goal setting were found to be the main reasons for academic success. However, seven themes were constructed from the data and presented as a counter-narrative: succeeding through sports, building relationships with school personnel, setting goals and positive attitudes for success, influencing others to succeed, learning from mistakes, choosing good people, and succeeding through friendships. A discussion of each theme synthesized participants' experiences to provide… [Direct]