(2018). "We Are All Relations": An Indigenous Course Requirement (ICR) Experience. International Journal for Talent Development and Creativity, v6 n1-2 p189-202 Aug-Dec. This mixed-methods study asked students, faculty, and staff what their experiences were with an interdisciplinary Indigenous Course Requirement (ICR) in its initial implementation in the 2016/17 academic year at The University of Winnipeg. Although participants had suggestions for how to improve course content, development, delivery, and support, there were more positive reactions to the ICR experience than negative. Themes that emerged from the positive learning experiences were the importance of relationships, respect, and a desire to work together towards reconciliation. Challenges that participants indicated were the pressure on Indigenous students to take on the role of token authority, lack of support systems and training for engaging in sensitive issues. There was consensus that racism and lack of knowledge exists and that education and relationships are key to changing stereotypes. A major challenge will be continued student opposition to ICRs…. [PDF]
(1995). Meeting the Challenge, Overcoming the Odds: Harvard Student Panel. Canadian Journal of Native Education, v21 suppl p70-82. Four Native American graduate students from Harvard University discuss experiences that led them to pursue advanced degrees, challenges they have experienced in higher education, the relevance of their cultures and languages to their education, the racism encountered in their college careers, and resources they have created to help support them in their pursuit of higher education. (LP)…
(2018). 'Race Space' Critical Professional Development as Third Space: Cultivating Racial Literacy, Ideological Becoming, and Social Justice Teaching With/In Urban Teachers. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo. Racial injustice in U. S. society cannot be separated from that which happens in U.S. classrooms. Indeed, many battles between white supremacy and antiracism are waged in the public school arena—such as, the whitewashing of slavery in textbooks, and the Supreme Court decision to ban Mexican American Studies in Arizona. Thus, this dissertation took into account teacher learning and classroom practice around race, racism, and social justice through professional development. Specifically, among teachers committed to social justice, this dissertation investigated the role professional development plays in shaping how their commitment translates into classroom practice. I designed 'race space' Critical Professional Development (CPD) (Kohli, Picower, Martinez, & Ortiz, 2015) to support in-service urban teachers in learning about race, racism, and what it means to engage in social justice teaching. I employ the term 'race space' to describe an aim to engender transformational,… [Direct]
(2020). Public Schools At-Risk: Examining a Century of U.S. Media Coverage of "Unsatisfactory Student Performance" and the Rise of School Privatization. Democracy & Education, v28 n2 Article 2. Throughout the 20th century, community-owned and operated public schooling was viewed in the United States as an essential mechanism for advancing the country's democratic ideals, institutions, and economic interests. But the first decades of the 21st century have witnessed a historic shift away from this commitment to public schools, as federal and state lawmakers created taxpayer-funded policies supportive of private school vouchers and for-profit charter schools. The authors examine more than 100 years of national newspaper coverage related to the perennial problem of "unsatisfactory student performance," particularly changes in terminology used to describe these students and explanations for their "unsatisfactory performance." A review of this discourse reveals shifting views on the causes of students' "unsatisfactory performance" in schools and helps illuminate reasons for the nation's recent turn to the private sector. The authors suggest factors… [Direct]
(2021). Equitable Value: Promoting Economic Mobility and Social Justice through Postsecondary Education. Postsecondary Value Commission Postsecondary education can offer individuals the opportunity to earn a livable wage and build a better life for themselves and their families, while also fostering a healthier and more democratic society. Yet, postsecondary education must do more to dismantle its own inequitable policies and practices, which play a role in perpetuating and exacerbating the injustices in society at large. It is in this context that the Postsecondary Value Commission has examined how postsecondary education fosters equitable access to critical post-college outcomes, including sufficient earnings, high-quality jobs, and economic mobility and security. The Postsecondary Value Commission was responsible for producing the following interrelated deliverables: (1) a conceptual definition of postsecondary value and core principles to guide institutional improvement efforts and policy conversations about equitably increasing students' post-college economic success and mobility; (2) a framework to gauge how… [PDF]
(2021). Ahora Puedo Respirar: Now I Can Breathe. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Texas State University – San Marcos. This research explored the struggle and resiliency of a Mexican American community in Central Texas as they attempted to maintain, teach, and celebrate their Mexican American roots, customs, knowledge, and celebrations through community education. The research employed critical ethnography to explore history and its impact on self, organization, and community; it also interrogated agency within racially contentious times. Additionally, this research provides insight into public pedagogy of teaching, learning, and leading as a means to remember and record the growth and change within the local Mexican American community. The community learning exchange theory of change informed this dynamic-critical place-based conceptual framework. The study's framework was a hybrid that included: theory of change, public pedagogy, community cultural wealth, culturally relevant pedagogy, and community education through the arts. The research design was grounded in critical ethnography, social… [Direct]
(2022). A Critical Study of How College Student Leaders of Color Conceptualize Social Justice Leadership. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana University. College student leadership is common learning outcome in American higher education, but it was not until the past decade when researchers began studying college student leadership using critical theories and perspectives. These scholars criticized that current student leadership models and theories have been representative of White, Eurocentric, and patriarchal ideologies (Dugan & Komives, 2011). As a result, current leadership education is often not culturally relevant to reflect the diverse identities of students of color. Moreover, leadership education continues reinforcing a dominant view of leadership that promotes individualism and capitalism. Under current U.S. context where longstanding racism remains pervasive in harming communities of color, there is an urgent demand for more social justice leaders to tackle challenges facing the marginalized communities. Colleges and universities play an instrumental role in offering leadership education to prepare students as future… [Direct]
(2022). "The Kids in Prison Program": A Critical Race Personal Counternarrative of a Former Black Charter School Teacher. Teachers College Record, v124 n11 p58-81 Nov. Background/Context: In New Orleans, Louisiana, in the years following Hurricane Katrina, predominantly white education reformers have used entrepreneurial support to dismantle the predominantly Black city's public education system. Using racial domination without community approval, these education reformers have educationally disenfranchised the Black community by implementing No Excuses (NE) Charter School Management Organizations (CMO). The rise in these organizations has also led to the mass firing of the city's majority Black educator base and the hiring of majority white educators. Scholarship on NE CMOs notes their use of dehumanizing behavioral practices meant to control their student populations. Accounts, however, are limited from those who have witnessed, experienced, or resisted these dehumanizing behavioral practices. Purpose/Objective/Focus of Study: Through the critical race theory (CRT) lens of racial realism, this paper provides a critical race personal… [Direct]
(1986). Changing Attitudes: Prejudice and the Schools. The paper begins with the supposition that schools in Great Britain have been given the task of developing an ethos and teaching/learning approaches which may reduce and eradicate racism and other prejudices in education and the wider society. Prejudice is defined and 25 practical initiatives for combatting it through multicultural education are outlined, including the ideas of Stenhouse, Jeffcoate, Banks, and Twitchin and Demuth. Further research is suggested to reduce prejudice and three areas for further study have been identified: personality, social structure, and cultural dimensions of prejudice and racism. Finally, 14 guiding principles are identified to help establish policies for multicultural education by teachers. A three-page select bibliography is included. (JEH)…
(2017). Symbols in the Strange Fruit Seeds: What "The Talk" Black Parents Have with Their Sons Tells Us about Racism. Harvard Educational Review, v87 n4 p512-537 Win. In this article, Raygine DiAquoi explores the temporality of "the talk" Black parents have with their sons, analyzing the way the messages they share with their sons about racism reflect sociohistorical changes around issues of race. Over the course of a year, DiAquoi conducted a qualitative investigation of the content of the messages seventeen families shared with their adolescent sons about discrimination. She asserts that the similarities between the conversations families have today and those had by Black families living during the pre-"Brown v. Board of Education" era beg critical analysis of the features of our current racial climate…. [Direct]
(2020). In(di)visable: Inquiring into Being 'Othered' as a Means to Teach Social Justice in PHETE. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, v25 n6 p666-680. The goal of physical education (PE) is to increase student confidence, competence, and motivation to lead physically active lifestyles. Research has shown that physical education teacher education (PETE) students tend to be sexist, elitist and unsympathetic towards social issues. Currently, a gap in culturally responsive and socially just forms of PE that bring attention to racism, colonialism, sexism, heteronormativity, and other social issues requires greater acknowledgement from researchers. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to (1) better understand how PETE students might be engaged to take on a critical agenda that would increase their willingness to teach in culturally responsive ways, and (2) engage in more socially just forms of PE. Methods: Using autobiographical narrative inquiry, three students confront and explain their reactions to dominant discourses that have shaped their identities and think critically about how their own experiences may be different than the… [Direct]
(2011). The Aesthetics of White Racism in Pre-Service Teacher Education: A Critical Race Theory Perspective. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v14 n4 p461-479. The authors use critical race theory (CRT) and critical race feminism (CRF) as a lens for analyzing and grappling with White students' resistance to learning about and deconstructing systems of oppression. The authors build on the work of critical scholars whose work exposes the ways in which White pre-service teachers resist counter-hegemonic pedagogical approaches and subject matter. In the so-called \post-racial\ era, these ways of resisting have become more virulent and structural in nature, thereby institutionalizing racism. Included in the article are excerpts from the authors' end of the academic year teaching evaluations. The excerpted comments serve as evidence that students use evaluations as weapons to speak back to and against, not only to anti-racist philosophies, but counter-hegemonic narratives that represent the diversity of their future teaching experiences. Both faculty members are formally trained in social work, multicultural education, and educational policy…. [Direct]
(2015). Statement about the Role of Early Childhood Education and Racism. Position Statement. National Council of Teachers of English On June 19, 2015, the Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) of NCTE posted a statement sending love to the families and the people of Charleston in response to the racist murders at the historic Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The statement also expressed belief that early childhood educators have a clear responsibility and essential role to play in educating tomorrow's adults so that this and other more insidious kinds of racism are no longer a possibility. At that time, they promised to initiate a set of resources on the ECEA website in support of focused anti-racist work in educational settings. With this reiteration of previous statements resources were provided. The intent is to continue building this collection and to work toward collaborations across the country. The link to the statement and previous statement resources is provided in this position statement, along with prior ECEA statements and a statement about the role of early childhood education… [Direct]
(2017). Is It Time for a Sixth Dimension of Multicultural Education?: Resistance and Praxis in Challenging Times. Multicultural Perspectives, v19 n3 p155-161. The impact of the election of a new U.S. president and his far right ideology and agenda has reverberated across the entire world. This new reality calls for all critical equity-seeking educators; multicultural, social justice, culturally responsive, and others to be reflective and engage in deep thinking on ways to respond. Within a framework of advocacy and resistance, drawing on lessons of the past, my own experiences and research, this article offers some practical suggestions that others hopefully can build on. It seeks to connect a critical multicultural education framework to identifiable practices in schools and communities that challenges neoliberal approaches to education; xenophobia, racism, and other forms of structural oppression; argues that the actions and practices of multicultural educators must be explicit and generative in ways that make theory usable…. [Direct]
(2022). Navigating Controversial Topics: A Qualitative Study of High School English Teachers in the Live Free or Die State. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Plymouth State University. The purpose of this study was to understand the influence the Right to Freedom from Discrimination in Public Workplaces and Education (Right to Freedom) law has had on New Hampshire public high school English teachers. This study explores how the onset of this law may cause teachers to avoid diverse and multicultural literature in their curriculum and leave out discussing topics such as racism and sexism. In order to hear directly from New Hampshire's teachers, a phenomenological qualitative research study was conducted. A theoretical framework based on constructivist and engagement theories was developed to help understand the role controversial, contemporary, and young adult literature play in English curricula. Key informant interviews were conducted with 18 participants, each from different public school districts across the five regions of New Hampshire. Using a grounded theory approach, codes were created through analysis resulting in seven themes. The results from this study… [Direct]