(2010). The Colour of Numbers: Surveys, Statistics and Deficit-Thinking about Race and Class. Journal of Education Policy, v25 n2 p253-276 Mar. Drawing on the traditions of critical race theory, the paper is presented as a chronicle–a narrative–featuring two invented characters with different histories and expertise. Together they explore the strengths and weaknesses of quantitative approaches to race equality in education. In societies that are structured in racial domination, such as the USA and the UK, quantitative approaches often encode particular assumptions about the nature of social processes and the generation of educational inequality that reflect a generally superficial understanding of racism. Statistical methods can obscure the material reality of racism and the more that statisticians manipulate their data, the more it is likely that majoritarian assumptions will be introduced as part of the fabric of the calculations themselves and the conclusions that are drawn. Focusing on the case of recent national data on the secondary education of minoritized children in England, the paper highlights statisticians'… [Direct]
(2012). Othering Processes and STS Curricula: From Nineteenth Century Scientific Discourse on Interracial Competition and Racial Extinction to Othering in Biomedical Technosciences. Science & Education, v21 n5 p607-629 May. This paper analyzes the debates on \interracial competition\ and \racial extinction\ in the biological discourse on human evolution during the second half of the nineteenth century. Our intention is to discuss the ideological function of these biological concepts as tools for the naturalization and scientific legitimation of racial hierarchies during that period. We argue that the examination of these scientific discussions about race from a historical perspective can play the role of a critical platform for students and teachers to think about the role of science in current othering processes, such as those related to biomedical technosciences. If they learn how biological ideas played an ideological function concerning interracial relationships in the past, they can be compelled to ask which ideological functions the biological knowledge they are teaching and learning might play now. If this is properly balanced, they can eventually both value scientific knowledge for its… [Direct]
(2011). Explaining the Black-White Achievement Gap in the Context of Family, Neighborhood, and School. FPG Snapshot #64. FPG Child Development Institute In the United States, Black children start school behind their White peers on standardized reading and mathematics tests, and racial disparities in achievement increase during each subsequent year of primary and secondary education. To formulate an appropriate policy response to this enduring problem, a careful and comprehensive understanding of the factors that contribute to the achievement gap is needed. The \integrative model of development in context\ is a framework that can help researchers explore ethnic or racial group differences in child development and achievement. The model considers ways in which social position, racism, and segregation influence children's experiences in the three crucial contexts of family, neighborhood, and school. Results showed that at the neighborhood and school levels, Black children lived in more disadvantaged neighborhoods and attended schools with a higher proportion of poor or minority students. In unadjusted models White children scored higher… [PDF]
(2014). African American Parent Involvement in Special Education: Perceptions, Practice, and Placement. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of California, San Diego. The disproportional representation of Black students in special education has been an issue of concern for many years in the United States. A review of the literature illustrates the struggle of African American children in the American educational system: from the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation to the re-segregation of these same children into special day classrooms. What the literature fails to report is how parental involvement might help educators address the problem of overrepresentation and the perceptions of the families who are affected by their children being placed in special educational settings. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the experiences and perceptions of African American parents who have male children receiving special education services in schools. Critical race theory was utilized as a framework to examine and challenge the manner in which race and racism impacts practices and procedures by school personnel dealing with African… [Direct]
(2011). Racism, "Race" and Ethnographic Research in Multicultural Italy. Ethnography and Education, v6 n1 p9-27. This article is divided into two parts: in the first one, after mentioning episodes of violence against immigrants, the author discusses the issues of "race" and racism within the debate on immigration and diversity taking place in Italy. Pointing out a number of relevant indications and reflections that qualify such debate, she argues that the concern of Italian researchers, educators and citizens about the resurgence of racism must be understood with reference to the historical, philosophical and scientific perspectives that aimed to disunite humanity, on the one hand; on the other, in the light of Italy's history of racist ideology and its impact on education, during Fascism. Both research paths justified exclusion and exploitation of populations on the basis of a naturalistic classification whose null denotation has been definitely proved by recent biological and genetic evidence. In the second part, and with regard to contemporary times and changes brought about by… [Direct]
(2011). Facing and Transforming Hauntings of Race through the Arts. Equity & Excellence in Education, v44 n3 p330-347. This article examines the pedagogical processes through which dance choreography and performance embody issues of social injustices. The author draws on ethnographic data of prominent black choreographers/dancers/educators, Katherine Dunham and Ronald K. Brown, to consider the behind the scene complex, interdependent practices of embodiment and to explore the ways in which concealed, yet present, social phenomena are transformed into provocative in-motion stories for the concert stage. Drawing on social justice education principles and Gordon's (1997) conception of ghostly phenomena, the data show that disavowing race and structural racism leave lingering and weighted traces of racialized experiences, making embodiment a complex and necessary condition for performing artists who aim to convey the meaning of these traces through dancing social justice. (Contains 9 notes.)… [Direct]
(2014). Ferguson Is about Us Too: A Call to Explore Our Communities. Social Education, v78 n5 p248-253 Sep-Oct. On August 9, Michael Brown, a college-bound black male, was fatally shot by a white police officer in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. For several days, jarring images of tear gas, militarized police, and unrest in Ferguson flickered on screens across the world. Undoubtedly, what brought Ferguson to the national consciousness–the death of a young black male and the uprising that followed–provides an opportunity to explore important issues such as stereotyping in our society, the role of protests and demonstrations in civic life, and the ways in which traditional and social media help construct the narratives of critical events. However, at the root of these inquiries lies a tacit assumption that Ferguson was somehow extraordinary–that the flashpoint itself is what deserves to be interrogated. Yet, if we consider Ferguson in its totality through the eyes of its citizens, we can see that there was nothing extraordinary about what shaped the circumstances of these civic… [Direct]
(2018). Building a Model of Black Women's Confidence in Campus Sexual Assault Resources: A Critical Race Feminist Quantitative Study. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Clemson University. The United States' evolving federal regulations and laws are doing little to disrupt systemic sexual violence, and more narrowly, are doing very little to protect Black women (Dunn, 2014; Harris, 2017; Harris & Linder, 2017; Konradi, 2016; O'Toole et al., 2015; Yung, 2015). Further, Black women are underrepresented in college sexual assault literature and little is known about how Black women perceive campus sexual violence resources and policy (Crosby, 2015; Tillman et al., 2010). The purpose of this study is to create a model to explore Black women's confidence in sexual assault resources. In order for institutions of higher education to combat sexual violence against women, college administrators must understand the factors that impact women's confidence in their sexual violence resources and policies. In this study, I argue that college administrators must eradicate essentialist perspectives of how women perceive resources and are impacted by sexual violence. This study… [Direct]
(2017). Enhancing School Mathematics Culturally: A Path of Reconciliation. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, v17 n2 p73-140. Culturally responsive or place-based school mathematics that focuses on Indigenous students has an established presence in the research literature. This culture-based innovation represents a historical shift from conventional approaches to mathematics education. Moreover, it has demonstratively advanced the academic achievement for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Its success has exposed deep fault lines in conventional school mathematics. Many mathematics educators unknowingly embrace problematic, taken-for-granted notions about their school subject that inhibit student engagement and contribute to Indigenous students' low graduation rates. However, innovative researchers and teachers have adapted or developed culture-based teaching materials and strategies that significantly reduce the problems inherent in conventional school mathematics. As a result, these innovators' actions challenge standard curricula and instruction. These changes coincide with another profound… [Direct]
(2010). The Relevance of Racism to the Mathematics Experiences of African American Students in an Intensely Segregated Low Income School. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Illinois Institute of Technology. Society's failure to educate proportionate numbers of African American students in mathematics is an ongoing problem. The roots of this problem lie in systemic racism and segregated schools. The overwhelming majority of economically disadvantaged African American high school students at segregated schools receive substandard mathematics education. One part of this study consists of analysis of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) data, showing vast inequities in the education delivered to the 72% of African American CPS students who attend segregated schools. Data from interviews of 24 freshmen in low-level algebra classes at one such CPS school support the major part of this study. The interviewees answer questions about their experiences as mathematics students and as African Americans. Results of this study found students to be teacher dependent, to approach math lessons as unconnected to previous knowledge, and to take a narrow view towards the value of mathematics. Students had… [Direct]
(2013). "It Gets under Your Skin": Using Process Drama to Explore Race and Privilege with Undergraduate Students. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, New York University. This qualitative case study examined the use of process drama in an undergraduate Intergroup Dialogue and how the use of this drama-based pedagogy shaped participants' attitudes and understandings about race and privilege. The research focused on the creation of and subsequent reflection on improvised, episodic scenes and images structured around larger themes of socialization and oppression. The process drama utilized in this study involved both students and facilitators in role. This study found that participation in process drama affected participants' attitudes about race and privilege in a number of different ways and to different extents. Participants also experienced and problematized process drama in different ways. Overall, process drama was found to create empathy, to enable reflection on lived experiences, to lead to examination of stereotypes, privilege, and internalized racism, and to create awareness about gaps in students' education. This study found that mechanisms of… [Direct]
(2011). Developing Intercultural Competence in Europe: The Challenges. Language and Intercultural Communication, v11 n2 p113-125. Anti-racism has not played a prominent role in recent major European Union Lifelong Learning strategies. Nevertheless, its importance in Europe with increasing levels of migration has kept the concept, in the form of intercultural competence and intercultural dialogue, alive within European Education and Culture policy. This article traces the use of the terminology of culture within European policy and practice, in particular focusing on intercultural learning in European Youth work. It explores the effectiveness of the use of culture in addressing discrimination at an individual and structural level, using empirical examples. The article concludes that practice that focuses almost entirely on interpersonal skills at the individual level has limited influence in creating structural change. The article ends with proposals for anti-discrimination policy and practice. (Contains 1 note.)… [Direct]
(2012). Equity, Academic Rigour and a Sense of Entitlement: Voices from the "Chalkface". Australian Association for Research in Education (NJ1), Paper presented at the Joint Australian Association for Research in Education and Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association Conference (AARE-APERA 2012) World Education Research Association (WERA) Focal Meeting (Sydney, New South Wales, Dec 2-6, 2012). When working with teacher education students one of our aims is to look at "race" and racism, and the implications that "being white" has for teachers' practice. Hence we develop conversations around who we are as gendered and racialised subjects who occupy specific socio-economic positions. Our students find this disconcerting, however, as educators we find the journey equally challenging, even painful. When students personalize their discomfort by attacking us, it is not easy to simply shrug off hurtful comments. What we want to do in this paper, therefore, is to share the stories of our "tragedies and triumphs" and present a number of impressionistic snapshots that illustrate the effects that teaching about social justice issues has on us as teachers. The issues mentioned in our title form the basis of our narratives: we are firmly committed to retaining our focus on equity as a guiding principle without sacrificing academic rigour, while at the same… [PDF]
(2013). Schooling Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: One Story about Tension and Transformation. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Minnesota. The need for multifaceted analyses of the relationship between how the United States acknowledges racism and how schooling can be structured to mitigate its negative impacts has never been greater, especially given the rising and often simplistic attention to the racial "achievement gap." In suburban, elite Pioneer City, a series of initiatives I refer to as "the transformation" aimed to eliminate the racial achievement gap in that school district through simultaneous efforts to redistribute students from a racially and economically isolated elementary school and to train all district staff in a particular brand of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP; Ladson-Billings, 1995). In this yearlong study, I used critical ethnographic methods to explore some tensions between a goal of systemic change and the reproductive forces at play in schools. My findings complicate preexisting ways of theorizing how CRP can be part of practical efforts to transform schooling and they… [Direct]
(2012). Confronting Dominant Whiteness in the Primary Classroom: Progressive Student Teachers' Dilemmas and Constraints. Oxford Review of Education, v38 n4 p455-472. Concerns about new teachers' capacity to address diversity in their classrooms are growing in many parts of the West, and there is some consensus that one aspect of the problem is the narrow range of cultural and social backgrounds from which teacher candidates are drawn. Yet a minority of socially aware teachers, from all backgrounds, continue to join the profession, and attempt to teach in ways that address diversity and confront racism. Drawing on data from an on-going longitudinal study of progressive teachers in their early careers, this article explores the dilemmas and constraints faced by four student teachers on their final teaching practice. Focusing on the curriculum, it examines their different responses to the unexamined white norms and priorities in the material they are expected to teach. It concludes that while there is cause for optimism about some new teachers' understanding of and commitment to race equality and ethnic diversity, more attention needs to be paid to… [Direct]