(2022). Flow in My DNA: Culturally Affirming Assessments of an Inheritance and Traits Unit through Genetic Raps. Science Teacher, v89 n5 p22-28 May-Jun. Instead of having their students' first experience with biology that did not address issues of racism in science, Kelsie Fowler and Saraswati Noel created a unit drew on storytelling and artistic expression which is rare in science education, where these modes helped them center what really mattered to them–their Black students' personal experiences and authentic connections to genetics and inheritance. By forgoing traditional assessments that reinforce white standards of knowing and being (tests, formulaic lab write-ups, etc.) (Syverson 2009; Bang et al. 2017; Trumbull and Nelson-Barber 2019) and aim for quantity over depth of understanding (Cintron, Wadlington, and ChenFeng 2021), they refuted cultivating uncritical lab geneticists. They challenged students to investigate dimensions of their identity through studying genes, meiosis, skin tone, mutations, phenotypes, the human genome, differences between ethnic populations, etc. Lessons were designed to teach canonical ideas about… [Direct]
(2022). Feeling Black: Black Urban High School Youth and Visceral Geographies of Anti-Black Racism. Equity & Excellence in Education, v55 n3 p231-243. Prior research on anti-blackness in education demonstrates that Black bodies are marked as undesirable and therefore require exclusion, neglect, or mistreatment. Building on this research, I turn to geographical theories to understand the lived, everyday experiences of Black students who attended a predominately Latinx high school. Via visceral geographies, I focus on the body as a spatial landscape to explore how Black students experienced anti-black racism and how they embodied these racial moments. Here, I combine the theoretical resources of visceral geographies, BlackCrit, and anti-blackness, to interrogate the real and perceived violence that Black students endured during the school day. My analysis revealed two salient themes: (1) Black students felt a sense of unbelonging; and (2) they perceived their blackness as unimaginable to non-Black people. Finally, I argue that the (Black) body is a space where researchers can collect information about anti-blackness and work towards… [Direct]
(2021). Why They Hate Us: How Racist Rhetoric Impacts Education. Teachers College Press This book examines how racist political rhetoric has created damaging and dangerous conditions for Students of Color in schools and higher education institutions throughout the United States. The authors show how the election of the 45th president has resulted in a defining moment in U.S. history where racist discourses, reinforced by ideologies of white supremacy, have affected the educational experiences of our most vulnerable students. This volume situates the rhetoric of the Trump presidency within a broader historical narrative and provides recommendations for those who seek to advocate for anti-racism and social justice. As we enter the uncharted waters of a global pandemic and national racial reckoning, this will be invaluable reading for scholars, educators, and administrators who want to be part of the solution. The book features: (1) Uses Donald Trump's presidency as a case study to show how and why racist rhetoric can be used to mobilize large numbers of U.S. voters; (2)… [Direct]
(2018). Critical Case Studies of District-Level Equity Leaders in Public Schools. ProQuest LLC, D.E. Dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A collection of three case studies on District-level Equity Leaders (DELs), this study aims to fill the current void in the research on DELs and equity work at the district level in public schools, using a Critical Race Theory (CRT) lens. The study's primary focus is to document the lived experiences of individuals in this work and how they understand and fulfill their roles – especially in the context of current educational, social, and political spheres. This includes 1) how they define their positions and implement their vision for their positions, 2) how they respond to barriers and/or setbacks they encounter, 3) how their experiences are similar or different across districts, and 4) how the CRT tenets most commonly found in education — permanence of racism, interest convergence, Whiteness as property, counternarratives versus majoritarian narratives, critique of liberalism, and intersectionality (Capper, 2015) — manifest in and/or impact district level equity leadership roles…. [Direct]
(2023). Stories That Matter: An Analysis of Teacher Candidates' Compositions About Social Justice Events in Their Lives. Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning, v15 n2 p115-127. This study generated from our interest in learning about social justice events in the lives of teacher candidates in our programs of study. In many schools of education, including our own, social justice is a concept that is integrated into the curriculums, yet there is wide variation as to how this is actually done. A unique aspect of this study was that more than half of the candidates were matriculated in an alternate teacher education program where the majority of candidates are people of color. Using narrative analysis, we examine 48 written narratives composed by teacher candidates about events relating to social justice in their lives. Results indicated that candidates' narratives clustered into two themes and six categories: The themes consisted of stories about self or family members and to other stories about people in their communities. The categories pertained to racism, bullying, sexuality/gender identity, homelessness/elderly and social violence, with the stories about… [Direct]
(2023). Critical Race Theory and Its Critics: Implications for Research and Teaching. Multicultural Education Series. Teachers College Press Who and what are behind the attacks on Critical Race Theory (CRT)? Why are attacks on the teaching of racism happening now and what can be done about them? In this book, L√≥pez and Sleeter answer these questions in an effort to intentionally and strategically provide readers with sustainable tools for teaching toward an equitable future. This comprehensive book includes an overview of today's controversy surrounding CRT; a historical account of efforts to thwart fair and unbiased education opportunities; research on why these efforts have been successful; and ways for teachers, school leaders, and researchers to address this pushback in their own work. Contrary to claims by critics of CRT, research supports that addressing racism in the classroom is an integral part of a broader effort in ensuring that all children thrive. Written in an accessible style for a broad audience, "Critical Race Theory and Its Critics" offers evidence-based recommendations on messaging (including… [Direct]
(2024). Reconstructing Democracy in Polarized Times: Thinking through/with the CRT Conflicts. Democracy & Education, v32 n2 Article 1. In this essay, we consider how reconstructing our ideas about the nature of democracy, and its relationship to education, can help us respond to contemporary challenges. We focus specifically on the ongoing fights about critical race theory (CRT), providing an overview of the CRT controversy–we argue that its cultivation for political reasons has often lessened the possibility of democratic discussions of race, racism, and ongoing white supremacy. Next, we consider how debates around CRT can help us to rethink how we "do" democracy and how to use education to help cultivate democratic habits and values. Finally, we describe three possibilities for responding to the CRT debates in ways that focus on pragmatic inquiry and that enable better thinking about the democratic purposes of schools to work to change racial habits/values and renew civic education and to increase the health of our democracy…. [Direct]
(2021). No Choice Is the "Right" Choice: Black Parents' Educational Decision-Making in Their Search for a "Good" School. Harvard Educational Review, v91 n1 p38-61 Spr. In this article, Linn Posey-Maddox, Maxine McKinney de Royston, Alea R. Holman, Raquel M. Rall, and Rachel A. Johnson examine Black parents' educational decision-making in the racial and educational contexts of predominantly white suburban districts, majority-Black urban schools with an Afrocentric focus, and racially diverse urban public and private schools. Undertaking a qualitative meta-analysis, they ask, How and why is anti-Black racism salient in Black parents' educational decision-making around schooling? Their findings reveal that race and anti-Black racism are central to Black parents' school choice decisions. Specifically, they shape the trade-offs parents made in choosing a school for their child(ren), their ongoing risk assessments regarding the potential for racialized harm in their child(ren)'s schooling, and their continuous decision-making about whether to keep their child enrolled or move them to a different school. Regardless of geography, school type, grade level,… [Direct]
(2023). Yes, Teaching and Pedagogical Practices Matter: Graduate Students' of Color Stories in Hybrid Higher Education/Student Affairs (HESA) Graduate Programs. Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education, v55 n2 p204-223 Jun. Faculty members must employ pedagogical practices that foster humanizing learning environments for graduate Students of Color who have been marginalized and othered in higher education. Methodologically using narrative inquiry, this paper describes graduate Students' of Color stories in higher education/student affairs hybrid graduate preparation programs to understand how faculty contribute to humanizing and critical pedagogy. The findings highlight three central pedagogical strategies faculty used in hybrid classrooms that graduate Students' of Color named as most effective: (1) taught to transgress against racism and oppression, (2) emphasized dialogic pedagogy strategies, and (3) encouraged collaboration inside and outside of the classroom. This study highlights critical pedagogies for student engagement and is a call-to-action for higher education to center humanizing praxis in hybrid learning environments and beyond…. [Direct]
(2024). Enabling Multilingualism or Disabling Multilinguals? Interrogating Linguistic Discrimination in Swedish Preschool Policy. Human Rights Education Review, v7 n1 p5-25. In this paper we conduct a poststructural discourse analysis inspired by Carol Bacchi's 'What's the problem represented to be?' (WRP) approach. We explore what kinds of problems are formulated in preschool educational policy on multilingualism, and what underlying assumptions underlie the dominant discourse on language proficiency in Sweden. Serving as a case to discuss how racism, ableism and childism intersect with linguicism, we examine the importance of shifting from a 'children's (special) needs' discourse to a 'children's (language) rights' discourse through a social justice education framework. We draw upon Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's understanding of childism, which refers to prejudice and discrimination against children based on beliefs about their inferiority to adults. The right to and rights in education are contingent upon linguistic rights, upon students learning to use their first language, whether that be minority, indigenous or sign language…. [Direct]
(2023). Examining Literature through Tenets of Critical Race Theory: A Pedagogical Approach for the ELA Classroom. Multicultural Perspectives, v25 n1 p4-20. In this article, the authors present a qualitative study focused on preservice teachers employing a framework using tenets of critical race theory (CRT)–permanence of racism, experiential knowledge and counter-storytelling, interest convergence, and critique of liberalism–in literature study. Drawing on critical English education, critical race English education, and CRT, the proposed framework integrates key tenets of CRT with literature in classrooms. Our findings demonstrated engagement by preservice teachers in identification, analysis, and reflection of CRT tenets in texts. This framework has the potential to provide a tool for students and teachers in K-12 schools to connect tenets of CRT to their knowledge of society and race in the texts they read…. [Direct]
(2021). Spatializing Race, Understanding History: A Professional Development Experience Centered on African American History and Culture. History Teacher, v55 n1 p11-33 Nov. United States history classrooms have the potential to simultaneously foster an understanding of students' cultures and experiences today in relation to the nation's history and develop critical thinking and technology literacy. Yet classroom materials and instructors tend to avoid, ignore, or misrepresent controversial topics such as race and racism. Spatial technology information can offer an end to this dilemma by providing the opportunity to overcome hesitations of confronting race and racism in the classroom while honing students' technology and critical thinking skills. Spatial information literacy and technology, however, open a door into re-envisioning the phenomenon and reinterpreting history at large. Digital tools and maps can decenter dominant white Eurocentric interpretations and history curricula while featuring multiple perspectives to critically examine the role of race and racism over time. This article provides support for the value of culturally relevant,… [PDF]
(2021). Counteracting Dysconscious Racism and Ableism through Fieldwork: Applying DisCrit Classroom Ecology in Early Childhood Personnel Preparation. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, v41 n1 p45-56 May. Early childhood personnel preparation programs must prepare future early educators who can counteract racism and ableism to provide all children with an equitable and just education. We applied Dis/ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) Classroom Ecology to early childhood and specifically to preschool settings. We argue that early childhood personnel preparation programs can utilize this framework to prepare preservice early educators to facilitate more equitable experiences for Children of Color with disabilities and their families. We discuss the importance of preparing future early educators to counteract racism and ableism through their fieldwork experiences. We also provide a brief overview of DisCrit in relation to early childhood personnel preparation and present DisCrit Classroom Ecology to apply the framework components to preschool fieldwork…. [Direct]
(2024). Cultivating Belonging. Montessori Life: A Publication of the American Montessori Society, v36 n2 p34-41. The author describes their experience, as a Black woman, during the beginning of their teaching career. The author describes experiences in school as a young student, within their community, and as an adult out in public and in their early career. The author discusses their assimilation from childhood, and eventual transition to teaching within a Montessori school. Their parenting choices of an educational experience with Montessori philosophy led to their career change. The author also discusses systemic racism, social justice, and peace education within the context of Montessori education. The author discusses the Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) family and student focus groups, held to learn about their experience and to understand their school experience needs. Specific student needs, bare minimum according to the author, for Montessori spaces are described, to initiate inclusion and equity for students…. [Direct]
(2021). Developing Intercultural Citizenship Competences in Higher Education by Using a Literary Excerpt in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Context. Intercultural Education, v32 n6 p649-666. The objective of this study is to develop intercultural and critical citizenship competences by using a literary excerpt among a group of EFL university students in Spain. For this purpose, the focus group method was adopted, and a qualitative study was designed. The core aim was to implicitly work on aspects such as otherness, the rejection of racism and the use of revenge as a response to a perceived unethical action. The findings demonstrate that the approach dealt effectively with all these concepts. The literary excerpt triggered discussions against racism and religious intolerance. Revenge was rejected as a constructive solution to discrimination and the cohort expressed their connection to 'others' through a common humanity, which is linked to human rights principles. These values are closely aligned to the theoretical reference points known as Intercultural Citizenship Education (ICE), Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and cosmopolitan citizenship…. [Direct]