(2021). Don't Talk about It, Be about It: Centering Blackness in a Grammar and Language English Education Course. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education (CITE Journal), v21 n2. At the start of the pandemic, a lot of talk occurred about reimagining education, especially since the inception of schooling in America is not built for Black children. Research has examined the violence against Black children in schools, not to mention the double pandemic that they are experiencing with COVID-19 and the country's history of racism. As a Black scholar-practitioner, this author was hopeful for the future of education and teacher education. As the school year approached, however, and universities made a decision about virtual, hybrid, or in-person teaching and learning, the author noticed that the content or pedagogical practices had not changed or been reimagined, especially in English Education teacher preparation programs. As an effort to shift from talking about reimagining to action, the author utilized the framework of being, learning and teaching, and technology as a pedagogical tool to center Blackness in redesigning the course, English Language: Grammar and… [Direct]
(2021). Higher Education for Democracy: The Role of the University in Civil Society. SUNY Press Democracy and higher education are inextricably linked: universities not only have the ability to be key arbiters of how democracy is advanced, but they also need to reflect democratic values in their practices, objectives, and goals. Framed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing crisis of structural racism, "Higher Education for Democracy" explores academe's role in advancing democracy by using a cross-national comparison of Los Angeles, New Delhi, and Hong Kong to develop strategies that universities can employ to strengthen democracy and resist fascism. William G. Tierney argues that if academe is to be a progenitor in the advancement of democracy, then we need to consider five areas of change that have been significant across national contexts amid both globalization and neoliberalism: inequality, privatization, the public good, identity, and academic freedom. Taking a comparative approach and drawing on scholarly literature, archival research, and interviews,… [Direct]
(2023). Teacher Education: Doing Justice to UNCRPD Article 24?. International Journal of Inclusive Education, v27 n10 p1133-1147. The unjust schooling experiences of many disabled students is the impetus for this conceptual paper, which investigates the complexity involved in developing future teachers' knowledge and commitment to putting into practice disability rights-related provisions. The paper focuses on the components of Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) (United Nations 2006. "United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities." Accessed March 1, 2020. www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/Con…) that relate specifically to teacher education programmes. The concepts of dysconciousness (King 1991. "Dysconscious Racism: Ideology, Identity, and the Miseducation of Teachers." Journal of Negro Education 60 (2): 133-146) and dysconscious ableism (Lalvani et al. 2015. "Teacher Education, Exclusion and the Implicit Ideology of Separate but Equal: An Invitation… [Direct]
(2022). Cultural Considerations for Conducting Autism Assessment with Asian American and Pacific Islander Students. Psychology in the Schools, v59 n7 p1430-1444 Jul. In public schools, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students are overidentified with autism (AU) but are underrepresented in other special education categories. Such patterns may be result, in part, from overaggregation of data from students representing diverse AAPI ethnic groups. Yet, professionals' implicit biases, limited cultural responsivity in evaluation and research, and structural and systemic racism also likely contribute to the pervasive AU disproportionality in school-based identification. To improve accuracy of AU identification and appropriateness of school services and programming, the current paper aims to enhance school psychologists' (SPs') awareness and knowledge about AAPI cultures and to improve their efforts in conducting culturally responsive evaluation with AAPI students suspected of AU. An overview of historical and current anti-AAPI issues and AAPI cultural perceptions of AU are provided. Then, through the lens of sociocultural theory and using a… [Direct]
(2019). "I Was the Only One in the Building." Lived Experiences of Black School Counselors Post-"Brown v. Board of Education" in Predominantly White Schools. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana State University. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of Black school counselors post-"Brown v. Board of Education" (1954) decision and their integration into predominantly White public schools. A literature review was conducted which included the history of school counseling, "Brown v. Board of Education," and its impact on the displacement of Black educators. The literature also explored the experiences of Black teachers and students post-"Brown" and current demographic data of school counselors. A qualitative study was conducted to capture the lived experiences of participants using multiple case studies and narrative life stories. Four Black school counselors served as participants and were interviewed in semi-structured interviews. Data were coded by themes using constant comparative method. Six themes emerged: racism, coping strategies, appearance, supports, everybody's counselor, and everywhere I go. Analysis of the responses exhibited… [Direct]
(2024). What Evidence Could Help Schools Put Students on a Path to Economic Mobility? Research Report. Urban Institute Upward mobility is core to the American dream yet remains unobtainable for many Americans. And although education is widely viewed as a key lever to support students' upward mobility, there is too little actionable information about how schools promote lifelong success. As a result, PK-12 education tends to focus on conventional indicators of success, such as standardized test scores, that–though important–are unlikely to capture the full set of skills that drive upward mobility. This report reviews the available evidence on the direct links between PK-12 education and economic mobility. We find that the current research offers little guidance about which skills and competencies in PK-12 education are most important for economic success. In part, this is because few studies connect students' PK-12 experiences to their economic success as adults. Additionally, the existing research defines success narrowly in terms of wages, ignoring other dimensions like finding dignity in one's… [PDF]
(2022). Responding to Twin Pandemics: Reconceptualizing Assessment Practices for Equity and Justice. Research & Practice in Assessment, v16 n2 p5-16. The intersection in 2020 of the new COVID-19 pandemic with the ongoing pandemic of anti-black racism exacerbated existing injustices as well as caused and revealed new inequities in US higher education. Because inequities in assessment in particular were intensified by these twin pandemics, faculty at several US colleges revised assessment approaches as part of their pedagogical partnership work over the last year. This paper describes the one-on-one, semester-long, pedagogical partnerships these faculty undertook with undergraduates not enrolled in the faculty members' courses. It reviews the commitments of such partnership work to equity and justice, offers examples of how four faculty-student pairs across the disciplines at three US colleges revised their approaches to assessment, and analyzes how these examples work toward equity and justice. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of such work not only at the intersection of twin pandemics but under all… [PDF]
(2016). Minority Students' Responses to Racism: The Case of Cyprus. British Journal of Educational Studies, v64 n1 p77-95. While research has focused on the role of racism in (re)producing ethnic/racial inequalities in education, there is very little research that investigates how variability in minority students' responses to racism can be explained. By using an ecological approach to integrate existing research on actors' responses to racism, this study finds that researchers have generally neglected factors and processes situated at the micro- and meso-levels of analysis. Qualitative interview data with Turkish-Cypriot children enrolled in schools in the predominantly Greek-speaking part of the Republic of Cyprus are used to investigate their strategies in response to racism and the factors that explain the observed variability in their responses. The findings suggest the importance of and interactions between factors situated at different levels of analysis, including the level of organizations and social groups and face-to-face interactions in explaining variability in young people's responses to… [Direct]
(2021). Hiding in the Classroom: How Neo-Nazi Leaders Prepare Their Children for Schooling. Power and Education, v13 n3 p134-146 Nov. As part of the general curricular ambitions of contributing to the development of a democratic society, Swedish schools are mandated to actively combat racism and extremism. This causes particular challenges when teachers encounter students who have been brought up in environments where racist and extremist worldviews dominate. This study analyses four Swedish neo-Nazi leaders' experiences of schooling and how they have utilised these experiences when establishing an approach for their children's schooling. The focal point of the analysis is the ideological dilemmas that arise from clashes of conviction among neo-Nazi leaders, their children and the teachers. The results show how neo-Nazi leaders use their own negative experiences of schooling to prepare their children on how to escape both democratic education and prevent social stigmatisation…. [Direct]
(2019). A Willingness to Fail: Reflections on the 2018 Religious Education Association Conference. Religious Education, v114 n3 p362-368. The 2018 Religious Education Association (REA) meeting, "Beyond White Normativity: Creating Brave Spaces" shed light for many on the failure of the REA to effectively confront the reality of white racial bias within its systemic and structural practices. This essay reflects on four specific ways these challenges emerged during the 2018 session and highlights strategies for how the association might continue the effort to address explicit and implicit racism in its midst…. [Direct]
(2023). Exploring the Impact of Misandry and Racism on the Career Experiences of Black Male K-12 Educators: A Case Study. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Marymount University. In this study, I explore the impact of misandry and racism on the career experiences of Black male K12 educators in a doctor of education (EDD) program. Misandry is a concept that is defined as dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against men i.e. the male sex. (Nathanson, 2006). This concept is a direct parallel to misogyny. While misogyny is more of a well-known and understood concept, misandry may not seem as understood. The concept of misandry manifests itself into the intricate conceptualization of dislike, contempt for and ingrained prejudice against men. As a result of the prevailing mindset of some, Black men and boys are scrutinized in ways other races of men and boys are not. Black men face stiffer penalties for the same or similar crimes as White men. Black men are subject to extreme difficulties based on predisposed prejudices in both jurisprudence and economical concepts. Additionally, Black male K-12 educators are touted as disciplinarians more than for… [Direct]
(2020). Will White People Work Collectively to Trump White Power? Stepping up for Struggle beyond the Yard Sign. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), v33 n2 p263-273. What can white people do to resist racism and white supremacy in this political moment? Using the conceptual frameworks of transformative justice and community accountability drawn from antiviolence and antiprison industrial complex movements, this essay explores this question and aims to contribute to the proliferation of collective action. Building from and with examples from organizers, activists and theorists who are working collectively, often within the curricular and cocurricular spaces of education and schools, to challenge white supremacy and other forms of oppression, this essay offers partial suggestions and engagements to build the capacity of white people to dismantle white supremacy…. [Direct]
(2024). Multiple Approaches to "Appropriateness": A Mixed-Methods Study of Elementary Teachers' Dispositions toward African American Language as They Teach a Dialect-Shifting Curriculum. Reading Research Quarterly, v59 n3 p468-486. Despite decades of sociolinguistic research, African American Language (AAL) remains stigmatized throughout the United States education system. There have been proposals to counteract this through curricula and/or ideological interventions targeted at teachers that seek to validate AAL while maintaining Dominant American English (DAE) as an educational target. However, such approaches have been criticized for giving limited attention to combating the racism that underlies much linguistic marginalization. We used a mixed-methods approach to explore the benefits and limitations of a dialect-shifting curriculum in shaping teachers' language ideologies. Participants (n = 40) were K-1 teachers in a predominantly Black mid-Atlantic city. They were participating in an efficacy study of a dialect-shifting curriculum; schools were randomly assigned to teach the curriculum (intervention condition) or continue with business as usual. Before and after the intervention, teachers completed a… [Direct] [Direct]
(2023). Systematic Evaluation of Geoscience Education Programs That Are Designed for Indigenous Students, or Use Traditional Knowledge. Journal of Geoscience Education, v71 n3 p428-441. The geoscience community has begun to grapple with the whiteness of the community and the harm and erasure of Indigenous communities done by earth and environmental scientists. We have come to understand that to recruit and retain Indigenous students, geoscience education needs to be culturally responsive by explicitly centering Indigenous students. This has created a great need for guidelines about how to approach and evaluate educational programs that are designed for Indigenous students, and/or use Traditional Knowledge. There are many recent initiatives, especially those led by Indigenous scientists and faculty, that have done this well. We present here a newly developed rubric and systematic review of publications about Indigenous geoscience initiatives for K-12, college education, and professional training. Our evaluation examines the implementation of the program, its content, approach (i.e., if the program used Indigenous ways of learning and knowing or taught Indigenous… [Direct]
(2022). Validation and Resiliency of Mexican Migrant Farm Worker Students in Institutions of Higher Learning. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Colorado Colorado Springs. This qualitative phenomenological study examined the factors influencing Mexican Migrant Farm Worker (MMFW) students' persistence in higher education. Twelve MMFW students from three Colorado universities were interviewed to understand the MMFW students' specific barriers and how they overcome obstacles to persist in their education. The study sought to answer the following questions: What influences MMFW students' persistence in higher education? and What recommendations do MMFW students offer to enhance their persistence in higher education? MMFW students tend to have less experience in education and have fewer family members connected to academia: therefore, understanding positive impacts on resiliency will help create guidance to contribute to the success of current and future migrant students in higher education. In-depth interviews provided an insight into the lived experiences of MMFW students in higher education and highlighted the internal and external components that… [Direct]