(2023). Using Demographic Data as Predictor Variables: A Questionable Choice. Journal of Educational Data Mining, v15 n2 p22-52. Predictive analytics methods in education are seeing widespread use and are producing increasingly accurate predictions of students' outcomes. With the increased use of predictive analytics comes increasing concern about fairness for specific subgroups of the population. One approach that has been proposed to increase fairness is using demographic variables directly in models, as predictors. In this paper we explore issues of fairness in the use of demographic variables as predictors of long-term student outcomes, studying the arguments for and against this practice in the contexts where this literature has been published. We analyze arguments for the inclusion of demographic variables, specifically claims that this approach improves model performance and charges that excluding such variables amounts to a form of 'color-blind' racism. We also consider arguments against including demographic variables as predictors, including reduced actionability of predictions, risk of reinforcing… [PDF]
(2023). Tutors' Responses to Student Disclosures: From "Suicidal Ideation" to "Feeling a Little Stressed". Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, v20 n7 Article 10. Tutors in higher education are receiving and responding to student disclosures that include racism, anxiety, loneliness, legal disputes, family upheavals, physical, emotional, and mental health, bereavement, legal battles, and harassment. In many cases, this caring aspect of the tutor role is not acknowledged, allocated time in job descriptions, or accurately remunerated. This qualitative study explored how tutors experienced and managed student disclosures, the personal and professional impact of responding to disclosures, and how tutors believed they could be better supported. Data was collected from two cohorts of participants tutoring at a University in Aotearoa New Zealand. Using interviews and questionnaires and analysed by reflexive thematic analysis. Our findings showed that our participants believed they were positioned vulnerably between a rock and a hard place. At the rock, tutors were told to follow university guidelines and refer distressed students to over-loaded course… [PDF]
(2021). A Praxis of Critical Race Love: Toward the Abolition of Cisheteropatriarchy and Toxic Masculinity in Educational Justice Formations. Educational Studies: Journal of the American Educational Studies Association, v57 n3 p238-249. Educators of color can often (in)advertently perpetuate gendered oppression against each other to cope with racism and its associated stressors. This occurs in part due to the violence we have endured as (a) minoritized people in a society where our oppression is endemic, (b) scholars of color navigating exclusionary institutions and education spaces, and (c) educators who experience vicarious and complex trauma from pain imposed onto the young people with whom we work, seldom resulting in opportunities to address gender dynamics that uphold power imbalances among men, women, and gender-nonconforming people of color. In this conceptual paper we offer an intersectional framework of a "praxis of critical race love" to highlight cisgendered, heteropatriarchal toxic masculinity often reified in education contexts, and use narratives to demonstrate how we apply a healing-centered praxis within our service, teaching, and research to challenge such harm. Ultimately, we share… [Direct]
(2024). Navigating the Intersectionality of Identities: Understanding the Transition Experiences of First-Generation BIPOC College Students. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Alliant International University. This study explores the transition experiences of first-generation Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) college students through the framework of Intersectionality Theory. The research examines how multiple intersecting identities, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status, influence these students' educational journeys, creating both challenges and coping mechanisms. Using a concurrent triangulation mixed-methods approach, the study collects and analyzes both quantitative and qualitative data to provide a comprehensive understanding of their experiences. Drawing from key theories, including the work of Kimberle Crenshaw, the research reveals how various systems of oppression, such as racism and ageism, combine to create unique forms of marginalization and privilege for these students. The findings highlight the significance of addressing both academic and social disparities by understanding the multifaceted nature of their challenges…. [Direct]
(2020). Critical Classrooms Matter: Baltimore Teachers' Pedagogical Response after the Death of Freddie Gray. Education and Urban Society, v52 n6 p984-1007 Jul. The purpose of this article is to discuss the possibilities of public education. We argue that public schools, despite their flaws, still provide necessary spaces of civic engagement. When major social and/or political events happen, young people have few outlets to discuss, process, and understand implications. In this article, we share the experiences of Baltimore's teachers after the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed Black man, who lived in Baltimore and died in police custody. Following his death, the city exploded in protest, both violent and peaceful. We interviewed eight teachers and collected curriculum samples to make sense of how they used the public school classroom as a space of critical care, social justice, cultural relevance, and anti-racism to contextualize current events in their city. There are implications here for school district professional development and teacher education…. [Direct]
(2019). Dis/ability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit) for Inclusion in Early Childhood Education: Ethical Considerations of Implicit and Explicit Bias. ZERO TO THREE, v40 n1 p43-51 Sep. This article explores the ethical obligation of those in the early care and education field to deconstruct ableism (and other -isms, such as racism, sexism, classism) and to reconstruct an understanding of social identity that is strengths-based and affirming. The authors describe the Dis/ability Studies and Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) framework of understanding ableism and provide examples of potential solutions for early childhood providers to explore the role of bias in inclusion practices and deconstruct dis/ability to enact systemic change for young children with dis/abilities and their families…. [Direct]
(2019). Teaching with Race in Mind: Exploring the Work of Antiracism in Leading Whole-Class Mathematics Discussions. North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (41st, St. Louis, MO, Nov 14-17, 2019). How might teachers of elementary mathematics pursue antiracism through everyday practices such as leading whole-class discussions? This paper reports on an exploratory study of one White woman teacher's efforts to challenge manifestations of structural racism in classroom interactions with students who are predominantly Black. The results include preliminary characterization of three areas of antiracist work: planned and routine practices, in-the-moment responses to student behavior, and ongoing interpretation of classroom events. Implications for research on mathematics teaching and for mathematics teacher education are discussed. [For the complete proceedings, see ED606556.]… [PDF]
(2021). Improving Language Learning by Addressing Students' Social and Emotional Needs. Hispania, v104 n1 p11-16 Mar. The social, economic, and educational upheaval that has been occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, the concurrent and stressful conversation about race and racism in the United States, and domestic political turmoil has turned the world on its head. In these so-called "unprecedented times," traditional higher education appears to be on the verge of an uncharted transformation. In short, there is a lot going on in the world and at school, and students are finding themselves physically and emotionally smack in the middle of it all. This article details a pedagogical innovation that alters course structure by integrating measures of self-care and student engagement into the completion requirements. This change sets the stage for creating the in-class and extracurricular conditions in which students can best learn Spanish, despite external situations that may distract or keep them from their studies…. [Direct]
(1995). Research on Racial Issues in American Higher Education. This review of racial issues in American higher education identifies the quest for community amid diversity as the major challenges facing colleges and universities today. The literature reviewed is organized into three parts: (1) the demographics of equity and access in higher education; (2) the legacy of racism in higher education; and (3) the movement toward democratic or integrated pluralism in higher education. Each segment provides evidence from research and scholarly writing that illustrates complexities and crises that must be considered in efforts to create communities amid diversity on college campuses. Trends in undergraduate, graduate, and professional education are summarized for African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. Racism on college campuses can be individual, institutional, or cultural. Several studies are reviewed that attempt to combat racism at these levels and that attempt to establish a goal of integrated pluralism. An…
(2015). Rethinking Race and Racism as "Technologies of Affect": Theorizing the Implications for Anti-Racist Politics and Practice in Education. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v18 n2 p145-162. This article draws on the concept of race and racism as "technologies of affect" to think with some of the interventions and arguments of critical affect studies. The author suggests that critical affect theories enable the theorization of race and racism as affective modes of being that recognize the historically specific assemblages which are practiced in schools and the society. It is also argued that rethinking race and racism as technologies of affect, a vision of anti-racist politics and practice in education can be formed in ways that go beyond recognition or resistance, but rather attend to the production of pedagogical spaces and practices that create ways of living differently. The education implications of this idea are discussed in relation to how teachers and teacher educators can begin not only to analyze the affective mobilizations of race and racism, but also to engage in political struggles that harness the affective forces of anti-racist action in everyday… [Direct]
(2023). Coaching in Communities: Pursuing Justice, Teacher Learning, and Transformation. Harvard Education Press In "Coaching in Communities," researcher Melissa Mosley Wetzel and her coauthors distill the lessons of an eight-year study into a transformative educator training model, Coaching with CARE (critical and content-focused, appreciative, reflective, and experiential). They demonstrate how effective, contextual teacher training can be a cornerstone of educational justice, which occurs when all learners are supported to be successful in school and when schools expand notions of success to include diverse ways of life and learning. The authors show how this new framework, which draws from behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and critical models of coaching, can be used in professional and informal learning contexts, and in dialogue with families and communities, to upend the status quo, break down the expert-novice distinction, and cultivate just forms of practice. As they note, the work of justice is collaborative, sustained engagement in resistance to marginalization, racism, and… [Direct]
(2022). Rethinking the Role of the Principal. Aspen Institute Every line of inquiry on the role of the principal tells us that the role needs an overhaul. Schools are dealing with historic educational disruption associated with the pandemic. Young people face record levels of anxiety and depression, unsustainably high income inequality, a painful reckoning with systemic racism, and a declining commitment to democracy. If school systems are to meet the challenge of this historic moment, they must articulate a new, rich vision that imbues students with a sense of responsible citizenship, prepares them for the world of work, and helps them develop a healthy sense of self. This vision for schooling calls for a shift in what we ask of schools, and that shift starts in the principal's office. Rethinking the Role of the Principal offers actions that education leaders can take for the role of the principal and district systems to make the role more impactful and sustainable, starting with alignment to a vision and research for school leadership to… [PDF]
(2018). Developing a Critical Consciousness of Race in Place-Based Environmental Education: Franco's Story. Environmental Education Research, v24 n6 p845-858. Environmental education (EE) has a history of support for critical place-based pedagogy as a means of learning through engagement in space, both cultural and biophysical. In this paper I tell the story of how Franco–a non-white, non-American undergraduate–engaged with local discourses in a watershed-focused EE program in the rural Midwestern US. I examine how the five tenets of critical race theory (CRT) can be used to interpret Franco's experience, where he encountered multiple instances of racism and xenophobia. I argue that without a critical analysis of race in place-based EE programs, instructors may (a) privilege their own ways of knowing in local settings, (b) rely on 'grit' narratives as mechanisms for mediation of racism, and (c) send non-white students home having learned that they cannot effect meaningful change for sustainability. I conclude with recommendations for faculty in predominantly white institutions on how CRT might foster the development of critical… [Direct]
(2021). Critical Race Comics: Centering Black Subjectivities and Teaching Racial Literacy. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, v18 n2 p119-133. This article seeks to explore the complexities of Black subjectivities as written and illustrated by comic book creators of color who wrestle with the enigmatic qualities of blackness as they write within and beyond racial imaginaries and social realities. I call these works "critical race comics" to highlight their explicit engagement with the ubiquity of race and racism and other tenets of critical race theory in education. Critical race comics teach through onto-epistemological explorations of blackness and by centering the black gaze in ways that foster humanizing racial discourse in classrooms, develop racial literacy in readers, and contribute to antiracist pedagogy. As such, I position critical race comics as pop culture and curriculum as they reflect larger literary, artistic, and social movements for racial justice in America (e.g. Antislavery, Reconstruction, New Negro, Civil Rights, Black Power, Hip-Hop, and #BlackLivesMatter)…. [Direct]
(2021). Unhidden: The Voices of Teacher Education Scholars on Disrupting, Transforming, and Healing toward an Antiracist World. AILACTE Journal, spec iss p76-103. This counternarrative is an homage to the work of abolition in teacher education and a call to humanizing liberatory praxis as collective healing from racism and anti-Black hate. We, three critical teacher educators, interrogate our positionalities and the experiences within and beyond schooling that have shaped us. We recognize that our identities were informed by our individual memories of growing up in a racist United States. We therefore make space for disruption of practices that continue to (de)humanize us, our students, and their students. We say their names-Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubery, George Floyd-as we replace dehumanization with rehumanizing praxis and a commitment to the journey of seeking freedom through finding joy in our work and in our lives. Our voices are unhidden as we join the resistant and transformational voices of youth and adults in the movement for Black lives. Together we change the world…. [PDF]