(2022). Pre-Service Teachers Engage Young Children in Equity Work. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, v43 n3 p347-362. All too often pre-service teachers are not well prepared to discuss issues of racism, oppression and bias with their future students. Teacher educators can prepare their students for this work by developing projects that focus on addressing equity and racial justice. This article describes one such project in which a group of twenty early childhood education students in a social studies methods course along with first and second grade children worked together on a project designed to help them engage with issues of racial inequity. In this semester long exploration of the life of racial justice activist Modjeska Simkins the pre-service teachers utilized justice-orientated teaching to build, integrate, and enact curriculum around issues of social justice. The pre-service teachers reported gaining confidence in using this pedagogy to engender an understanding of equity, address issues of societal inequities, and work with their future students in confronting these issues. The article… [Direct]
(2020). DNA Dreams': Teacher Perspectives on the Role and Relevance of Genetics for Education. Research in Education, v107 n1 p33-54 Aug. Behavioural genetics regards intelligence and educational attainment as highly heritable (genetically influenced) and polygenic (influenced by many genes) traits. Researchers in the field have moved beyond identifying whether and how much genes influence a given outcome to trying to pinpoint the genetic markers that help predict them. In more recent years, behavioural genetics research has attempted to cross-over into the field of education, looking to play a role in education research and the construction of education policy. In response to these developments, this paper explores PreK-12 American educators' perceptions of intelligence in relation to genetics and their views on the relevance of behavioural genetics findings for education. It does so within the context of an ugly history tied to race and racism and an uncertain future. Findings from this mixed-methods study suggest that US teachers believe that genetics play an important role in a student's intelligence and academic… [Direct]
(2005). Dear Diary: Confessions of a Nice White Girl. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, v4 n3 Sep. \Music and the Racial Imagination\ triggered the reminiscences from the author's teens described in the \diary presented in this article.\ These memories undoubtedly played a role in her decision to enter an undergraduate music education program at the age of 40. These and other memories have been called up in a variety of contexts more recently over the course of her doctoral research in music and anti-racism education. The ways in which humans make use of music to construct race, nationality, gender, and other fixed identities troubles her, because she sincerely believes in such constructions, individuals look through only one of music's prismatic facets, closing themselves to its multiple possibilities…. [PDF]
(2024). Disrupting Disproportionality: A DisCrit Perspective on School Psychologist Training, Credentialing, and Certification for Racial Equity Systems Leadership. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. Racial disproportionality in special education reflects the manifestation of modern-day segregation in our education systems (Anyon, 2009; Artiles et al., 2016; Artiles, 2022). Due to their specialized training and positionality as key stakeholders in special education eligibility processes, school psychologists are uniquely suited to impact disproportionality. In California, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) have recently aligned standards to prepare school psychologists for practice. Using a disability critical race theory (DisCrit) lens, this study examines the experiences of those tasked with implementing these standards as well as the key documents that reflect them, specifically School Psychologist Performance Expectation 8 (SPPE 8): Human Diversity (SPPE 8; CCTC & NASP, 2020), given its connection to racial equity. The study also investigates how school psychology training programs prepare… [Direct]
(2021). 'I Was Involved as an Equal Member of the Community': How Pedagogical Partnership Can Foster a Sense of Belonging in Black, Female Students. Cambridge Journal of Education, v51 n6 p733-750. Research suggests that a sense of belonging is fundamental to students' engagement, persistence and success in postsecondary education, and that racism systematically works against Black students experiencing these. Participating in student-staff pedagogical partnership can foster a sense of belonging, contribute to culturally sustaining pedagogy, and redress harms experienced by minoritised postsecondary students. Using a conceptual framework informed by research on belonging, critical race theory and intersectionality and a methodology informed by a Black-Feminist and Womanist Research Paradigm, Black Girl Cartography and counterstorying, the authors analyse responses to an ethics-board-approved survey completed by 12 Black, female students at three US colleges. They situate that analysis by presenting their conceptual framework, defining pedagogical partnership, and describing the pedagogical partnership programmes. They focus on how the students who responded to their survey… [Direct]
(2021). Comfort over Change: A Case Study of Diversity and Inclusivity Efforts in U.S. Higher Education. Innovative Higher Education, v46 n4 p445-460 Aug. Efforts to diversify and make historically white organizations more inclusive are as varied as they are numerous. Yet, for all their ubiquity in U.S. higher education, few studies have examined them in real time. This case study thus features a two-day meeting where stakeholders were invited to consider how to make science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields not only more diverse but also inclusive. Drawing on observational, documentary, and interview data, we offer three findings. First, we share how facilitators were ill-prepared to define diversity for their project. Second, we share that facilitators and most white participants hesitated and sometimes directly avoided conversations about historical and contemporary exclusion in STEM, especially regarding racism. Third, we show that, while facilitators and most white participants avoided specific conversations about the exclusionary nature of STEM spaces, racially minoritized participants repeatedly requested more… [Direct]
(2023). Rules of Engagement: The Role of Graduate Teaching Assistants as Agents of Mathematics Socialization for Undergraduate Students of Color. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park. The field of higher education has been concerned with the retention of underrepresented students of Color in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields over the last few decades. STEM identity development has emerged as a useful analytic framework in this research, as students with stronger STEM identities–students who recognize themselves and are recognized by others as "STEM people"–are more likely to persist in the STEM fields. STEM identity develops through the process of socialization, in which agents of socialization set and maintain the norms, culture, and values that newcomers in the STEM fields should emulate. At institutions of higher education, instructors act as primary agents of socialization, signaling who "belongs"–and who doesn't–in the STEM fields. Although prior research has identified the ways in which mathematics courses gatekeep underrepresented undergraduate students of Color out of the STEM fields, little research has… [Direct]
(1980). An Analysis of Data Regarding the Field Testing of Five Modules Designed to Facilitate School Desegregation Processes. Five modules were designed for use with preservice teachers to prepare them to work in desegregated schools. The modules are (1) Racism in American Education, (2) The Roles of the State Colleges and Universities, Accrediting Agencies, and Public Schools in School Desegregation Processes, (3) Incorporating Multi-Ethnic Content, (4) Affirming, Accepting, and Appreciating Differences in the Classroom, and (5) Increasing Self-Awareness and Understanding of Minorities. The first three sections of this report detail a program validation attempt in which the potential for use of the modules was assessed. Pre and post instruction inventories were administered to students in undergraduate education courses. Findings indicated that the modules were effective teaching materials, that they were beneficial to students, and that there is a need for further study of some related issues. The fourth section of this report describes the five modules. The goals, objectives, strategies, and content of… [PDF]
(2022). Unidirectional or Inclusive International Education? An Analysis of Discourses from U.S. International Student Services Office Websites. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, v15 n5 p617-629 Oct. Over the past three decades, the internationalization of higher education has evolved from a marginal position to a central focus for higher education institutions worldwide (Knight & de Wit, 2018). International students, as important actors in internationalization, contribute to academic, cultural, economic, and technological developments, and global competency and reputation of the destination countries and universities. Although internationalization and international student engagement have been addressed in universities' diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, few researchers have examined U.S. universities' organizational attitudes and underlying assumptions toward their international students. Through a combination of neo-racism and critical discourse analysis frameworks, we purposefully selected 10 public and private national universities with a broad geographic distribution and analyzed their website discourses of support in academic, social, and cultural adjustments… [Direct]
(2021). 'Ain't I Also a Migrant?' An Ethnodrama of Weaving Knowledges Otherwise in Finnish Migration Research. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, v7 n3 p136-147. Previous Nordic migration and minority studies focus little on who produces research about migration and migrant education and in what ways. In contrast, by inquiring into how migrants and researchers themselves as knowing subjects are constituted through research and educational practices, this article seeks to destabilize established modes of knowing and of performing research. Through ethnodrama, it explores the effects of performing abilities to pass as non/not-quite/white, and the related abilities to pass as a knowing subject or not. This enables enquiring what counts as valid knowledges and ways of knowing, and who is considered a legitimate knowing subject in migrant educational and research settings and practices in Finland. This study joins a growing body of auto/ethnographic research exploring Eastern European proximities-to/distances-from whiteness in the Nordic space, through embodiment and discomfort with established ways of knowing. The ethnodrama brings into dialogue… [Direct]
(2024). Conceptualizing Centrality in Micro-Level Internationalization through a Decolonial Approach. Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, v16 n5 p170-183. Micro-level internationalization offers possibilities to explore different human experiences in international higher education. This is especially crucial given well-reported issues of racism, micro-aggression, and underrepresentation of racially minoritized international academic staff, whose voices remain mostly invisible in internationalization discourses. Previous research connects these issues to the continuing legacy of colonial logic, that privileges hegemonic Westerncentric knowledge systems. In this paper, centrality is proposed as a conceptual framework that offers a direct response to the question of epistemicide which Santos (2014) explains as the exclusion of the knowledges of racially marginalized persons [in or with origins] from the Global South. It draws attention to how epistemicide and historicide (erasure of cultural history) impinge their agentic capabilities, drawing on their lived experiences and cognitive epistemological and ontological frames of knowing and… [PDF]
(2024). Role, Representation, Resistance, and Response: Black Women Senior Leaders in Predominantly White Institutions of Higher Education. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania. Although notably underrepresented in role and research, Black women bring a strong presence to higher education institutions–leading academic, research, and business operations from senior and executive roles. Black women senior leaders serve as change agents strategically leading their organizations to become better, stronger, and more effective in supporting the health, longevity, and competitiveness of their institutions. This dissertation study explored how Black women senior leaders experience their place in higher education, including their ability to navigate and lead in traditionally White male spaces of leadership. This research sought to understand Black women's leadership experiences and practices including challenges and resistance to their leadership and how they address them, and how their social identities inform and impact these experiences. The study used a broad, emic focused qualitative approach informed by the theoretical frameworks of intersectionality, critical… [Direct]
(2024). Language Teacher Identity: Confronting Ideologies of Language, Race, and Ethnicity. John Wiley & Sons, Inc "Language Teacher Identity" presents a groundbreaking critical examination of how ideologies of race, ethnicity, accent, and immigration status impact perceptions of plurilingual teachers. Bringing together contributions by an international panel of established and emerging scholars, this important work of scholarship addresses issues related to native-speakerism, monolingualism, racism, competence, authenticity, and legitimacy while examining their role in the construction of professional identity. With an intersectional and holistic approach, the authors draw upon case studies of practical teacher experiences from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Norway, Mongolia, Pakistan, and the United States to provide teachers with real-world insights on responding to the assumptions, biases, and prejudices that students, student teachers, and teachers may bring into the classroom. Topics include the impact of policies and ideologies on teacher identity development, the intersection between… [Direct]
(2022). State Requisite FAFSA Application Policies for High School Graduation: A Political Discourse Multiple Case Study Analysis. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Experts underscore many advantages of higher education as a vehicle for economic mobility, yet it continually fails to be genuinely accessible through its flaws in equity and affordability. Gaining access to higher education often begins with filing a national financial aid form known as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, used to determine eligibility for need-based federal, state, and campus financial aid. Several states now require the FAFSA for high school graduation in an attempt to increase affordability, accessibility, and college enrollment. In this study, I analyze this requisite FAFSA policy phenomenon in two exemplary cases in Illinois and Nebraska through a multiple case-study political discourse analysis to understand how issues were problematized and framed as a reflection of ideas, values, and interests. Results are encouraging and cautionary as race politics and neoliberalism are powerful themes in higher education policy, especially in… [Direct]
(2021). Teaching Race in Perilous Times. Critical Race Studies in Education. SUNY Press The college classroom is inevitably influenced by, and in turn influences, the world around it. In the United States, this means the complex topic of race can come into play in ways that are both explicit and implicit. "Teaching Race in Perilous Times" highlights and confronts the challenges of teaching race in the United States–from syllabus development and pedagogical strategies to accreditation and curricular reform. Across fifteen original essays, contributors draw on their experiences teaching in different institutional contexts and adopt various qualitative methods from their home disciplines to offer practical strategies for discussing race and racism with students while also reflecting on broader issues in higher education. Contributors examine how teachers can respond productively to emotionally charged contexts, recognize the roles and pressures that faculty assume as activists in the classroom, focus a timely lens on the shifting racial politics and economics of… [Direct]