(2022). The Need for a Diverse Environmental Justice Workforce: Using Applied Research to Understand the Impacts of Harmful Environmental Exposures in Vulnerable and Underserved Communities. Occasional Paper. RTI Press Publication OP-0078-2209. RTI International Protecting all people from the harmful effects of environmental exposures relies on the coordinated efforts of scientific researchers, regulatory agencies, legislators, and the public. Environmental justice addresses the disproportionate impact that harmful environmental exposures have on individuals and communities who are minoritized and marginalized. It has long been known that environmental problems disproportionately impact these groups; however, addressing these problems has been impeded by structural racism and other biases. Developing effective interventions to eliminate these disparities requires a more diverse and inclusive modern workforce produced by a bottom-up approach beginning with education and professional development of the next generation of researchers. The most effective approaches to addressing inequities rely on active input from impacted populations to ensure cultural and social acceptance and adoption of interventions. Credibly pursuing these efforts in a… [PDF]
(2021). A Mixed-Studies Review of the School-to-Prison Pipeline and a Call to Action for School Nurses. Journal of School Nursing, v37 n1 p51-60 Feb. Zero-tolerance school disciplinary policies have contributed to the proliferation of exclusionary practices, which increase the risk that minoritized students will be harmed by the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP). The purpose of this review was to explore factors that influence the STPP and highlight the role school nurses can play in protecting students from this public health crisis. We used a systematic mixed-studies review method, and 14 studies were included. Exclusionary discipline disproportionately affects minoritized students, but decreased student-teacher ratios, wellness-focused environments, and lower levels of school punishment can improve student achievement and health. The National Association of School Nurses position statement provides a framework to guide school nurses in the dismantlement of the STPP. School nurses should advocate for their position on the interdisciplinary team, funding for alternative disciplinary programs, abolition of school policing,… [Direct]
(2022). Working Hard for Whiteness: How White Women Make Meaning of Social Class to Avoid White Complicity. Journal of College Student Development, v63 n5 522-536 Sep-Oct. College-educated white women across social classes support and uphold racism. Using narrative methods in a secondary analysis, we, as two white women, explored how white non-trans women make meaning of social class using the revised model of multiple dimensions of identity (RMMDI; Abes et al., 2007) as positioned within the context of white supremacist capitalist cisheteropatriarchy (hooks, 1994) and higher education. Findings were framed by white ignorance (Mills, 2007) and whiteness as property (Harris, 1993). We found that white women used class to distance themselves from whiteness and white supremacy in two ways. First, they projected race and class onto elite spaces that they simultaneously desired entry to and distance from. Second, they avoided critical reflection on their racial positioning and identity by constructing a pliable class identity. Both distancing strategies demonstrate "moves to innocence" (Mawhinney, 1998; Tuck & Yang, 2012) away from white… [Direct]
(2022). Western Australian Aboriginal Young Women and Community Representatives Identify Barriers to School Attendance and Solutions to School Non-Attendance. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v51 n2. The barriers to school attendance that affect young Aboriginal people in Australia are diverse, immense and well documented; however, except for a handful of studies, Aboriginal students' voices receive no platform for policy makers to hear them. In this paper, we present results from yarning circles about barriers to school attendance conducted with young Aboriginal women that participate in an education engagement program called Shooting Stars at Narrogin Senior High School. Yarning circles were facilitated, analysed and discussed within a framework of relatedness, with the researchers embracing their own standpoint, and the standpoint of the Shooting Stars participants, as Indigenous women. The results from these participant yarning circles were discussed with the Shooting Stars Narrogin localised steering committee, and this discussion is presented here, alongside the outcomes, both achieved and projected, to which committee stakeholders have committed. For the most part, the… [PDF]
(2022). Inequities Exposed: How COVID-19 Widened Racial Inequities in Education, Health, and the Workforce. Hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor. U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, Second Session (June 22, 2020). Serial No. 116-59. US House of Representatives This document records testimony from a hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor that was held to examine how COVID-19 widened racial inequities in education, health, and the workforce. Member statements were provided by: (1) Honorable Virginia Foxx, Ranking Member, Committee on Education and Labor; and (2) Honorable Robert C. Scott, Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor. Witness statements were provided by: (1) Camara P., Jones, Adjunct Professor, Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, Senior Fellow and Adjunct Associate Professor, Morehouse School of Medicine, Past President, American Public Health Association Atlanta, Georgia; (2) John B. King, Jr., President and CEO, The Education Trust, Washington, DC; (3) Valerie Rawlston Wilson, Director, Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy, Economic Policy Institute, Silver Spring, Maryland; and (4) Avik, Roy, Co-Founder and President, The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, Austin, Texas…. [PDF]
(2023). Entanglements: An Abolitionist and Arts-Informed Curricular Analysis of School-Based Antiracist Professional Development. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Columbia University. Antiracist teacher education in the United States has largely been situated within university-based teacher education programs over the last thirty years. This body of research documents the struggles and possibilities of preparing race-conscious educators who engage in antiracist practices that support diverse student populations. Despite this body of scholarship, there has been limited research in this area with school-based teacher education through inservice professional development (PD). Yet, there has also been an increase in antiracist and race-forward PD for teachers in schools in recent years. In turn, this study analyzes the curriculum of antiracist PD in New York City schools over the last ten years (2012- 2022), seeking to understand the possibilities and tensions. Using qualitative and visual arts-based educational research methods, I interviewed 28 teachers, school leaders, and PD facilitators. In doing so, I found that the PD curricula across NYC schools largely made… [Direct]
(2020). Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z: T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. and My Other Brother (MOB) as Revolutionary Praxis. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, San Francisco State University. This study examines the impact that My Other Brother (MOB) has on college Black male students in the MOB community organization. In critically examining the narratives of 12 first generation college Black male students in MOB: This study utilizes Tupac Shakur's construct of Thug Life as a theoretical and analytical lens in assessing how Black males in the MOB program navigate processes of alienation. Navigating processes of alienation was placed in context with four critical stages in alignment with Thug Life: These stages emphasized, 1) MOB students' recognition of racism/inequality on an individual level; 2) a recognition of structural level inequality of which they are members of a community of oppressed; 3) a recognition of pride and solidarity in communal struggle; 4) a recognition of political praxis to resist structural racism/dehumanization through education as a function of Black male success. Success was defined based on the following salient concepts expressed by students:… [Direct]
(2019). White Activists Examining Their Privilege within Person of Color Led Organizations. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Prescott College. The research question asked in this paper is: "How can white activists working within person of color led food justice organizations examine their own privilege to more effectively support and contribute to food justice work?" The topics of literature used to inform this study were Whiteness Education/Anti-Racism, Food Justice, Alternative Food, Food Oppression, Gentrification, Gentrification and Food, Environmental Gentrification, Sustainability Education, and Ecopsychology and Healing. To answer this question, three separate orientation sessions were designed to educate white people on how to work effectively, and in a culturally responsive manner, within a person of color led food justice organization. These sessions were for white people 18 years of age or older that volunteer at Hilltop Urban Gardens (HUG). Data was collected through audio recorded sessions and post orientation surveys. Critical ethnography was the methodology used to collect, analyze and synthesize… [Direct]
(2024). Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Relevant Social Studies for Emergent Bilingual and Multilingual Youth. Research and Practice in Social Studies Series. Teachers College Press Through research, storytelling, curriculum development, and pedagogy, this book will help educators engage emergent bilingual and multilingual (EBML) students with social studies and citizenship education. Chapters are written by well-known and new scholars who are enacting teaching and research that center the needs, interests, and experiences of EBML youth. Drawing from multiple, intersecting, and interdisciplinary frameworks that focus on culture "and" language, chapters highlight social studies in varying disciplinary and nondisciplinary spaces (e.g., community, geography, family, civics, history) both inside and outside the classroom. Examples of frameworks include culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies, linguistically responsive teaching, LatCrit and critical pedagogy, translanguaging pedagogy, and transnational citizenship. This insightful volume also directly challenges oppressive structures, policies, and practices that continually marginalize EBML students… [Direct]
(2022). Preservice Teachers' Sociopolitical Consciousness in Light of the Racial Disparities Highlighted by the COVID-19 Pandemic. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Missouri – Columbia. Socioscientific issues (SSI) such as COVID-19 and climate change often highlight the inequalities that structural racism creates. If we ever wish to equitably solve these issues, we require a population that has the scientific literacy and the sociopolitical consciousness to do so. Yet, the push for culturally relevant education has had little movement in science education, partially because of the acultural view of science but also from the colorblind ideologies often held by teachers. The purpose of this pre-experimental study was to determine if a preservice elementary science methods course that applies the SSI Teaching and Learning Framework for Social Justice promoted participant's sociopolitical consciousness, reduced their colorblind ideologies, and increased their socioscientific reasoning (SSR) skills. Linear mixed-effects regression models were run to assess these outcomes. Results indicate that preservice teachers' colorblind ideologies and socioscientific reasoning… [Direct]
(2017). Equity and Music Education: Euphemisms, Terminal Naivety, and Whiteness. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, v16 n3 p15-47 Nov. In this paper, I advocate for the use of explicit language for discussions of race and call for music education to move out of terminal naivety (Vaugeois 2013) toward a heightened consciousness of political issues and racial oppressions. Employing critical race theory (CRT) as a theoretical framework, this paper examines race-related silences and the importance of using direct language to identify structural and systemic racism. I offer practical suggestions for initiating "race talk" in school music, in postsecondary music education, and in music education scholarship. These practical implications emerge from the experiences of four Toronto teachers who participated in a multiple case study on social justice and anti-racist work in music education (Hess 2013), the literature on race and silencing inside and outside music education, and my own experiences as a former public school music teacher and music teacher educator. With the surge of hate crimes and unmasked white… [PDF]
(2016). Cash, Competition, or Charity: International Students and the Global Imaginary. Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research, v72 n2 p225-239 Aug. As the number of students traveling from the Global South to study in the Global North continues to grow (OECD in Education at a glance 2014: highlights. OECD Publishing. Retrieved from www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/educatio…, 2014), we argue that it is necessary to broaden our conceptual approaches to the study of this dynamic. This article utilizes the framework of "global imaginaries" to examine the links between intensifying international student recruitment and international students' experiences with racism. We suggest that both recruitment and racism are framed by a dominant global imaginary rooted in Western supremacy. This imaginary both makes Western higher education a desirable product in the global higher education market and shapes the reception of international students…. [Direct]
(2019). Preparing Teachers with Sociocultural Knowledge in Literacy: A Literature Review. Journal of Literacy Research, v51 n2 p138-157 Jun. Although the call for teachers to address the demographic imperative has existed for decades, recently, there has been an uptake of frameworks of multicultural education, culturally responsive pedagogies, critical literacy, and others into literacy teacher preparation. In this study, we examine connections that pre-service teachers make as a result of experiences focused on sociocultural knowledge and literacy and barriers they face in building these connections. Areas of connection include examining one's past; recognizing students' lives and resources in literacy teaching; considering race, racism, and students' racial identity; drawing on multilingualism as a strength of students for literacy learning; and engaging actively and inquiring into literacy…. [Direct]
(2020). Mastery-Based Learning in Washington State. 2020 Report. Washington State Board of Education The Mastery-based Learning (MBL) Work Group has examined opportunities to increase student access to relevant and robust mastery-based academic pathways aligned to personal career goals and postsecondary education, and reviewed the role of the High School and Beyond Plan (HSBP) in supporting mastery-based learning. The Work Group members believe that Washington has both an opportunity and an imperative to respond to the dual pandemic of COVID-19 and the structural racism that the school system has never effectively addressed. The collective "why" calls for a transformation of the education system to close both the opportunity gap and resulting achievement gap. This report discusses the barriers to mastery-based learning (MBL) in Washington State and provides recommendations around how to increase capacity for MBL, including the development of a MBL pathway to a high school diploma. [For the interim report, see ED610102. For the summary report, see ED610116.]… [PDF]
(2020). Mastery-Based Learning in Washington State. Report Summary. Washington State Board of Education Schools are experiencing unprecedented disruption, forcing educators to think differently about how they engage with their students and forcing changes to longstanding systems that have been established to deliver education. This presents an opportunity to not only discover ways to address education during the coronavirus pandemic, but also to address the much longer standing pandemic of racism that has plagued society and the school systems. The collective "why" calls for a transformation from a traditional system to a mastery-based learning (MBL) approach. The Mastery-based Learning (MBL) Work Group looked for ways to increase student access to relevant and robust mastery-based academic pathways aligned to personal career goals and postsecondary education. The Work Group also reviewed the role of the High School and Beyond Plan (HSBP) in supporting mastery-based learning. The recommendations of the Work Group are described in a report to the Washington State Legislature,… [PDF]