Education Commons^™

Narrowing The Achievement Gap: Culturally Responsive Teaching For African American Students, Haylee Batzer

Culminating Experience Projects

It is no surprise to educators that classrooms are filled with children of all different backgrounds. Most teacher preparation programs try their best to prepare educators to teach students of diversity and support inclusion in the classroom. However, educators are still finding themselves lacking the skills needed to incorporate culturally responsive teaching (CRT) into their classrooms. Students of all backgrounds need inclusive practices to be successful. It is important to all students that they feel supported and seen in the classroom, without these practices schools start to see a decline in graduation rates and an increase in dropout rates. Many …

Teachers-As-Designer In Culturally Revitalizing And Sustaining Indigenous Education, Joshua Colin Krause

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Despite centuries of colonial attempts to assimilate and eradicate Indigenous ways of life and tongues through the institutions of schooling, communities, students, and teacher-designers are embracing culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies to design curricula from community-driven outcomes backward. Sustaining and revitalizing curricula are place and people-specific and cannot be bought off the shelf, and research in original curriculum design points to the complexities that teacher-designers contend with as they seek community input and put pen to paper to design teaching and learning that is rooted in student identity, holistic wellness, and academic preparedness toward community ends. Research into expert teacher-designers' …

An Overview On The Validation Of The Critical Race Theory Measurement, Erica Campbell

Journal of Research Initiatives

The Critical Race Theory Measurement (CRTM) was developed to evaluate the understanding of the six major principles of CRT and the significance of race relating to the preparation of practitioners providing services to people of color. The objective of this study was to evaluate the scale's psychometric properties. The CRTM self-assessment instrument measures the six Critical Race Theory principles. It consists of 19 items assessing endemic racism, the social construction of race, differential racialization, convergence/determinism, racial narratives, and intersectionality. The validation of the CRTM was based on its administration to 175 social work and counseling practitioners. This paper discusses the …

Testimonios Of Latinas In The Federal Government Senior Executive Service: Honoring Women Who Excel In Public Service, Amarylis Lopez

Theses & Dissertations

The Senior Executive Service (SES) is the highest tier of executive management and leadership in the federal government. The Latino/a population has significantly increased in the past three decades with no corresponding increase in the federal workforce and the number of Latinos/as serving in the SES remains low. As Latinos/as in the SES are largely underrepresented, their ability to influence federal policies is significantly undermined. The purpose of this study is to explore the testimonios (testimonies) of Latinas in the SES to better understand their experiences while navigating entry into the SES and maintaining their respective positions.

This study used …

Inclusion And Belonging In Irish Higher Education For Black And Minority Ethnic Students, Fionnuala Darby

Articles

Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as an analytical prism, this study interrogates the sense of belonging and inclusion experienced by Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students on one higher education campus in Ireland. The most important story told within the study is as simple as it is complicated. The simple part is that the BME students felt that the campus was inclusive and that they experienced a sense of belonging. The complicated part is that the findings are premised in a normative assumption of whiteness as evidenced by numerous and incremental moments of exclusion in the daily experience of microaggressions, …

Documenting The Journey Towards Becoming An Anti-Racist White Educator, Heather Mccord

Dissertations

As a White teacher in public education, I have had the great pleasure of educating students from all over the globe. My career began in a district that served predominantly White students from middle class families. The only Black students I interacted with were those bused in from the city while participating in the desegregation program. There were noticeable biases and beliefs teachers held toward those students. However, since I was early on in my career with little experience, I was unaware of damage being done to these students. Once I began working for an extremely diverse district, in a …

Culturally Responsive School Leaders: Actions, Barriers And The Impact Of Critical Self-Reflection, Dawn Louise Kramer

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The importance of culturally responsive pedagogy has gained prominence in the last few decades. Educational leaders have a significant impact on student outcomes and, as such, it is important that leaders are culturally responsive to meet student needs. The purpose of this study was to use qualitative case study methodology to gain a better understanding of culturally responsive school leaders including their daily actions, the barriers they face and the role of critical self-reflection in their practice. The research design and methodology of this study take into consideration the study’s focus on culturally responsive school leadership through the theoretical triad …

The Impact Of Relationships On School Culture From Perspectives Of Faculty At A Philadelphia High School, Richman Mathis

Education Doctorate Dissertations

A school's culture is heavily influenced by the development of relationships between students and faculty. This study explores 13 faculty member stories to investigate what is in the culture at a private Philadelphia religious based high school that builds or hinders relationships. To inform this research investigation, evidence was gathered through a three step process: administering a survey, conducting semi-structured interviews, and the co-construction of narrative reflections. Faculty data collected shared moments revealing an understanding of the importance of healthy relationship building as an aspect in culture growth through empowering voices, autonomy, support, genuine love for one another, traditions and …

Leadership Strategies That Exemplary K-12 Latina Superintendents In California Use To Create An Organizational Culture Of Inclusiveness Using Kennedy’S Five Leadership Qualities Of Cultural Differences, Martha Martín Pérez

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed methods study was to identify and describe the leadership strategies that Latina superintendents in California use to create an organizational culture of inclusiveness using Kennedy’s (2008) 5 leadership qualities of cultural differences.

Methodology: This sequential explanatory mixed methods study analyzed quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to identify and describe strategies found when analyzing the data. This study summarized the findings that emerged to identify and describe strategies that create an organizational culture of inclusiveness.

Findings: Examination of mixed methods data from the 15 Latina superintendents in California participating in this study indicated …

A Qualitative Study Of The Lao American College Experience, Jerry Sithiphone

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The majority of the Lao American population arrived in the United States after the end of the “American War in Southeast Asia” in 1975 as political refugees. Nevertheless, as Asian Americans, Lao Americans are also stereotyped to be the “model minority” and therefore do not face the same educational and socioeconomical challenges like other communities of color. However, Lao Americans are not the model minority and face numerous obstacles as the community is overlooked and history is forgotten by mainstream America. The lack of scholarly literature on Lao Americans highlights not only the general misunderstanding of the community, but also …

"Playing The Game": A Case Study Of Latinx Leaders In An Agricultural Youth Organization, Graciela Barajas

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Latinx members of the FFA Organization are disproportionately underrepresented in leadership positions. When they do get elected to leadership offices, they oftentimes have to accept behaviors that erase their cultural identity. This study aims to find what aspects of their identity they feel they have to give up in order to be seen as a potential state or national FFA candidate. Findings include the participation of the state-officer game, joining cliques that fit the white mold, and overall, assimilation on an individual and group scale. Recommendations include systemic change for state and national FFA staff, agricultural education, and the agricultural …

Culturally Relevant Care Through The Lens Of Duoethnography, Jacqueline B. Koonce, Karin A. Lewis

The Qualitative Report

Our study endeavors to explore how culturally relevant care manifests in our teaching at a predominantly Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Through duoethnography and collaborative interpretation of narrative data from our former students, we seek to better understand our own and our students’ learning experiences. Collecting our own and our students’ perspectives and stories about lived experiences with us as professors in narrative form allows for us and our respondents to reflect and express freely--to share views, impressions, interpretations, and experiences in our/their own words. Analysis of narrative reflections provides an opportunity to craft a story, to give voice to those living …

Building Racial Coalitions: Limitations And New Directions To Teaching “White Privilege”, Eric César Morales

Race and Pedagogy Journal: Teaching and Learning for Justice

In this article, I pull from critical race theory, psychology, and philosophy to deconstruct the underlying psychological components that lead to “white fragility,” and I explore the limitations in current pedagogical approaches to teaching privilege. I argue that we adopt a more nuanced and context based understanding of “white privilege,” one that breaks down the concept into its two constituent parts: the “privilege/adversity paradigm” and “colonizer alignment privilege.” In the former, basic human physical or cultural traits are presented to students as capable of being beneficial or detrimental depending on context. In the latter, the ways in which people create …

Socially Just Artmaking: A Practitioner's Inquiry Of Passionate Teaching For Compassionate Action, Jaime Linn Brown

Education Doctorate Dissertations

The arts serve as a vehicle to activate imagination of students in developing a broaderunderstanding of injustice, its consequences, and the range of alternative possibilities (Bell &Desai, 2011). As more young artists engage in this dialogue, we must investigate how young people themselves make sense of and experience the transformative power of the arts (Dewhurst, 2014). Activist art can communicate ideas about individual and community experiences to a wider audience; it can make public that which has been ignored, silenced, or kept from public conscience (Dewhurst, 2014). Visual expression allows one to increase their understandings beyond the limitations of words …

Turning White: Co-Opting A Profession Through The Myth Of Progress, An Intersectional Historical Perspective Of Brown V. Board Of Education, Jennifer L. Martin, Jennifer N. Brooks

Educational Considerations

The U.S. is currently experiencing a teacher shortage. Many school districts have been impacted by this issue and want to know: how do we recruit more qualified candidates into the profession, and, more importantly, how do we recruit more Teachers of Color? We may be experiencing a shortage of teachers in general, but there has been a paucity of Teachers of Color, particularly Black teachers, for decades. Looking back to the Brown v. Board decision (1954) to integrate public schools, thousands of Black teachers were pushed out of their jobs in various ways. In this article, we examine how this …

Gifted Identification In Young, Historically Underrepresented Populations: A Phenomenological Study, Meryl A. Faulkner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the implications of the low numbers of identified gifted young, historically underrepresented students. The research questions that guided this study were: what are educators’ experiences of the gifted identification process of young, historically underrepresented students? What are parents’ experiences of the gifted identification process for their young, historically underrepresented child?

Participants were parents of a student from an underrepresented population (American Indian or Alaskan Native, Latinx, Black or African American, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander) identified gifted in second grade or younger or educators who were involved in the …

The Impact Of Retention Efforts On The Collegiate Experience Of Students Of Color At A Predominantly White Institution (Pwi), Jeffrie Mallory

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explored perceptions of thirteen stakeholders who participated in the Minority Orientation Program, a pre-entry initiative focused on retaining students of color at a private, four-year university located in the northeast region of the United States. Situated in Vincent Tinto’s Theory of Student Integration and Critical Race Theory, the author qualitatively assessed the Minority Orientation Program’s impact on participating students of color and the program’s influence on their enrollment through the completion of their Freshman year. The study’s findings confirmed that the Minority Orientation Program affects the collegiate experience for students of color in several ways. Positive influences in …

Teaching For Equity: A Case Study Of Teachers’, Vice Principals’, And Principals’ Perspectives In Three High-Poverty Elementary Schools In Ontario, Canada, Abhilasha Duggal

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Elementary students in high-poverty schools have diverse learning needs. Their academic and social learning, in particular, varies between students - especially so for those students from culturally non-dominant backgrounds. In 2009, the Ontario Ministry of Education mandated that all school boards in Ontario develop and implement equity education policies, as specified in Policy/Program Memorandum No. 119: Developing and Implementing Equity and Inclusive Education Policies in Ontario Schools (2009). This dissertation explored the implementation of Ontario’s Equity Strategy in three highpoverty elementary schools within one district school board in Ontario. This exploratory case study investigated the following research questions: 1. How …

The Perceptions And Effects Of Schools' Names On Black Professional Educators And Their Students, Gregg Suzanne Ferguson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

It is obvious that there is a variety of perspectives that the educational environment needs to sensitively reflect to serve a diverse society equitably. In Southern communities, in particular, distortions of heritage are conflated with local governance that control public money, public memory, public value, public health, and public landscape, including the public school environment and marginalizes further historically marginalized groups. This qualitative study was grounded in critical race and cultural geography theories that examined dominant paradigms in the educational environment which shape identity. This dissertation explored the effect(s) of race and racism in the educational environment from the perspective …

A Case Study Of Black Students' Education And Socialization Since Public School Closure In Prince Edward County Virginia, Jeffrey Scales

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this case study was to explore the concerns about lower academic and social achievement of current Black students in Prince Edward County Public Schools where many local citizens believe were the results of public schools closing for five years from 1959-1964 and forced court ordered reopening. This single instrument qualitative study was conducted to gather greater knowledge from participants who had firsthand knowledge of the extended closure of public schools or reopening of schools over 50 years ago from former students, and community leaders. This researcher utilized face-to-face interviews, focus groups and extensive historical documentation to explore …

Teaching The U.S. Civil Rights Movement And Its Legacy Through Critical Pedagogy In A Taiwanese High School, Ming-Kuo Hung

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes a Taiwanese learning experience about the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Taiwanese formal education includes this topic in secondary education. However, a paucity of previous studies described the racial and social meaning of this learning experience. Launching an educational project with a critical-pedagogy approach, this study invited 18 Taiwanese high school students to discuss their understanding of race, racism, and social justice in Taiwan, after learning about the U.S. experience. The rationale of analyzing student participants’ comments rests on critical race theory.

This study applied a critical-ethnography approach to qualitative research to analyze student participants’ learning experiences. The …

A Correlational Study Of Teacher Demographics And Racial Color-Blindness, Dudley Freeman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Two primary camps of thought guide K-12 education: Color-blind ideology and Multiculturalism (Rattan & Ambady, 2013). Color-blindness implies color does not matter (Neville, Lilly, Duran, Lee, & Browne, 2000). Shifting student demographics in K-12 education and unchanging demographics of a predominately White, female teaching force create a need for better understanding the dynamics affecting teachers and their interaction with the students they teach. This correlational study utilized multiple regression analyses to answer the following research question: How accurately can racial color-blindness be predicted from the linear combination of age, years-of-experience, and political philosophy for K-12 teachers located in an urbanized …

“Mommy, Is Being Brown Bad?” : Critical Race Parenting In A Post-Race Era, Cheryl E. Matias Ph.D.

Race and Pedagogy Journal: Teaching and Learning for Justice

This article looks at the counter-pedagogical processes that may disrupt how children learn about race by positing a pedagogical process called Critical Race Parenting. By drawing upon counterstories of parenting I posit how Critical Race Parenting (CRP) becomes an educational praxis that can engage both parent and child in a mutual process of teaching and learning about race, especially ones that debunk dominant messages about race. And, in doing so, both parents and children have a deeper commitment to racial realism that does not allow for colorblind rhetoric to reign supreme.

A Phenomenological Approach Examining The Completion Of Latino High School Students Through The Lenses Of Critical Race Theory, Anna M. Rangel-Clawson

Dissertations

Latino students represent 24% of the American student population (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2002, 2013). Dropout rates for Latino students living in severe poverty are twice the dropout rate of other Americans at the same income level (National Center Educational Statistics, 2002, 2013). The strongest factor that influenced those who choose to drop out seems to be related to a family’s socioeconomic status (Fry & Taylor, 2013; Rumberger & Lim, 2008; Swanson, 2004).

This study sought to elicit the voices of Latino students who successfully completed high school in a school district with significantly lower graduation rates for Latinos …

Youth Participatory Action Research And The Future Of Education Reform, Oiyan Poon, Jacob Cohen

OiYan Poon

This article presents a youth participatory action research (YPAR) study, which was conducted through a theoretical lens incorporating the social justice youth policy framework and Critical Race Theory. Led by youth from the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association (VAYLA), the study explored the impacts of post-Katrina school reforms on student experiences at six New Orleans high schools. The findings from the study exposed troubling educational disparities by race, class, limited English status, and geography. The YPAR project’s results counter neoliberal reform advocates’ narrative of a post-Katrina New Orleans school “miracle.” This article illuminates YPAR as both research method and pathway …

Young, Gifted, Black, And Blocked: A Critical Inquiry Of Barriers That Hinder Black Students' Participation In Gifted And Advanced Placement Programs, Elizabeth Anne Evans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This inquiry explores the underrepresentation of Black students in the Gifted and Advanced Placement (AP) Program from the perspective of the student. This study focused primarily on the barriers students perceived that hindered their participation. In addition, I explored the role teachers and guidance counselors play in Black students’ decisions to enroll or drop out of AP classes, and how the history and institution of gifted educations has aid and excluded Black students. Five Black high school students, four male, and one female, were interviewed.

Theoretically, my study was grounded in two distinct inquiries; Critical Theory (Kincheloe & McLaren, 2008) …

Media Literacy And The English As A Second Language Curriculum: A Curricular Critique And Dreams For The Future, Clara R. Madrenas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis investigates whether or not the Ontario English as a Second Language/English Literacy Development (ESL/ELD) curriculum imparts the critical literacy skills necessary for students to deconstruct the multimedia messages with which the contemporary world is saturated, in order to function as informed, agentic citizens of Ontario society. Using foundations of cultural theory, radical critical pedagogy, and critical race theory, particularly the work of James Paul Gee, Henry A. Giroux, Paulo Freire and Michael Apple, this thesis explores the ways in which the current ESL/ELD curriculum can be found lacking due to its enforcement of the banking model of education, …

Negotiating Race-Related Tensions: How White Educational Leaders Recognize, Confront, And Dialogue About Race And Racism, Amy Jo Samuels

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite exposure of educational disparities for students of color, as well as the notion that educational training rarely discusses race and racism, there continues to be a lack of discourse on race, racism, and anti-racism in educational leadership. Subsequently, it is important to challenge deficit thinking and encourage further examination of the deeply-rooted foundation of oppression. The study explored personal narratives of white educational leaders who oppose racial inequity to heighten awareness about conceptualizations of race, racism, and anti-racism. The research involved interviewing educational leaders in three groups: 1) aspiring, 2) currently-practicing, and 3) recently-retired. Eight participants were selected to …

The Voices Of Reason: Counterstories Of The Urbanization Of A Suburban Black School In Georgia, Shana Hunt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This inquiry explores the discrepancy of educational opportunities in a Black suburban public school near Atlanta, Georgia. Predominately Black suburban schools in the South have become increasingly similar to Black urban schools. Both Black urban and suburban schools have become places of complacency for teachers and students. There is an incessant fluctuation of teachers and an increase in low expectations for academic success in Black suburban schools. Both Black urban and suburban schools have limited funding while White schools, many times less than ten miles away, experience the benefits of magnet programs, cutting-edge technology and rigorous curricula. Many Black suburban …

Roses In The Concrete: A Critical Race Perspective On Urban Youth And School Libraries, Kafi D. Kumasi

School of Information Sciences Faculty Research Publications

This article utilizes Critical Race Theory (CRT) to interrogate school library practices and school librarian belief systems as they relate to serving urban youth of color. The author offers several area for interrogation including: 1) disrupting cultural deficit views; 2) honoring students voices and life experiences; 3) recognizing structural inequalities; and 4) understanding whiteness. This work has implications for helping school librarians develop the cultural sensitivities and dispositions necessary for creating library programs that support and affirm urban youth of color.