Education Commons^™

The Rise Of Critical Race Theory: Current Perspectives And Policies On Crt In Education, Nate Scholten

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

In this policy brief on Critical Race Theory (CRT), I operationalize the theory, trace its origins in legal scholarship, discuss its rise within the field of education, and highlight current policies that have responded to this rise. While many see CRT as a helpful lens to view seemingly unnoticeable manifestations of oppression and injustice, others view the use of the construct as divisive, unnecessary, and detrimental to teaching and learning. After detailing the discourses on either side of this debate, I conclude this brief by drawing on Kumashiro’s (2004) notion of teaching for discomfort and the approach of action civics …

Through Her Eyes: Learning And Teaching About Racism Through "To Kill A Mockingbird" And "The Bluest Eye", Sloane Larsen

English Honors Theses

This thesis argues that Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird both merit a place in te United States’ secondary education systems by using use them in the classroom to encourage students to recognize and challenge their biases, perspectives, and choices. One of the many complex questions this thesis addresses is the efficacy of teaching students about racism using such novels. Teaching these novels through Critical Race Theory could help create a new generation of students who are more likely to address and challenge their biases and privilege. At the same time, this approach requires …

Teachers' Perspectives On Decolonizing U.S. Curriculum For Latinx Through Ethnic Studies Programs At The Middle And High School Levels, Richard Varela

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the implementation of an ethnic studies program with an emphasis on Mexican American Studies at the middle and high school level, in a district located along the Mexican/U.S. frontera. Ethnic Studies are a critical, interdisciplinary academic field of study that acknowledges that race, and racism are embedded in every U.S. system, especially our educational institution. As a critical pedagogy, ethnic studies validate and encourages the voices and viewpoints of the marginalized, while analyzing and criticizing dominant influences that promote â??normalizingâ?? of racialized inequality (de los Rios, 2013). At the center of ethnic …

African American Males' Perception Of Factors That Contribute To Success In Higher Education, Gary D. Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decades, many studies have concluded that African American students' college completion rate and success lag far behind other students attending college in the United States (The JBHE Foundation, Inc., 2006). More specifically, these studies have confirmed that African American male students' success rates remain disproportionally low compared to other ethnic male groups. Unfortunately, few notable studies identifying African American males achieving higher education or completing their academic pursuits have been presented as part of the Black male student narrative.

This study aimed to understand better the resources and experiences that positively affect African American males who completed …

Remnants Of Educational Leadership And Desegregation Etched In The Memories Of Black Educational Leaders: An Oral History, Janice Barge Clarke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study the experiences of Black (a.k.a. African Americans/ Negroes) educationalleaders were explored focusing on the period during the transition to a more desegregated public- school setting in the state of Florida. Using retrospective storytelling and reflections of ‘leading’ during desegregation, the lived experiences of those in educational leadership roles were captured in the form of oral histories and analyzed using critical race theory. The effects of desegregation is recounted from their vantage point, from the dissolution of the ‘all Black’ schools to the impact it had on the communities. The research question was: What are the stories told …

Do The ‘Write’ Thing: Utilizing Spike Lee To Read The Word And World, Dominick N. Quinney

Race and Pedagogy Journal: Teaching and Learning for Justice

College writing is an essential skill by which college students should begin to craft and construct their academic voices as they see and interpret the world around them in a scholarly setting. At the same time, as a result of varying phenomena, students have struggled to articulate themselves in written form, often performing what some describe as ‘writing apprehension'. In an effort to explore these phenomena, I developed a first-year seminar that allowed for both the concepts of race, ethnicity, identity, and writing to come together in an academic setting as a way to have students understand identity and its …

Book Review Of White Tears, Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women Of Color, Yalda N. Hamidi Dr.

Feminist Pedagogy

White Tears, Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrayed Women of Color, by Ruby Hamad, addresses the distress around the pedagogy of Critical Race Theory in educational systems from the standpoint of politics of emotions and emotional interactions of the dominant social groups with racial minorities. The author articulates some of the emotional tactics that make up “toxic femininity,” specifically for white women, and unveils the scars caused by these delicate yet intruding performances. Through shedding “white tears,” which Hamad defines as dishonest emotions, white women utilize emotional expression, primarily crying, to shut down the conversation about race and suppress the …

An Upstander Is A Person In Your Neighborhood: Children, Sesame Street, And Race In 2020, Gemma Yoo

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Educational children’s media, such as the program Sesame Street, may be the most accessible format for teaching young children about race and racism in the United States. Throughout its history, Sesame Street has attempted to confront racism through its diverse cast and, in the summer of 2020, by directly addressing the topic with children and families. However, both its passive representation and active discussion fall short of what is needed to confront systemic racism. This paper addresses Sesame Street’s past and present role as a leader in children’s educational media, and advocates that the program employ Critical Race Theory to …

Counterstories Of Black High School Students And Graduates Of Nyc Independent Schools: A Narrative Case Study, Kahdeidra M. Martin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Public youth resistance movements in 2019 and 2020 exposed the entrenchment of racism, sexism, heteronormativity, and classism across New York City independent schools (NYCIS). In order to support the imminent need for schools to provide effective diversity, inclusion, and equity supports that address broad issues of school climate, relationships, and pedagogy, there is a need to better understand the specific, hyperlocal experiences of Black/African Descendant (BAD) students, who occupy several unique, unexplored spaces in educational research. The following four research questions helped to conceptualize the experiences that support and hinder the academic success and long term well-being of BAD students …

Tracking And Experiences Of Black Students Following The Inception Of No Child Left Behind, Gwenda Walters

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Academic placement in high school classes is an important decision that can have long-term effects on student success. Research indicates that students most often remain in high or low tracks year after year. However, the precision of placements relative to real achievement disparities in the grouping of students into homogenous groups remains a petulant area of debate. Many scholars consider placement judgments to be dubious, marginal, or incorrect in terms of performance gaps, notwithstanding the assumption that these placements are deemed accurate in representing a student's academic ability. Researchers argue that the process of comparing, sorting, and classifying students has …

A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Leadership Development Experiences Of Black Women, Oresha Sharlene Greenidge Foster

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The leadership pathway for Black women has unique challenges and obstacles due to the double jeopardy of their race and gender. The lack of critical empirical work on the leadership development of Black women has left a gap in the understanding of how racial and gendered identities influence their development as successful leaders. This research was conducted to examine how Black women developed as leaders and how they made meaning of their leadership development experiences. A qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was conducted framed by concepts of intersectionality and gendered racism to produce a comprehensive description of the phenomenon of the …

Latina And Latino Critical Legal Theory: Latcrit Theory, Praxis And Community, Marc Tizoc Gonzaléz, Sarudzayi M. Matambanadzo, Sheila I. Velez Martinez

Articles

LatCrit theory is a relatively recent genre of critical “outsider jurisprudence” – a category of contemporary scholarship including critical legal studies, feminist legal theory, critical race theory, critical race feminism, Asian American legal scholarship and queer theory. This paper overviews LatCrit’s foundational propositions, key contributions, and ongoing efforts to cultivate new generations of ethical advocates who can systemically analyze the sociolegal conditions that engender injustice and intervene strategically to help create enduring sociolegal, and cultural, change. The paper organizes this conversation highlighting Latcrit’s theory, community and praxis.

Isaac Gottesman's The Critical Turn In Education: From Marxist Critique To Poststructuralist Feminism To Critical Theories Of Race, Aaron A. Baker

Intersections: Critical Issues in Education

Isaac Gottesman's historiography, The Critical Turn in Education: From Marxist Critique to Poststructuralist Feminism to Critical Theories of Race, aspires to Illuminate the historical context in which critical educational theory evolved. To his credit, he seems to achieve that goal, and more: he establishes that the relationship between the history of critical educational theory and society’s reliance on education is a key to social justice. This book review, describes and evaluates each chapter of Gottesman's text, focusing on his successes and challenges.

Invictus: Race And Emotional Labor Of Faculty Of Color At The Urban Community College, Kerri-Ann M. Smith, Kathleen T. Alves, Irvin Weathersby Jr., John D. Yi

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This article shares the counter-stories of four junior faculty members of color, whose lived experiences provide concrete examples of what emotional labor sometimes entails in higher education. Grounded in Critical Race Theory and antiracist methodologies, these academics identify specific ways in which they experience emotional labor: guilt, silence, anger, navigating double-consciousness and liminality, and self-regulating physical and mental health. They seek to buttress their experiences with counternarratives and, consequently, recommendations for how community college leaders may help to alleviate the emotional labor associated with junior faculty members of color through promotion, leadership, mentoring, and recognition of diverse perspectives and contributions …

The Impacts Of Incarceration On The Wellbeing Of Family Members Of African American Males Who Experience The U.S Prison System: A Phenomenological Study, Tremaine N. Leslie

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African Americans encounter a high rate of imprisonment, and the social, economic, mental and other effects of imprisonment are extended to their families and communities (Roberts, 2004). In addition to separating individuals from their families and communities, incarceration maximizes the probability for fractured relationships, fragmented communities, and encumbers the public service systems (DeHart, Shapiro & Clone, 2018).Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological inquiry was to explore the mental health effects of incarceration on the family members of African American males who experience the U.S prison system.

The theoretical framework utilized for this study was the critical race theory (CRT) immersed …

Am I A Systemic Iniquity Interrupter? Understanding The Influence Of Critical Race Educating Through The Narratives Of Alternative Ed. Black Educators, Ayanna Gore

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to illuminate the Critical Influence Black educators from an alternative education certifying program (which will be labeled with the fictional name Lead On throughout this research) through their personal narratives on the successes, struggles, and benefits of teaching Black students. Using CRT methodology (tenant 1 & 2: counter-storytelling and the permanence of racism) to hear and analyze the narratives of Black educators experience around working to have a Critical Influence on their students. Taking an Emic approach, three in-depth story-telling sessions were conducted for each participant. All participants are alum of the alternative certifying education program and …

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 …

From Theory To Practice: Establishing The Classroom As The Setting For Race Talk Through The Intentional Analysis And Discussion Of Poems By Authors Of Color, Cree Taylor

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Modern-day racism exists in mostly subtle ways and is often felt most keenly in the classroom. When schools began the legal integration process in 1954, Black teachers were fired, all-Black schools were closed, and Black students were bused to the formerly all-White schools. In this new environment, Black students and all Students of color were forced to accept and adapt to an educational system that favored Whites over all other racial groups. Today, White Supremacy in education affects the establishment of state and national standards, school and district boundaries, and the un-fair disciplinary action taken against Students of Color. In …

Race, Sense Of Belonging, And The African American Student Experience At Predominantly White Institutions, Anthony Kane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study utilized a critical race theoretical framework and methodology to explore the lived experiences of African American students at a predominantly White institution. The purpose of this study was to identify how race impacts the sense of belonging of African American students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). This study highlighted the racialized experiences of African American students at a predominantly White institution and how these experiences impacted their sense of belonging. Additionally, this study sought to understand the type of support African Americans students preferred and needed in order to develop a positive sense of belonging.

Six African …

Moving Forward, Living Backward, Or Just Standing Still?: Newspaper Theatre, Critical Race Theory, And Commemorating The Wade-Braden Trial In Louisville, Kentucky, Amy Steiger

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

This essay, with a link to the full group-devised script of "Moving Forward, Living Backward, or Just Standing Still?" describes how graduate students entering an MFA acting program devised a performance inspired by the WPA’s Living Newspapers and Boal’s Newspaper Theatre to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Wade-Braden housing case in Louisville, KY. Drawing on critical race theory, I argue that the process, together with the script itself, offers an example of several ways performance can be used to remember and re-imagine a community’s racial history and future. It commemorated the trial itself, creating a public reminder of Louisville’s …

African-American Male Perceptions On Public Schooling After Discipline: A Contextual Portrait From The Inner City, Kevin William Smith Jr.

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Literature shows that one of the major issues affecting the achievement of inner-city African- American male students in public-schools is the ineffectiveness of disciplinary procedures. These studies have shown a direct positive relationship between student behavioral problems and academic failure. This study was an attempt at answering Noguera’s (2008) call for understanding more fully how African-American males come to perceive schooling, in particular their discipline experiences, and how environmental and cultural forces impact this perception of their behavior and performance in school. This was a qualitative study that heard the stories of inner-city African-American male students who were pushed out …

Learn By Leaving: An Analysis Of Recruitment And Retention Rates Among Faculty/Staff Of Color, Erica Noelle Claybrook-Cookman

Ethnic Studies

Learn by Leaving is as an analysis of recruitment and retention rates among faculty/staff of color at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), specifically, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo) in San Luis Obispo, California. This project aims to answer the following: How does the presence, or lack thereof, of faculty/staff of color impact the success of students of color at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo? Additionally, how has the presence, or lack thereof, of faculty/staff of color shaped the overall college experience for students of color at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo? In the context of this research, …

How Far Have We Really Come? Black Women Faculty And Graduate Students' Experiences In Higher Education, Lori Walkington

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

This paper presents a critical overview of the sociological research on Black women's experiences as graduate students and faculty in higher education, with a focus on research since 1995. In interaction with the social inequalities of race and class, how are Black women faculty and graduate student’s experiences with sexism, racism, and classism reproduced within the institution of higher education? What kinds of policies have been implemented to address these problems? What changes, if any, have there been in the experiences of black women faculty and graduate students over time? How do Black women scholars fare in relation to their …

“Way Down Upon The Suwanee River”: Examining The Inclusion Of Black History In Florida’S Curriculum Standards, William Newell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As education focuses increasingly on standards based assessment, social studies must be examined for its integration of Black History in the United States History curriculum. Using a Critical Race Theory lens, this directed content analysis attempts to examine the Florida Standards for United States History to determine if and how Black History is integrated into United States History courses. The study also makes use of Banks’ (1994) “levels of integration” to explore the degree to which this is accomplished. In addition, lesson plans created and/or endorsed by the state of Florida are analyzed for their inclusion of Black History. Data …

Sam And Cristina: A Critical Dialogue Between A Teacher And Student About The Commoditization Of People Of Color By Schools, Samuel J. Tanner, Cristina Corrie

Democracy and Education

This article was written by a white high school teacher (Sam) and a high school student of color (Cristina) in order to consider the harmful potential for schools in the United States to commoditize students of color at the expense of critical, antiracist work. It was written out of a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study and uses a critical whiteness framework in order to examine how Cristina, in dialogue with Sam, came to theorize that her racial identity was commoditized as a cultural asset of their high school in exploitative ways. Her thinking, juxtaposed with Sam’s consideration of his …

“Leadership Means Moving A Community Forward”: Asian American Community College Students And Critical Leadership Praxis, Melissa Ann Loredo Canlas

Doctoral Dissertations

Asian Americans are underrepresented in both formal leadership positions and leadership research (Foldy & Ospina, 2009) and rarely are Asian Americans viewed as leaders, activists, or agents of social change. Leadership development programs, particularly those focused on social and racial justice, are largely absent from the curriculums and educational experiences of Asian Americans (Omatsu, 2006), and few leadership development programs focus specifically on the needs of Asian Americans (Chung, 2014; Liang, Lee, & Ting, 2002), particularly at the community college level.

This study addressed the need for critical leadership development for Asian American community college students, focusing specifically on leadership …

Listen. I Have Something To Say! A Critical Inquiry Into The Educational And Socio-Cultural Context Of African-American Male Student Achievement In An Urban School Setting, Patricia P. Watson

Theses and Dissertations

There is a general awareness that a substantial gap exists between the educational achievement of the White and African-American populations in our nation. Several prominent researchers have attempted to address this issue of the achievement gap. Kinjufu (1985), with his seminal work on the fourth-grade failure syndrome, Noguera (2008), Ferguson (2001), Tatum (1997), Payne (2005), and Gordon and Gordon (2006) all point to issues of race and income. Leary (2005) offers a theory of multigenerational trauma; Fordham and Ogbu (1986) present their theory of oppositional culture; while Sewell (1998), Gurian (2005), Kozol (1991), and Sax (2007) suggest that the gap …

The Myth Of The Unteachable: Youth, Race And The Capacity Of Alternative Pedagogy, Cathy R. Borck

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My research consisted of three years of qualitative inquiry, including 62 interviews with members of the Department of Education, school administrators, teachers and students, as well as a yearlong ethnography at a transfer school that I chose because of its history of success with the city's hardest- to-reach youth. To my knowledge, mine is the first formal study of New York City transfer schools. "Transfer schools" are New York City's public alternative schools, which serve "over-age, under- credited" high school students (i.e. students who are "behind" in school). These students experience many challenges and interruptions to their education, including homelessness, …

Racism Vs. Social Capital: A Case Study Of Two Majority Black Communities, Bruce W. Strouble

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Several researchers have identified social capital as a means to improve the social sustainability of communities. While there have been many studies investigating the benefits of social capital in homogeneous White communities, few have examined it in Black homogeneous communities. Also, there has been limited research on the influence of racism on social capital in African American communities. In this dissertation a comparative case study was used within a critical race theory framework. The purpose was to explore the role of racial oppression in shaping social capital in majority African American communities. Data were collected from 2 majority Black communities …

Documenting The Experiences Of Gay Latinos In Higher Education Through The Use Of Testimonio, Lorenzo Fabian Garcia

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study focuses on the stories of six self-Identified Gay Latinos in a higher education. The participant’s stories are documented using Testimonio. The six men were uniquely situated to give their testimonios about their campus experiences of seeking support in that they were the narrators of the experiences. Key findings indicated a pipeline of support which began with supportive families. Multidimensional identity was well defined by the participants as understanding of being both Latino and Gay. The participants, while exploring campus spaces for support, found themselves navigating through one identity or the other resulting in a process of selective …