Education Commons^™

A Critical Inquiry Exploring The Relationship Between Critical Consciousness And Community Engagement Educators, Carol Difalco

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

Community engagement programs are shaped by the educators who facilitate them. Due to a curtailed critical consciousness, such programs are not always sensitive to the negative implications for the communities they are attempting to support. Guided by critical ethnographic and interpretive phenomenological analysis, this study examines how educators perceive their relationship with critical consciousness, its impact on their community engagement initiatives, and what we can learn from educators using community engagement to work towards social justice issues. As expected, results from the participants revealed varying awareness and understanding of how structural power and institutional oppression impact community engagement initiatives. Some …

Critical Latino Studies: Combatting The (Mis)Education Of Latino Students In U.S. Public Schools, Heidi Kern

West Chester University Master’s Theses

In this thesis, I will explore the historical undervaluing and miseducation of Latino youth in U.S. public schools using a lens of decolonial theory to combat the systems of oppression that continue to affect our Latino youth today. First, I explain what experiences brought me to this concern and provide a clear theoretical framework to explain my philosophy of education. I also articulate key concepts from decolonial scholars and educational activists that inform my own work on the educational experiences of Latino students. In Chapter Three, I provide a historical review of how a public school system rooted in colonialism …

Recently Graduated U.S. High School Students’ Perspectives Of Critical Standards In Languages Other Than English, Diane Bosilevac

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The national world language standards created in 1996 to represent critical concepts in world languages were modified in 2015 to include real-world applications but were not developed with student input. Guided by a framework of critical theory and critical pedagogy, which gave voice to the people most affected by the standards, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the perspectives of recently graduated high school students regarding the critical concepts and needed changes to the national world language standards. Interviews with nine recently graduated high school students from a Midwest U.S. public school district regarding the critical …

Disruption, Dissent, And Dialogue: Ypar As A Pedagogical And Institutional Tool, Charlene E. Holkenbrink-Monk

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Education reform has been at the forefront of educational research for decades, depicted by government initiatives and policy, research, and pedagogical changes and recommendations. When considering elements of educational change, policy, best practices, and individual merit and retention have also been heavily in the spotlight, such as A Nation at Risk, No Child Left Behind , and other policies that have been put forward. What is often left out is student voice, both within policy as well as ideas around what should be changed. Based on my pilot study, I found that students also did not feel adequately represented in …

Recently Graduated U.S. High School Students’ Perspectives Of Critical Standards In Languages Other Than English, Diane Bosilevac

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The national world language standards created in 1996 to represent critical concepts in world languages were modified in 2015 to include real-world applications but were not developed with student input. Guided by a framework of critical theory and critical pedagogy, which gave voice to the people most affected by the standards, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the perspectives of recently graduated high school students regarding the critical concepts and needed changes to the national world language standards. Interviews with nine recently graduated high school students from a Midwest U.S. public school district regarding the critical …

Recently Graduated U.S. High School Students’ Perspectives Of Critical Standards In Languages Other Than English, Diane Bosilevac

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The national world language standards created in 1996 to represent critical concepts in world languages were modified in 2015 to include real-world applications but were not developed with student input. Guided by a framework of critical theory and critical pedagogy, which gave voice to the people most affected by the standards, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the perspectives of recently graduated high school students regarding the critical concepts and needed changes to the national world language standards. Interviews with nine recently graduated high school students from a Midwest U.S. public school district regarding the critical …

A Paradox Of Fact And Fiction: Cultivating The 'Literary Imagination' Through Quiet Rebellion, Eden A. Evans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation explores the problems that patterned and processed teaching and learning poses for implementing principles of critical pedagogy in English Literature courses. I apply multiple theoretical frameworks including literary theory, critical theory and post-humanism to place my own experiences amidst the on-going conversations about standardization and democracy. I draw upon the work of educational theorists such as Maxine Greene, Martha Nussbaum, Louise Rosenblatt, and Mary Aswell Doll to explore the ways that literature can enrich students’ lives and society, and Geneva Gay and Lisa Delpit to explore how cultural bias regarding linguistics can function when teaching literature and language …

Enacting A Critical Media Production Pedagogy, James D. Swerzenski

Doctoral Dissertations

This project draws upon earlier calls—particularly in the critical pedagogy, critical media literacy, and cultural production fields—to outline a teaching approach that balances technical media production practices and critical media studies. I refer to this synthesis as critical media production pedagogy. This blending of critical analysis and technical skill, I argue, is especially important at the university level where my research is focused, as students in these courses will likely enter industry fields in which they can influence culture on a mass level. Creating opportunities for a media theory/production synthesis enables students to translate critical ideas beyond the academy and …

Lessons To Learn From Teacher Activists Organizing For Systemic Change Through A Community-Based Coalition, Cynthia Roy

Educational Studies Dissertations

Corporate education reformers say they want excellent education for all students, yet scholars have documented the failure of corporate, neoliberal education reform. Educational organizing offers a powerful alternative to education reform. The purpose of this study was to understand how teachers in a community-based coalition made up of workers, educators, students, parents, guardians, grandparents, elected officials, and community leaders organized for equitable, systemic school change. This critical, feminist, activist ethnographic study included six participants and involved field observations, formal and informal interviews, and artifacts collected over six months. The instruments used to collect data were a demographic survey, a field …

“I Want Them To See Me As A Complete Person”: Sustaining People Of Color In Predominantly White Institutions Through Counter-Hegemony, Jessica Albavera

Master's Projects and Capstones

Education in the United States is inequitable. Independent schools in particular add to this inequity because of limited access and affordability. This creates a situation in which educators who are fighting for more diversity, equity, and inclusion have to reconcile working in an institution that is part of an inequitable system. This research-based field project, through the method of focus groups, sought to examine the ways in which educators in an independent school in San Francisco are utilizing counter-hegemonic strategies in their classrooms to support the diverse and intersecting identities of their students. The focus group also provided a space …

Finding Motivation And Connectedness For Learning With Special Education Students Qualifying Under Emotional Disturbance, Nikole Denton

Education | Master's Theses

The purpose of this research seeks to understand the conditions for motivation among disengaged high school students in special education who qualify under emotional disturbance (ED) and support them in rediscovering their desire for learning while also determining how educators can be supportive in cultivating academic engagement and agency. The theoretical framework looks toward co-created curriculum through an understanding of intrinsic motivation (Ryan et al., 2021), self-Determination theory (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009), and critical pedagogy (Shih, 2018). Currently, there is a lack of empirical research on the effectiveness of pedagogical approaches in determining what works in engaging special education students …

Writing For Research In Brazilian Schools: The Landless Workers Movement's Education Of The Countryside, Ana Maria Doll Ghelere Portas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis, “Writing for Research in Brazilian Schools: The Landless Workers Movement’s Education of the Countryside,” examines pedagogical practices of rural areas in Brazil. More specifically, I analyze writing practices of high school students in public schools co-governed by the state and the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), a grassroots social movement that has fought for agrarian reform in Brazil for over 40 years. I analyze research papers developed in the social movement's research program: autobiographies written by students in their first year of high school and research papers written in the two final years. My analysis looks for connections between …

Using Art Education To Cultivate Self-Efficacy And Divergent Thinking, Julian Flores Rubalcaba

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to understand the experiences of an art teacher implementing art education with creative learning principles to cultivate students’ creative self-efficacy and divergent thinking at one middle school in the Inland Empire located in Southern California. The research continues to focus on how self-efficacy and divergent thinking cultivate through the process of art creation through project-based learning (Puente-Díaz & Cavazos-Arroyo, 2017). An art education is not a requirement for students to receive throughout their PK-12 general education in low socioeconomic schools due to an emphasis on the general education curriculum to focus on high-stakes standardized …

Radicalizing First Year Composition: A Novice Educator’S Venture Into Revolutionary Teaching, Xochilt Trujillo Flores

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

­­This project is based on my experiences and reflections as a novice instructor on implementing educational practices which center a critical, feminist, anti-racist pedagogical approach in a first year composition course. Using my own experiences of teaching FYC as a central focus, this project will collect data through teacher-reflective journals. Those journals will be focused on how radical pedagogy shapes my approaches to teaching and how I experience/implement that approach in my day-to-day practices. In doing so, this project aims to address the persistent gap between theory and practice, particularly in the context of novice educators’ experiences in a …

Social Justice And The Us Food System: A Critical Course On The Human Dimensions Of Food, Ali Brooks

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

Our world is made up of overlapping political, environmental, and economic spheres that engender social injustice and inequality. Though separate societal issues can seem divergent and unconnected, they are all linked together by one universal necessity: food. Because everyone eats, everyone is connected to—and dependent on—food and the systems that govern it. However, the impacts of our industrial food system are not felt equally among people who hold different positions of power within it.

Today’s industrial food complex operates on the capitalist principle of profit accumulation through exploitation, commodification, and extraction. This set of relations is not defined by scale …

The Critical Workshop: Writing Revision And Critical Pedagogy In The Middle School Classroom, Andrea R. Griswold

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the question of whether focusing on revision in writing instruction can be a form of critical pedagogy in middle school classrooms. Building on the work of A. Suresh Canagarajah, Lisa Delpit, Paulo Freire, Henry Giroux, Kay Halasek, Joseph Harris, Amy Lee, Timothy Lensmire, Min-Zhan Lu, Peter McLaren, Richard Ohmann, Ira Shor, and others, I explore and challenge commonly held attitudes about revision and language, primarily that the goal of revision is to correct errors and that language and its conventions should be thought of in terms of correctness. I explore the ways in which traditional writing workshops …

Starting The Conversation: Race, Ethnicity, And Land At A Predominantly White Environmental Education Organization, Carolyn A. Waters

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Environmental Educators use land as the locus and content of their work. However, dominant environmental narratives often exclude Indigenous and Black perspectives on land (Bang et al., 2014; Calderon et al., 2014; Engel-Di Mauro & Carroll, 2014). To address this and other issues related to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI), environmental organizations nationally have called for JEDI initiatives (NAAEE, 2020), such as professional development for their employees- the majority of whom are white (Green 2.0, 2021; Taylor, 2014). Research questions for this study were: 1) How do white environmental educators perceive race and ethnicity in their work as it …

Empowering Silenced Voices: Implementing Critical Pedagogy To Move Toward Decolonizing Music Education, Alexis Adams

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Throughout this thesis, I will delineate the historical and current issue of Eurocentrism and racism being perpetuated in K-12 music education and music teacher education programs. I will argue that music teacher education programs need to be decolonized and radically transformed so that music classrooms and curricula are anti-racist and counterhegemonic. Through utilizing theoretical frameworks, a historical review, and a literature review, I will further contextualize this problem. Lastly, I will propose a two-pronged intervention to address this over-arching issue: an undergraduate course entitled Critical Pedagogy in Music Education and a radically transformative professional development series for current music educators.

Teaching Solidarity: Popular Education In Grassroots U.S. Social Movements, Tenaya Summers Lafore

Doctoral Dissertations

Fifty years after he wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), Brazilian educator Paulo Freire’s work is as relevant as ever. But while many of Freire’s ideas are well known in the United States, there is limited research on their application in social movement settings, a practice commonly known as popular education. This comparative case study draws on Freire’s theory of popular education to analyze two U.S.-based grassroots education programs, one with low-income residents in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco and one with front-line hospital and public school employees on the East Coast. Through six months of participant observation and …

A Meaningful Paradox Of Color-Blind Racism And Racial Literacy: Understanding The Phenomena Of White Women Teachers Educating Students Of Color, Alaisa Rigoni Grudzinski

Theses & Dissertations

Recognizing school resegregation and the demographic imperative as systemic problems impacting the educational outcomes of students of Color, this study examined the role of White women teachers’ racial views within the sociocultural context of teaching and learning. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore how 15 high school teachers described their lived experiences as educators of Latinx, Black, and Asian students in a racially diverse, public high school on Long Island, New York. This qualitative study was conceptualized through combining the theoretical lens of critical whiteness studies and critical pedagogy utilizing a qualitative phenomenological methodology for data collection, with …

A Student Led Assessment Of Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In The Environmental Science And Management Department At Portland State University, Aneesha Gharpurey

University Honors Theses

In the summer of 2020, the world watched as Black communities and allies responded to the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. An intensification of social and racial justice awareness provoked many entities like higher education institutions (HEI) to evaluate how they support marginalized people and update their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plans. In an attempt to maintain excellence, many HEIs implement DEI plans through top-down methods where high-level administrators target recruitment and retention, campus climate, community engagement, and curriculum. These plans rarely incorporate students as co-collaborators and administer DEI changes that have little effect on students' self-belonging, …

Spirits In The Dark: Black Community Education And The Light It Bears, Sydoni A. Ellwood

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Spirits in the Dark” is a digital space dedicated to the efforts of Black community education. It memorializes the commitment and strategies of spirits, light bearers like Mary McLeod Bethune and Huey Newton – people who devoted their lives to the fortification of their communities via education. This project also presents a variety of answers to one specific question: What lessons can school leaders and educators incorporate from community-controlled education programs to make learning spaces affirming and engaging for Black students? In totality, the digital space contributes to conversations in urban education and sociology, specifically the ones being held around …

Whiteness 101: Racial Identity Work For White Educators To Advance Antiracist Pedagogy, Meghan W. Slan

Master's Projects and Capstones

Whiteness, White privilege, and racial inequality are pervasive in K-12 schools and universities. Recognizing that race is a human invented classification construct that has had and continues to have a direct causal effect on the historical and present inequality of the United States, White educators must reckon with their own racial identities as White people in a White supremacist society. White educators are complicit in reproducing White supremacist societal structures through K-12 schooling and in universities, thus bearing responsibility to disrupt, dismantle and rebuild a more just and equitable education system. This field project incorporates my experiences as facilitator of …

Engaged Pedagogy And Teacher Discourse: A Critical Examination Of Public Education In Mississippi, Kelsi Ford

Honors Theses

This thesis explores Mississippi K-12 public education in terms of inequality and critical pedagogy with a focus on historical factors, state testing, and personal accounts of current teachers. The research is based on ten in-depth interviews with current schoolteachers regarding their perspectives on education and personal experiences and draws from previous scholarship, notably bell hook’s concept of engaged pedagogy. Critical pedagogy offers a model for transformative education for resisting social inequity and promoting democracy and citizenship, but teacher interviews suggest that the structure and culture of classrooms are contradictory to adopting critical pedagogy. Specifically, the research finds that both standardized …

Daring To See: White Supremacy And Gatekeeping In Music Education, Brian A. Gellerstein

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Music education in the U.S. maintains a legacy of cultural hegemony that has historically and systemically benefited the White students it was designed to serve, at the expense of Black and Brown students and teachers. As a subdiscipline concerned with cultural production and reproduction, the persistence of White supremacy within music education contributes to its indefatigability within the broader society.

This study is cast within a theoretical framework that connects critical race theory and critical pedagogy in order to address the ways in which music teachers make meaning of gatekeeping practices mediated within hidden structures of White supremacy. This inquiry …

The Role Of Community Building In Second Language Acquisition In The Mainstream Classroom, Alejandro Clemente Fernandez

Doctoral Dissertations

The world is currently suffering from population displacement due to climate change, war, and economic instability which force many people to migrate in search of a better life, and many of these immigrants include school-age children. This mixed-methods research study sought to establish the association between community building, emotion, and second language acquisition by administering a survey to second language learners in the Napa Valley north of San Francisco in the spring of 2020. The participants were fourteen sixth grade students who had been enrolled in the same English and Spanish dual language immersion program since kindergarten.

The theoretical framework …

Indigenous Assessment Developers On Elements Of The Disjuncture-Response Dialectic: A Critical Comparative Case Study, David A. Sul

Doctoral Dissertations

The disjuncture-response dialectic proposes that the assessment development practices of Indigenous assessment developers exist within a broader environment where attention to broader themes such as settler colonialism (Wolfe, 2006) and Indigenous sovereignty is incorporated. To understand this dialectic, this study sought insight from Indigenous assessment developers about the issues they face when developing culturally specific assessments for use within their environments and settings.This study used a critical (Giroux, 1979; Horkheimer, 2018; McKenzie, 2012) comparative case study approach (Bartlett & Vavrus, 2017) with a convenience sample of three Indigenous assessment developers representing a cross-section of culturally specific assessment development projects across …

Critical (En)Counters: A Girouxean Exploration Of Contingent Faculties’ Narratives On Laboring For Latinx Students In The Corporate University Using Critical Dialogue, Krystal Amaril Medrano

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the experiences of contingent faculty within the College of Education at a Hispanic Serving Institute on the Texas-Mexico border. This study makes use of a critical Girouxean lens of neoliberalism to explore both the classroom and work experiences of contingent faculty as they navigate the hopelessness of the corporate university. Tethered still to the hope of critical pedagogy and dialogue, I rely on dialogic interviewing and story circle protocol to create dialogic experiences in which our individual and joint narratives, including my own stories, set off an ongoing dialogue that will extend beyond this study to the …

Supporting Adolescent Mental Health Within School Culture And Curricula: Inviting Adolescents To Utah's Mental Health Conversation, Diana West

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Utah is facing a mental health crisis. Between 2011 and 2017, teen suicides nearly tripled in Utah and had become the leading cause of death for children ages 10-17. Educators and policymakers are scrambling to provide students with mental health supports in schools, but an incomplete understanding of the challenges that students face can make it difficult to meet their needs. Each year state agencies ratchet up awareness, funding, and the determination to support mental health initiatives, but each year adolescent mental health in Utah becomes more precarious. The purpose of this study is to change the conversation by inviting …

“In Our Very Flesh, (R)Evolution”: An Exploration Of Secondary Education Teachers, Otherness, And Embodiment, Ryan Ambuter

Doctoral Dissertations

In education, the proliferation of a mind/body dualism leaves the pedagogy of the body undertheorized, and its impact on education disregarded. While there is not an absence of research on the body within the field of education, what exists is limited in scope. Little has been written about the connections between teachers’ bodies, pedagogy, and politics at the level of secondary education. This research specifically focuses on teachers who are visibly other, critically conscious of their bodies, and find power in their difference. The purpose of this study is to make meaning of the stories, experiences, and potential of teachers …