Education Commons^™

Understanding Unique Employability Skill Sets Of Autistic Individuals: A Systematic Review, Amy Jane Griffiths, Rachel Torres, Raquel Delgado, Amy E. Hurley-Hanson, Cristina M. Giannantonio, Wallace Walrod, Zachary Maupin, John Brady

Education Faculty Articles and Research

In recent years, several publications and media outlets have highlighted how the skills and interests of autistic individuals may benefit organizations. However, there is scant empirical research on the topic. The present study's authors conducted a systematic review to find which potential employability skills, strengths, and interests of autistic individuals available research has highlighted. Data extraction methods identified 51 papers related to skills in this population. The skill sets autistic individuals may possess and the research behind these findings were organized, evaluated, and summarized. Based on these findings, investigators discuss implications for employment counseling and future research.

Disability, Race, And Origin Intersectionality In The Doctoral Program: Ableism In Higher Education, Theodoto W. Ressa, Scot Danforth

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This paper explores the experiences of a doctoral disabled student at a university to examine how ableist structures in graduate programs affect access to higher education and post-degree outcomes. Guided by the DisCrit framework and autoethnography approach, the article illuminates systems and processes that disadvantage graduate disabled students. Through intersectional analyses of disability, race, and origin, the article makes visible manifestations of disability microaggressions and systemic ableism, racism, and xenophobia. It interrogates the perpetuation and normalization of academic transgressions, including exclusionary practices that degrade and oppress graduate disabled students and hinder them from seeking success. Finally, the argument is made …

Are Deficit Perspectives Thriving In Trauma-Informed Schools? A Historical And Anti-Racist Reflection, Cora Palma, Annmary S. Abdou, Scot Danforth, Amy Jane Griffiths

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Mental health research concerning adverse childhood experiences and neurocognitive trauma has prompted many school districts to pursue the development of trauma-informed schools that attend specifically to the emotional and instructional needs of affected students. Researchers and practitioners are fast proliferating trauma-informed professional practices. Given research findings indicating disproportionate impacts of trauma on students of color and those living in poverty, in this article, we examine the risks of trauma-informed educational programs reanimating cultural deficit theories from the 1960s about marginalized students and families. Educators are challenged to thoughtfully fortify trauma-informed schooling by increasing awareness of deficit perspectives and incorporating critical …

Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Students Experiencing Homelessness And Substance Use In The School Context: A Statewide Study, Hadass Moore, Kris De Pedro

Education Faculty Articles and Research

PURPOSE

This study explored differences between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)-housed and homeless students regarding substance use patterns on and off school grounds and the unique contribution of homelessness to substance use in school.

METHODS

Data were from the 2013-2015 California Healthy Kids Survey, a statewide survey of school protective factors and risk behaviors. A representative sample of 9th- and 11th-grade students (N = 20,337) was used. Comparisons between housed (n = 19,456) and homeless (doubled up: n = 715; acute homeless: n = 166) LGB students were conducted. We used chi-square tests to compare rates of lifetime, past-30-day, and …

Ever-Present “Illegality:” How Political Climate Impacts Undocumented Latinx Parents’ Engagement In Students’ Postsecondary Access And Success, Stephany Cuevas

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Using the ecological systems theory, this study highlights the significant impact the political climate in the United States (i.e., anti-immigrant sentiments and violence) has on undocumented Latinx parents’ engagement in their children’s education. Drawing from a larger qualitative, interview-based study that explored how undocumented Latinx parents were involved and engaged in their children’s postsecondary access and success (Cuevas, 2019; 2020), this study focuses on undocumented parents’ experiences and processing of the 2016 Presidential Election. Findings illustrate how the explicit racist, anti-immigrant, and nativist narratives then-Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump campaigned under and won forced undocumented Latinx parents to (re)evaluate how …

First Things First: Black Women Situating Identity In The First-Year Faculty Experience, Nakia M. Gray-Nicolas, Angel Miles Nash

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The first year in the education professoriate is an ineluctably critical time to establish a pathway for long-term professional success mirroring a scholar’s commitment to positively influencing students, schools, and communities. For Black women, the distinguished dual marginalization that they endure based on race and gender creates challenges and opportunities during that important start to their career. Through Black feminist thought and portraiture’s intentional blurring of art, life, and scientific boundaries, two Black women tenure track faculty use their ‘pens as weapons’ to explicate the first-year professional experiences. They draw on their narratives and that of three other Black women …

Campus Racial Climate, Boundary Work And The Fear And Sexualization Of Black Masculinities On A Predominantly White University, Quaylan Allen

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This article presents data from a study of Black men and masculinities at a predominantly White university. I argue that the campus racial climate on predominantly White universities are important sites of boundary work where fear and sexualization of Black masculinities are normalized in ways that shape Black men’s social relations on college campuses. In doing so, I will share narrative data of how Black male college students perceive the campus racial climate, with a focus on how they are feared and sexualized in predominantly White spaces. I also analyze the ways in which they managed race, gender, and sexuality …

Educator Perceptions Of Adult-Student Relationships, Racial Climate, And Associated Discipline Techniques, Annmary S. Abdou, Ashley M. Mayworm

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The overuse and misuse of exclusionary and punitive discipline practices in schools have been consistently linked to social and educational inequities across the globe, particularly for students of color. However, there is an ongoing need for a greater understanding of how school climate factors (e.g., adult-student relationships, racial climate) relate to the types of discipline approaches observed, particularly from the viewpoints of educators. The current study used hierarchical multiple regression analyses to investigate teacher, administrator, and staff (N = 168) survey responses from four junior high schools where discipline disproportionality for Latinx students had been previously established. Analyses explored …

Capitalism, Migration, And Adult Education: Toward A Critical Project In The Second Language Learning Class, Alisha M.B. Heinemann, Lilia Monzó

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Migration has become both a consequence of and support structure for global racialised capitalism. A presumed source of support for the people who migrate is adult education, especially the second language learning class. However, as a state organized institution, the policies and practices that govern second-language courses serve to inculcate the ideologies and values that support a racialised capitalist system. We draw on two case examples – the U.S. and Germany – to demonstrate these entanglements. We engage Freire’s critical pedagogy wherein learning contexts encourage students to question the realities of their lives, and Foucault’s ideas regarding heterotopian places where …

Challenging Whiteness At Claremont High School, Terri Nicol Watson, Angel Miles Nash

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Ebony Wright was slated to graduate from Claremont High School in the spring. She was on the honor roll, captain of the girls’ varsity softball and swim teams, and recently awarded an academic scholarship to attend a highly ranked university in the fall. Ebony was a “model” student. How she found herself sitting in the principal’s office several weeks before graduation was a shock to everyone. This case study challenges the function of whiteness in school policies. Aspiring school and teacher leaders are provided with the opportunity to consider the impact of a seemingly race-neutral school dress code policy.

I’M Every Woman: Advancing The Intersectional Leadership Of Black Women School Leaders As Anti-Racist Praxis, April L. Peters, Angel Miles Nash

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The rallying, clarion call to #SayHerName has prompted the United States to intentionally include the lives, voices, struggles, and contributions of Black women and countless others of her ilk who have suffered and strived in the midst of anti-Black racism. To advance a leadership framework that is rooted in the historicity of brilliance embodied in Black women’s educational leadership, and their proclivity for resisting oppression, we expand on intersectional leadership. We develop this expansion along three dimensions of research centering Black women’s leadership: the historical foundation of Black women’s leadership in schools and communities, the epistemological basis of Black women’s …

When Special Education And Disability Studies Intertwine: Addressing Educational Inequities Through Processes And Programming, Audri Sandoval Gomez, Aja Mckee

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The inception of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) in 1975 provided hope and the opportunity for equitable educational experiences for individuals with disabilities. Forty-five years later, the United States remains in a deficit-driven, medical model educational system with deeply rooted inequities continuing to segregate students because of their disability. A disability studies in education framework allows for complex components of teaching and programming for students with disabilities to be explored in a practical way that promotes inclusive education for all students. Examining special education practices through a social model of disability with a focus on ability and …

Developing Employment Environments Where Individuals With Asd Thrive: Using Machine Learning To Explore Employer Policies And Practices, Amy Jane Griffiths, Amy E. Hurley Hanson, Cristina M. Giannantonio, Sneha Kohli Mathur, Kayleigh Hyde, Erik Linstead

Education Faculty Articles and Research

An online survey instrument was developed to assess employers’ perspectives on hiring job candidates with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The investigators used K-means clustering to categorize companies in clusters based on their hiring practices related to individuals with ASD. This methodology allowed the investigators to assess and compare the various factors of businesses that successfully hire employees with ASD versus those that do not. The cluster analysis indicated that company structures, policies and practices, and perceptions, as well as the needs of employers and employees, were important in determining who would successfully hire individuals with ASD. Key areas that require …

Examining The Multiple Sites Of Meaning In A Participant Photography Project With Black Male College Students, Quaylan Allen

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Participant photography is a visual method that has been widely used in research to elevate the voices of historically marginalized populations. Although much has been written about the nature of the visual method, including its benefits and challenges, less is known about how meaning is made of the visual images as they move throughout the research process. To this end, this article draws upon data and the methodological notes from a research study examining Black masculinities and employs a critical visual methodology to examine the different sites of meaning-making in a participant photography research project with Black college men. First, …

For Us: Towards An Intersectional Leadership Conceptualization By Black Women For Black Girls, Angel Miles Nash, April L. Peters

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This article is based on a STEM education case study that illumines the work that three Black women school leaders do specifically on behalf of Black girls, and in examining their asset-based approaches, conceptualises their work by articulating an intersectional leadership framework. By historicising and explicating the rich legacy of Black women school leaders, and specifically including the theoretical dispositions in which their pedagogy is rooted, we shine a light on the lacuna that exists in educational leadership that specifically articulates their praxes when working on behalf of students with whom they identify – that is, Black girls. Black women …

Change-Makers: A Grassroots Approach To Culturally Responsive Leadership And Teaching, Abigail Amoako Kayser, Angel Miles Nash, Brian Kayser

Education Faculty Articles and Research

While achievement and opportunity gaps and systemic racism exist in the majority of school districts across the United States, not every school district authentically acknowledges and addresses these issues. In this case study, researchers examine a PreK–12 school district situated in a racially and economically diverse mid-Atlantic city in which race- and class-based discrimination have been well documented and recent episodes of extreme racial violence have affected the community. The school district, which employs 1,300 teachers and serves over 14,000 students, developed and implemented a grassroots approach by forming a district-wide culturally responsive leadership team. Through interviews with 10 culturally …

Her Voice: Engaging And Preparing Girls With Disabilities For Science, Technology, Engineering, And Math Careers, Amy Jane Griffiths, Angel Miles Nash, Zachary Maupin, Sneha Kohli Mathur

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) related fields comprise the top 30 occupations expected to grow the fastest by 2026. This increase in job opportunities, coupled with the evolution of technology, is creating higher demands for diversity in the labor market. Currently all students require innovative training and support from a young age to pursue STEM careers successfully. However, women and girls with disabilities face unique barriers along the STEM education pipeline. In this paper, we report the current and projected labor market trends in the United States. We then consider how this labor market information can be used by …

Reflections On Critical Pedagogy In America Latina: La Lucha Continua, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"When I speak in Mexico, I support efforts there to create a revolutionary critical pedagogy—one that has not been domesticated and depotentiated by neoliberal dogma. This means the inclusion of a decolonial pedagogy which challenges the “coloniality of power” (patron de poder colonial) that still resides at the heart of post-colonial societies. I would advise as a central, overarching goal of critical pedagogy the struggle for a socialist alternative to the “value form of labor” that exists in capitalist societies throughout North and South America, and that such efforts must be transnational in scope since capitalism is now transnational in …

Let’S Talk: An Examination Of Parental Involvement As A Predictor Of Stem Achievement In Math For High School Girls, Nicol R. Howard, Keith E. Howard, Randy T. Busse, Christine Hunt

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This research was conducted to examine the influence of parental involvement, in the form of parent conversations, on mathematics achievement for high school girls. Data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) public-use file provided a sample of 13,694 students, including 6,592 girls for our analyses. A scale for measuring parent conversations was developed and regression analyses were conducted to examine whether this scale variable predicted mathematics achievement. Results indicated that conversational parental involvement was a significant predictor of mathematics achievement for Black and White girls, but not Hispanic and Asian. Implications for research and policy initiatives are …

Research-To-Practice Brief: Using Labor Market Projections For Successful Transition Planning, Amy-Jane Griffiths, Meghan Cosier, Sara Morgan

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Employment rates and post-school transition outcomes for individuals with disabilities remain alarmingly low compared to peers without disabilities. Transition plans often focus on skills associated with employment opportunities that are immediately available to the individual with a disability. We contend that transition plans must be developed with specific attention to projected labor market needs to ensure that we are preparing students with disabilities for long-term success. This research brief describes how the results of an in-depth labor market analysis can be used to develop strong transition plans that prepare students for careers that will last far into the future.

Mathematics For Whom: Reframing And Humanizing Mathematics, Cathery Yeh, Brande M. Otis

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"In this paper, we share a process in which we, as mathematics teacher educators and education researchers, have worked in collaboration with K–6 teachers and students to analyze the purported neutrality of mathematics textbook word problems and to consider ways to use mathematics to analyze social inequities in the world. In the sections that follow, we describe the framework that grounds our development of justice-oriented mathematics curriculum and share an example of how textbook analysis can serve as an entryway to investigations that raise students’ awareness of social issues while developing their power as mathematics thinkers and doers. Drawing from …

(In)Visible Men On Campus: Campus Racial Climate And Subversive Black Masculinities At A Predominantly White Liberal Arts University, Quaylan Allen

Education Faculty Articles and Research

There is an emerging body of literature examining the academic success of Black men attending predominantly White colleges and universities, though less is known about Black college men’s experiences at liberal arts institutions. In this paper, I draw upon semi-structured and photovoice interview data from a study on Black male college students attending a predominantly White liberal arts institution in the USA. Specifically, I will present narrative and visual data of how Black college men perceive the campus racial climate and make sense of their (in)visibility at the university. Drawing upon poststructuralist theories of gender and critical race theory, I …

The Role Of School Climate In Rates Of Depression And Suicidal Ideation Among School-Attending Foster Youth In California Public Schools, Holly Shim-Pelayo, Kris Tunac De Pedro

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Drawing from the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 administrations of the California Healthy Kids Survey, this study explored the relationships between school climate and depression tendency and suicidal ideation among foster youth in California public schools. This research also evaluated the data for the secondary purpose of examining the possible differences in the levels of depression tendency and suicidal ideation among foster youth by race and gender. Findings indicated a positive school climate is associated with lower rates of depression tendency and suicidal ideation among foster youth. In addition, female foster youth reported higher rates of depression tendency and suicidal ideation when …

“In A Position I See Myself In:” (Re)Positioning Identities And Culturally-Responsive Pedagogies, Noah Asher Golden

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Culturally-responsive pedagogies require moving beyond blanket assumptions about learners to focus deeply on local meaning-makings. This narrative analysis case study examines the ways a 20-year-old African American man challenges the negative educational identity with which he is forced to contend as he navigates a large and complex urban public school system. The ways in which Jamahl, a seeker of a High School Equivalency, refuses interpellation as an uneducated learner destined to be “nothin'” provides insight as to how formal education might be more responsive to learners' negotiation of deficiency discourses. Embracing agency, specifically through awareness of the ways Jamahl employs …

“They Write Me Off And Don't Give Me A Chance To Learn Anything”: Positioning, Discipline, And Black Masculinities In School, Quaylan Allen

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines the schooling of black male students in a U.S. high school. Drawing upon positioning theory and student resistance literature, I describe how the students make meaning of the pathologizing positioning practices of the school, including how they resist and internalize dominant discourses about black masculinity and how their performances of particular masculinities within the school are met with surveillance, regulation, and discipline. I argue that schools are locations where dominant ideologies of black masculinities are imposed, contested, and sometimes reproduced.

“That’S Why I Say Stay In School”: Black Mothers’ Parental Involvement, Cultural Wealth, And Exclusion In Their Son’S Schooling, Quaylan Allen, Kimberly A. White-Smith

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines parental involvement practices, the cultural wealth, and school experiences of poor and working-class mothers of Black boys. Drawing upon data from an ethnographic study, we examine qualitative interviews with four Black mothers. Using critical race theory and cultural wealth frameworks, we explore the mothers’ approaches to supporting their sons’ education. We also describe how the mothers and their sons experienced exclusion from the school, and how this exclusion limited the mothers’ involvement. We highlight their agency in making use of particular forms of cultural wealth in responding to the school’s failure of their sons.

Necessary But Not Sufficient: The Continuing Inequality Between Men And Women In Educational Leadership, Findings From The Aasa Mid-Decade Survey, Kerry Robinson, Charol Shakeshaft, Margaret Grogan, Whitney Sherman Newcomb

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The gender of school leaders makes a difference in career paths, personal life, and characteristics of workplace. There is additional evidence that men and women are appointed or elected to lead different kinds of educational jurisdictions. Even if those differences did not exist, equitable access to leadership positions for people of different backgrounds would make this an important issue. This article reports gender-related findings from the American Association of School Administrators 2015 Mid-Decade Survey. Findings confirm many of the trends in research on the superintendency over the past 15 years. The profiles of women superintendents are becoming more like their …

From Liberation To Salvation: Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy Meets Liberation Theology, Peter Mclaren, Petar Jandrić

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This conversation between Peter McLaren and Petar Jandric´ brings about some of the most recent and deepest of McLaren’s insights into the relationship between revolutionary critical pedagogy and liberation theology, and outlines the main directions of development of McLaren’s thought during and after Pedagogy of Insurrection. In the conversation, McLaren reveals his personal and theoretical path to liberation theology. He argues for the relevance of liberation theology for contemporary social struggles, links it with social sciences, and addresses some recent critiques of Pedagogy of Insurrection. McLaren identifies the idolatry of money as the central point of convergence between liberation …

Soft(A)Ware In The English Classroom: (Re)Framing Education For Equity: Acknowledging Outputs And Inputs In Literacies Education, Noah Asher Golden

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"The way that our field of English education frames what and, at times, who are problems requiring solutions is at the heart of meaningful teaching and learning. Software and digital technologies play a role in the framing that grounds current educational reform policies in and beyond our field; a framing that works both to obscure and perpetuate inequitable systems. Software and digital technologies contribute to seemingly neutral educational policies and practices that obscure issues of structural racism, opportunity and access, and the privileging of a limited understanding of what it means to be literate and educated."

Factors That Influence Stem-Promising Females’ Decision To Attend A Non Research-Intensive Undergraduate Institution, Roxanne Greitz Miller, Ashley J. Hurlock

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Non research-intensive institutions of higher education are effective at narrowing STEM gender gaps in major selection and persistence to degree completion, yet the decision to attend such a setting is likely seen as counterintuitive when such institutions typically have lower levels of research, financial resources, and total student enrollments in the sciences. This case study identifies institutional factors reported by ‘STEM-Promising’ females, defined as females who completed at least one Advanced Placement (A.P.) STEM course in high school, as influencing their decision to attend their non research-intensive undergraduate institution. Using a quantitative, crosssectional research design and original survey, 23 out …