Browsing by Subject "Critical race theory"
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Item A content analysis of the career paths and cultural capital of Mexican-American male principals: A critical race discourse on the journey toward the principalship(2012-08) Horak, John; Valle, Fernando; Mendez-Morse, Sylvia; Klinker, JoAnn F.This is a content analysis of the career paths and cultural wealth of Mexican-American male principals. A Critical Race Theory (CRT) perspective on the journey toward the principalship was utilized to frame and ground the study. There is a critical need to identify and examine the perceptions of race, and racial barriers, in the principalship. This research utilized critical qualitative questioning, counter narratives, and content analysis as approaches to provide a deeper understanding on how race impacted the principal journey. Content analysis provided a research design method which allowed for the organization of the tremendous amount of data collected (Schreiber & Asner-Self, 2011). The context of the study was conducted from a critical race lens which is an intellectually and politically committed movement that studies race, racism, and power (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001). The framework was used a strength-based approach utilizing cultural wealth, an array of knowledge, skills, abilities, and contacts possessed and utilized by communities of color to survive and resist macro and micro-forms of oppression (Yosso, 2005). The aim of this analysis was to evaluate the career paths of seven Mexican-American male principals and their narratives about their experiences with race and ethnicity and the cultural wealth used in order to obtain the principalship. Procedures of data collection included the selection of the seven Mexican-American male principals, initial interviews, transcribing and analyzing interviews, member checks, and a reflexive journal. Three central themes were identified from the data analysis including impact of race, the role of gender, and cultural wealth harnessed. This study found: racial barriers were still in place, covertly practiced examples of deficit thinking by the dominant culture, and microagressions by the racially dominate group. Findings of this study regarding gender and Mexican-American male principal career paths included that 100% had a strong male role model(s) in their homes growing up. Cultural wealth findings of this study illustrated that all had extended family and community support and racial conversations highlighted obstacles and racial structures in place to challenge them as they became principals.Item Addressing the "Elephant" in the room: exploring race and social justice in the early childhood years(2016-08) Holmes, Kathlene Alysia; Brown, Anthony L. (Associate professor); Brown, Keffrelyn D.; Salinas, Cinthia; Adair, Jennifer K; Price-Dennis, DetraThis critical case study examined young elementary students’ understandings of race as they participated in an interdisciplinary Social Studies and English Language Arts unit in two kindergarten classrooms and one first grade classroom in two urban regions of the United States. The study utilized the principles of Critical Race Theory, Social Education, and Social Justice to analyze the young elementary-aged students’ thought-processes on race. By implementing an interdisciplinary unit on counter-narrative stories about the past and present experiences of communities of color, the students were also able to examine the impact of race through multiple perspectives. There were distinct differences in classroom teachers’ years of experience, their comfort level in addressing contentious topics such as race and racism, as well as their approaches to deconstructing complex information to their young students. This study also included an in-depth review of the teachers’ thoughts on race and their rationale for teaching their students about it. While the curriculum, lessons, and materials presented in each of the classrooms were slightly different, the common theme of developing a strong sense of community emerged in all three classrooms. Each teacher discussed that, as a result of presenting the students with lessons focused on all different communities of color and their historical fight for equity, a stronger bond formed in their kindergarten or first grade classroom. Considering the curriculum, lessons, and materials all addressed how race and racism impacts different communities, this study presents the conversations that could occur when teachers begin to hold explicit conversations about race with young elementary-aged children.Item Bringing critical race theory to California school reform : how California's new school funding law can target achievement for students of color(2016-05) Gonzalez, Rosalina; Auerbach, Robert D.; Cantú, NormaThis report introduces California’s new public school funding law and posits that it represents an excellent opportunity to make district-wide changes in the education processes that most influence students of color. The report recommends new strategies for education reform that are informed by a Critical Race Theory framework, and proposes four areas of concern for California public school administrators to target in their district Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs). The report includes examples of how districts around the state are already beginning to include these new strategies in their LCAPs, and the California state education standards they meet. The report also gives a short history of public education in the United States, as well as an introduction of a Critical Race Theory framework on education and its discriminatory history.Item Colorblind racism : the false promise of a post-racial society(2011-05) Jones, Judith Ellen, 1979-; Suizzo, Marie-Anne; Awad, GermineSince the 1970s, racial progress in the United States has stalled and in some ways, even regressed. There continues to be vast disparities between racial groups, pointing to serious inequities and systemic racism within our institutions. White privilege, a product of institutional racism and white supremacy, is a collection of unearned social benefits and courtesies that are bestowed upon a select group of people by virtue of their being white (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001). This literature review examines the dynamics of white privilege and power using the tenets of critical race theory to explain how they are both protected and perpetuated by liberal colorblind ideologies, particularly in education. Naming and examining whiteness, as opposed to ignoring and/or denying its significance, is the first step toward transforming the existing racial hierarchies in society.Item Doctoral experiences of Latina students: Examining ethnic identity and successful completion(2012-05) Rodriguez, Sofia; Taylor, Colette M.; Marbley, Aretha F.; Munoz, Juan S.Graduate education is essential to America’s overall global competitiveness and national security; a highly trained, educated workforce is crucial to the success of a knowledge based society (Wendler, et al., 2010). Cortese (2003) contends that post-secondary institutions play a vital role in cultivating the culture and civilization of current societies. The importance of graduate education is reflected in the ground-breaking practices used by these institutions to create research, convey knowledge via education, and to participate in the advancement of our workforce (Kienle & Loyd, 2005). As graduate education plays a critical role in our ever growing, multicultural society, research conducted on the role that graduate education plays in various racial and ethnic populations such as the Latina female population, becomes imperative. Using Critical Race Theory and Latino Critical Race theory, this study identified factors which influenced Latina women to pursue their doctorate and, of these factors, which navigation strategies contributed to successful completion of the doctorate. The findings demonstrated that the ethnic identity of Latina female participants significantly correlated with total social support consisting of members of the university, friends, significant others, family, and the university environment in regard to successful completion of the doctorate. Additional findings of the study found that factors such as financial aid in the form of scholarships and loans played an important role in participants’ success.Item Hope and the post-racial : high school students of color and the Obama American era(2015-05) Smith, William Louis; Brown, Anthony L. (Associate professor); Salinas, Cynthia; De Lissovoy, Noah; Epstein, Terrie; Urrieta, Jr., LuisDrawing on critical race theory, racial formation theory and the extant literature on the so-called post-racial turn in American life, this research explored the broad question of how young people of color make sense of issues of race and equity in the era of the first Black president. Using a case study design, as well as elements of visual research methods and narrative inquiry, I examined how a group of high school students of color at a predominantly White high school have learned about race and Obama, considering both formal school curricula and out-of school sources. I also sought to understand what significance the students placed on president Obama’s election, including their views on racial progress in the U.S. and their beliefs in the plausibility of a post-racial American era. Through the collection and analysis of interview, classroom observation, and artifact data, my findings suggest that schools can be unfriendly spaces for learning about these topics, but students pick up rich, though scattered, information through out-of-school sources such as family, community, and media. Additionally, students exhibited contradictory beliefs about race in America, with experiences of racial marginalization at school juxtaposed with measured optimism about racial progress in the U.S. Students also expressed personal inspiration in having a Black president and a willingness to hold multiple, competing narratives about race, Barack Obama, and their own lived experiences. These findings suggest a need for history and social studies teachers to provide formal curricular spaces for open discussion about race and President Obama to allow students to discuss and extend their multiple Obama narratives. Researchers must also consider the hybridized racial stories of both students of color and of the 44th president.Item How I made it over : the socialization and experiences of black male doctoral students(2012-08) Platt, Chester Spencer; Reddick, Richard, 1972-; Vincent, Gregory; Saenz, Victor; Harper, Shaun; Moore, Leonard N.; Harrison, LouisThe struggles of Black males at various stages of the educational pipeline have been well documented. However success stories and the experiences of high achieving Black males have received less scrutiny, as research has focused mostly on problematic outcomes from a deficit perspective until recent years. There remains a dearth of research that examines and gives voice to the experiences of Black male doctoral students (BMDS) on the campuses of predominantly white colleges and universities (PWI). Under these circumstances, it is important to understand how Black males have navigated their way into and through doctoral programs. Specific aims addressed in the present study examine the various aspects of socialization among BMDS, including experiential commonalities, sources of social support and how BMDS make sense of and respond to socialization efforts in their various departments. To address these specific aims qualitative research methods were employed. The study highlights results in five key areas: 1) Black male doctoral student pathways to doctoral programs, 2) choice of dissertation and research topics, 3) campus and community environment, 4) socialization experiences and, 5) the advisor-protégé relationship. My dissertation’s unique contributions are its addition of the Black male doctoral student socialization to the discourse and by examining their unique experiences. a central concern for this study’s participants has been navigating, resisting, and transforming many of the structural and cultural aspects of doctoral socialization that they as Black males find to be subtractive. BMDS in this study have largely adopted proactive strategies to aid them in their academic careers. Most have sought strategic relationships with faculty, Black faculty in particular as well as community support networks. Most have either created or worked closely with organizations that seek to transform the experiences of graduate students. These efforts are to maintain control of their educational experiences and resist elements of doctoral socialization that can be dehumanizing, frustrating and isolating for students of color while hopefully leaving the department and institution easier to navigate for those who follow in their footsteps.Item The impact of community college initiatives on black males at St. Philip's college : an evaluation of retention, completion, and student engagement efforts(2011-08) Hancock, Anthony, 1956-; Bumphus, Walter G.; Roueche, John E.; Northcutt, Norvell; Brown, Anthony L.; Contreras, AdrianaBlack males continue to struggle when faced with the challenge of seeking a college education (Cuyjet, 1997, 2006; Mincy, et al 2006; Schott, 2006). Currently, they lag behind in college and university participation as compared to other gendered groups as well as their White and Asian counterparts (Cuyjet, 2006; Bush & Bush, 2010). As with every promising Black male community college student, there are barriers to enrollment and completion, e.g., first-generation and first-time-in-college, previous high school academic and disciplinary experiences, peer pressure, family dynamics, financial considerations and social environments serving as barriers to enrollment and completion. Despite these barriers, many Black males students make it to college. However, they often have difficulty remaining in the educational system long enough to complete their certificates and/or degrees. Although, there are many quality community college and university programs designed to increase the overall success of students “prior to” and “during” enrollment, regrettably, many colleges that facilitate outreach and retention efforts do little by way of accountability. Statistical monitoring for evaluation purpose is mixed. Adequate records of how Black males are performing in and apart from college are important for educational institutions as they consider developing specialized programs for minority sub-group participation, engagement, and success. Furthermore, unengaged Black males, and those attempting to aid them, have varying viewpoints as to the type and priority of programs designed to include Black male participation in postsecondary education. This study will examine Black males’ perspectives versus institutional engagement strategies relative to participation, engagement, and successes that influence Black males Men on the Move program at St. Philip’s College. Moreover, the study will furthermore investigate outreach and retention efforts for Black males that were developed by the St. Philip’s College.Item Our stories of L.A.: youth constructing counter-narratives through devised performance(2015-05) Nevels, Megan Anne; Alrutz, Megan; Anderson, Charles; Lazarus, JoanIn movies, television, and music, South Central Los Angeles is portrayed as a place made up of gang violence, poverty, and failure. Young people of color every day construct their identities based on the messages they receive and through their own lived experiences. Media perpetuates specific stereotypes that inform people’s understanding of South Central, but youth voices are rarely heard. This thesis explores how autobiographical devising as counter-storytelling can provide a space for young people to disrupt stereotypes. Through playbuilding as a qualitative research method, the author examines how autobiographical devising can be used to build a critical counter-storytelling community among young people, while providing a space to share their stories with each other, with their communities, and with outsiders. The document examines three devising activities as sites for disruption of stereotypes and the possibilities of public performance as a call to action. The study finds that through an interaction with dominant narratives and the consequent sharing of counter-narratives, or the stories from the margins, the youth participants pushed against problematic stereotypes through the simultaneous embodiment and interrogation of particular stereotypes, the sharing of acts of kindness, the creation of frozen and spoken images that aim to place youth perspectives into the dominant narrative, and the staging of their lives and ideas for an audience. The document concludes with a discussion of the future possibilities of the work in research and practice, as well as a discussion of what an applied counter-storytelling theatre model can provide practitioners within the fields of Applied Theatre and Critical Race Theory.Item The rhetoric of common enemies in the racial prerequisites to naturalized citizenship before 1952(2013-05) Coulson, Douglas Marshall; Roberts-Miller, Patricia, 1959-; Heinzelman, Susan SageThis dissertation examines the rhetorical strategy by which groups unite against common enemies as it appears in a series of judicial cases between 1878 and 1952 deciding whether petitioners for naturalization in the United States were "free white persons" as required by the United States naturalization act at the time. Beginning in 1870, the naturalization act limited racial eligibility for naturalization to "free white persons" and "aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent." Based on the conclusion that Asians were neither "white" nor African, many courts interpreted these provisions to reflect a policy of Asian exclusion. As the distinction between "white" and Asian became increasingly disputed, however, the racial eligibility requirements of the act raised difficult questions about the boundaries of whiteness. I examine the rhetorical strategies adopted in a series of these cases between World War I and the early cold war involving Asian Indian, Armenian, Kalmyk, and Tatar petitioners who were represented as political or religious refugees at risk of becoming stateless if they were denied racial eligibility for naturalization in the United States. I argue that by representing the petitioners in the cases as victims of persecution by the nation's adversaries, the cases reflect a rhetorical strategy of uniting against common enemies which is also prevalent in the legislative, executive, and judicial discourse surrounding the act. I argue that the prevalence of this rhetorical strategy in racial prerequisite discourse suggests that a martial ideal of citizenship often influenced racial classifications under the act and that by recognizing the ways in which this discourse adapted to the rapidly changing enmities of the early twentieth century, a rhetorical interpretation of the cases offers advantages over other interpretive approaches and highlights the value of a rhetoric of law.Item Systematic digital inequities: evidence from the STaR Chart(2015-12) Geurtz, Renata Rippa; Hughes, Joan E.; Brown, Keffrelyn; Holme, Jennifer; Liu, Min; Resta, PaulThe primary purpose of this study was to identify and quantify the relationship between school and student characteristics and the campus technology readiness score as reported on the School Technology and Readiness (STaR) 2013 report issued by the Texas Education Agency. The secondary purpose was to identify those student and school characteristics that are statistically significant in predicting STaR composite scores as an indicator of technology integration. This study contributes to research on the digital equity and inequity by exploring the differences between K-12 schools in Texas. The unit of research was the schools themselves, thus changing the research focus from individuals and households to institutionalized, public, educational campuses. Secondly, the study used quantitative measures of technology readiness submitted by approximately 224,243 (StarChart, 2015) Texas teachers and aggregated to 6,091 schools. To address the research questions, quantitative methods were applied. Research questions and hypotheses were developed and tested to investigate whether a significant relationship existed between the dependent variable, the campus technology readiness score, and school characteristics and student characteristics. There were five independent variables for school characteristics and six independent variables for student characteristics. A parsimonious model was developed that identified the factors already evaluated independently, which were statistically significant in explaining the variation in the STaR composite score of technology readiness. Data analysis of 6,091 schools indicated that technology integration in Texas schools was statistically unequal based on student and school characteristics. Of the 11 factors tested, 10 were statistically significant, indicating that the differences were due to the evaluated factors rather than chance. Of the factors tested with ANOVA methodology, schools with Title 1 status had the highest R-squared (.024). Of the factors tested with Pearson product-moment correlation, schools educating higher percentages of economically disadvantaged students had the most influential Pearson r (-0.234). Using step-wise modeling, seven factors were included in the parsimonious model. The factors that contributed most to variation in technology readiness were percentage of economically disadvantaged students and the percentage of African American and Hispanic students. This research presents statistical evidence that technology integration practices vary between K-12 campuses in Texas and that there are systemic digital inequities. The research is a call to action to address digital inequity in Texas schools.Item Throwing out the text and challenging the master narrative : a Chicano educator decolonizes the first year experience(2014-05) Saldivar, Jose L; Urrieta, LuisThis dissertation examines the educational journey of a Chicano educator; from his early experiences with colonization while growing up in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas to his role as a lecturer in a First Year Experience course at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) along the U.S. - Mexico border. Ultimately asking the question, "what is his role as a Chicano educator?" and can the once colonized decolonize his own classroom?