Thesis advisor: Martin Scanlan / Many district and school leaders have leveraged instructional leadership or social justice leadership to advance student achievement for minoritized students. While research has examined these approaches separately, we identify a potential gap at the nexus between instructional and social justice leadership. In particular, we find a need for further research that examines how leaders bridge instructional and social justice leadership practices, to disrupt educational inequities. Our study examines how educational leaders weave instructional and social justice leadership skills to cultivate others' social justice pedagogical knowledge and skill. Employing a collective case study framework, this study explores how a mid-sized urban district’s superintendent and school leaders cultivated and promoted the social justice pedagogical knowledge and skill of others. Data was collected through interviews, surveys, and document reviews. The primary research participants included one superintendent, two assistant superintendents, three central office leaders, five school leaders, and six teachers. Our findings highlight four themes: the importance of leaders’ critical self-reflection perceptions of district-level infrastructure and strategic planning, school-level instructional infrastructure and capacity building, and gaps in social justice pedagogical skill. This research has implications for practice, policy, and existing literature related to the cultivation and enactment of social justice pedagogical knowledge and skill across diverse contexts. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

abstract: Early Childhood Education (ECE) classroom quality has been gaining increased attention from researchers and policy makers, as the link between high quality early learning experiences and future success has become clear. The impact of ECE may be particularly important for low-income, ethnic minority youth, who may need additional support to reach the academic level of their higher-income, Caucasian peers. However, the definition of ECE quality does not currently include indicators of classroom practices and center-wide policies that intentionally address issues of culture, race, and ethnicity, topics that may be particularly relevant for the most academically at-risk children. Anti-bias education (ABE) provides a strong theoretical and practical framework for understanding how to incorporate such themes into classroom practice and policy, as well as how to teach students to actively counteract bias and discrimination. However, there is currently no mechanism for researchers to utilize this framework, because there is no measure that can reliably evaluate the level of quality of ABE practices. Therefore, the present study sought to incorporate anti-bias education principles into the conceptualization of classroom quality through measurement development. The measure was developed based on the integration of the original ABE theory with interviews and observations in five ECE programs, which were nominated for their intentional practices regarding issues of culture, race, and ethnicity in the classroom. The five centers ranged in the ethnic composition and average income of their population. The resulting measure contains five domains, with a number of items within each domain. Two of the domains (Toys & Materials, Visual/Aesthetic Environment) contain observational rubrics for assessment, whereas the other three (Organizational Climate, Activities, Interactions) include self-report scales in addition to the rubrics. Future research is needed to pilot the measure and establish validity and reliability across contexts and observation times. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Family and Human Development 2015

abstract: Early childhood educators' beliefs and practices regarding race and gender were examined via two, mixed-methods studies. Study 1 assessed 341 early childhood educators' beliefs and classroom practices regarding race and gender via an online survey. Educators filled out a largely multiple-choice survey about topics such as colorblindness, sexism, and multicultural teaching practices. Study 2 involved a case study of two preschool teachers who were intentional about addressing racial and gender diversity via anti-bias education. Study 2 explored how early childhood teachers use anti-bias practices, how teachers discuss race and gender with young children, and teachers' experiences using anti-bias curricula. Study 2 involved semi-structured teacher interviews, naturalistic observations of teacher-child classroom interactions, audio-recorded book reading activities, and observations of the classroom environment (e.g., classroom toys, posters). Findings from both studies indicate that educators feel more comfortable and skilled at addressing gender than race in their classrooms. Findings also indicate that there are discrepancies between educators’ beliefs and classroom practices with regard to race, gender, and anti-bias practices. Implications for children's prejudice and stereotype development, as well as for teacher professional development, are addressed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Family and Human Development 2016

The aim of this thesis is to find out the benefits of Persona Dolls method in connection with prejudices. The first chapter of its theoretical part deals with changes in the field of education after year 1989 and with the process of creating pivotal curricular documents (so called General Educational Programme) which have been used in Czech school system since then. The second chapter describes particular parts of General Educational Programme for pre-primary and primary education as well as the conception of curricular documents related to Persona Dolls method. The most important chapter of the theoretical part is defining the Persona Dolls method itself. This chapter outlines the theoretical basis, principles and prospective benefits of this method, and gives instructions how to use the method in a class. Moreover, certain pitfalls associated with using this method are mentioned as well. The last chapter of the theoretical part contains detailed description of the coherence of Persona Dolls method and curricular documents. The empirical part presents qualitative research focused on eliciting the role of the teacher, teacher's strategy, the interaction of pupils and the doll, working with feelings and the development of pupils' key competencies in relation with using Persona Dolls method in...

No description available.

Multicultural education is only one of the major changes, which have occurred since the inception of the new democracy in South Africa. However, this inevitable change has resulted in many challenges for both educators and educational institutions. A literature study was done to discuss and clarity concepts of multicultural education, culture, race, ethnicity, bias and anti-bias. The perspectives, principles and history of multicultural education in the United States of America, Britain and South Africa were also investigated. An exploratory study, using a qualitative research design, was done to investigate educators' viewpoints on multicultural education in schools. The results of the investigation indicate that there is a lack of tolerance in schools and that educators require training and intervention strategies to help them cope with the changes in a multicultural education system in South Africa. Recommendations regarding training and policy implementation were discussed and intervention strategies for educators have been given. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (with specialisation in Guidance and Counselling)

Multicultural education is only one of the major changes, which have occurred since the inception of the new democracy in South Africa. However, this inevitable change has resulted in many challenges for both educators and educational institutions. A literature study was done to discuss and clarity concepts of multicultural education, culture, race, ethnicity, bias and anti-bias. The perspectives, principles and history of multicultural education in the United States of America, Britain and South Africa were also investigated. An exploratory study, using a qualitative research design, was done to investigate educators' viewpoints on multicultural education in schools. The results of the investigation indicate that there is a lack of tolerance in schools and that educators require training and intervention strategies to help them cope with the changes in a multicultural education system in South Africa. Recommendations regarding training and policy implementation were discussed and intervention strategies for educators have been given. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (with specialisation in Guidance and Counselling)

Children begin to develop their understanding of gender in preschool, yet there is a dearth of research focused on understanding how preschool teachers affect the gender identity development of young children. Guided by Rokeach's belief systems theory, this qualitative case study explored the pedagogical strategies and perceptions of 4 Sacramento County, California preschool educators related to the gender identity development of young children. Interview data were collected and coded to derive 12 participant-specific themes and 3 common intersecting themes, which showed that teachers' perspectives on gender identity development were influenced by social rules, biases, and a lack of pedagogical knowledge related to more expansive definitions of gender. As a result of the lack of pedagogical knowledge, there was only 1 gender-related instructional strategy concerning gender roles, and this strategy was used by only 1 of the 4 respondents. Although they may have shown confusion relating to aspects of gender, these preschool teachers demonstrated a genuine interest in learning how to create safe spaces for gender exploration in the preschool classroom. These findings have led to the creation of a professional development series designed to educate preschool teachers about gender identity development, provide them with opportunities to develop curricula, and allow them to reflect upon their cisgender-related biases. Educators, administrators, and policymakers may find it useful to apply the results of this study and resultant project when creating educational programs and college-level curricula and policies. The results could also help educators create affirmative educational environments for all children, regardless of their biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression.

Inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood settings remains a goal for many early care and education centers and professionals. In this study, the perceptions of supports needed to accomplish this goal were examined. Early childhood teachers from a university-based child care center, which is inspired by the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy, were interviewed and asked to explore their feelings and thoughts on fully including children with disabilities in their classrooms. An examination of their perceptions led to the identification of four major themes: a) everyone is valuable in the classroom community, b) additional training is needed, c) support from administrators, peers, specialists, and therapists, d) experience fosters success. From these themes the researcher found that teachers felt support from administrators(staffing, policies and procedures, time for meetings), peers, and on-site consultants, additional training, and an over arching philosophy of accepting differences were crucial to successful inclusion. The participants also indicated that all new teachers, whether in pre-service or through in-service should have access to these supports and be provided with information about the benefits and positive experiences of others who have included a child with a disability into their classroom. This study will add to the continuing discussion of early childhood inclusion and provide additional information for programmatic decision making within a particular setting.

Multicultural education is only one of the major changes since the inception of the new democracy in South Africa. However, this inevitable change has resulted in many challenges for educators and educational institutions in the Isipingo District, KwaZulu Natal (KZN). One of the primary responsibilities of a teacher is to manage diversity. The research addressed here focused on challenges experienced by Grade R teachers to create and maintain an unbiased classroom environment for Grade R learners in the Isipingo District, (KZN). A literature review regarding unbiased classroom environments for Grade R learners as well as an empirical investigation using a qualitative approach was conducted. A semi-structured focus group interview and a follow-up focus group interview with Grade R teachers from 3 different public multicultural primary schools were used for data gathering. The findings indicated that Grade R teachers lack the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to enhance unbiased classroom environments. The results of the investigation also indicated that teachers require effective training to help them cope with creating and managing unbiased classroom environments. / Teacher Education / M.Ed. (Specialisation in Early Childhood Development)