Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Anti-racist training has been put forward as a method to ameliorate the achievement gap that exists between Black students and their White peers. Such training requires clear goals and measurable outcomes. This study focused on an anti-racist program (EMI) run collaboratively by nine predominantly White school districts west of Boston which are members of the Boston desegregation program (METCO). This program is intended to change educators' racial attitudes, which founders and supporters of the program believe undermine the academic success of students of color. Qualitative methods were employed to collect data from eight instructors, six Board Members who are superintendents in the collaborating school districts, and eleven teachers who participated in the program in 2000 or 2001. The research effort was to understand the purposes and methods of the training and its self-reported effects in light of the program's purported mission. Findings revealed common themes and were analyzed in relation to the historical foundations of anti-racist education and theories of organizational, attitude, and cognitive change. Three findings are noteworthy. The central finding is that the intended aims, goals, and vision of the EMI instructors, former participants, and Board Members were mutually inconsistent. Specifically, tension existed between the desire for anti-racist activism by the instructors and a democratic multiculturalism that characterized most of its participants and Board Members. This created a deep ideological division, and made a successful transformational experience unlikely. Second, interview data revealed conflicting priorities with regard to anti-racist training within the EMI collaborative school districts. The attempt to balance continuing support for the program with a range of other priorities raised questions about the ability of the participating school districts to maintain their commitment to anti-racist training. Third, the data provided no evidence that this anti-racist training promoted a change in the participants' racial identity. On the contrary, a sustained Eurocentric approach toward students of color appeared to be the continuing the norm in these school districts. These findings suggest that professional training programs aimed at higher student achievement, a distal goal of this anti-racist program, require shared goals and clear assessment, effective educational strategies, and measurable, student-based outcomes. / 2031-01-01

The Massachusetts METCO program is a state-funded, voluntary educational desegregation program designed to eliminate racial imbalance by busing children from Boston, MA, and Springfield, MA to 38 suburban public-school districts across Massachusetts. This Dissertation is a Qualitative-Method Research study that honors the voices and perspectives of Black participants who went through the METCO program, using Critical Race Theory (CRT), Critical Race Feminist Theory (CRFT), and the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) as guiding frameworks to understand better the impacts of the program on the life outcomes of its students. These theories guided the conceptualization of the following research questions which the study aims to address. How do Black participants describe their experiences in the METCO program? What are the participants’ views and perspectives on how their experiences in the METCO program have influenced their life outcomes? How have the racial experiences while in the METCO program affected the mental health outcomes of the participants? What are the participants’ views on the implications of these experiences on current and future METCO policies? Using the narrative inquiry method, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 participants and 1 participant opted to share their views via a letter instead. The data were coded and analyzed using inductive and deductive coding consistent with narrative inquiry with the analysis software MAXQDA to provide a clearer picture of the experiences of Black former METCO and their perceptions of the impact of the METCO program on their lives. Results showed that although participants were very grateful for the post-secondary opportunities afforded to them by the METCO program, the racial experiences and the lasting mental health effects are significant enough in their lives that they would not send their children through the METCO program, given the chance. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of implications on future research, school and state policies, and teacher and parent education. Keywords: METCO, racial experiences, life outcomes, narrative inquiry research, critical race theory, critical feminist theory, phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory.