The research on the recruitment and retention of African American students into vocational teacher education indicated that there was a need for institutions of higher education to take a more serious look at these efforts. This admonition was due to the continuous decline of African Americans in the teaching force, as well as a decline in minority student enrollments in vocational teacher education (Pratzner, 1987). Statistics also indicated that by the year 2000, the number of minority students in public schools will make up approximately 40% of school enrollments, while the number of minority teachers is expected to decline to less than 5% of the teaching force (Graham, 1987; Holmes, 1989). This lack of representation of minorities in the teaching force will have a negative impact on the success of all children in the nation'S public schools (Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, 1986). / Ed. D.

This feminist article dissertation (FAD), creates a series of interventions on the dearth of research on the teaching of women of color feminist theories in the high school English classroom as curriculum, pedagogy, and activism. In writing this series of articles on teaching Black and Latina feminist theories at the high school level, I interrupt the assumption that intersectional feminist pedagogies, curriculum, and activism only take place in college and graduate level courses in women’s and gender studies, trans and queer studies, ethnic studies, and even English and comparative literature courses. More specifically, my research counter-narrates my experience teaching Black and Latina feminisms at a predominantly white independent school while working alongside my students as they engage in reading women of color feminisms; oppositional online writing; and school-based activism. My research questions are driven by these commitments and by my interest in exploring how my students take up reading and writing with theory. Across each article in my FAD, I call upon the larger field of English education to recognize intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989, 1991) and women of color feminisms (Lorde, 1984; Moraga & Anzaldúa, 1981) as an integral curricular, pedagogical, and political stance we must take within the teaching of high school English as well as in English teacher education at large. In each article, I illustrate how I taught not only women of color feminisms through an oppositional (Collins, 2009); intersectional (Crenshaw, 1989, 1991); and coalitional (Cruz, 2019) stance, but also how my students read and apply these theories to themselves and to the issues they care about most using oppositional, intersectional, and coalitional stances as well. The first article is titled, “The Future of English is Feminist”; the second article is titled, “Resisting ‘pretty privilege’: Afro-Latinx trans digital activism and Black feminism in the English classroom”; and the third article is titled, “Black girl #MeToo activism: ‘Complaint as feminist pedagogy’ resisting racist-sexism at school.”

In the wake of increasing community disasters such as hurricanes, neighborhood violence, and terrorist attacks, schools are usually deemed places where youth can find safety and stability. Research about community trauma related to the role of teachers and schools has predominantly focused on younger populations, concerned about disturbances in their developmental processes. School teachers' responsibilities related to these community disasters have also increased and now include supporting their traumatized students. However, there has been limited attention on the direct effect of community traumas on the teachers who work and live in affected districts. The construct of shared trauma describes this duality of roles. For African American teachers, racial trauma plays a role in their everyday lives and might affect their behaviors and responses to tragic events. Critical race theory and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory formed the framework for this phenomenological study, which explored the experiences of 6 female African American teachers who had experienced community disasters. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews, which were transcribed and analyzed using an enhanced version of the Colaizzi 7-step analysis method. Key findings were that race played only a limited role for the teachers when significant traumas occurred in their communities. Also, the experiences they described were indicative of vicarious trauma, which is inconsistent with the construct of shared trauma. This study contributes to social change by informing educational, political, and social institutions about the needs of teachers in the wake of community disasters and how those needs could be conceptualized as vicarious trauma for purposes of planning preventive and concurrent interventions for teachers.

The student perspective is a largely ignored element of educational research. This study used the college student viewpoint to assess the influence Black high school educators have on their pupils. Given today's reality of racism in this society, the existing literature addressing this topic is inadequate. Using an open-ended questionnaire, the responses of 272 students enrolled in speech communication and education courses at a Northwestern land grant institution were analyzed using a descriptive methodology. Students having no experience with a Black educator answered the questionnaire from an imagined standpoint. Results indicated a large majority of the predominately White subject pool found their Black high school educator(s) to be credible. Aspects of institutionalized racism emerged when students deemed their Black educator(s) credible by measuring them against an assumed "White standard of credibility." Findings from this study provide additional evidence of the racism, albeit covert, in our public school classrooms. / Graduation date: 1998

This dissertation is a qualitative study that focuses on ten pre-service teachers as students in an undergraduate teacher preparation program at a 4-year university in Texas and follows four of them into the classroom as novice teachers. The primary data consists of paired (auto)biographical dialogues, oral (her)story interviews, ethnographic classroom observations, and participant interviews. Cross-cultural insights provided by this work aim to inform multicultural approaches to teacher education and novice teacher induction by providing tools for identifying and integrating the cultural resources of maestras in school contexts. Participants in this study learn to become maestras in the home at an early age by contributing to the household and caring for others in various ways, including as bicultural brokers, translators, surrogate parents, and by tutoring relatives, family friends, and neighbors. The term maestra includes both Latina bilingual education pre-service (student) teachers and Latina novice (first- and second-year) teachers. Analysis indicates that the maestras draw upon their "funds of knowledge" or cultural resources as they formulate their philosophies of education in making decisions about majoring in bilingual education. This study also found that they relate their "pedagogies of the home" or cultural strategies for survival and lived experiences to the academic theories learned at the university and the knowledge gained through their classroom student teaching as they decide whether or not to pursue a career as bilingual education teachers after graduation. I argue that maestras are receptive to becoming critically conscious educators as they articulate their situatedness as gendered, raced, and classed Latinas. However their situatedness is not integrated with their teacher preparation or their novice teacher induction. U.S. public school culture does not understand or facilitate processes for maestras to create transformative practices. Thus the maestras in this study create their own on-the-ground consciousness raising. Implementing opportunities for maestras to uncover, reflect, discuss, and act upon their varied perspectives allows them to formulate culturally sensitive pedagogies for affirming diversity at every level in schools and in the larger society. Retaining highly qualified maestras is critical to increasing Latina/o students' opportunities for academic access and success through the Pre-K--16 educational pipeline. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009. / Additional advisors: Aaron Kuntz, Aaron Moyana, Andrew McKnight, William Boyd Rogan. Description based on contents viewed June 5, 2009; title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 212-228).

Through the use of a feminist methodology, this qualitative case study examines the influence a high school art teacher, Pauline Gawlik, had on the career path of a group of her students, a high percentage of whom are Mexican American and/or of low socioeconomic status. Interviews of the teacher and seven of her former students revealed five themes related to the teacher's practice that affected her students' choice to become art teachers themselves: a positive classroom climate, confidence and focus, mutual respect and admiration, care, and mentoring. The results of this study hold implications for the current teacher shortage and the recruitment of Mexican American students into careers in art education.

The purpose of this foundational study was to explore the factors that contributed to developing teacher identity among new American Indian teachers. Multifaceted research into the history of American Indian education, the design of American Indian teacher training programs, and the beliefs and experiences of four American Indian secondary teachers gave this study a richly detailed context. Three overarching patterns emerged during the process of analyzing the data: (a) solidarity and independence, (b) habit and change, and (c) tradition and invention. From these patterns, six factors were identified as contributing to developing teacher identity. School-based experiences that affected developing teacher identity included cohort-based peer support, preparation for content area expertise, and teachers as role models. Personal, home, and community beliefs that affected developing teacher identity were as follows: giving back to American Indian communities, serving American Indian students, and becoming empowered as American Indian teachers. Participants in this study represented various tribe affiliations but were all registered students in the Ute Teacher Training Program from 2002 to 2005. The goal of this program, administrated by the Ute Tribe, was to mentor, train, and certify American Indian secondary teachers through an ongoing university education program offered at a rural location close to the Ute reservation. Recommendations in the final chapter of this qualitative case study may provide useful information for the design and implementation of future American Indian teacher education programs.

No description available.

This dissertation recounts the years of struggle, frustration, failure and success that blacks in Henrico county, Virginia, confronted in acquiring an education. Before the establishment of free universal public schooling in Virginia in 1870, there was strong public opinion against the schooling of blacks. After the outbreak of the Civil War, various missionaries and philanthropic agencies strove to aid blacks; and the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau in 1865 brought an overall renewal of education for blacks. The Freedmen's Bureau aided in the construction of school buildings, and the philanthropic agencies supported teachers for the established schoolhouses. The Freedmen's Bureau ceased operation in Virginia in 1871; but by then, Virginia's public school system had been put into operation. / Ed. D.