Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Be Stoney / David C. Thompson / This qualitative case study explored the role of leadership in a mentoring program designed to work with students of color. Specifically, an instrumental case study was used to explore the leadership of the “Can We Talk” mentoring program. Utilizing the framework of Critical Race Theory and themes related to the current status of students of color along the with the concept of school culture, the purpose of this study was to explore the leadership of a program “Can We Talk” designed to work with students of color in a majority White high school located in the Midwest. This purpose was also driven by the rationale that districts and schools due to increased accountability measures have to incorporate different strategies to meet the academic and social needs of all students. Mentoring programs are one of the strategies gaining momentum in education, especially for students who come from marginalized socio-economic, ethnic, and racial groups. The findings indicated that the “Can We Talk” program was implemented into this school setting based on interest convergence. The principal needed the program in order to meet accountability measures such as adequate yearly progress. The founders of the “Can We Talk” mentoring program had an interest of increasing the academic and social opportunities for the students of color at this school setting. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the “Can We Talk” program was successful based on the mentors being able to share their experiences with the mentees, attract students from other gender, ethnic and racial groups, and increase the academic and social opportunities of the mentees by creating a shared voice. The implications of this study includes questions about the ways mentoring programs for students of color are implemented and maintained in majority White school settings. Therefore, this study raises the question about the role of school administrators, founders of mentoring programs, teachers, and the rest of the school community in terms of implementing, maintaining, and supporting programs designed to support the needs of children of color.

abstract: This study investigates degree perseverance among African Americans who transitioned from an undergraduate music program at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). A framework based on Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory and Yosso’s community cultural wealth theory was employed to examine how academic, cultural, and social aspects of participants’ undergraduate and graduate school experiences influenced their perseverance. Because those aspects are intricately intertwined with race, I also employed critical race theory and double consciousness theory, and used Angela Duckworth’s Grit Scale to measure degree perseverance. Eight African American male instrumental music educators participated in this study. Research questions included: What are the experiences of African Americans who have transitioned from undergraduate music programs at HBCUs to graduate music programs at PWIs?; How do these individuals compare academic, social, and cultural aspects of their experiences within two institutional environments?; What are their self-perceptions of their own degree perseverance?; and, What social, cultural, and academic aspects of their experiences influenced their perseverance? After developing a portrait of each participant’s pre-college and college experiences, analysis reveled that participants were very persistent; however, academic, cultural, social, and racial experiences influenced their perseverance. Participants employed dominant cultural capital and community cultural wealth as well as their “Grittiness” to successfully transition from an HBCU to a PWI. Recommendations for HBCUs, PWIs, and the profession are offered toward improving the experiences of African American music students in higher education. HBCUs must hold their faculty and students accountable for developing a broader musical experience beyond marching band, and address colorism on their campuses. PWIs should recognize and accept the capital that African Americans bring, acknowledge that African Americans need access to social support networks, and assess how their environments, actions, and decisions may devalue or discount African Americans. While more research is needed regarding the experiences of African Americans in music programs, African American students must also take active roles in shaping their own educational experiences by seeking assistance that will improve their experiences. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music Education 2015

Adult education is a reciprocal relationship between adult learners and adult education practitioners. As such, it is essential to understand the experiences of adult educators and adult education practitioners as they teach adults. This study focuses on how ideas about race and racism are examined in the graduate-level classroom and the adult learners’ experience as they focus on subject matter that challenges their assumptions and forces them to create new understandings about race. This study examines, through the portraiture methodology, the experiences of a White researcher and the adult learners engaging in dialogues about race in a CRT course. The findings of this study include an examination of my role as a White researcher engaging in dialogues in this CRT course, including an inquiry into my silences, trepidation, and feelings of helplessness during the classroom interactions. I also examine the ways in which the adult learners who participated in this course communicated their ideas to their peers as well as the understandings and misunderstandings of the themes presented in the course.

The purpose of this life history qualitative study was to explore the Counter-Life Herstories of African American women faculty in U.S. Computing Education. Counter-Life Herstories are derived from Counterstories, life histories, and herstories as powerful social justice tools to uncover hidden truths about marginalized groups’ experiences. Through the collection of timelines, counter-life story interviews, and reflective journal writings, I co-constructed and interpreted the Counter-Life Herstories of five participants using an integrative conceptual framework that included critical race theory and Black feminist thought as interpretive frameworks, and Afrocentric feminist epistemology to govern my knowledge validation process. As an emerging African American woman scholar, with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, I have a “unique angle of vision” to situate African American women’s distinctive educational experiences in the social-political context of U.S. Computing Education. In this study, I build upon limited knowledge about African American women’s experiences throughout U.S. Computing Education. My discoveries indicated unequivocally that my participants’ persistence in U.S. Computing Education was not solely based on their early positive reinforcements or strong academic preparation, but their resilience and ability to bounce back from insurmountable barriers, such as negative stereotypes and biases. This inquiry directly supports the U.S.’ national interest to diversify the Computing workforce, while revealing hidden truths about African American women’s experiences in U.S. Computing Education.

The binary distinction of “native speaker” and “non-native speaker” (NS/NNS) remains the primary way in which professionals are categorised in the field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). This distinction is problematic because it is used to place greater value on native English speaking teachers (NEST) over non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs). This distinction is argued to be largely based on linguistic features (Medgyes 1992; Cook 1999). However the aspect of race remains to be adequately discussed (Kubota and Lin 2006).This thesis has its origins in my personal experiences with racism because, as a Canadian- Filipino, my employer and my students did not accept me as a “real” NEST because I am “non-white”. In my initial research, during my MA TESOL, into the professional experiences of racism I coined the acronym “VEM-NEST”: visible ethnic minority, native English speaking teacher. I used this term to describe the particular group of teachers, to which I belong, who do not easily fit into the available categories of NS/NNS, and consequently NEST/NNEST.My thesis reported on the experiences of nine VEM-NESTs and how they performed specific identities during specific events. Their experiences were presented as individual restoried narratives which were developed from the combination of the participants’ written stories and one-to-one interviews. The restoried narratives were analysed using an analytical lens based on Labov and Waletzky’s (1967) structural approach. The findings suggest that VEM-NESTs need to meet a certain amount of “native speaker” norms in order to be given the opportunity to perform their VEM-NEST role identities in specific situations. This has particular implications for how the NS/NNS binary distinction needs a more nuanced understanding as a way of addressing the inequalities embedded in the way TESOL professionals are valued.

This study investigated how two college newspapers cover race and how the papers employed racial stereotypes when describing sources. One of newspapers is a student-produced paper at a private university. The other is a student-produced newspaper at a public university. The study conducted content analyses of front-page news stories in both college newspapers. The sources in the story were analyzed for racial stereotypes. Stereotypes were identified based on frames used in modern racism research. A t-test and chi-square were used to compare the coverage of minorities to Whites. Once the quantitative content analysis was completed, I used textual analysis to identify what ways the news stories used stereotypical coverage of minorities. The study used critical media theory.

<p>The purpose of this project was to cultivate a series of professional development training sessions for secondary teachers to incorporate concepts of Critical Race Theory in their classrooms, through the use of social justice education, social emotional learning, and student-centered learning. The researcher examined material in favor and in opposition to the project topic to collect information on how to best serve educators and students. The researcher engaged with academic writing as well as with high school teachers and administrators about this project topic. This manuscript and attached training material is the result of the researcher’s findings and serves to answer the question of whether aspects of Critical Race Theory should be implemented in secondary classrooms as well as if so, how should teachers do so—all in hopes of better supporting more equitable and just education for high school educators and students. </p><br>

<p>Racial tension in the United States has moved to the forefront in social discourse with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and elections of far-right wing politicians who provide support and empathy for White supremacist groups. In higher education, colleges and universities often serve as microcosms of the broader society’s racial climate. Experts have revealed that 56% of U.S. university presidents believed that inclusion and diversity had grown in importance between 2015-2017. Additionally, 47% of presidents at 4-year institutions stated that students had organized on their campus amid concerns about racial diversity. In attempts to combat the divisiveness present in American culture, colleges and universities have begun appointing Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) administrative positions to lead their inclusion and diversity missions to better support minoritized and marginalized communities. Experts estimate that nearly 80% of CDO positions were created in the last 20 years. Despite efforts to develop CDOs, higher education institutions sometimes struggle to foster inclusive and diverse environments. Recently, a small body of literature has been developed to better understand the CDO role in higher education. Predominantly White Land-Grant Universities (PWLGUs) have also seen an influx of issues related to diversity and inclusion over the years. The purpose of the current study was to uncover how CDOs see their role and responsibilities in the context of Predominantly White Land-Grant Universities. This study used Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework to examine how CDOs navigate their identities, the presence of racism, and the social climate of their university and the broader United States. This study was guided by five research questions, including one topical question which served to provide demographic information of the CDOs. The other four research questions covered barriers and successes of CDOs, how CDOs navigated their own identity while in the role of CDO, and how they observed the presence of racism at PWLGUs. Two rounds of interviews were conducted with seven CDOs at PWLGUs. Topic and pattern coding were used to analyze data via NVivo qualitative data analysis software. There were four findings for this study. First, racism has had a constant presence on, and at times has been supported by, land-grant universities further complicating the jobs of CDOs. Second, CDOs of color often connected elements of their identity to the responsibilities of the CDO position. Third, CDOs described ways in which inclusion and diversity were part of the purpose of land-grant universities and ways in which race factored into academic achievements of the institution, but then become afterthoughts in other elements of campus life. Finally, PWLGUs often invoke liberal processes and decision-making that further limits the capabilities of the CDO to foster inclusive and diverse campuses. Future study recommendations include comparing and contrasting CDOs of Color and White CDOs, CDOs at Minority-Serving Institutions with CDOs at Non-Minority Serving Institutions, and perception of satisfaction by people of color with the job of the CDO at their institution. </p>

The aim of this master’s thesis was to study the portrayal of discrimination that occurs because of multiple factors in Maya Angelou’s book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The analysis has been conducted through the lens of Critical Race theory as the theory draws on the affiliation between race, racism and power. The main focal point of this essay was the intersectionality of race, gender and social class. The results of this study showed recurring events in which the characters in the book are marginalized. However, the study also showed the resilience and resistance the characters manifests in their exertion for an equal society. Additionally, this Master’s thesis addressed how the English as a Foreign Language classroom with the inclusion of Caged Bird and the usage of Critical Race pedagogy can start a development of fundamental values such as equality and gender roles whilst diminishing prejudice.

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