This article explores organisational infrastructure in the movement for safe schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on several qualitative studies of educator organising during the pandemic, this article shows that educators across the United States have organised through a range of social movement organisations, including national…

Youth of Color in the United States are often leaders in movements for social justice. Evidence suggests that organizing has a positive macro-therapeutic effect on the mental health of young organizers; however, they can also experience strain and become targets of the very systems they are trying to change. In a community-based participatory…

The Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused global distress, and communities of color are disproportionately adversely affected. Within this group, many caregivers are concerned about issues such as staying healthy, keeping the family well, paying bills, and caring for children who are housebound. The purpose of this qualitative study is to…

Background: Research that documents the influence of anti-racism programs on teacher practice shows some desired outcomes, including developing critical consciousness to support students of color and educate others about stereotyping; understanding how racial bias affects one's teaching and relationships with students; and implementing anti-racist…

This critical qualitative study explores the affordances of social justice-oriented education that centers youth of color and their desire to engage in complex and nuanced dialogue concerning social and political issues relevant to their lives. In doing so, this paper focuses on the experiences of six high school girls of color participating in a…

Background: Victimization at school has been shown to affect a student's perceptions of school climate, specifically in regard to how safe they feel at school and how fair they perceive their schools to be. Objective: The current study investigated the potentially protective role of supportive teachers and peers in reducing the negative influence…

In this article, we explore community schools, as first theorized through community organizing, in relation to movements for racial justice in education to address the following question: How has educational equity been radically imagined by the community school movement in New York City to reframe how we understand success, meaningful school…

Drawing on data from a year-long multi-case ethnography of three secondary urban public schools implementing restorative practices, the current piece examines how principals negotiate restorative practices despite conflicting pressures to maintain order and compel obedience. I frame my inquiry through Sergiovanni's (2000) concept of…

Through an ethnographic study of an afterschool program serving girls of color in the New York City metro area, this study examines how girls who are ethically Latina and racially Black embrace and articulate AfroLatinx identity. It asks, what are the contexts and institutional processes that facilitate the development of a Black identity among…

This study examines competing justice claims that stakeholders policymakers, district leaders, families, and educators evoked during the 2020 COVID-19 New York City school reopening debates. Drawing on thematic analysis of 300 news and opinion articles, we examine stakeholders' overlapping and contested understandings of justice in public…

Discussions of school integration often contrast the perceived deficits of segregated schools with the perceived strengths of schools with diverse student bodies. In this study, I examine the relationships that school community members infer between student demographics and school quality in diversifying areas of New York City. I use portraits of…

Artmaking, when used as a form of pedagogy and approached in a socially-conscious manner, has the potential to promote agency and create a democratic learning environment for students. This study examines one such project, "The Council," created by artist Adelita Husni-Bey in collaboration with former Teen Program attendees of the Museum…

Alongside the immediate challenges of operating schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, over the past year, parents, students, and policymakers around the country have also debated equity and access to some of the country's most elite and segregated public schools. This qualitative case study examines how New York City activists conceptualized…

In this collaborative autoethnography, written by multiple stakeholders involved in a teacher residency program, we address the complexities of preparing and supporting social justice-oriented teachers. We identify three tensions faced in the design and (re)development of the teacher preparation program. These tensions include preparing teachers…

This critical ethnographic case study explores the impact of Performance-Based Assessment Tasks (PBATs) on high school dynamics and instructional practices, particularly in schools serving immigrant communities. PBATs, considered alternatives to standardized testing, have shown promise in enhancing student engagement, critical thinking, and…