There is a critical need to disrupt the systemic racism that underlies educational inequities and support greater social justice (Croom, Journal of Literacy Research 52:530-552, 2020). One powerful way to do so is to foster racial literacy (i.e., the skill and practice of critically examining race and racism in teaching and in students' learning…

Service-learning as a form of experiential learning has been used on college campuses to help provide students with a transformational experience and ultimately make them better citizens. The outcomes of service-learning that are well documented and studied are often, higher rates of student civic engagement, responsibility, academic achievement…

Because media provide a steady stream of models, they are especially poised to offer formative information about race. Yet although U.S. youth consume approximately 7 h of media daily, we know little about how media use contributes to their developing racial attitudes. Instead, research has focused mainly on adults, and studies of youth have…

Racism, racial inequity, and racial violence, including micro-aggressions (slurs and fearful glances) are endemic in modern American society. Finding ways to eliminate or at least mitigate racism and racial violence is important, not only for public safety but also to ensure equality, fairness, and social harmony among every stratum of American…

I explore the possibilities for domestic educational travel to impact students' understandings of racism, and their attitudes and planned behaviors toward enacting change in their communities. Prompted by movements for racial justice and drawing from the critical pedagogies of Paulo Freire, students on the "America's Race Issues"…

This dissertation of practice considers the dynamics of identity development of in-service educators and the intersection of their educator role with their other identities in service of orienting toward an anti-racist praxis. The problem of practice addressed centered the theory that educator identity is socially constructed, and identity may…

Historically Black youth have been labeled as needing to be "saved" and "fixed" because they are "at-risk," "broken," and more likely to subscribe to deviant behavior. This deficit rhetoric frames community-based education programs (CBEPs) that serve Black youth as vital spaces that must prevent and save…

Blood spilling into the streets in Charlottesville in August 2017 during a "Unite the Right" white supremacist rally, an August 2019 murderous rampage targeting Latinos at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and the most recent January 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol represent only a few of the violent events that have occurred in the past…

Inclusive educational spaces are necessary for all post-secondary students to thrive and enjoy their college experience. Faculty and staff may unintentionally create non-inclusive educational spaces, however, with behaviors relative to race/racism and microaggressions driven by racial implicit bias. Via this mixed-methods action research study I…

Background/purpose: The extent and mechanisms through which studying abroad influences international students' opinions towards the host country and its people remain a relatively understudied area. Drawing upon intergroup contact theory and Bourdieu's concept of "habitus," this study aims to fill this gap by examining the impact of…

Presenting an empirical study of critical public pedagogy, this paper analyzes interracial dialogues on an internet forum run by conscious Black people who set the terms and challenge White participants who reflect a colorblind ideology. Drawing on Freire's education for critical consciousness and bell hooks' work on unlearning racism--understood…

Antiracist teacher education in the United States has largely been situated within university-based teacher education programs over the last thirty years. This body of research documents the struggles and possibilities of preparing race-conscious educators who engage in antiracist practices that support diverse student populations. Despite this…

Cultural humility is a fundamental tenet of many professions and critical for graduating students as they enter their respective fields. Mutual help is an effective modality to assist with problems such as substance use, mental health, and grief. Though racism can be understood from a social psychological perspective, mutual help has not been…

Implicit racial bias has gained attention as a central contributor to enduring racial disparities in various systems in the United States, such as in criminal justice, particularly regarding police violence--and in education as related to school discipline. Scholars in education have suggested multiple strategies and products (e.g., professional…

We examine the outcomes of three different teaching methods in courses where cultural competency is a course objective: (1) multiculturalism lecture only, (2) student research and reporting on other cultural groups plus multiculturalism lecture, and (3) cross-cultural conversation partners applying contact theory plus multiculturalism lecture.…