White evangelical churches and organizations play a significant role in mobilizing congregants as participants in the white Christian nationalist movement. This fusion of faith and politics has made white evangelicals "ambassadors" of white Christian nationalism (Miller, 2022). This paper interrogates the history, theology, and politics…

In recent years, under the guise of anti-CRT legislation, politicians nationwide have attempted, and at times succeeded, in prohibiting the teaching of race and racism in PK-12 public schools. Although these laws target a theory not taught in elementary and secondary schools, too often the voices and feelings of caregivers from marginalized…

Recent attacks on critical race theory (CRT) aim to limit discussion and understanding of race (and its intersection with class, gender, and power). Racial dialogues can be uncomfortable for those who benefit from power, suggesting that resistance to CRT or any discussion of race and power in education is rooted in emotions. This study examines…

Racial equity in education is often framed around "closing the achievement gap," but many scholars argue this frame perpetuates deficit mindsets. The "opportunity gap" (OG) frame has been offered as an alternative to focus attention on structural injustices. In a preregistered survey experiment, I estimate the effects of…

We are feminist scholars who research and teach at a university in the United States situated within histories of sociopolitical conservativism and oppressions. In the present, looming over our classrooms, are mandates to eliminate 'divisive concepts' such as race and gender. These political monsters gnash their teeth and foam at the mouth as they…

Over the past few years (2020-present), the United States has experienced a period of racial unrest, which has led to heated debates about school curriculum and policy. Considering the current sociopolitical context, this critical policy analysis traces the trends in statelevel education legislation related to race/ethnicity that was both…

We used Critical Discourse Analysis to examine the racial discourse within recent attempts to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. Specifically, we interrogated congressional markup hearings to understand how members frame student debt and the racialized dynamics embedded within. Our findings highlight three types of discourse: "All…

The rise of political polarization and disagreement within the United States and other democracies indicates an erosion of the social contract, a deterioration exacerbated by the balkanization of social media, that can negatively impact our social relationships. Recent anti-Critical Race Theory (CRT) narratives in education provide insights into…

The purpose of this study is to advance our thinking about race and racism in geospatial analyses of school choice policy. To do so, we present a critical race spatial analysis of Detroit students' suburban school choices. To frame our study, we describe the racial and spatial dynamics of school choice, drawing in particular on the concepts of…

In this introduction, we outline the scholarly context and research questions that motivate this special issue: In what ways do racialized constructions of school quality open up or foreclose educational opportunity? How do understandings of school quality differ across local social, political, and demographic contexts? And lastly, at what points…

Narrative storytelling surrounds us. Narratives are especially salient in politics, as policy problems do not simply exist, but are actively created through the stories policy actors tell. Scholars introduced the narrative policy framework (NPF) to create a generalized framework for studying how policy actors use storytelling strategically to…

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has recently been positioned as a serious problem requiring urgent policy response among partisan media outlets. Making a case for pressing policy demands, several policy makers have proposed federal, state, and local level legislation and other measures to restrict how race, racism, or American history in general can be…

Misinterpretations and caricatures of Critical Race Theory (CRT) abound in popular media and in higher education scholarship. Given the confusion surrounding what CRT is and is not, I write this conceptual essay as an invitation to engage seriously with CRT's legal foundations. I offer four guideposts to aid scholars in engaging the legal roots of…

In this article, we show how Ofsted operates as institutional language police, and how the inspectorate's attitudes about language maintain race-class inequalities under a guise of social justice, equality and evidence-based practice. Our research has repeatedly demonstrated how Ofsted reproduces long-standing, deficit-based and colonial logics…

Recent efforts prohibiting race-related diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have informed localized public pushback narrating anti-equity campaigns. Emerging research and media accounts have largely focused on adults engaged with or against these efforts, with less attention on youth and their perceptions of these campaigns. To center…