In this paper I present a qualitative study in which I investigated how socio-spatial dimensions of schooling influenced the ways four, white, nondisabled teacher candidates made meaning of whiteness and ability throughout their educational journeys. Drawing on literature exploring the socio-spatial dimensions of power and whiteness and ability as…

European American teachers' race-consciousness influences whether their pedagogical and content choices are non-racist and color-evasive or social justice-oriented and anti-racist. This narrative inquiry qualitative research analyzed the race-consciousness of European American teachers who self-identify as social justice educators. As the…

The achievement gap is a notorious construct of 21st-century schools and refers to the achievement of marginalized groups as compared to their White counterparts. This qualitative action research studied this phenomenon in a small, suburban school district experiencing shifting demographics by analyzing educators' perceptions and attitudes for…

This paper presents the experiences of a racially integrated research team -- two Black male scholars and one white female scholar - drawn from a series of recorded conversations and journal entries as part of weekly research meetings while engaging in race research across more than a year's time. While our work inherently centered race by nature…

Social justice education is critical work that should be integrated into the teaching and learning in schools. Because this learning is not an isolated event, nor does it solely exist within the classroom walls, family engagement structures are of importance. Both social justice education and effective family engagement involve inclusive…

Educator shortages have become a reality in public education, and, while research has documented reasons teachers leave the profession, there has been limited research into why teachers choose to stay. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that keep teachers who serve in Title I schools in the profession to their mid-career (10-15…

We used 14 years of state licensure and classroom data from Virginia to follow 19,878 special education teachers (SETs) who completed either the alternative route (AR) internship or traditional programs. Findings reveal that a greater percentage of SETs of color participated in AR programs compared to traditional licensure programs, while a…

This research explores the cognitive dissonance experienced by novice teachers when entering the teaching profession, specifically around cultural competence while teaching in the urban core. The study builds upon previous research by Adam Eckard, who investigated the impact of teacher preparation programs on teacher identity development in urban…

Many teachers collaborated with and spoke up for multilingual families during the pandemic. Yet, little is known about how and why teachers' understanding of multilingual family engagement changed during remote teaching. This study gives six teachers from a school district with a small proportion of multilingual students a voice to tell their…

Racism is enmeshed within the fabric of U.S. public education, making it critical to identify and dismantle. One way to do this is to provide professional development (PD) to teachers targeting anti-racism to build awareness, decenter whiteness, and advance racial equity in schools. This systematic review is a synthesis of anti-racism PD studies,…

This study investigates the overrepresentation of Black students in special education by looking at the association of race and related variables with referral, identification, and placement. Analyses were performed on a statewide sample of students and teachers to investigate relationships between student, teacher and school demographics, and…

Decolonisation is a socio-political movement which challenges Eurocentrism and post-colonial notions of power. This has numerous implications for higher education institutions (HEIs), where the content and delivery of curricula may be seen as products of colonial legacy. The decolonisation agenda has increasing support from students, the academy,…

In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the national enrollment rate for pre-k children ages 3 to 4 was 40% (a drop from 54% in 2019; National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). This is partly due to fewer children in the 0-5 age group (23.4 million of 72.8 million children in the United States in 2020; U.S. Census Bureau, 2020).…

Psychologists have found that many Black persons in the United States have significant levels of mistrust of White persons. This serves as a protective factor in response to pervasive structural and systemic racism. Yet interracial trusting relationships exist. In this phenomenological study, 10 Black counseling doctoral students described their…

White privilege, white fragility, and white systems of oppression, both in the workplace and in everyday life, function to cause white people desiring a more just society to stumble, even when they're aware of these obstacles. In this essay, I discuss my experiences, during the dual pandemics of 2020, in trying to manage my white privilege and my…