Equity initiatives and critical race theory (CRT) have recently emerged as an urgent agenda for K-12 schools. Jung-ah Choi argues that CRT is a useful framework but that teaching CRT principles to young children may have deleterious effects. In particular, it could undermine two bedrock notions: educational equality and meritocracy. It is not…

Research has examined the influence of a graduate student matching their advisor's demographic characteristics on a variety of outcomes, but comparatively few studies have examined students' preferences concerning such matching. Using data from a national survey of U.S. graduate students in five natural and social science disciplines, the analyses…

In a justice-oriented antiracist assessment process, attention to the disruption of white supremacy must occur at every stage--from construct articulation to score reporting. An important step in the assessment development process is the item review stage often referred to as Bias/Fairness and Sensitivity Review. I argue that typical approaches to…

In this conceptual essay, we weave concepts of critical race theory, joy, [anti-]disciplinarity, and humanization toward a critique of the disciplinary organization of teacher preparation program curricula through what we term a pedagogy of humanizing co-creatorship. In this essay, we seek to position disciplinarity as needed, but find that…

Demands for school choice have led to a substantial increase in the educational options available to families in the United States (Stanford, 2023). Throughout the country, many areas have experienced post-pandemic expansions of school choice through micro-schools, virtual schools, and other non-traditional school models (Hamlin et al., 2023).…

Many of the conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education rightly focus on the experiences of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students and how to support them on their educational journey. Fewer of the conversations involve naming and interrogating the oppressive systems that cause these students to need…

Critical race studies in international higher education remains on the margins. More so are analyses of Black subjects (nations, institutions, people, etc.) and/or knowledge traditions. In particular, there remains a dearth of research centering Black subjects as not only the unit of analysis, but also agents in the internationalization of higher…

Many caregivers wonder when to talk to children about social inequality and racism, often expressing the belief that children do not pay attention to race or inequity. Here, across 5-9-year-old American children (n = 159, M[subscript age] = 7.44; 51.6% female, 47.2% male, 1.2% nonconforming or not provided; 59.1% White, 23.3% racial-ethnic…

In this paper, I examine what one focus group interview may reveal about five teenagers' burgeoning racial literacies. After analyzing their definitions and interpretations of historical and contemporary racism, I argue that these youth have developed racial literacies that reflect a narrow societal focus on the individual, interpersonal…

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…

This manuscript carefully examines racialized surveillance, a mechanism of anti-Black violence, or what Hartman has called the afterlife of slavery, that persists in society despite the formal end of enslavement. To accomplish this, I conducted a critical discourse analysis of an incident in the public sphere and one in an educational context to…

UMass Boston leadership has publicly committed to becoming an antiracist and health-promoting university, and the institutional values and commitments are also intricately tied to an academic freedom that wholly defends the right to teach about race, gender and other equity issues. Currently, more than 30 states have enacted bans or have bans…

Diversity in the legal profession is key to ensuring representation and equity in laws, but there is a longstanding imbalance in the representation of marginalized racial and ethnic groups in the legal profession. By merging literature, quantitative data, and qualitative evidence under the lens of critical race theory and QuantCrit, this article…

Before the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) case, Black schools were led by Black principals, who were community leaders and role models held in high regard (Tillman, 2004b). However, this image and perception of the Black male principal began to vanish after the Brown v. Board of Education case decision to integrate schools (James, 1970). This…

Do students learn from video lessons presented by pedagogical agents of different racial and gender types equivalently to those delivered by a real human instructor? How do the race and gender of these agents impact students' learning experiences and outcomes? In this between-subject design study, college students were randomly assigned to view a…