The number of special education referrals continues to increase for African American students, which contributes to a disproportionate amount of African American students within the special education system. Teachers play a role in referring African American students to special education in urban schools. Therefore, this qualitative…

As critical educational policy scholarship continues to move toward transformational knowledge production, critical and contextualized quantitative methods are central to justice and equity. In this study, the authors used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), guided by quantitative critical race methodology, to examine teachers' beliefs about their…

Following the recent claims lodged at two universities in Aotearoa New Zealand alleging the existence of racism, there has been scepticism towards the professed commitments by universities to create an inclusive and safe environment for Indigenous Maori. As a Kaupapa Maori-informed study, we (a group of Maori and Tauiwi scholars) employed tenets…

The 11th edition of "Knocking at the College Door" comes at a critical time for the country. Many sectors of the economy face workforce shortages, while higher education faces increasing skepticism about its value. The data and analyses within these pages will likely fuel further concerns for those across higher education as the nation…

This paper considers the relationship between Black women and literacy and how our pedagogy is embodied through our stories. The stories we share, live, make, and remake, contribute to our positional locations in the world and our physical bodies. I explore connections between emotional scars Black women carry caused by societal and academic…

Using Sealey-Ruiz racial literacy development model, this article argues that all children deserve to see their identities, experiences, and languages reflected in text. We pair this model with award-winning children's literature to deepen preservice teachers' racial literacy. Scholars have long recognized the power of children's literature in the…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to examine the extent to which differences were present in the reading achievement of Texas Grade 8 Emergent Bilingual students by their economic status, special education status, and ethnicity/race. In the first article, the extent to which economic status (i.e., in poverty, not in…

The recent spike in book challenges has put school libraries at the center of heated political debates. I investigate the relationship between local politics and school library collections using data on books with controversial content from a sample of 6,631 public school libraries. Libraries in conservative areas have fewer titles with LGBTQ,…

This case study shares the strengths and messiness of using grounded theory as a methodology from the perspective of a researcher. The chosen grounded-theory approach closely resonated with the study's objective, aiming to establish a novel framework for race-conscious leadership. Grounded theory offers an open and flexible method to examine an…

Measurement of latent constructs is one of the most challenging tasks in psychological research. Unlike physical variables, latent constructs are not directly observable but are inferred through individuals' responses to a set of items often referred to as measurement instruments, tests, surveys, or assessments. For decades, exploratory factor…

Guided Pathways is a systemic reform movement focused on increasing community college completion rates and student achievement (Bailey et al., 2015b). Within the California community college (CCC) System, every college is implementing Guided Pathways, and the California Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) continues to use this framework…

This article asserts that the Black Radical Tradition (BRT), grounded in historical and structural inquiry, offers tools to reinterpret EiE radically--the BRT encompasses a tradition rooted in diverse African intellectual and activist inquiries, providing a multifaceted theoretical framework. Relevant to humanitarian scholarship, the BRT…

Opioid overdose deaths are dramatically increasing in the United States and disproportionately affecting minority communities, with the increasing presence of fentanyl exacerbating this crisis. Developing community coalitions is a long-standing strategy used to address public health issues. However, there is a limited understanding of how…

This dissertation explores the intricate connections between African Americans, the Black Church, and educational outcomes, with a focus on implications for literacy development. Grounded in Critical Race Theory, the research seeks to unravel the structural complexities that contribute to the academic achievement gap faced by African American…

This article draws from primary and secondary historical sources such as public policy documents, speeches, and media reports to trace attempts made by the Kentucky legislature to ban controversial topics in public school curriculum--evolution in 1922 and critical race theory in 2022. Kingdon's multiple streams framework (MSF) serves as the model…