Education School Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/1805/8153

Browse

Now showing 1 - 10 of 30

Adult Learning in the Urban Context: Community Engagement from the Voices of Four Adult Black Males
(2020-09) Duff, Myron Carl, Jr.; Scheurich, James J.; Kazembe, Lasana; Merrill, Henry; Murtadha, Khaula
The Loving Neighborhood was a very active ecosystem consisting of four communities (Capella, Carson, Midtown, and Summerville) that came together to form one larger community. Although the four neighborhoods’ ethnic makeup was about 30% Black, 30% Latino, and 30% White, the Carson community was predominantly Black. The Carson neighborhood had a very vibrant neighborhood association in which there were four adult Black males who actively participated in Carson’s economic and community development efforts. These men consistently attended neighborhood meetings, volunteered on community action committees, held community leadership positions, and participated regularly in local events. In order to understand the work of adult Black males who were seeking to improve the quality of life in a specific community context, this research sheds light on the “voices” of these four adult Black males as they attempted to foster neighborhood transformation by becoming more active in an Black urban community. It is imperative that the shared meanings of Black men be understood within the ecosystems in which they existed, emphasizing the importance of their conversations that addressed the needs of their communities. While previous research studies have explored adult learning and community engagement separately, these studies have failed to address how Black males could have helped Black communities in grassroots development efforts. Studies that have addressed these intersections could have provided valuable insight into why Black men became active in their communities, what they might have learned because of their community activism, how they remained motivated, and what skills they would have needed in order to effectively engage underserved neighborhoods. In response to this deficiency, this inquiry employed a critical approach to explore the importance of the unique voices of these four Black men as they participated in the transformation of their neighborhoods.
Are the racial disparities in school discipline the result of or a function of systemic racism mediated by educators' dispositions?
(2015-08-28) Williams, Nathaniel Andrew; Scheurich, James Joseph; Hughes, Robin Lee; Skiba, Russell; Murtadha, Khaula H.
With over 40 years of research on the well-documented issue of racial disparities in school discipline, scholars have begun to explore a plethora of plausible causalities for this phenomenon. Recent literature on the causal agents have centered on cultural differences and/or racial prejudices held by educators. Building from this emerging logic, this dissertation specifically focused on the disposition (e.g. enduring traits, character type, mentality, and temperament) of educators and its influence, if any, on discipline-related outcomes. Additionally, this exploratory study sought to build a conceptual map for future research to explore how educators' dispositions may act as conduits between systemic racism and the historic racial disparities in discipline-related outcomes. Through an intensive, multiyear embedded case study of four middle schools with both high and low rates of racial disproportionality in school discipline and with the creation and use of the Four Domains, this dissertation explored whether discipline-related outcomes are the result of systemic racism mediated by educators' dispositions. Findings from the analysis suggested the existence of shared characteristics among the dispositions of those categorized as high and low referring. Specific to those findings, trends within low referring teachers suggested that low referring teachers maintain high and consistent expectations of student behavior, but allowed for flexibility in how their discipline response was mediated out among their students. Despite a deferred approach within discipline response, low referring teachers were consistent and did not show favoritism. On the contrary, high referring teachers were inconsistent with their responses and demonstrated biases in actions and beliefs. Accordingly, it was found that high referring teachers held racially deficit beliefs about Black students and their families. Additionally, high referring teachers were more represented by the Four Domains in comparison to lower referring teachers. As a result, findings from the Four Domains support the existence of a causal link among systemic racism, higher referring teachers, and racial disparities in school discipline. In particular, it was found that classroom teachers engage in and hold racially deficit views of Blacks and these same teachers disproportionately refer Black students for out-of-school suspension.
Because I Am Human: Centering Black Women with Dis/abilities in Transition Planning from High School to College
(2019-02) Cannon, Mercedes Adell; Thorius, Kathleen; Thompson, Chalmer; Mutegi, Jomo; Rogan, Patricia; Skelton, Seena
There is a dearth of literature about post-secondary transition experiences of Black women with dis/abilities (BWD). In this qualitative study, I explore transition experiences of five post-secondary BWD from high school to college in order to privilege her chronicles and narratives as knowledge. In addition, two urban public high school transition coordinators (TC) participated in the study. Three inquiries guided my dissertation: (1) features of educational experiences narrated by BWD, (2) features of transition services provided to students with dis/abilities, including roles of and approaches as described by the TCs, and (3) how BWD narratives may be leveraged to critique and extend transition services as the TCs described them. I engaged in three semi-structured interviews with six of the seven participants (one interview with the seventh). I drew from Disability Studies/Disability Studies in Education (DSE), Critical Race Theory, and Womanist/Black Feminist Theory and their shared tenets of voice and counternarratives and concepts of social construction and falsification of consciousness to analyze the narratives of BWD participants. I drew from the DS/DSE tenet of interlocking systems of oppression, DisCrit tenet three, race and ability, and constructs of Inputs and Outcomes in work on Modeling Transition Education to analyze the TCs’ narratives and in connection to the narratives of the BWD. Across both sets of participants, three themes in the form of Truths emerged; they were terrible and sticky experiences of racial/dis/ability oppression for the BWDs and, imposing of whiteness and normalization within the transition education practices described by the TCs. For the BWD, those terrible and sticky truths took three forms: (a) Pathologization; (b) Disablement; and (c) Exclusion. Another type of truth in the BWD’s narratives, however, was Subverted Truths: (re)defined identities and radical love, (re)placed competence and knowledge, and (revalued sisterhood and community, the ways of pushing back and resisting the Truths and their effects. I discuss implications for BWD post-secondary transition-planning-and-programming theory, research, policy, practice, praxis, and spirituality.
Black Grandmother Power: The Art and Wisdom of Caregiving and Leadership
(2024-02) Rowley, Latosha Morvette; Jackson, Tambra; Santamaría Graff, Cristina; Murtadha, Khaula; Morton, Crystal
Black grandmothers often take on the dual role of caregivers and leaders within their families. The caregiving and leadership practices demonstrated by grandmothers enables Black children to resist social inequities and oppression that they encounter in their lives. The narratives of Black grandmothers and their caregiving and leadership roles remain underexplored/absent from the existing research on the Black family. This research proposes to fill the gap in literature by analyzing multiple case studies in which Black grandmothers testify to their lived experiences with deploying caregiving love to ensure the social, emotional, physical, educational, and spiritual well-being of their grandchildren. These case studies have been analyzed through the theoretical lens of Africana Womanism and Black Womanist Leadership. By understanding the leadership experiences and efforts of Black grandmothers, as well as the barriers they have encountered because of their intersectional positionalities they occupy, there are applicable insights into culturally responsive school leadership, instruction, curriculum, policies, and practices. Uncovering these insights can improve academic growth and development for Black children.
Black Identity Development on a First Year Affinity Course for African American Males at a Two-Year Community College
(2021-03) Turner, John Cleo; Scheurich, Jim; Hayes, Cleveland; Thompson, Chalmer; Etienne, Leslie; Brown, Roderick
The research for this dissertation is a study of one case example of programs and classes put into place for African American males at community colleges around the United States with a focus on how these programs were successful or not in assisting in the persistence, retention, and graduation of these students. The purpose of using Cross’ (1991) Black Identity Development Theory as a framework for exploring the students’ experiences in racial ‘awakening’ was to track the patterns in how these experiences aligned with Cross’ concepts.
Bought But Not Sold Out: A Critical Autoethnography of a Public School Board Member in the Neoliberal Turn
(2022-05) Cosby, Gayle S.; Scheurich, Jim; Medina, Monica; Rogan, Patricia; Etienne, Leslie K.
Neoliberalism is a pro-capitalist ideology that cycles money and power to the elite class by deregulating or privatizing the public sphere and is fueled by economic exploitation and oppression. This dissertation examines the neoliberal construct at work in the privatization of Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) from an ethnographic lens using the vantage point of an elected IPS board member. The literature surrounding the privatization of public schools offers stories from all over the U.S., however the conditions surrounding the privatization of public education systems are similar irrespective of geographical location. Common themes across the country include the de-professionalization of teachers, the circulation of the narrative myth of failing public schools and charter schools as a positive alternative, and overarching patterns of continued school segregation, gentrification of inner cities, and racial migratory patterns of residents affecting school enrollment. Theoretical framing employed in this study includes Punctuated Equilibrium at the macro level; sociopolitics and logics of action at the meso level, and critical theory and politics of resistance at the micro level of analysis. The analysis of data was conducted thematically and data sources encompass a self-authored blog as well as personal communications and reflections, news articles, and board documents. Results of this study illustrate that IPS as an organization underwent a fulcrum point of change, or ‘Punctuated Equilibrium’ in which it ceased to be an exclusively public institution and began to establish partnerships with private charter school companies with inherent profit motives, via the ‘Innovation School Network’. There were many political players involved in orchestrating this change, and those interest groups and their logics of action are detailed. Implications of this study include identifying the future spread of school privatization and possibilities for disrupting the furthering of this neoliberal agenda.
Co-Constructing Identity: A Qualitative Study of the Interplay of Identities in Instructional Coaching Conversations
(2023-10) Bhathena, Catherine Dontie; Teemant, Annela; Lester, Jessica; Mutegi, Jomo; Medina, Monica; Wiley, Craig
Research on coaching has been increasing over the last few decades, particularly for literacy and math. What is limited in coaching research is investigations of the process that leads to teacher and student impacts. Additionally, while some research has investigated what makes an effective coach, little has focused on the specific roles of discourse and identity in changing instructional practices. In this comparative case study, I will analyze the identity discourses of teachers and an instructional coach, myself, to investigate the interplay between coach and teacher identity and how identities and instructional practice are intertwined. The overarching research question guiding this study is How do the teachers and I, the coach, co-construct our identities in coaching conversations focused on changing instructional practices to benefit multicultural/multilingual learners? Findings in this study include that 1) teacher identity is inseparable from teacher learning, 2) coach identity is inseparable from coach learning, and 3) the interplay of coach and teacher identities impacts coaching conversations. My findings here support the need for more theorizing and research on the interplay of coach and teacher identities. My findings also indicate the need for intentional coach professional development focused on coach identity development and understanding of how teacher identity is intertwined with coach identity and the effectiveness of coaching as professional development.
Controversy and counternarrative in the social studies
(2017-05-12) Shaver, Erik James; Rogan, Patricia; Medina, Monica; Keller, Deb; Engebretson, Kathryn; Pike, Gary
This qualitative study sought to explore reasons why social studies teachers chose to teach controversial issues and counternarratives in their classroom in an era where doing so is dangerous for teachers and their job security, and how they go about doing so in their classrooms. The theoretical framework of this study encompassed the notion that the five selected teachers embodied and practiced elements of Foucauldian parrhēsía, which is teaching the truth despite the risk of doing so, despite not having explicit knowledge of this particular philosophy, and utilized counternarratives and controversial issues as a means of challenging dominant social norms to bring about a more just and equitable society. The existing literature suggests that their pre-service teacher education provided little influence on their decisions, despite the positive historical, personal, and democratic outcomes from teaching a curriculum exploring controversial issues and counternarratives. Five teachers were recommended for this study due to their reputations for teaching controversial issues and counternarratives in their social studies classrooms. After interviewing and observing these teachers, a number of interesting findings came to light, including a list of best practices for how to teach controversial issues in the classroom, reasons why the teachers taught controversial issues in the classroom, structures of support and barriers for teaching a critical social studies curriculum, and differences between those who believed they taught controversial issues in their classroom but did not, and those who actually did.
Creating Racially Safe Learning Environments: An Investigation of the Pedagogical Beliefs and Practices of Two African American Teachers in Racially Hostile Urban Elementary Schools
(2020-09) Bangert, Sara Elizabeth; Jackson, Tambra O.; Lewison, Mitzi; Taylor, Kara; Zaccor, Karla M.
Many Americans espouse “post-racial” conceptions of race and its role in children’s access to equitable learning opportunities; however, recent studies have illuminated the need to examine the ways in which “new” forms of institutionalized and interpersonal racism continue to hinder the schooling experiences of students in urban schools. Despite that students in urban schools are predominantly African American (27%) and Latinx (41%), the teaching force remains predominantly white (71%). Within these schools, white teachers’ lack of cultural competence and racial literacy marginalize students’ opportunities for social, emotional, and academic development and, thereby, foster racially hostile learning environments. However, cases of teachers in urban schools who create and sustain learning environments in which their students thrive socially, emotionally, and academically exist and need to be studied. This case study investigated the pedagogical beliefs and practices enacted by two highly regarded African American educators who created racially safe learning environments in two racially hostile urban elementary students. Ethnographic data was collected over a five-month period. Using constant comparative analysis within and across both cases, several significant findings emerged. Findings revealed how “new racism” manifested in the discourses, policies, and practices at both schools and, thus, illuminated the ways in which race marginalized not only the schooling experiences of African American and Latinx students, but their African American educators as well. Findings examined how each teachers’ pedagogical enactments aligned with the ideologies, beliefs, and practices associated with African American pedagogy and revealed how they fostered cultures of community, love, and achievement within their classrooms. Findings suggest that their culturally specific pedagogical beliefs and practices have the potential to create racially safe learning environments within, otherwise, racially hostile schools. Although African American pedagogical excellence is often relegated to discussions of practices needed to reach African American students, this study expands the knowledge base needed to center AAPE in discussions of best practices for teachers in urban schools. This study adds critical insights to discussions of race and its role in the schooling experiences and opportunities to learn in racially hostile urban schools.
A Critical Race-Feminist Examination of the Influence of Prison, Jail, and School Institutions on the Perspectives of Black Middle School Girls and Their Formerly Incarcerated Single Mothers
(2020-10) Jordan, Patricia Ann; Thompson, Chalmer; Scheurich, James; Kazembe, Lasana; Grommon, Eric
This study explored the perspectives of Black mothers and daughters as they contemplated how two institutions ---schools and prisons/jails -- influenced their relationship with one another. As the incarceration rates for Black females increase in the U.S., examinations of these perspectives can produce insights about the impacts of schools and jails/prisons on the lives of these girls and women, and more pointedly, about the perceived contributions of racist and misogynistic forces on the Black mother-Black daughter relationship. Three pairs of mother-daughter dyads were selected and interviewed for the study. The daughters were Black middle school-aged girls between the ages 10 and 14, and the mothers were of varying ages. Two specific research questions centered on: (1) the participants’ perceptions of how these institutions have had an influence mother and daughter relationships, and (2) how they dealt with problems they faced either separately or together that were associated with school (for both participants in the dyad) and/or that resulted from the jail/prison experience (for the mother). Interviews were analyzed using phenomenological research methods and metaanalyzed from a critical feminist framework. Findings show that both mother and daughter have been resourceful in maintaining strong ties despite the array of forces that challenged these unions. Participants from both sides of these mothers and daughters dyads expressed how mothers’ parenting styles, lifestyle decisions, and self-perceptions were effected by the institutions of schooling and criminal justice. Although the findings of the study offered a glimpse of participants’ perspectives on racism and sexism as forces that influenced their experiences, the relationship issues between them were most prevalent. Further research is recommended to uncover more of the intricacies of sexism and racism as they relate to relationships and personal issues of Black, formerly incarcerated mothers and their pre-teen and teenaged daughters.

Browse

Browsing Education School Theses and Dissertations by Title

Results Per Page

Sort Options