Education School Theses and Dissertations

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

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Familial Influence: The Role of Black Families in College and Career Decisions
(2024-12) Davis, Le'Joy Denise; Maxcy, Brendan; Murtadha, Khaula; Nguyen, Thu Suong Thi; Santamaria Graff, Cristina Corrine
This dissertation explores the impact of familial influence on the college and career decisions of Black students that attended urban, low-income high schools. Through a comparative case study approach, the research examines how family dynamics, communication, values, socioeconomic, and social factors shape decisions. The study employs qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews, focus groups, and case analysis, to gather insights from students and their families. The findings reveal that familial support and expectations play a crucial role in shaping students' aspirations and choices, though the extent and nature of this influence varies significantly depending on family structure, resources, and lived experiences. This research highlights the complex interplay between familial and social factors, offering family engagement and policy recommendations aimed at enhancing support systems for students from similar backgrounds and suggesting areas for future research on familial impact in college and career spaces.
White Rainbow Weaponization: White Gay Males Understanding and Use of Racial Identity Privilege in Urban Post-Secondary Education
(2024-12) McKay, Matthew William; Thorius, Kathleen King; Scheurich, James; Hayes, Cleveland; Benjamin, Lehn
This qualitative study explores how white gay cisgender males navigate their racial and LGBTQ identities within urban post-secondary education (UPSE) settings. Grounded in Critical Whiteness Theory (CWT) and Queer Theory (QT), I examined how these individuals comprehend, utilize, and challenge their racial privilege alongside their marginalized sexual identity. Specifically, I investigated "White Rainbow Weaponization" (WRW)—the strategic use of white racial identity to maintain power and privilege within LGBTQ spaces. Thirteen white gay cisgender males participated in the study, which utilized semi-structured interviews, racial autobiographies, and vignette exercises to provide an in-depth account of their experiences. Key findings revealed that participants often perceived their whiteness as invisible until they entered racially diverse environments, aligning with the notion of whiteness as an unmarked norm. Many acknowledged leveraging their racial privilege within LGBTQ spaces, recognizing that being white afforded them advantages not equally accessible to LGBTQ individuals of color. The participants' narratives highlighted a complex dynamic between acceptance and discrimination. While they benefited from racial privilege, they also faced obstacles due to their LGBTQ status, revealing how these intersecting identities shaped their experiences in UPSE environments. Participants expressed discomfort in engaging in conversations about race, often fearing they might say the wrong thing or be perceived as racist. Exposure to researcher-introduced artifacts documenting the experiences of LGBTQ students of color heightened their awareness of systemic challenges and prompted critical self-reflection. This led to increased empathy and, for some, a commitment to future action to address racial inequities. The findings underscore the need for more inclusive policies and practices to counteract systemic whiteness and promote equity for all LGBTQ students within UPSE institutions. This study illuminates the dual challenges and benefits of holding intersecting identities, providing a nuanced understanding of the experiences of white gay cisgender males in UPSE settings. It highlights the importance of community and support networks for personal and academic growth and calls for intentional efforts to promote inclusivity and equity within educational institutions.
From Compliance to Empowerment: Mediating Teacher Activity in Data Team Meetings Through Cultural Historical Activity Theory and Collaborative Inquiry in the Context of Neoliberal Education Reform
(2024-07) Rusnak, Kathryn Noel; Thorius, Kathleen King; Maxcy, Brendan; Morton, Crystal; Murphy, Hardy; Scheurich, Jim
This qualitative case study focuses on the impact of neoliberal education reform on an urban charter school serving students of Color. This study has two main objectives: to examine how neoliberal reform influences the goal-oriented actions of data meetings (DMs) in an urban elementary school and engages in a formative intervention methodology to collaborate with educators in addressing(mediating) our assumptions around the ways of measuring what students know and learn, paying particular attention to how teachers' language and decisions reflect neoliberal ideologies. Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) methodology and an expansive learning cycle provide a framework to collect and analyze data of teachers' goal-oriented actions in the context of neoliberal reform and standardized testing to aide in understanding and interpreting joint activity systems in educational institutions. The study's significance lies in the potential for intentional teacher learning activities that challenge and transform the marginalizing effects of neoliberal education reform, particularly in relation to standardized testing at the intersections of race and ability. Key findings of the study are the complex challenges educators face in balancing accountability policy requirements with the unique needs of their students. It emphasizes the importance of professional learning that moves away from individual performance toward collective agency.
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.
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.
Neva Fah Get Home: Constructions of Black Roatánin Identity in Roatán, Honduras
(2023-10) Wilmoth, Idalia Theia; Jackson, Tambra; Morton, Crystal; Etienne, Leslie; Edmonds, Joseph Tucker
This dissertation focuses on Black identity formation throughout Central America’s Caribbean Coast. Within the Global South and Africana Studies there has been little to no research that centers Afro- Caribbean’s from Central America. Countries such as Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama are primarily focus points. Afro- identity in Honduras is overlooked. Most of the available scholarship centers Honduras’s Afro- indigenous population, the Garifunas. Within the Bay Islands of Honduras, there is Roatán which is natively full of Black citizens. This dissertation fills the historical gaps by using narrative inquiry, podcasting, and conducting interviews with first and second generation Roatánins. As these Roatánins create hemispheric migrations, their Black identity is collapsed into the racial categorization of the United States in ways in which they leave their ethnic identity. Black Roatánins identity is racialized within an historical continuum of geographical space. The major research questions guiding this study were: (1) How do Black Roatánins (re)create or (re)construct Roatán identity? (2) How do they describe their lived experiences in relation to race and racism? 2(a) What racial and cultural context are key influencers in their identity development and lived experiences? (3) How do they describe their racial identity in relation to their nationality? And (3a) In what ways does the legacy of colonization by Honduras impact their racial identity development? The research design was undergirded by Black geography theoretical framework and narrative inquiry. Data sources consisted of podcasts and five individual interviews. Seven themes emerged from Black geography analysis of the data. The seven themes included: (1) ‘Black Geographic Imagination: Spatial Imaginaries/Memories’, (2) ‘Homeland’, (3) ‘Cultural Displacement’, (4) ‘Triple Consciousness: Social Context of Identity and Citizenship Making,’(5)‘Honduras Religious Institutions and Respectability Politics,’(6) ‘Constructing Citizenship’, (7) ‘Diasporic Identification: Triple Consciousness. Findings from this study yielded implications for future research and theory in the Global South and higher education.
Critically Conscious White Teachers: A Case Study
(2023-05) Priester-Hanks, Mary Louise; Scheurich, Jim; Thompson, Chalmer; Murphy, Hardy; Blackmon, Sha'Kema; Murtadha, Khaula
Racism is a pervasive and destructive force in society and has no place in schools. White teachers, like all teachers, are responsible for creating a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students. This means being aware and actively working to combat their own biases and stereotypes, providing equal opportunities and support to all students. This instrumental, qualitative study captured the narratives of five White-identifying critically conscious teachers to understand how their critical consciousness is expressed and the opportunities and challenges they experience because of their anti-racism work. The central research question of this study was: How do critically conscious White teachers in a Southern Indiana school district experiencing demographic shifts engage in anti-racism work? Janet Helms’s White Racial Identity Development (WRID) theory was used to explain the teachers’ work towards anti-racism in schools. The findings from this study indicated that White identifying critically conscious teachers White teachers: a) leverage their privilege to promote anti-racism, b) use culturally relevant practices, c) engage in co-conspirator work, d) actively collaborate with BIPOC students and teachers, e) are instrumental in supporting anti-racism efforts, f) are content with making a positive impact on students and society, g) perceive and experience negative professional consequences as a result of their anti-racism work. This study has important implications for teachers, school administrators, and education system stakeholders.
The Spaces Between Us: An Affective Examination of Individual and Collective Memory in Parental Decision Making
(2023-02) Silverman, Elena Hatton; Nguyễn, Thu Sương Thị; Maxcy, Brendan; Scribner, Samantha; Schall, Carly
No pseudonyms are used in this dissertation. I found it very difficult to write about my participants using names that aren’t theirs. These are people who I know, who I have relationships with, who have been with me in one way or another for much of my life and choosing random and unrelated names for them felt wrong. However, to protect their privacy, they will be referred to throughout by single initials. All city and school district names have been omitted from this work. In sentences that discuss the participant’s current location I insert (name of city). In sentences that reference where we grew up, I include (the city we grew up in). When removing names needed for contextualization, I include an italicized parenthetical note. Writing by hand and handwriting play a significant role in this dissertation. Central to method as well as theory and discussion, much of the early work done in the process was all handwritten as were the letters that were sent back and forth for data collection. While you will not see handwriting throughout this dissertation you will read about it and will be able to see images of original handwritten text in the appendices.
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.
Not Just Mathematics, "Just' Mathematics: Investigating Mathematical Learning and Critical Race Consciousness
(2021-07) Gatza, Andrew Martin; Tillema, Erik; Morton, Crystal; Willey, Craig; Cross Francis, Dionne
This study is situated at the confluence of three calls for research within mathematics education: 1) work using novel approaches for studying students’ understanding of nonlinear meanings of multiplication; 2) work using discrete mathematics to explore social issues related to equity; and 3) work at the intersection of mathematical learning and critical race consciousness—specifically, social justice mathematics initiatives that explicitly address racism and the learners’ perspectives. The design research methodology of the study with 8th grade students provides practical curricular and pedagogical steps for doing work at the intersection of mathematical learning and race and racism; offers domain-specific learning insights; and merges theory and practice in conceptualizing the multiple complexities of learning and development in situ to create new possibilities for a more just mathematics education. Findings from this study offer insights at the intersection of the evolution of students’ establishment of nonlinear meanings of multiplication and critical race consciousness development. Specifically, this study identifies two schemes that students use to establish a nonlinear meaning of multiplication (SARC Scheme and RA Scheme), illustrates students’ growing racism awareness, and highlights how these initiatives can be mutually supportive in helping to normalize conversations about race and racism.

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