Browsing by Subject "Critical race theory"
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Item Addressing the "Elephant" in the room: exploring race and social justice in the early childhood years(2016-08) Holmes, Kathlene Alysia; Brown, Anthony L. (Associate professor); Brown, Keffrelyn D.; Salinas, Cinthia; Adair, Jennifer K; Price-Dennis, DetraThis critical case study examined young elementary students’ understandings of race as they participated in an interdisciplinary Social Studies and English Language Arts unit in two kindergarten classrooms and one first grade classroom in two urban regions of the United States. The study utilized the principles of Critical Race Theory, Social Education, and Social Justice to analyze the young elementary-aged students’ thought-processes on race. By implementing an interdisciplinary unit on counter-narrative stories about the past and present experiences of communities of color, the students were also able to examine the impact of race through multiple perspectives. There were distinct differences in classroom teachers’ years of experience, their comfort level in addressing contentious topics such as race and racism, as well as their approaches to deconstructing complex information to their young students. This study also included an in-depth review of the teachers’ thoughts on race and their rationale for teaching their students about it. While the curriculum, lessons, and materials presented in each of the classrooms were slightly different, the common theme of developing a strong sense of community emerged in all three classrooms. Each teacher discussed that, as a result of presenting the students with lessons focused on all different communities of color and their historical fight for equity, a stronger bond formed in their kindergarten or first grade classroom. Considering the curriculum, lessons, and materials all addressed how race and racism impacts different communities, this study presents the conversations that could occur when teachers begin to hold explicit conversations about race with young elementary-aged children.Item Black media producers of Austin, Texas : critical media production and design as active citizenship(2017-07-21) Vasudevan, Krishnan; Bock, Mary Angela; Watkins, Samuel C; DeCesare, Donna; Jensen, Robert W; Chen, WenhongThe latest epoch of Black activism in the United States has emerged in response to the brutal treatment of Black citizens at the hands of law enforcement. Digital production software and networks have allowed Black citizen media producers to circumvent traditional authorities of knowledge production such as news media and have also engendered pathways to develop new and counter knowledge about racial and social inequality. This three part immersive study based on nearly 900 hours of field research examines the lives and work of nine Black activist media makers in Austin, Texas and develops thick description through ethnography, critical discourse analysis and methods of visual anthropology. Austin provides a unique context for this study given its historical segregation of Black residents and recent gentrification during its rise as a cultural and economic juggernaut. This study makes theoretical contributions to critical race theory and political voice along with developing nuanced ideas about citizenship, journalism and designItem Bringing critical race theory to California school reform : how California's new school funding law can target achievement for students of color(2016-05) Gonzalez, Rosalina; Auerbach, Robert D.; Cantú, NormaThis report introduces California’s new public school funding law and posits that it represents an excellent opportunity to make district-wide changes in the education processes that most influence students of color. The report recommends new strategies for education reform that are informed by a Critical Race Theory framework, and proposes four areas of concern for California public school administrators to target in their district Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs). The report includes examples of how districts around the state are already beginning to include these new strategies in their LCAPs, and the California state education standards they meet. The report also gives a short history of public education in the United States, as well as an introduction of a Critical Race Theory framework on education and its discriminatory history.Item Charter school budget formation : a critical analysis of ideologies that inform decisions to fund emergent bilingual students(2023-08-07) Achilike, Preston Okechukwu; Childs, Joshua; Valenzuela, Angela; Reyes, Pedro; Brownson, Amanda; Taylor, Zachary; Martinez, David GIn considering the impact of ideologies, is it important that both organizational and budgetary ideologies that affect educational delivery to emergent bilingual (EB) students) be understood regarding the budgetary decisions made in school districts serving high percentages of EB students. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine budget formation within charter schools based on a critical analysis of the ideologies from which decisions about funding affected EB students. The field study was the most appropriate design for an in-depth analysis of the perceptions about funding and EB students had by superintendents leading charter schools. The criteria for participating in an interview required superintendents to lead open-enrollment K-12 charter schools located in North Texas, which contained over 40 different charter school systems. However, charter school district superintendents had to be serving a school district with an EB student population of at least 60% of its total enrollment. Each interview lasted between 1.5 and 3 hours and revealed the three participants had extensive education experience in a public charter school, had been in their current roles for at least 10 years, and had held other positions within their charter districts prior to assuming their current superintendencies. The three superintendents represented four charter school districts, as one superintendent split time between two charter districts. Four themes emerged to represent the ideologies and budget priorities of the charter school district superintendents who discussed EB funding in three charter districts with high concentrations of EB students: (a) teacher training, certification, and shortages, (b) funding, accountability, and policies, (c) equity in mind, and (d) funding and teacher student ratios. The findings suggest this critical analysis of charter school budgeting can be used to affect the current understanding of school organizations and the ways Texas public schools and districts could inadvertently negatively influence the learning outcomes for students of color who include EB students and students of other minority groups who could benefit from bilingual education. Chapter 5 concludes the study with recommendations for policy, practice, and research.Item Colonization 2.0: the evolution of inequality in a South Texas School District(2018-05) Barnes, Michael Christopher; Valenzuela, Angela; Sharpe, Edwin; Reddick, Richard; Brown, KeffrelynIn “Américo-Paredes” Independent School District (APISD), there is a prevailing sense of unity and pride, represented by a popular phrase: ¡Somos familia! While some organizations seek to cultivate a sense of ‘family’ to strengthen organizational cohesion, in APISD this notion is derived from a common set of cultural experiences. Most of the educational community—from teachers, to administrators, to school board members—attended the district as students, at times representing families with multiple generations of participation. For elder “Hispanics” (Mexican Americans), shared experiences include being subjected to punishment from “Anglo” (White) teachers or principals who swatted students’ hands (and rears) when they spoke Spanish. This system of abuse, rooted in racism, was symbolically challenged during a student walkout in 1968. The ensuing political conflict accompanied a steady decline of jobs and sustained White flight that gradually reduced the Anglo population of APISD’s twin cities. Effective political organizing increased the power of Hispanic school board members who soon attained an enduring majority. However, decades later, performance outcomes for Hispanic APISD students (99% of students) continue to lag behind more affluent, White peers statewide. Despite Hispanic board members’ historically under-examined role in the academic literature, research affirms their performance has a significant effect on student achievement. For APISD, I conduct a critical ethnography (Foley & Valenzuela, 2005) rooted in a series of transcribed life histories of Hispanic members of the school board past and present (1960-2016), and former classmates. I find that while Whites may have left Américo-Paredes in increasing numbers after 1968, Whiteness remained. My research questions include: (a) To what extent do life histories of board members and classmates reflect a narrative of oppressive schooling? (b) What systems of power, leadership, and schooling, both historical and contemporary, affect troubling events that transpire at APISD? (c) Do these factors contribute to schooling as a sustained cycle of socialization?Item Colorblind racism : the false promise of a post-racial society(2011-05) Jones, Judith Ellen, 1979-; Suizzo, Marie-Anne; Awad, GermineSince the 1970s, racial progress in the United States has stalled and in some ways, even regressed. There continues to be vast disparities between racial groups, pointing to serious inequities and systemic racism within our institutions. White privilege, a product of institutional racism and white supremacy, is a collection of unearned social benefits and courtesies that are bestowed upon a select group of people by virtue of their being white (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001). This literature review examines the dynamics of white privilege and power using the tenets of critical race theory to explain how they are both protected and perpetuated by liberal colorblind ideologies, particularly in education. Naming and examining whiteness, as opposed to ignoring and/or denying its significance, is the first step toward transforming the existing racial hierarchies in society.Item Community college mathematics faculty members : racialized self-perceptions of day-to-day realities within the classroom environment(2021-12-03) Peumsang, Pavitee; Saenz, Victor B.; Childs, Joshua; Green, Terrance L; Hawley, Stephanie JThis dissertation study was guided by two research questions: 1) What shapes community college mathematics faculty members' set of racialized ideologies, beliefs, and attitudes that inform their behaviors and teaching practices in the virtual classroom?; and 2) How do the racial and virtual classroom dynamics shape the ways mathematics faculty members adapt and deliver their course content during the COVID-19 global healthcare crisis? The combination of critical race theory in education, critical whiteness studies in education, and mathematical conceptual and theoretical frameworks informed the research design processes of this study. A total of 10 community college mathematics faculty members participated in the study: three from the California Community College System and seven from the Texas Community College System. The data collection methods included a pre-interview demographic questionnaire, a semi-structured virtual interview, an electronic document analysis, and a real-time virtual classroom observation. The findings from this study revealed three key findings. First, adult role models such as K-12 school professionals (e.g., teachers, coaches, and principals) and fathers were the primary influences who shaped faculty members' racialized sociocultural worldviews and current teaching strategies. Second, faculty members' lived experiences and self-willingness to learn about race and racism led them to develop their racialized self-awareness due to the absence of preparation from their academic and professional requirements. Lastly, when teaching in the classroom, students were the primary influences who shaped the racial and virtual classroom power dynamics rather than the faculty members. As a result, this study provides alternative theoretical, policy design, and practical recommendations to professionally coach community college mathematics faculty members on how to habitually practice teaching course curriculum centered on racial equilibrium, diversity, and inclusion, particularly in entry level mathematics course sequences.Item Estamos en la lucha : revealing and resisting racism and linguicism in mathematics education(2022-05-02) Jones, Stacy R.; Gomez Marchant, Carlos Nicolas; Gonzalez-Howard, María; Madkins, Tia; Pérez, MichelleThis dissertation reveals dominant narratives of Raza learners in mathematics education research and challenges these narratives through composite counter-storytelling. Our society, and consequently mathematics education and mathematics education research, is built from a white, middle-class perspective which silences the voices and experiences of Raza and other Communities of Color. I use Latinx critical theory throughout three distinct articles to reveal and challenge myths told from the dominant culture about the learning and doing of mathematics for Raza learners and to amplify and center the voices of elementary age Raza learners. The first article examines the dominant narratives in mathematics education research through a critical literature analysis. The second article provides a methodology for developing composite counter-stories, extending Solórzano & Yosso’s (2001; 2002) work on the components in composite counter-storytelling and Cook’s (2013) work on place as a character in composite counter-storytelling. The final article explores four Borderlands of Language elementary age Raza learners navigate due to the conflicting spaces and messages of dominant and home cultures. Major findings reveal the deficit narratives of Raza learners in mathematics education (research) and how Raza learners resist and persevere in spaces not made with them in mind. This study presents new knowledge for the field of mathematics education research, not for Raza learners experiencing marginalization daily, in naming the racist behaviors which have been normalized in academia and mathematics classrooms. Furthermore, this study extends our understanding of the development of composite counter-stories through centering the voices of Raza learners. Finally, this dissertation fills a gap in the existing literature on how Raza learners navigate language as a Border space in predominantly white spaces, such as the mathematics classroom.Item Examining whiteness in elementary art education(2022-06-14) Link, Bethany L.; Brown, Keffrelyn D.; Kraehe, Amelia; De Lissovoy, Noah; Payne, KatharinaElementary art curriculum requires educators to teach about cultures they are not a part of and places they have never been, yet there is little research examining how art teachers enact this multicultural curriculum. This critical ethnographic case study asks how two white elementary art educators enact curriculum addressing cultures other than their own and how race and whiteness operate in their curriculum work. Data from this qualitative research was collected through observations, interviews, questionnaires, and artifacts. The research design involves three phases where the researcher moved from observing teachers’ multicultural curriculum work, to guiding critical reflection, and finally to collaborating on writing critical multicultural curriculum that teachers then enacted. Findings from this research suggest that teachers’ sociocultural knowledge shapes and animates their teaching philosophies often in dysconscious ways. Guiding teachers to critically reflect on how their biography, biases, and positionality influence their teaching was often uncomfortable, but necessary for deepening their multicultural curriculum work. Findings also suggest that the habitus of art education reinforced the notion of the arts as white property. This ideology was embedded in both the formal and informal curriculum and maintained by the teachers’ pre-service programs, their colleagues, and district leaders. This study also found that enacting critical multiculturalism requires intentional and flexible scaffolding to guide students to engage in sociocultural dialogue while remaining open to teachable moments. This involves organizing lessons that intentionally disrupt whiteness to forge meaningful relationships across difference. This research also found that white defenses were diffused by building relationships with the teachers, working in solidarity, and providing critical and ongoing support. These findings indicate the need for art teacher education and mentorship that prepares new teachers to engage in sociocultural dialogue and critically reflect on how their positionality and biography impact their curriculum work. This research also suggests that traditional notions of multiculturalism are harmful and proposes pathways to rethink how art teachers design and enact multicultural curriculum. The researcher suggests a framework for art teachers’ multicultural curriculum work which moves beyond including diverse artists towards decentering whiteness as the normative frame of reference.Item Furtive Blackness : on being in and outside of law(2021-05-05) Wilson, Tabias Olajuawon; Marshall, Stephen H.; Thompson, Shirley; Perry, Imani; Livermon, Xavier; Arroyo-Martinez, JossiannaThis dissertation is comprised of three chapters; Furtive Blackness: On Blackness and Being (“Furtive Blackness”), The Strict Scrutiny of Black and BlaQueer Life (“Strict Scrutiny”) and Sexual Profiling: BlaQueer Furtivity. It takes a fresh approach to both criminal law and constitutional law; particularly as they apply to African descended peoples in the United States. This is an intervention as to the description of the terms of Blackness in light of the social order but, also, an exposure of the failures and gaps of law. This is why the categories as we have them are inefficient to account for Black life. The way legal scholars have encountered and understood the language of law has been wholly insufficient to understand how law encounters human life. This work is about the hermeneutics of law. While I center case history and Black letter law, I am also arguing explicitly that the law has a dynamic life beyond the courtroom, a life of constructing and dissembling Black life. Together, these essays and exercises in legal philosophy are pointing toward a new method of thinking about law, a method that makes central the material reality of the Black—and BlaQueer—in black letter law.Item Hope and the post-racial : high school students of color and the Obama American era(2015-05) Smith, William Louis; Brown, Anthony L. (Associate professor); Salinas, Cynthia; De Lissovoy, Noah; Epstein, Terrie; Urrieta, Jr., LuisDrawing on critical race theory, racial formation theory and the extant literature on the so-called post-racial turn in American life, this research explored the broad question of how young people of color make sense of issues of race and equity in the era of the first Black president. Using a case study design, as well as elements of visual research methods and narrative inquiry, I examined how a group of high school students of color at a predominantly White high school have learned about race and Obama, considering both formal school curricula and out-of school sources. I also sought to understand what significance the students placed on president Obama’s election, including their views on racial progress in the U.S. and their beliefs in the plausibility of a post-racial American era. Through the collection and analysis of interview, classroom observation, and artifact data, my findings suggest that schools can be unfriendly spaces for learning about these topics, but students pick up rich, though scattered, information through out-of-school sources such as family, community, and media. Additionally, students exhibited contradictory beliefs about race in America, with experiences of racial marginalization at school juxtaposed with measured optimism about racial progress in the U.S. Students also expressed personal inspiration in having a Black president and a willingness to hold multiple, competing narratives about race, Barack Obama, and their own lived experiences. These findings suggest a need for history and social studies teachers to provide formal curricular spaces for open discussion about race and President Obama to allow students to discuss and extend their multiple Obama narratives. Researchers must also consider the hybridized racial stories of both students of color and of the 44th president.Item How I made it over : the socialization and experiences of black male doctoral students(2012-08) Platt, Chester Spencer; Reddick, Richard, 1972-; Vincent, Gregory; Saenz, Victor; Harper, Shaun; Moore, Leonard N.; Harrison, LouisThe struggles of Black males at various stages of the educational pipeline have been well documented. However success stories and the experiences of high achieving Black males have received less scrutiny, as research has focused mostly on problematic outcomes from a deficit perspective until recent years. There remains a dearth of research that examines and gives voice to the experiences of Black male doctoral students (BMDS) on the campuses of predominantly white colleges and universities (PWI). Under these circumstances, it is important to understand how Black males have navigated their way into and through doctoral programs. Specific aims addressed in the present study examine the various aspects of socialization among BMDS, including experiential commonalities, sources of social support and how BMDS make sense of and respond to socialization efforts in their various departments. To address these specific aims qualitative research methods were employed. The study highlights results in five key areas: 1) Black male doctoral student pathways to doctoral programs, 2) choice of dissertation and research topics, 3) campus and community environment, 4) socialization experiences and, 5) the advisor-protégé relationship. My dissertation’s unique contributions are its addition of the Black male doctoral student socialization to the discourse and by examining their unique experiences. a central concern for this study’s participants has been navigating, resisting, and transforming many of the structural and cultural aspects of doctoral socialization that they as Black males find to be subtractive. BMDS in this study have largely adopted proactive strategies to aid them in their academic careers. Most have sought strategic relationships with faculty, Black faculty in particular as well as community support networks. Most have either created or worked closely with organizations that seek to transform the experiences of graduate students. These efforts are to maintain control of their educational experiences and resist elements of doctoral socialization that can be dehumanizing, frustrating and isolating for students of color while hopefully leaving the department and institution easier to navigate for those who follow in their footsteps.Item The impact of community college initiatives on black males at St. Philip's college : an evaluation of retention, completion, and student engagement efforts(2011-08) Hancock, Anthony, 1956-; Bumphus, Walter G.; Roueche, John E.; Northcutt, Norvell; Brown, Anthony L.; Contreras, AdrianaBlack males continue to struggle when faced with the challenge of seeking a college education (Cuyjet, 1997, 2006; Mincy, et al 2006; Schott, 2006). Currently, they lag behind in college and university participation as compared to other gendered groups as well as their White and Asian counterparts (Cuyjet, 2006; Bush & Bush, 2010). As with every promising Black male community college student, there are barriers to enrollment and completion, e.g., first-generation and first-time-in-college, previous high school academic and disciplinary experiences, peer pressure, family dynamics, financial considerations and social environments serving as barriers to enrollment and completion. Despite these barriers, many Black males students make it to college. However, they often have difficulty remaining in the educational system long enough to complete their certificates and/or degrees. Although, there are many quality community college and university programs designed to increase the overall success of students “prior to” and “during” enrollment, regrettably, many colleges that facilitate outreach and retention efforts do little by way of accountability. Statistical monitoring for evaluation purpose is mixed. Adequate records of how Black males are performing in and apart from college are important for educational institutions as they consider developing specialized programs for minority sub-group participation, engagement, and success. Furthermore, unengaged Black males, and those attempting to aid them, have varying viewpoints as to the type and priority of programs designed to include Black male participation in postsecondary education. This study will examine Black males’ perspectives versus institutional engagement strategies relative to participation, engagement, and successes that influence Black males Men on the Move program at St. Philip’s College. Moreover, the study will furthermore investigate outreach and retention efforts for Black males that were developed by the St. Philip’s College.Item Our stories of L.A.: youth constructing counter-narratives through devised performance(2015-05) Nevels, Megan Anne; Alrutz, Megan; Anderson, Charles; Lazarus, JoanIn movies, television, and music, South Central Los Angeles is portrayed as a place made up of gang violence, poverty, and failure. Young people of color every day construct their identities based on the messages they receive and through their own lived experiences. Media perpetuates specific stereotypes that inform people’s understanding of South Central, but youth voices are rarely heard. This thesis explores how autobiographical devising as counter-storytelling can provide a space for young people to disrupt stereotypes. Through playbuilding as a qualitative research method, the author examines how autobiographical devising can be used to build a critical counter-storytelling community among young people, while providing a space to share their stories with each other, with their communities, and with outsiders. The document examines three devising activities as sites for disruption of stereotypes and the possibilities of public performance as a call to action. The study finds that through an interaction with dominant narratives and the consequent sharing of counter-narratives, or the stories from the margins, the youth participants pushed against problematic stereotypes through the simultaneous embodiment and interrogation of particular stereotypes, the sharing of acts of kindness, the creation of frozen and spoken images that aim to place youth perspectives into the dominant narrative, and the staging of their lives and ideas for an audience. The document concludes with a discussion of the future possibilities of the work in research and practice, as well as a discussion of what an applied counter-storytelling theatre model can provide practitioners within the fields of Applied Theatre and Critical Race Theory.Item The rhetoric of common enemies in the racial prerequisites to naturalized citizenship before 1952(2013-05) Coulson, Douglas Marshall; Roberts-Miller, Patricia, 1959-; Heinzelman, Susan SageThis dissertation examines the rhetorical strategy by which groups unite against common enemies as it appears in a series of judicial cases between 1878 and 1952 deciding whether petitioners for naturalization in the United States were "free white persons" as required by the United States naturalization act at the time. Beginning in 1870, the naturalization act limited racial eligibility for naturalization to "free white persons" and "aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent." Based on the conclusion that Asians were neither "white" nor African, many courts interpreted these provisions to reflect a policy of Asian exclusion. As the distinction between "white" and Asian became increasingly disputed, however, the racial eligibility requirements of the act raised difficult questions about the boundaries of whiteness. I examine the rhetorical strategies adopted in a series of these cases between World War I and the early cold war involving Asian Indian, Armenian, Kalmyk, and Tatar petitioners who were represented as political or religious refugees at risk of becoming stateless if they were denied racial eligibility for naturalization in the United States. I argue that by representing the petitioners in the cases as victims of persecution by the nation's adversaries, the cases reflect a rhetorical strategy of uniting against common enemies which is also prevalent in the legislative, executive, and judicial discourse surrounding the act. I argue that the prevalence of this rhetorical strategy in racial prerequisite discourse suggests that a martial ideal of citizenship often influenced racial classifications under the act and that by recognizing the ways in which this discourse adapted to the rapidly changing enmities of the early twentieth century, a rhetorical interpretation of the cases offers advantages over other interpretive approaches and highlights the value of a rhetoric of law.Item Storied moments : foregrounding community cultural wealth through digital storytelling(2018-05-04) Flagler, Moriah; Alrutz, MeganSchools have historically been sites of acculturation, highly influenced by political issues. Concepts such as “subtractive schooling,” explain that schools that de-value young immigrants’ perspectives, strip them of their social and cultural resources and make them especially prone to academic failure. Building on the scholarship and research surrounding critical race theory and applied theatre, this qualitative MFA thesis examines how community cultural wealth was foregrounded in storied moments – planned and unplanned – when digital storytelling as an applied theatre practice was used with the aim of disrupting subtractive schooling. This study took place in a sixth-grade Spanish for Spanish Speakers class over a three-week residency and explores and analyzes how concepts of vulnerability, authentic caring, and communities of practice played out in the facilitator’s attempts to foreground community cultural wealth in the classroom. Based on the data collected, this document posits that employing digital storytelling as an applied theatre practice can counter subtractive schooling by making space and time for spontaneous and storied moments. Finally, this document discusses tensions that came up during the residency and invites practitioners to consider how they might bring personal story (dichos, cuentos, and testimonios) into the language classroom to center their students’ ways of knowing and lived experiences. This study hopes to contribute to the greater systemic change needed to create schooling experiences that build on the knowledges Latinx students bring with them into the classroom.Item Systematic digital inequities: evidence from the STaR Chart(2015-12) Geurtz, Renata Rippa; Hughes, Joan E.; Brown, Keffrelyn; Holme, Jennifer; Liu, Min; Resta, PaulThe primary purpose of this study was to identify and quantify the relationship between school and student characteristics and the campus technology readiness score as reported on the School Technology and Readiness (STaR) 2013 report issued by the Texas Education Agency. The secondary purpose was to identify those student and school characteristics that are statistically significant in predicting STaR composite scores as an indicator of technology integration. This study contributes to research on the digital equity and inequity by exploring the differences between K-12 schools in Texas. The unit of research was the schools themselves, thus changing the research focus from individuals and households to institutionalized, public, educational campuses. Secondly, the study used quantitative measures of technology readiness submitted by approximately 224,243 (StarChart, 2015) Texas teachers and aggregated to 6,091 schools. To address the research questions, quantitative methods were applied. Research questions and hypotheses were developed and tested to investigate whether a significant relationship existed between the dependent variable, the campus technology readiness score, and school characteristics and student characteristics. There were five independent variables for school characteristics and six independent variables for student characteristics. A parsimonious model was developed that identified the factors already evaluated independently, which were statistically significant in explaining the variation in the STaR composite score of technology readiness. Data analysis of 6,091 schools indicated that technology integration in Texas schools was statistically unequal based on student and school characteristics. Of the 11 factors tested, 10 were statistically significant, indicating that the differences were due to the evaluated factors rather than chance. Of the factors tested with ANOVA methodology, schools with Title 1 status had the highest R-squared (.024). Of the factors tested with Pearson product-moment correlation, schools educating higher percentages of economically disadvantaged students had the most influential Pearson r (-0.234). Using step-wise modeling, seven factors were included in the parsimonious model. The factors that contributed most to variation in technology readiness were percentage of economically disadvantaged students and the percentage of African American and Hispanic students. This research presents statistical evidence that technology integration practices vary between K-12 campuses in Texas and that there are systemic digital inequities. The research is a call to action to address digital inequity in Texas schools.Item Teaching and learning about race, racism, and Whiteness : towards anti-racist social work education(2018-11-29) Olcoń, Katarzyna Jadwiga; Gilbert, Dorie J.; Rountree, Michele A.; Gulbas, Lauren; Padilla, Yolanda; Cokley, KevinInadequate attention to race, racism, and Whiteness in social work education limits the profession’s ability to effectively prepare students to work with racial and ethnic minority groups, and undermines our commitment to furthering social justice. Guided by critical race theory and critical Whiteness theory, this three-article dissertation contributes to the social work education discourse on engaging students in critical dialogues on race, racism, and Whiteness. The first article systematically reviewed prior literature on the range and efficacy of social work education approaches to teaching about racial and ethnic diversity. The review revealed that while many studies reported positive student learning outcomes, as a whole, the studies lacked methodological rigor and sound theoretical grounding. The field thus lacks an intentional and systematic approach to teaching and evaluating student learning outcomes particularly related to race, racism, and Whiteness. The second study utilized ethnographic observations, analysis of reflective journals, and in-depth interviews with 19 U.S. college students who participated in a study abroad program in Ghana to examine their learning and meaning-making related to the history of racial oppression. The following themes were identified through inductive thematic analysis: (1) the suffering and resilience of African and African descent people; (2) “It’s still happening today”; (3) “You don’t learn about that in school”; and (4) remembrance, equity, and healing. Students expressed a frustration with significant knowledge gaps from the U.S. education system and believed a forthright education and dialogue about the history of racial injustice is a first step toward creating a racially equitable society. Using a case study design with elements of narrative data analysis, the third article examined experiences and responses of six White social work students learning about Whiteness in Ghana. Their stories exposed varied responses to “confronting” Whiteness, including avoidance and withdrawal, shock and defensiveness, humility, transformation, and goals of becoming anti-racism advocates. The researcher, a White co-creator of these stories, examined her positionality and experiences relating to the students during the research process. Recommendations for social work education, research, and practice are discussed with particular focus on anti-racism pedagogy and reflective, experiential, and emotional domains of learning.Item The digital dualism between real and digital bodies : how esports media & culture represent race, gender and class(2020-08) Figueroa, Ever Josue; Bock, Mary Angela; Butterworth, Michael; Chen, Gina; Reese, Stephen; Jensen, RobertIn the past few years there has been a tremendous rise in the number of people who watch livestreamed video game content on platforms like Twitch and YouTube. One of the biggest consumers of livestreamed content are gamers watch live esports competition. This emerging type of content within the new media landscape opens up crucial questions about representations of race, gender and class in esports media. This two-part study uses ethnography and critical discourse analysis to study a major esports event, Evolution Championship Series 2019. Ethnographic participant-observation was used to study the lived-experience of attending EVO 2019, and critical discourse analysis was used to study how esports announcers report on-screen action mediated by digital bodies. The findings of this study contribute to a growing body of literature on gaming culture, sports culture, and critical theories of embodiment. The study points out how representations of race, gender and class are complicated by esports media and culture, and the implications this can have moving forward.Item The production of schools : a critical investigation of capitalist and democratic struggles for social efficiency(2015-05) Bailey, Charles Trebor; De Lissovoy, Noah, 1968-; Brown, AnthonyThis paper aims to understand from a critical historical perspective how the ideology of the Social Efficiency Movement has been adopted, contested, transformed, and rewritten by the forces of public interests in key historical moments. By evaluating the context of public interest, strategies of implementation, and the results of production I will review the existing literature on the influences of social efficiency ideology in schools, curriculum and national policy. Central to my thesis is the question of how social efficiency is defined and enacted under current educational policy. In order to understand this broad question two more refined questions must first be addressed 1) how have we defined social efficiency in the modern era? and 2) what are the practices that we enact in order to achieve it? Limited within specific historical contexts I will answer what competing interests held stakes in the struggles to control the direction of schooling and, further, offer a socio-historical analysis of their material results. Regarding the principles that influenced the Social Efficiency Movement of the early twentieth century I put forth an analysis of the democratic and capitalist struggles that have taken place to define what is ‘socially efficient’ ever since.