Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2759
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Item WHITE RACIAL ALLYSHIP AMONG STAFF AT TRADITIONALLY WHITE INSTITUTIONS(2024) McGuire, Teon Donté; Fries-Britt, Sharon; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Interrupting Whiteness at Traditionally White Institutions (TWIs) is first and foremost a White problem. Those who have been unjustly privileged due to their race (i.e., White people) have both the resources and primary responsibility to challenge and interrupt the very systems that unjustly oppress People of Color. This study sought to understand the experiences of White staff members at TWIs who intentionally challenge racism and interrupt Whiteness. This study used a multiple case study design with White staff members as the unit of analysis and data were collected through semi-structured interviews and journals from seven White staff members at working at TWIs across the U.S. White staff member practiced racial at the intrapersonal (i.e., working on themselves), interpersonal (e.g., educating students, serving as a resource Students of Color, and being an amplifier), and organizational and institutional (e.g., via hiring and participating in DEI initiatives) levels. Additionally, their actions revealed multiple forms of Whiteness such as, preference of White centric course content, tokenizing People of Color, shifting the blame from racism to those challenging racism, and unfair reward processes.Item Race, Space, and Equity: How Local Youth, Longtime Resident Parents, and Local Policymakers Perceive and Experience School Gentrification(2024) Quarles, Bradley; Galindo, Claudia; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Public education has become increasingly entwined with gentrification, which involves the transformation of historically underinvested, predominantly minority neighborhoods for middle- and upper-income residential and commercial use. This phenomenon is supported by neoliberal reforms that marketize urban schools, with some policymakers and reformers assuming that these practices will attract parent gentrifiers, who will drive urban school transformation. However, this reform agenda rests on an uneven literature base that primarily highlights the perspectives of parent gentrifiers. This three-paper dissertation applies critical racial and spatial perspectives to three complementary qualitative investigations in Washington, D.C., a critical site of gentrification and market-based education reforms, to deepen our understanding of the relationship between gentrification and educational equity and amplify voices underrepresented in the existing literature. Study 1, “‘It Feels Like the City Pushed Us Aside’: Mapping Local Youths’ Experiences of Gentrification and Education in Washington, D.C.,” draws on data derived from participatory mapping activities and focus groups involving 23 Black and 7 Latinx public high school students. It explores how these young people depict and utilize space, perceive gentrification’s educational and environmental impacts, and construct narratives of belonging and justice in a gentrified city. The analysis delves into how racism, spatial disparities, and various forms of oppression mold the landscapes encountered by local youths, shaping the narratives they construct about themselves and their surroundings. The findings highlight their complex understanding of gentrification as a source of both opportunities and challenges, with many conveying that city leaders view them as disposable. Through their words and maps, a counter-narrative emerges to essentializing discourses that undermine the agency and capacity of local youth to propose policy solutions for improving neighborhood and school dynamics central to their lives. Study 2, “‘A Prisoner’s Dilemma: How Longtime Resident Black Parents Navigate School Choice, Gentrification, and Antiblackness,” uses retrospective interviews with 19 longtime resident Black parents with deep ties to the community that predate revitalization. It investigates how the intertwined dynamics of race, place, and power influence their experiences of gentrification and decision-making. The findings illuminate the tension between neoliberal school choice policies that assume all families operate in a minimally restrictive marketplace and the racial hostility and spatial disparities constraining Black parents’ agency within a gentrified school choice landscape. Instead of empowering families and compelling schools to be more responsive, the study reveals that for many longtime resident parents, school choice bred precarity, offering them “a chance, not a choice,” at securing academically rigorous and culturally affirming educational opportunities. Study 3, “Local Policymakers Sensemaking on Gentrification and Education: Working Towards Equity Across a Contested Landscape,” examines how 21 elected officials and education administrators responsible for citywide education reforms process the multiple messages and sources of influence concerning the competing interests of longtime resident families and parent gentrifiers. The study explores how local policymakers conceptualize whether gentrification enables or constrains educational opportunities throughout Washington, D.C., emphasizing its impact on longtime resident families. Additionally, it investigates how local policymakers’ conceptions of race, space, and equity shape their sensemaking of gentrification. The findings challenge simplistic portrayals of all local policymakers as advocates for gentrification catering to parent gentrifiers. Instead, participants voiced a deep commitment to advancing transformative and adequacy notions of equity and centering marginalized families in their decision-making. Transformative policymakers aimed to disrupt racially spatialized disparities, whiteness, and entrenched power dynamics, while adequacy policymakers sought to address inequities within the city’s existing policy frameworks. The findings provide insights for urban policy agendas that prioritize the needs of longtime resident families and other racially minoritized, historically disenfranchised communities.Item The Culture Beyond the Content: Does an “Overcoming Testimony” Empower Effective Urban Mathematics Teachers to Reach their Students?(2021) Smith, John Franklin; Wiseman, Donna L; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)“Do effective mathematics teachers with under-performing classes in urban settings possess cultural characteristics making them more effective than others?” This study evaluates the personal histories and beliefs of twelve qualifying middle school mathematics teachers to determine the role experiences and beliefs play in how teachers transform challenging classes into relatively high achievers. Effective is defined as recommended by their principals, coupled with demonstrated growth through public data of the state’s PARCC* assessment. Urban is defined as schools having close proximity to a major U.S. city, comprised of over 80% minority student populations and over 60% FARMS** recipients. Based on the literature and anecdotal evidence, a conceptual framework called the “overcoming testimony”- missionary zeal, community bonding, legacy, activist ideology and guardian angel - was designed to evaluate interview data. An interview protocol was administered and the interviews were videotaped and transcribed for further study. The impact of the teachers’ personal histories on their current practices was assessed using a coding system as the transcripts were evaluated. The results showed strong alignment with Fives and Buehl’s (2012) findings whereby beliefs “filter, frame and guide” decision-making. Beliefs and experiences filtered pedagogical choices and methods. The “overcoming testimony” elements framed their resiliency and commitment to their students’ welfare. Views on culture and content guided the teachers toward creating learning environments that promoted achievement. The data demonstrated an emerging community-bonding dynamic between African-American teachers and their Hispanic students. The results indicate effective teachers may succeed in part due to negative experiences they endured as students. I argue that based on the prevalence of beliefs and experiences evident in the interviews, these perspectives serve as a cultural lens enabling teachers to effectively engage grade-level mathematics students to demonstrate proficiency on state assessments. Without this lens, content mastery alone could be insufficient to the task.”*The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers **Free and Reduced MealsItem Vellathinai Dhahikunna Vezhambal (As a Bird Searches for the Rain Water) Social Perceptions of Indian American High School Youth Within Home, School, and Community Spaces(2018) Titan, Caroline; Brown, Tara M; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Broadly, this dissertation study examines: 1) the role of space in influencing social perceptions of Malayalee, Indian American, Christian youth and the ways these spaces and perceptions influence these youth’s schooling experiences; and 2) the role of human agency in and larger structural influences on Indian American youth’s schooling experiences. This study is exploratory and qualitative in nature, drawing on interview data from 7 Indian American youth (5 girls and 2 boys) who attended high schools in a single district located in the mid-Atlantic, United States and archival documents, specifically the school district’s English and history standards. To make sense of the study data and findings, I used a conceptual framework composed of key concepts from intersectionality, structural racism, and spatiality. Three key conclusions emerged from the present study: 1) teachers’ and peers’ perceptions of participants influenced their schooling experiences; 2) participants’ assigned importance to the social aspects of school as much as academic aspects; and 3) participants experienced racial/ethnic bias in their interactions with teachers and learning materials (e.g. curricula) which also influenced their schooling experiences.Item TEACHERS AND THE IDENTIFICATION PROCESS: MINORITY STUDENTS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION(2012) Danner, Carlin Linden; MacDonald, Victoria-Maria; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Racial, ethnic, and gender disproportionality in the field of Special Education is a phenomenon that has challenged our school systems since Brown v. The Board of Education (Blanchett 2006). This study of a Middle School in a Mid-Atlantic state is aimed to view disproportionality through the lens of the identification process (Kid Talk, Student Support Team Meetings, and Initial Individual Education Plan meeting). It is a qualitative study that included observations of initial IEP meetings and interviews with five professionals within the school setting. These interviews included two general educators, two special education teachers, and one administrator. Through a comprehensive data analysis, it was found that for these individuals the introduction of students into the special education depends upon a complex set of factors that include: teacher preparation, the perception of the teacher by their colleagues, and the student's academic/behavioral struggles, amongst others. Some recommendations include further professional development in the identification process and cultural competence.Item Principals Leading for Educational Equity: Social Justice in Action(2012) Eldridge, Cynthia; Mawhinney, Hanne B.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This qualitative case study examined how principals promote educational equity in schools.. The study examined the experiences of three principals in a school district that mandated that principals lead for equity. The school system defined equity as the elimination of racial predictability in student achievement. To conduct this examination, the researcher conducted an analysis of transcripts from semi- structured interviews. The study's findings overview four conditions that are commonly promoted by principals to address inequities within their schools: leadership for equity, an equity focus, equity enhancing practices and structures. The findings from this case study added to current knowledge about the need for an equity plan model that principals can apply in planning and leading for educational equity in their schools. Studying how principals promote educational equity in schools proved a significant way to learn about how today's schools address inequities facing African American and Hispanic students. The study also added to current knowledge about social justice in education, as the foundation for educational equity work. Suggestions for further research include: investigating principals leading for educational equity in a district that did not mandate this idea; further comparison studies with the principal as the primary unit of analysis; including teacher and student perceptions would be beneficial. Research that provides further description of the experiences of principals working to become leaders in educational equity will extend our professional knowledge on this topic.