College of Education
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item A NECESSARY INTERVENTION: CONCEPTUALIZING AND EMPLOYING CRITICAL RACIAL ETHNIC STUDIES(2024) Charity, Crystal; Brown, Tara; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Over the last decade, secondary schools around the United States have rapidly adopted ethnic studies courses. For instance, California’s governor mandated ethnic studies as a high school graduation requirement in 2021 (Magcalas, 2023). According to scholars, ethnic studies courses offer educational experiences that disrupt the erasure and oppression of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color through Eurocentrism in schools (Hu-Dehart, 1993; Lowy, 1995). However, there is currently no universally accepted understanding of ethnic studies curricula, and ethnic studies programs vary widely. As K-12 ethnic studies programs expand around the country, educators need a unifying framework that retains ethnic studies’ critical integrity. This three-paper dissertation proposes critical racial ethnic studies (CRES), a curricular and pedagogical framework grounded in critical race theory and critical pedagogies, as a tool for organizing ethnic studies curricula. Collectively, this dissertation offers practical tools for educators to cultivate critical consciousness and racial literacies among youth and for teacher educators to do the same among teachers and teacher candidates. In study 1, “Conceptualizing critical racial ethnic studies: A critical analysis of the literature,” I use the CRES framework to analyze the research on secondary-level ethnic studies curricula and pedagogy, its limitations as a means of achieving racial justice, and possible future directions for the field. Drawing from this literature, I develop a definition of CRES and establish the historical context out of which CRES emerged, thereby demonstrating an alignment between the original goals of ethnic studies and the CRES framework. I also identify several patterns in the literature: (1) the variation in critical pedagogies employed by ethnic studies educators, (2) how youth experience CRES, (3) the CRES tenets most frequently highlighted by researchers, and (4) the differences between out-of-school and in-school CRES curricula. In study 2, “Building new worlds through an ethnic studies community education program,” I employ the CRES framework to analyze the development and implementation of an out-of-school CRES program. Through individual and focus group interviews, observations, and participant reflections, this qualitative study examines the decision-making processes of three Asian American undergraduate students working collaboratively to create an Asian American Studies curriculum for local youth of color. This study reveals that educators’ desire and ability to enact a CRES curriculum is largely dependent upon their backgrounds, experiences, and resources. For instance, the participants relied on their peers to help with curriculum development. This study reveals that access to university-level ethnic studies courses and a robust network of critically conscious peers can support facilitators' racial literacies and critical consciousness and, thus, their commitment to critical interpretations of ethnic studies. In study 3, “‘I wish I had this program in high school’: What motivates and sustains ethnic studies community educators,” I build upon the previous study by examining what motivated the three students to create the CRES program and how they persevered despite myriad barriers that can lead to burn out. Through individual and focus group interviews and participant reflections, this qualitative study interrogates how participants describe their pathways to becoming and remaining CRES educators. The findings reveal CRES educators may be inspired to pursue teaching because of their lived experiences during childhood and adolescence, particularly in schools and their families, and their subsequent involvement in ethnic studies courses and politically engaged student groups in college. The study highlights how important community networks and resources are in the development of educators’ critical consciousness and racial literacies, two key factors in employing CRES curricula. Thus, the findings provide insight into how to effectively recruit, train, support, and learn from CRES educators.Item Transformative Black Teachers and their Use of Computer Related Technologies in Urban Schools(2004-11-02) Frederick, Rona Monique; Price, Jeremy N.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Over the last decade, the Internet and other computer-related technologies have become ubiquitous to many U.S. schools. However, little is known about the ways Black educators working in urban schools integrate computer technology into their classroom practice. Although studies have been conducted on successful urban schoolteachers and their pedagogical philosophies, few explore how instructional computers are used to meet diverse students' personal and cultural needs. Furthermore, rarely do reports seek to highlight the stories of exemplary Black urban schoolteachers who use technology in spite of limited and out-dated resources. In response, this research, utilizing interpretive case study methodology, examined how four Black teachers integrated the Internet and computer-related technologies into their teaching practices in ways that transformed the thinking and lives of their Black students. Tenets of Critical Race Theory, an analysis of race and racism in the law and in society, was used to examine these Black teachers' classroom practices. This research occurred in two phases. First, I situated the historical, social and political context of Roosevelt City and the emergence of its Black schooling system. This account provided a context for understanding the historical struggle of its Black community to access knowledge within a city based on racial domination and subordination. I analyzed archival data, newspapers and articles, to capture the historical and current atmosphere of Roosevelt City Public Schools. During the second phase, I chose four "transformative" Black teachers to participate in 1) a formal interview about their life story and their teaching philosophies using computer technology; 2) a series of on-going classroom observations in which I examined the classroom dynamics, discourse patterns, activities and the physical setting; and, 3) a series of informal interviews about specific interactions in the classroom. Through the use of ngona, counter-storying, I documented their teaching practice over the course of one thematic unit. Overall, the findings suggest that computers and related technologies 1) assisted teachers in engaging in meaningful instruction about the Black experience, 2) served as an intellectual partner where Black students constructed knowledge; and, 3) became a medium for legitimizing Black student' real life experiences in the "official curriculum."