Schools are adopting social emotional learning (SEL) programs, intending to provide students with intrapersonal and interpersonal skills to better prepare them for life. Transformative SEL is designed to promote the building of relationships between diverse students and educators to build more just schools and society. Because SEL models are…

Background: A potential target of educational policies or practices to address racial or ethnic disparities in school functioning is to increase the extent to which Black and Hispanic students are taught by teachers who are of the same race or ethnicity. Exposure to teachers of the same race or ethnicity may help provide Black and Hispanic…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to share my personal memories and emotions of my experience as an African American, a Woman of Color, teacher-peer, teacher-researcher, student and a colonized standard American English speaker, situated in English classrooms as white teachers teach African American literature from a white gaze. I concur with…

This paper explores the ways in which COVID-19 and the rapid shift to remote education has impacted teachers' mental health. Teachers play multiple roles in students' lives (Cross & Hong, 2012) and already face high levels of work stress. This study, which draws on interview data from a larger pool of interviews conducted with K-12 teachers…

This study examines how one school's well-intentioned White teachers and students from diverse backgrounds--all of whom belong to their school's working groups created to address issues of diversity--conceptualize diversity. Utilizing a qualitative case study, the study shows a discrepancy between what teachers and students felt comfortable…

Should students in public schools learn to think critically about racial (in)justice and social (in)equity? The results of a recent mixed methods survey for educators revealed that a significant number of teachers did not believe they were responsible for helping their students develop the skills to critically analyze and respond to social…

The scarcity of teachers of color (TOCs) in Pennsylvania has been well-documented. In 2018, Research for Action (RFA) reviewed the literature on the benefits of teachers of color for all students and highlighted barriers, strategies, and initiatives in "Patching the Leaky Pipeline: Recruiting and Retaining Teachers of Color in…

Graduate programs for inservice teachers seeking additional credentialing often include a mandatory diversity course. One aim of these types of courses is to help teachers recognize and dismantle their racial biases in hopes that this self-reflection process will enable teachers to use antiracist teaching approaches and create classroom…

Background/Context: Schools are increasingly using scripted curricula that limit teacher autonomy. These limitations are exacerbated when scripted curricula are enacted in fully standardized, asynchronous online course environments with no mechanisms for student--teacher communication. Purpose: This study extends understanding of how teacher…

Mentoring demonstrably increases the retention of undergraduate and graduate students and is moreover invaluable in shaping and nurturing academic careers. With the increasing diversification of the student body and of faculty ranks, there's a clear need for culturally responsive mentoring across these dimensions. Recognizing the low priority that…

This co-authored qualitative case study explores the problem of teachers connecting with their students especially at the middle school level. While research has established the need for teachers to better understand the background experiences of their students, more research is needed to explore the value of place-based professional development…

Teachers in the United States are primarily White and female. Thus, the education system is built on whiteness and maintains white supremacy. One approach to disrupting racist outcomes is to increase the number of people of color pursuing teaching. Yet, the ways that pre-service teachers (PSTs) are racialized often results in PSTs of color…

Differences in personal characteristics, professional qualifications, and contextual factors for congruent and incongruent Black, Hispanic, and White teachers were investigated using data from the National Teacher and Principal Survey (n[subscript teachers]=25,420; n[subscript schools]=5,500). Racial/ethnic congruence was defined as the match…

In support of the special issue of "Whiteness and Education," 'White Scholars Working against Whiteness', the author approaches the research question: What learning is needed for White teachers' race-visible teaching? Through a topical life history reflection adding to second-wave White teacher identity studies, the author narrates…

This study seeks to critically examine perceptions of urban school climate from a predominantly white teacher workforce and discuss the role that white identity, as the Dominant culture, plays in maintaining the status quo of racialized school climate. Participants included 145 teachers from a large southwestern urban setting. Teachers'…