The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Culturally Sustaining Schools." Contents include: (1) Texas HB 3979 Will Hurt…

As the rhetorical performances of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work continue to proliferate and sell a movement towards more equitable institutions, the authors challenge this rhetoric as merely a new mode of epistemological and territorial expropriation. Instead, the authors put forth the concept of shadow work, which happens as a…

Social media campaigns such as #BlackLivesMatter have demonstrated Twitter as a powerful tool for anti-racist social activism. This article traces one local hashtag, #BeingMinorityatTCU, which has resurged on the TCU campus in the wake of a university lawsuit. Drawing from Critical Race Theory (Delgado, 1989; Martinez, 2014; Yosso, 2013),…

We continue to witness disparities in exclusionary disciplinary outcomes within K-12 public schools, leading to persistent concerns for educational equity. In-school suspensions represent one of the most frequently employed components of school exclusionary discipline systems, and they are also largely left up to the discretion of principals and…

How is the natural language of feedback affected when instructors are White and learners are minorities? The present research addressed this question using a website called Feedback Forward through which White undergraduates provided extensive open-ended responses on a poorly written essay supposedly drafted by either a Black or a White fellow…

In this article, the author explores how a well-respected teacher, who students identified to be caring and supportive, differentially responded to her students across gender. Using narrative inquiry and gender theories, everyday classroom interactions between a teacher and a Latina mothering student are examined to unpack how gendered frameworks…

The purpose of this study was to explore how social unrest in the United States, specifically the COVID-19 pandemic and the tragic deaths of Black people at the hands of police, have transformed the leadership and pedagogy of school leaders in three rural school districts in southwest Texas. The strategies used to collect data for this study…

Cutting-edge data science techniques can shed new light on fundamental questions in educational research. We apply techniques from natural language processing (lexicons, word embeddings, topic models) to 15 U.S. history textbooks widely used in Texas between 2015 and 2017, studying their depiction of historically marginalized groups. We find that…

Principals play a critical role in creating safe, inclusive, and equitable schools. Unfortunately, many schools maintain a legacy of exclusionary discipline and racial bias. In such contexts, principals can work collaboratively with school personnel and community members to interrogate existing policies, practices, and outcomes to inform…

This article traces how Mexican American Studies (MAS) scholar activists led and supported a statewide movement for MAS in Texas. As a Xicana feminist scholar activist, Saldan~a draws from her retrospective memory and personal archive of organizational notes, movement documents, personal testimonies before the State Board of Education, and photos,…

The purpose of this research is to examine the prevalence of racially diverse high schools in order to understand the conditions that create or inhibit the existence of diverse and equitable schools. We analyzed Texas state demographic data for schools in order to understand the scarcity of racially diverse campuses. We then utilized mapping and…

More work is needed to engage the talents and empower Latino students to reach their full academic potential. We suggest that one potential cause for Latino student underperformance is the underrepresentation of Latino school leaders. Research suggests that school leaders who understand the cultural background and lived experiences of students…

Research Focus: The purpose of this study was to explore the role that mentoring played in the professional development of minority faculty in the Texas State higher education system. Research Methods: A phenomenological qualitative research design was employed for this study. Data was collected using open ended in-depth interviews with eight…

Mentorship, and the notion of who is a mentor, both hold a revered place for boys and young men of color (BYMOC). Mentoring programs must help mentees build intellectual confidence, academic self-esteem, and an overall belief that they are capable of overcoming the systemic barriers to their success in school. MENTOR: The National Mentoring…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Redefining Discipline." Contents include: (1) Stop the Bad; Do the Good --…