Current educational systems utilize Eurocentric curricula and disciplinary practices that perpetuate discrimination towards students of color. As such, many educators are seeking improved strategies to better meet the needs of minority students. Culturally responsive teaching practices have been used throughout school districts as a pedagogy to…

In education, disproportionality, often used interchangeably with overrepresentation, is defined as, "the high probability of being placed in special education, based on membership in a historically marginalized group" (Oswald, Coutinho, Best, & Singh, 1999). Research findings have identified root causes of disproportionality as a…

This research implements and evaluates the effectiveness of three scaffolds: critical theories in classes, critical friends groups to discuss white identity, dominant ideologies, anti-racist practices and diverse field based experiences. These scaffolds provided white pre-service teachers the opportunity to reconcile how their identities influence…

This qualitative study aims to analyze the definition of the African American/Black racial group and how it affects the United States education system. Document analysis and interviews are the key approaches used. Constructs of social justice, critical race theory, stereotype threat theory, and color-confrontation theory collectively serve as…

Given the historical trend in segregation across New York State that is profoundly and systematically rooted within the fabric of the state's education system, it is no surprise the education system had been viewed as having two separate systems, for example, Title I versus non-Title I. For non-Title I districts/schools, the average graduation…

The purpose of this study was to explore the mentorship women of color leaders provide other women of color seeking leadership advancement in Student Services at California community colleges. Specifically, the interviews and observations were designed to capture the identity-conscious strategies, related to the intersection of race and gender,…

At the community college, diversity is an overarching institutional goal, yet it remains elusive, especially in the full-time faculty ranks. This dissertation explored the individual and systemic barriers to hiring faculty of color. A phenomenological approach was used to examine the community college full-time faculty search process from the…

Family engagement is crucial to academic achievement. However, family engagement practices in schools are inequitable and do not reach Families of Color. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed both further inequities in education and an undoubtedly critical need to partner with all families for student success. This improvement science initiative was…

Journalism and mass communication (JMC) administrators lead unique academic programs because many of their graduates will have a direct impact on the way countless members of society view themselves and their neighbors. This study's purposes are to add to the limited body of research focused on JMC administrators, and to contextualize the…

The purpose of this study was to understand the role that White people can play in dismantling systemic racism and oppression in the supervision of people of color in student affairs. The primary goal of the study was to better understand, from the perspectives of people of color, how systemic racism and bias in the supervision of people of color…

Given the backdrop of over 500 years of racial oppression dominated by White Christianity, it is not surprising that racism continues to persist in Christian higher education institutions. Although the problem of modern racism began when the White Christian church created a racial hierarchy that exalted Whites to levels of supposed racial…

This dissertation is the experience of my life, an evolution of platicas I have had con mis coyotes, my Nepantlero guides. I am one Chicano navigating through the mechanisms of a coercive and hegemonic system which limits our advancement in the academy. My ontology, epistemology, and axiology stem from my cultural and family foundations which I…

Whiteness is present and performed when whites are discussing race and racism. It is also working when race isn't being discussed in STEM college classrooms. As this dissertation shows, white students in college algebra participate in white racial bonding, committing racial microaggressions and what I coin "nanoaggressions" against…

The purpose of this study was to explore the key characteristics of learning communities and how they have impacted student success for academically diverse learners in an undergraduate medical environment. The study was conducted at two minority serving institutions regarded for their social mission and ability to provide a critical mass of…

In this study, an investigation of the educational experiences of Afro-Caribbean student immigrants who were academically successful in the United States at the higher education level was conducted. Although immigrants of African descent experienced barriers such as immigrant status and racial minority status which led to a double disadvantage in…