Through an arts-based autoethnography, I explored the influences and experiences that informed my approach to leading Black youth empowerment programming. Although there is a significant amount of scholarship on Black youth empowerment programming and its importance to Black children, there is limited literature on how one becomes a Black youth…

International students' experiences with race and racism in U.S. higher education has received increasing scholarly attention, especially in light of a series of recent environmental hostilities (e.g., anti-Asian hate associated with COVID-19) that have affected the population. This growing body of research has primarily focused on how…

This action research looked at the low comfort levels among young people when engaging in conversations about social inequities. Additionally, this research investigated the development of youth voice, agency, and engagement from youth who were involved in creating an online resource library surrounding these topics. The research consisted of 2…

This dissertation explores the development and implementation of a community-based educational program, iDREAM, aimed at teaching minoritized youth about Artificial Intelligence (AI) with an emphasis on ethics and social justice. Partnering with two NGOs, this study integrates Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) and Critical Computational…

The Critical Literacy (CritLit) project promotes using critical texts to engage readers in examining their lived experiences and understanding of social justice issues. This study used a qualitative participatory approach with a narrative design to research the students' engagement in a book club using critical texts. Participants were fourth- and…

Until recently, many early childhood educators, particularly those in nontraditional preschool spaces, leaned on a color-evasive approach to their work, largely ignoring systemic racism and bias, claiming love and acceptance of all children in their care. While well-intentioned, these practices left young children to construct their own…

My study documents the formation and impact of the student-led movement of Black Lives Matter in Higher Education (BLMHE) that is housed within Teachers College Higher and Postsecondary Education Program (HPSE). This group consists of HPSE students and faculty that have come together to analyze the effects of systemic societal forces on members of…

Student activists have been an historic driver of higher education social justice reform. While this form of leadership is central to improving equity outcomes in higher education, scholars and practitioners often view organizational change as a top-down process centering senior administrators, staff, and faculty. Empowering student activists as…

Which programmatic principles of community engagement have a higher potential to irritate the beliefs that college students hold regarding their own power, privilege, understanding of social justice? This study takes a qualitative approach to the exploration of three groups of students representing curricular community engagement, co-curricular…

Food insecurity is a global concern and is acute in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa as well as pockets in the global North. In the lush green spaces of "God's Own Country", the state of Kerala in India, about 379,000 women are engaged in farming in about 75,800 groups. Spearheaded by Kudumbashree, the State Poverty Eradication Mission…

Despite legal advancements recognizing the rights of individuals with disabilities, societal barriers are still arising from the medical model of disability. These obstacles have resulted in marginalizing and isolating practices, in turn leading to the underrepresentation of individuals with disabilities in the workforce and, by extension, in…

Teaching mathematics for social justice or critical mathematical literacy is said to have the potential of providing all students with equal access to mathematics education. The researcher used a case study approach to investigate the factors that affect female students' development of sociopolitical consciousness and social agency through reading…

Systemic sustainable change does not happen overnight but begins with the diffusion of knowledge and changing of attitudes (Rogers, 2010). Additionally, games can educate while adjusting attitudes (Gee, 2008; Jones, 2008). For these reasons, this project designed a Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) prototype to teach about the basic human rights…

This dissertation explores the depth of the Black educator turnover problem in today's public schools. Black educators across the country have experienced higher than average turnover rates, eroding the success of recent minority teacher recruitment efforts. This epidemic has left the field of teaching consistent with the status quo, white and…

This qualitative case study explored the perceptions and practices of three teachers who teach social justice concepts in kindergarten and 2nd grade classrooms in an urban school district in the Northwest region of the United States. The research sought to answer the following central questions: (a) What do teachers perceive about how instruction…