This paper focuses on the evolution of community schools from a grassroots organizing effort to a formal initiative in Philadelphia. The authors implemented a critical participatory action research project to examine the process and impact of the education organizing. We present two narratives to illustrate the potential and limitations of two…

Based on a 3-year qualitative case study of political education projects within an urban teacher-led grassroots activist organization, this article explores the formation of grassroots political education and how it mediated the development of teachers as community organizers. Through a documentary and narrative account, this article argues that…

This research examines how a student voice experience--Social Justice Youth Summit--developed youth capacities as transformative school leaders. We engaged a youth development framework situated in school- and community-based youth leadership literature to analyze a diverse group of urban youth's experiences and sensemaking of the youth voice…

There is a growing emphasis on social justice pedagogy as a predominantly White teacher labor force infiltrates classrooms in urban schools. Using "critical race theory" (CRT)--and the construct of interest convergence--this study examines how White teachers working in an urban school apply and enact teaching for social justice during…

As part of a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project to create culturally responsive curriculum that uses critical spatial thinking and geospatial technologies to address spatial justice in urban neighborhoods, students from a predominantly African American inner-city public high school in Toledo, Ohio participated in two summer workshops…

Diversifying the student body in teacher education programs (TEPs) remains an elusive goal. Despite recruiting efforts, few men of color complete programs leading to teaching credentials. To problematize this phenomenon, this study examines the experiences of three men of color enrolled in a predominantly White teacher education program (PWTEP).…

This study examined how the concept of social justice was operationalized in the university coursework of students enrolled in an urban teacher residency program that aims to diversify the teaching corps and prepare secondary STEM teachers for urban classroom environments. Based on analysis of 39 syllabi and interviews with nine faculty members,…

The purpose of this research was to examine the disconnect between urban school expectations and actual lived realities of marginalized students. Taking into consideration the conversation surrounding the definitions of urban education, and the importance of school connectedness with youth, we chose to focus on the lives of five former high…

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced U.S. schools to shutter and teach remotely in March 2020, several states suspended external measures intended to hold educators accountable for student learning. Research on leadership during the pandemic highlights how the pause on external performance measures shifted school leaders' behaviors; they used…

School discipline has been a site of contention and reform. In this study, we draw from 17 interviews with traditional and charter school principals in one mid-sized urban school district to examine how principals use discipline as a tool to both maintain control and demonstrate care. Our study calls attention to different strategies principals…

Using critical race structuralism (CRS), a new contribution, as well as primary and secondary data, this article explores the role of science in teaching social justice issues in urban education. In the United States, a teaching workforce, which is predominately White, middle class, and female, intersects with an increasingly diverse student…

This article examines teacher self-efficacy in social and emotional learning (SEL), particularly by teachers of color, and the conditions that shaped their efficacy beliefs. Data are drawn from surveys with two teacher groups, one comprised of teachers of color and a comparative group that was predominantly white. Surveys were followed by…

Grounded in critical race theory and a burgeoning field of Black feminist technology studies, this article takes a techno-structural approach to understanding the promise and peril of internet technology to support activism, transformational resistance and counter-storytelling for Black college-agewomen. Qualitative interviews with 17 Black…

In this article, we explore community schools, as first theorized through community organizing, in relation to movements for racial justice in education to address the following question: How has educational equity been radically imagined by the community school movement in New York City to reframe how we understand success, meaningful school…

I examine how three elementary-level preservice teachers of Color cultivated their asset-, equity-, and justice-oriented pedagogical learning and identities through multilayered community-engaged tasks. Systemic and structured support from multiple stakeholders played a critical role in helping the preservice teachers of Color to promote and…