Do white teachers learn racial competency from their Black peers? We answer this question using a mixed-methods approach. Longitudinal administrative data from North Carolina show that having a Black same-grade peer significantly improves the achievement and reduces the suspension rates of white teachers' Black students. Open-ended interviews of…

We use longitudinal data across public postsecondary institutions in Tennessee to examine the stages at which potential Black educators disproportionately exit the teacher pipeline. Black and White bachelor's graduates declare and complete teaching-related majors at similar rates, suggesting comparable levels of initial interest in teaching…

In this collection of autoethnographies, four researchers explored our deeply personal experiences and encounters with racialized oppression in the form of spirit-murder. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Whiteness Studies, this dissertation explores how two white educators have committed spirit-murder against Black students and how…

In this collection of autoethnographies, four researchers explored our deeply personal experiences and encounters with racialized oppression in the form of spirit-murder. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Whiteness Studies, this dissertation explores how two white educators have committed spirit-murder against Black students and how…

In the midst of dual pandemics, the racial justice uprising and Coronavirus pandemic, I, a Black associate professor of education, took on the challenge of having my White colleague as an apprentice for racial justice work. While co-teaching a critical diversity course, I decided to strategically engage our College of Education in a robust…

Studies persistently show disparities in exclusionary discipline across racial/ethnic groups in U.S. schools. Using administrative data from kindergarteners through fifth graders in Indiana, we examine the effects of student-teacher race/ethnicity matching on disciplinary outcomes. We find that Black students exhibit lower rates of suspension and…

This qualitative research study examined the experiences of two Black female teachers and six White female teachers who participated in five Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) workshops that incorporated Open Studio Process (OSP) using Expressive Therapy Continuum (ETC). It is informed by research on defensiveness and resistance that often…

Racial disproportions in discipline within the U.S. public school system have been documented since the 1970s and continue to grow despite decades of research and intervention. A solid base of research ruling out individual student- and family-level factors as main causes of the racial disproportions has amassed, however, deficit narratives,…

This paper presents the experiences of a racially integrated research team -- two Black male scholars and one white female scholar - drawn from a series of recorded conversations and journal entries as part of weekly research meetings while engaging in race research across more than a year's time. While our work inherently centered race by nature…

In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the national enrollment rate for pre-k children ages 3 to 4 was 40% (a drop from 54% in 2019; National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). This is partly due to fewer children in the 0-5 age group (23.4 million of 72.8 million children in the United States in 2020; U.S. Census Bureau, 2020).…

Teacher identities and beliefs influence instructional practices. In order to explore this process, this self-study was conducted by three literacy professors from different ethnic backgrounds including one African-American professor, one Chinese national professor and one White professor. The purpose of this study was to examine how professors'…

This study explored challenges non-Indigenous educators face in centering Indigenous histories and experiences in anti-racist professional development (PD) workshops for PK-12 educators. It addressed the process of transforming anti-racist PD and the significance of learning from Native American community members. The invisibility of Indigenous…

Teacher turnover is especially pronounced among teachers of color who play critically important roles in the success of students of color. A growing literature points to racial isolation as one factor that is associated with Black teacher job satisfaction in particular, which in turn could play a role in a teacher's decision to remain in a school.…

Research in sociology demonstrates the way social connections shape access to information about job opportunities. In education, we understand less about how social networks impact the job process for marginalized teachers and teachers in nontraditional labor markets. This study examines how teachers in New Orleans and Detroit, cities with high…

In the late 1930s, the NAACP launched a campaign to equalize Black and white teacher salaries in the de jure segregated schools of the American South. Using newly collected county panel data spanning three decades, this paper first documents heterogeneous within-state impacts of the campaign on teacher salaries. In states that reinforced…