This study takes place at a middle school in Charleston County, South Carolina. The study examines how White women educators make sense of being exposed to the content in "Don't Let Them Be Misunderstood", a professional development about Culturally Responsive Classroom Management (CRCM). Guided by sensemaking theory and the dispositions…

Many White educators are not aware of their White privilege, and therefore they need support in developing their White racial identity and racial awareness so that they can identify problems associated with racism and participate in conversations about race and racism with an eye towards dismantling systemic racism. Data was collected from…

This dissertation presents research pertaining to how classroom teachers can become more effective in teaching their students of color. Through an examination of literature pertaining to critical whiteness studies, critical pedagogy, antiracist education, and transformative leadership, a professional learning program has been designed to offer…

This qualitative phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of teachers with respect to the professional development received on culturally responsive teaching and their perspectives on the influence this professional learning has had on teacher pedagogical development and student performance. The 30 licensed teachers in Massachusetts…

Research studies suggest that professional development would better prepare the 84% White teaching force to serve diverse classrooms. Schools have begun providing professional development with desired outcomes of better serving their diverse student body. This research study focused on educators who received summer camp-style immersive…

Increased public scrutiny and outcry over police shootings of unarmed Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor to name just two, forced a greater awareness of societal demonizing and criminalizing of Black and Brown people due to racial stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination. This examination of American…

The following study addressed the raising of racial consciousness of White teachers within predominantly White settings given prior research indicating limited racial consciousness and the tendency for learning within predominantly White spaces to be someone ineffective and limited. The purpose of this research was to study how a White teachers…

This three-article dissertation explores the professional learning interests of veteran K-12 teachers and what those interest reveal about how veteran K-12 teachers are presently supported in the teaching profession. In article 1, data analyses of a mixed-methods survey indicated that veteran K-12 teachers in the Urban Public School (UPS) district…

This study sought to investigate the efficacy of a professional development designed to equip teachers with antiracist practices and support them in developing an abolitionist mindset. The study was designed for white teachers. Participants of the study engaged in a 6-week course grounded in a constructivist learning theory, TLT, and centered…

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…

This study examines K-12 public school teacher turnover, with a particular focus on teachers of color. Recruiting and retaining well-qualified teaching staff is a challenge in the United States, where annually roughly 16% of teachers either leave the teaching profession entirely or transfer to a different school. This high rate of turnover is of…

Educators come to their work with many personal and educational achievements and accomplishments. They are provided with curriculum, learning standards, and expectations at the school, district, and state levels. Often, the respective identities and lived experiences of the educator are in stark contrast to those of the students they teach,…

This research was conducted to determine elementary teachers' perception of professional development pertaining to cultural competency and its effects in the classroom. Elementary educators are the first line of formal schooling most students encounter. Currently, United States classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse while educators are…

The process of racial identity development (RID) is widely agreed to be the process by which an individual comes to understand the role race plays in their sense of self, how it influences their ability to acquire information and reach goals, how it affects their interpersonal interactions with others, and the manner in which it assigns group…

The problem was the commonly held belief that lack of confidence, preparedness, educational neuromyths, and little or no professional development are factors that impede early childhood teachers' implementation of brain-based learning strategies in the daily curriculum design structure. This qualitative narrative inquiry aimed to explore…