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…

Pedagogical practices traditionally used by faculty in U.S. higher education tend to value and center white students and their success, simultaneously disregarding the learning strengths of Students of Color. The misalignment of pedagogical practices with how Students of Color may learn best could be contributing to completion gaps between white…

The current makeup of the PK-12 educational workforce is largely White persons. However, the demographic makeup of the student body is soon to be a majority of students of color. This is problematic due to the disproportionate statistics of students of color being suspended at higher rates than White students, the "achievement gap"…

This autoethnographic dissertation research explores Critical White Studies (CWS) and racial trauma and their impact on Students of Color in a higher education setting. This study aims to challenge the deficit thinking of white educators who perpetuate racism in higher education. The relationship is examined to dismantle the white ideology of…

Achieving equitable educational outcomes for Black and Brown students was at the core of this research. Scholarly work on the persistence of disparate educational outcomes among Black and Brown students rarely contended with a stunning demographic. While U.S. public school students are increasingly diverse, the teaching force in grades K-5 is…

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 racial and ethnic diversity of faculty in the United States is not keeping pace with that of students. Still, the majority of faculty are white despite improvement over the past twenty years (Davis & Fry, 2019). The need for faculty to enhance their cultural awareness and multicultural efficacy in higher education is evident…

This research explores the cognitive dissonance experienced by novice teachers when entering the teaching profession, specifically around cultural competence while teaching in the urban core. The study builds upon previous research by Adam Eckard, who investigated the impact of teacher preparation programs on teacher identity development in urban…

The consistency of a predominantly White special education teaching workforce in urban classrooms and the significant increase in the enrollment of culturally diverse students have fueled concerns about equity and access in special education (Artiles et al., 2010; Zion & Blanchett, 2017). Scholars advocate that all teachers need to understand…

Traditional science instruction typically follows an initiation- response-evaluation format and privileges curriculum reflective of Western, male, white, middle-class values, and knowledge which sometimes tends to exclude Black and Latinx students. This qualitative instrumental case study explored how a White male seventh-grade science teacher in…

As racial demographics of students in schools are becoming more diverse, the racial demographics of teachers remains predominantly White. Adding to this, many White teachers are unprepared in the skills of racial literacy and lack the ability to address racist power structures within both the curriculum and their teaching practices. The purpose of…

The reification of community colleges as symbolic gateways for access to higher education for historically underrepresented groups belies fundamental structural inequities these ostensibly democratic institutions exhibit, most notably the alarming overrepresentation of White faculty relative to Students of Color. Grounded in this structural…

US schools have seen limited success in meliorating inequitable outcomes for students of color amid the expanding gap between student and educator racial demographics, yet there is a dearth of research on suburban schools and effective white educators of children of color. While districts and institutions of higher education work to diversify the…

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,…

Of the roughly 3.5 million public school teachers in the United States, approximately 80% are White. In contrast, about 51.7% of the nation's students are African American, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian. This mismatch is expected to grow as the number of BIPOC students in our nation's public schools continues to increase. Studies have shown…