Browsing by Subject "Critical Race Theory"

Now showing 1 - 11 of 11
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    Cost of Attendance: The Development of Financial Literacy for First-Generation, Low-Income, Community College Students of Color
    (2018-02) Wallace, Nicholas Lester
    First-generation, low-income, community college students of color represent one of the fastest growing segments of the undergraduate student population in the United States. With college costs continuing to rise, student debt levels at record highs, and socioeconomic disparities that include growing income and wealth gaps, it is particularly important to understand the development of financial literacy for these students. This qualitative research is a critical phenomenology and is rooted in critical race theory. Employing a semi-structured long-interview protocol, textural-structural themes and invariant constituents gleaned from the coded responses in 22 interviews were used to create 22 sub-thematic categories that organized the findings. A portion of these data are presented as ten counterstories, organized in four main themes that address the three questions presented in this research. The first theme that emerged from the data is that first-generation, low-income, community college students of color demonstrate tremendous resilience from early socioeconomic challenges in the development of their financial literacy. Second, first-generation, low-income, community college students of color expand understanding of students who attend community college by challenging flawed sociocultural assumptions of deficit. Third, a focus on financial assets versus financial deficits is key to development of financial literacy for these students. Finally, in the development of financial literacy for first-generation, low-income, community college students of color, structural racism originates and harms from inside as well as outside communities of color. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of theoretical implications for the development of critical race method as well as practical implications for financial aid and student services professionals, faculty, and other institutional administrators.
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    Crossing A Broad Divide: Enacting Educational Mobility Justice in Study Abroad
    (2021-05) Acevedo, Rosa
    The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the study abroad experiences of minoritized first-generation, low-income students who are largely absent in literature, and whose lives are shaped by historical, institutional, systematic, and societal dynamics that require unpacking. In this study I acknowledge that historically, minoritized communities have different histories of mobility and immobility. By contextualizing study abroad as an act of mobility, this research project situates study abroad from a Critical Race Theory and Mobility Justice framework to highlight the differentiated histories of mobility that helped shape study abroad participation. Differential mobilities for minoritized first-generation, low-income students revealed the varied experiences and participant histories that illustrate the discursive and systemic bases of (im)mobility that generate unjust power relations. Through participant counternarratives, I find that students’ differentiated mobilities affect and influence their mobility imaginaries, possibilities of travel, and their narrations of identity abroad. I conceptualize an educational mobility justice framework to examine how marginalized study abroad participants experience differential mobilities prior to study abroad, how these mobility inequalities impact their ability to even imagine themselves as participants, and how immobility, discursive and structural, obstructs and shapes study abroad participation.
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    Cultivating Educators of Color: The Role of School in Shaping Students of Color's Perceptions About Teaching
    (2024) Becquer, Frances
    Seeking to enhance efforts toward diversity in the teaching profession, this study used a heuristic methodology to explore how the lived experiences of high school students of Color participating in an education pathways high school course shaped their perceptions of the teaching career. Critical race theory (CRT), critical whiteness studies, and culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and their interrelatedness provide an understanding of the role of race in K–12 education. There is an overlap that exists between CRP, CRT, and whiteness studies. CRT provides the lens to understand racism, and critical white studies unpack White privilege. Thus, CRT and critical whiteness studies contextualize CRP, enabling the means to examine how race has been used, institutionalized, and maintained in schools (Sleeter, 2017) and making them tools for isolating race and racism effects on education. The findings of this study reveal challenges and motivations shaping the aspirations of students of Color who are considering teaching careers. While students reported feeling excluded due to implicit biases and societal stigmas, they also found belonging through supportive teachers and diverse peers. Students expressed being driven by social justice to become teachers and were discouraged by the lack of support they experienced as students and the societal devaluation of the profession. Consequently, this study highlights the need for a diverse and supportive education system. Implementing culturally proficient practices, dismantling negative perceptions, and providing information about teaching careers can help students of Color change their perceptions of teaching as a career.
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    Disrupting the Status Quo: Case Study of Paladin Career and Technical High School's Use of Restorative Practices
    (2018-08) Blevins, Jennifer
    This dissertation research is a qualitative case study to describe and explore the experiences of staff and students using restorative practices at Paladin Career and Technical High School (Paladin), a 9-12 grade charter school in Blaine, Minnesota. Restorative practices were introduced in schools as an alternative means of handling problems as they arise; however have expanded as a whole school approach to build community, develop empathy, improve school climate and prevent problems before they occur. The aim of this study was to describe, 1) The process and turning points in integrating restorative practices at Paladin, 2) The students and staff understandings of restorative practices and the impact, 3) The implications for future school-based restorative practices at Paladin, and 4) What this case study analysis suggests about school-based restorative practices, policies and impact in general. All phases of the research were carried out through a critical race lens. Data at Paladin was collected through the review of archival documents and school policies, participant observations and interviews with seven staff and seven students. The research suggests Paladin disrupts the status quo for students and staff by making the system fit the individual not the individual fit the system, restoring self, strengthening interpersonal relationships, being a safer school, and focusing on solutions not suspensions. Key findings and potential implications are discussed for Paladin, restorative practitioners, other school stakeholders and for public policy.
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    Do Words Really Matter: A Mixed Methods Grounded Theory Study Of Student Conduct Codes And Campus Racial Climate Data
    (2020-05) Barnes, Anne
    Among the most bedeviling problems on college campuses today is whether and how an inclusive campus racial climate and freedom of expression can co-exist in a complementary manner. Public universities must adhere to the First Amendment, just as the rest of society does; the difficulty they face is the balance between protecting the right to free and open expression and creating a positive racial climate for their many students of differing backgrounds. There are few limitations on freedom of speech and expression, but universities do not want to appear as though they do not take seriously accusations of racial bias and discrimination, nor that racism and racial microaggressions are acceptable. At the heart of the issue is how to allow legally protected speech to exist on a campus while simultaneously ensuring civil rights of historically underrepresented students, staff, and faculty. Historically, this is where student conduct codes have been utilized, as speech cannot be regulated legally in the same way that conduct can. This mixed methods grounded theory study explored the current discussion around campus racial climate in relation to freedom of speech, examining both legal and policy positions, and sought to understand the relationship between the specific verbiage and themes used in student conduct codes and students’ perceptions of campus racial climate on an individual campus. This analysis of student conduct codes, mission statements, legal cases, and data from the undergraduate Student Engagement in the Research University survey revealed that: a) student conduct codes remain focused on punishment, not student development; b) institutions continue to employ overly legalistic language in student conduct codes; c) student conduct codes do not reflect mission statement values; and d) the absence or presence of diversity discussion in student conduct codes shares a relationship with student perceptions of campus racial climate.
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    Factors associated with couples and family therapy students' racial awareness
    (2013-10) Diggles, Kimberly Ruth
    Racial awareness is a critical foundation to Couples and Family Therapists (CFT) being able to confront issues of race and racism with their clients. Current CFT literature has used qualitative methods to conclude that when strategies focused on issues of race and racism are competently incorporated across several domains of CFT education and training, students' racial awareness is increased. This study extends the current literature by quantitatively examining the relationship between several factors--including CFT graduate coursework and clinical supervision--and CFT students' racial awareness. Participants for this study consisted of 78 white and non-white CFT master's and doctoral students from various accredited CFT programs nationwide. Participants completed an on-line survey measuring their racial awareness, personal experiences with racism, and perceived exposure to racially competent coursework and clinical supervision. Students' personal experiences with racism as well as the amount of CFT education they had earned were significantly related to their racial awareness. Students' exposure to racially competent coursework or supervision was not related to their racial awareness. These results suggest that current cultural competency practices in CFT programs are not effective in increasing students' racial awareness. CFT programs are encouraged to shift from the traditional model of cultural competency training--which usually attempts to cover several types of oppression at once--to one that is focused on antiracism and is rooted in the tenants of Critical Race Theory--which aims to make racial oppression the cornerstone by which all other forms of oppression are conceptualized.
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    Navigating a Gentrifying Neighborhood: Examining the Impact of a HOPE VI Mixed Income Housing Development on the Social Connectedness of Young People
    (2020-07) Calhoun, Molly
    Neighborhood redevelopment creates inevitable disruption in the lives of young people, particularly through the demolition of social communities. For almost 30 years, public housing neighborhoods have been completely demolished to make way for mixed income housing developments in increasingly coveted urban spaces. The mixed income housing model, a form of state-sponsored gentrification, increases investment in historically disinvested areas and socially and economically “mixes” residents across racial and economic lines. This study examined the effect of a HOPE VI mixed income redevelopment process in the South Lincoln public housing development in Denver, Colorado, on the social connections of youth. Young people’s experiences of residential transition and social connectedness were examined through constructivist grounded theory, as well as a combination of descriptive statistics, egocentric social network analysis and geographic information systems (GIS) mapping to assess the size, strength, and spatial nature of social connections. Eighteen young people described the redevelopment as gentrification that was driven by race, profit, and power. They illuminated the loss of home as a reinforcement of harm through neighborhood redevelopment, continued social connection despite diminished community connectedness, and overall nuances from sharing their own story. The findings illustrate the critical nature of centering young people through social justice initiatives and investments as well as the integration of critical race theory as a perspective that informs the model of mixed income housing.
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    Paint the Bridge: College Student Perceptions of Institutional Response to Racial Bias on Campus
    (2020-09) Pallas, Adam
    A recent increase in racial bias incidents on college campuses have ignited a contemporary conversation about the interplay between free speech on college campuses and an institution’s responsibility to create an inclusive learning environment for all. The purpose of this study is to investigate how college students perceive their institution’s response to a racial bias incident, especially when protecting free speech and promoting an inclusive campus climate are presented as antithetical. I utilized a critical race perspective to conduct a qualitative case study of the events of a racial bias incident at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. Eight semi-structured interviews with current University of Minnesota students, coupled with an in-depth analysis of the University using an ecological multidimensional framework for campus climate (Hurtado et al., 2012), revealed findings of how participants contextualize and make meaning of the incidents; how participants understand and value free speech, offensive speech, and hate speech; and how participants recalled and reacted to a statement by the University president almost four years after the statement was issued. Implications for future responses to racial bias incidents are discussed. American public higher education institutions’ commitments to free speech and promoting inclusive campus racial climate are also discussed.
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    Underrepresentation of African Americans in Music Positions at Predominantly White Institutions: A Narrative Case Study
    (2021-12) Davis, Adrian
    Utilizing the narrative case study method, this study elevates the voice and perspective of African American music professors currently employed in predominantly White institutions. Five participants were selected through purposive sampling. Specific criteria are based on self-identified race, degree status, current employment status, years of college teaching experience, and professorial rank. The participants have a wide variety of musical backgrounds (e.g., instrumental, choral, musicology, education, performance). They were selected from universities across various regions of the United States including the Upper Midwest, Ozark, Northeast, East Central, and Pacific West regions. The participants' schools range from a minimum classification of Post Baccalaureate to Research Doctoral. Data were gathered from the participants through semi-structured interviews. Interview questions were formed based on topics that would be explored in the study. Interviews were synthesized into multiperspective within-case analyses using coding (i.e., initial, in vivo, emotion, process), followed by a cross-case analysis. Critical race theory is used throughout the study as a conceptual framework to create themes, and to consider the institutionalized racism centralized in curriculum design, pedagogical approach, school administrative policies, and sociopolitical actions promoted by local communities and the United States government. While the social construct of institutionalized racism is operationalized in predominantly White institutions, it is conceptualized and shared through participants' stories. The study connects institutionalized racism to barriers against the advocacy for, and long-term engagement of African American professors of music. The study suggests current and future counters that could support a greater understanding in shifting this sociopolitical paradigm.
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    We Ain’t Going Nowhere: An In-Depth Look at a Community’s Successful Opposition to a School Closure Recommendation
    (2020-08) Bell, Courtney
    The occurrence of urban school closures in the United States has increased over time, and as of 2014, they have affected over 200,000 students nationwide. Education researchers cite the negative impacts that school closures pose on students, families, and communities, especially those of African and Latinx descent. Research suggests that neoliberal campaigns for education reform are at the root of school closures and are justified by gaps in student achievement which result from decades of disinvestment (Lipman, 2015). However, in some urban communities’ collective activism and resistance has served as a powerful tool for overturning school closure recommendations. The purpose of this study is to understand how and why students, parents, community members and teachers oppose school closure recommendations. The research questions explored in this study were “Why did students, parents, community members and teachers of North High School oppose the closure of their school?” and “How did students, parents, community members and teachers of North High School successfully overturn the recommendation to close their school?” This study was conducted using case study methodology with a relativist orientation. The case study methodology allowed for the specific investigation of the case of North High School and highlighted the marginalized counter-perspectives of students, parents, teachers and community members. This study investigated the oppositional strategies implemented by community members of North Minneapolis to overturn the recommendation to close North Community High School. This case study draws on interview and archived document data and describes how and why members of the North Minneapolis community opposed the recommendation to close North High School. Participants of the case study were selected using purposive homogenous sampling; respondents include those individuals who self-identified as alumni, former teachers and parents of alumni who opposed the closure of North High School. Tenets of the critical race theory framework are used to guide the analysis. Findings indicate that North Minneapolis community members perceived North High School as a community gem worth saving, which countered the districts’ perspective of the school as failing. As a result of their counter-perspective, community members leveraged collective action and voice to politically pressure the Minneapolis Public Schools school board to vote against the recommendation to close North High School. This study offers implications for communities facing school closure, policy and future research.