Race Through Education
By Madison and Fawziah
Race Through EducationMar 01, 2022
RTE S2E5:¡Chévere! The Importance of Intersectional Research and Academics
In this week’s episode, we chat with Dr. Roberto L. Abreu about the intersections of Latinidad and LGTBQ+ identities at the university level and the implications that this has on research development. We also delve into how this type of scholarship supports burgeoning scholars. Finally, we learn about the work being done at the ¡Chévere! Lab.
Roberto L. Abreu, PhD, (he/him/él) is assistant professor of counseling psychology and the director of the Collective Healing and Empowering VoicEs through Research and Engagement (¡Chévere!) Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida (UF). He is also affiliate faculty in the Center for Gender, Sexualities and Women’s Studies Research and the Center for Latin American Studies at UF. Dr. Abreu’s research explores ways in which marginalized communities resist systemic oppression and promote bienestar colectivo (collective well-being), with a particular focus on Latinx communities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people, and the intersection of Latinx and LGBTQ people and communities. Dr. Abreu’s work is guided by decolonial principles, social justice values, person–environment interactions, growth, and resistance.
Check out ¡Chevere! by visiting www.cheverelab.com
Follow Dr. Abreu on Twitter @RLuisAbreu
RTE S2E4 Notes from a Native Teacher
In this week’s episode we chat with Jose Luis Vilson about the state and future of NYC’s education with the new chancellor, David Banks at the helm of the largest school district in the country. We also discuss teacher shortages and what that means for the future of schooling. And finally, what grade does the Biden Administration get on his education agenda?
José Luis Vilson is a veteran educator, writer, speaker, and activist in New York City, NY. He is the author of This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education. He has spoken about education, math, and race for a number of organizations and publications, including the New York Times, The Guardian, TED, El Diario / La Prensa, and The Atlantic. He's a National Board Certified Teacher, a Math for America Master Teacher, and the executive director of EduColor, an organization dedicated to race and social justice issues in education. He is currently a doctoral student studying sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is now on the board of directors for the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards and PowerMyLearning.
Follow José Luis Vilson on Twitter
RTE S2E3 - Sistah's Circle: Remembering bell hooks - Part 2
Episode 3: Sistah’s Circle: Remembering bell hooks with Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas & Dr. Aisha Haynes
“Any woman who wishes to be an intellectual, to write non-fiction, to deal with theory, faces a lot of discrimination coming her way and perhaps even self-doubt because there aren’t that many who’ve gone before you. And I think that the most powerful tool we can have is to be clear about our intent. To know what it is we want to do rather than going into institutions thinking that the institution is going to frame for us".” - bell hooks
In this week’s episode of Race Through Education, we bring you a Sistah’s Circle of Black women scholars who discuss just what bell hooks meant to them - academically and personally. Co-host Fawziah speaks with fellow New York University scholars, Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas and Dr. Aisha Haynes about how the works of hooks have impacted their understanding of their existence as Black women in educational spaces.
Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas is an Assistant Professor at Queens college in educational leadership. She studies issues of equity and access through the K - Professoriate level and also examines equity and access for high school students as it relates to college transition programs and persistence to and through college. She also studies Black women in the professoriate and readiness for the tenure track-level and persistence to and through tenure and beyond.
She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education, Culture and Human Development. Her research focuses on college readiness, distributed leadership, and community engagement. She has over 10 years of combined experience in secondary teaching (7-12), college and graduate-level teaching, nonprofit management, higher education administration, and research. Gray-Nicolas holds a BA in English from Cornell University and two MSEd degrees (English Education and Inclusive Special Education) from the Syracuse University Graduate School of Education. An avid volunteer, she mentors high school and college students.
Follow her on Twitter
Dr. Aisha Haynes a director on the Prepared To Teach team. She co-develops and supports research, reports, and briefs that are written by and with local partnerships in our National Learning Network. Aisha most recently supported a college access program where she worked to strengthen academic enrichment activities to provide students with an effective academic bridge from high school to college. This work is an extension of her research, which focuses on the experience of historically excluded communities navigating public institutions. Her current research falls into several areas of focus, including neoliberal or market reform, school gentrification, school leadership, critical race theory, and interest convergence. She looks forward to extending that research to examining these phenomena in other public spaces. Aisha’s work ultimately aims to bridge the gap between academic research and the experience of practitioners. In addition to her professional work, she serves as the director of communications of C.O.O.L. Kids, a non-profit organization committed to cultivating the next generation to become socially conscious leaders.
Aisha earned her master’s degree in teaching at Fordham University and obtained her bachelor’s degree in English literature at Villanova University. She holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy from New York University.
Follow her on Twitter
RTE S2E2 - Sistah's Circle: Remembering bell hooks - Part 1
Episode 2: Sistah’s Circle: Remembering bell hooks with Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas & Dr. Aisha Haynes
“Any woman who wishes to be an intellectual, to write non-fiction, to deal with theory, faces a lot of discrimination coming her way and perhaps even self-doubt because there aren’t that many who’ve gone before you. And I think that the most powerful tool we can have is to be clear about our intent. To know what it is we want to do rather than going into institutions thinking that the institution is going to frame for us".” - bell hooks
In this week’s episode of Race Through Education, we bring you a Sistah’s Circle of Black women scholars who discuss just what bell hooks meant to them - academically and personally. Co-host Fawziah speaks with fellow New York University scholars, Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas and Dr. Aisha Haynes about how the works of hooks have impacted their understanding of their existence as Black women in educational spaces.
Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas is an Assistant Professor at Queens college in educational leadership. She studies issues of equity and access through the K - Professoriate level and also examines equity and access for high school students as it relates to college transition programs and persistence to and through college. She also studies Black women in the professoriate and readiness for the tenure track-level and persistence to and through tenure and beyond.
She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education, Culture and Human Development. Her research focuses on college readiness, distributed leadership, and community engagement. She has over 10 years of combined experience in secondary teaching (7-12), college and graduate-level teaching, nonprofit management, higher education administration, and research. Gray-Nicolas holds a BA in English from Cornell University and two MSEd degrees (English Education and Inclusive Special Education) from the Syracuse University Graduate School of Education. An avid volunteer, she mentors high school and college students.
Follow her on Twitter
Dr. Aisha Haynes a director on the Prepared To Teach team. She co-develops and supports research, reports, and briefs that are written by and with local partnerships in our National Learning Network. Aisha most recently supported a college access program where she worked to strengthen academic enrichment activities to provide students with an effective academic bridge from high school to college. This work is an extension of her research, which focuses on the experience of historically excluded communities navigating public institutions. Her current research falls into several areas of focus, including neoliberal or market reform, school gentrification, school leadership, critical race theory, and interest convergence. She looks forward to extending that research to examining these phenomena in other public spaces. Aisha’s work ultimately aims to bridge the gap between academic research and the experience of practitioners. In addition to her professional work, she serves as the director of communications of C.O.O.L. Kids, a non-profit organization committed to cultivating the next generation to become socially conscious leaders.
Aisha earned her master’s degree in teaching at Fordham University and obtained her bachelor’s degree in English literature at Villanova University. She holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy from New York University.
Follow her on Twitter
RTE S2E1 - Black at The Root: The Foundation of Black Education in America**
Welcome back to season 2 of Race Through Education! We took some time off to work towards these degrees and get our minds right. But we are back with a brand new season and to kick things off we are talking Black education with Dr. Robert P. Robinson.
When you think about Black education in the United States do you go back to 1619 or does your mind bring you to 1954 and Brown v. Board of Education? Mainstream narratives surrounding Black education in America tend to ignore all of the contributions made by Black educators, parents, communities, and activists. In this week’s episode, Dr. Robinson discusses the Black Freedom Movement and what that means for Black education and schooling in the United States and we dive deeper into the history Black Panther Party’s Oakland Community Schools (OCS).
Robert P. Robinson is an Assistant Professor in the SEEK Program at John Jay College and an Induction Mentor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Prior to higher education, he was a K-12 educator and mentor for 11 years. His broad research and teaching focus on Black education history, history of U.S. education, curriculum studies, higher education mentorship, and the Black Freedom Movement. His upcoming new book project is a history of the Black Panther Party’s Oakland Community School (OCS) as a site for understanding Black self-determination, the shift in mainstream curriculum and pedagogy, and the Black radical imagination in education.
Find him on Twitter @RobertPRobinson
RTE Episode 10: Black Resistance and the Opt-Out Movement with our co-host Fawziah Qadir
In our last episode, this season we ask the question "Should Black parents have the right to opt-out their children from taking standardized assessments?" Though mostly defined as a white, suburban, and upper-income-led movement, Black parents are beginning to use the opt-out movement as one of the many ways to resist education reforms that prioritize standardized exams over student learning. Our co-host and EdD Leadership and Policy NYU Steinhardt candidate Fawziah Qadir is in the hot seat to talk about her research in standardized exams and Black resistance in the opt-out movement.
Fawziah Qadir is an EdD Leadership and Policy candidate at NYU Steinhardt. She is a Teacher's Assitant at both NYU and Barnard College.
Anderson, J. D. (1988). The education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935. Univ of North Carolina Press.
RTE Episode 9: Black Man on Campus: Navigating Higher Education
If you read or watch the news, you would easily believe that Black boys and men's educational trajectories are bleak and that they are impervious to success (Harper, 2012). While Black boys and men are one of the most marginalized groups in the U.S., the perception that they do not care about education is not true. In an effort to dispel these stereotypes and perceptions, we center the lived experience of an early-career Black male scholar and professor. Listen as we unpack what it means to be a Black man on campus, from Black identity formation as an undergrad student at a Historically Black University (HBCU) to completing advanced graduate degrees at a Predominately White Institution (PWIs), and everything else in between.
To discuss this journey, we are joined by Dr. Christopher Johnson. His dissertation, Negotiating Black Male Identity While Navigating Predominately White Institutions, explored Black male doctoral students' strategies and behaviors to manage their interracial interaction with their White faculty and peers at a Predominately White Institution (PWI). Dr. Johnson is an assistant professor at Coe College, where he teaches Sport and Black Culture, Interracial Communication, and interracial interactions. You can find him on Instagram @DeepAsEmptyPockets.
Resources
RTE Episode 8: VOICES: Straight From The Source
RTE Episode 7: What’s Homeschooling Gotta do with Black Folks? featuring Dr. Cheryl Fields Smith
Homeschooling in the United States is generally perceived as a white, middle-class, religious-based schooling phenomenon (Fields-Smith, 2015). National estimates put the number of homeschooled students at 3% of the population, about two million students (Redford, Battle, and Bielick, 2017). Black parents are increasingly homeschooling and in the last 15 years, their numbers have doubled from 103,000 to about 220,000. Black parents’ reasons for electing to homeschool are increasingly related to issues of racism, segregated schools, and a lack of culturally relevant curriculum.
We are joined this week by Dr. Cheryl Fields Smith, associate professor at the University of Georgia, Mary Frances Early College of Education. A former elementary school teacher in Connecticut, her research interests include family engagement and homeschooling among Black families. Her dissertation explored family engagement from the perspective of 22 Black middle-class families. Later, she received a Spencer Foundation Grant to conduct a two-year study focused on homeschooling among 46 Black families. From this study, Dr. Fields-Smith has published several journal articles and chapters, which among them includes the first empirically-based publication to focus exclusively on Black homeschool families. Her research on homeschooling among Black families has most recently been featured in a PBS NewsHour report and the Atlantic.
Dr. Cheryl Field Smith recently published the book, Exploring Single Black Mothers’ Resistance Through Homeschooling, which expands on contemporary Black homeschooling as a form of resistance among single Black mothers. It corroborates many of the issues that plague the education of Black children in America, including discipline disproportionality, frequent referrals to special education services, teachers’ low expectations, and the marginalization of Black parents as partners in traditional schools. This book challenges stereotypical characterizations of who homeschools and why.
You can learn more about her organization called Black Family Homeschool Educators and Scholars (BFHES) on Facebook and the website is http://www.blackfamilyhomeschool.org/. You can also find her on Twitter @drcherylfields.
RTE Episode 6, Part II: If Black Language Ain’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is? - Centering Black English in Classrooms with Dr. Lamar Johnson
This week’s episode is a continuation of our discussion on Centering Blackness in Education. We are joined again by Dr. Lamar L. Johnson of Michigan State University to discuss Black Language, also known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE) or Ebonics. In 1996, the Oakland, California School District allowed Black English to be used in classrooms as a bridge for students to leverage their AAVE to learn Standard English. Along with Dr. Johnson, we explore how Black English is an important element of Black education and how it can be used to expand Black students’ educational experiences.
Lamar L. Johnson is an Associate Professor of Language and Literacy for Linguistic and Racial Diversity in the Department of English at Michigan State University. He is interested in the complex intersections of race, language, literacy, and education and how English language arts (ELA) classrooms can become racial justice sites.
Sources
Woodson, C. G. (1933). The Mis-Education of the Negro.
RTE Episode 5: Loving Blackness to Death: Centering Blackness in Education w/ Dr. Lamar L. Johnson
In this week’s episode, we are joined by Dr. Lamar L. Johnson of Michigan State University to discuss Blackness - what it is and what it isn’t - in the classroom. How Blackness is centered in English education and the field of English language literature. Dr. Johnson redefines Blackness to show its complexities and how that must be captured in our curricula. We discuss Black Lives Matter in School curriculum, the impact of Covid-19 on Black learners, and much more.
Lamar L. Johnson is an Associate Professor of Language and Literacy for Linguistic and Racial Diversity in the Department of English at Michigan State University. He is interested in the complex intersections of race, language, literacy, and education and how English language arts (ELA) classrooms can become racial justice sites.
Resources
Baker-Bell, A., Butler, T., & Johnson, L. L. (in press 2017). The pain and the wounds: A call for Critical Race English Education in the wake of racial violence. English Education.
Dumas, M. J., & Ross, K. M. (2016). “Be real black for me” imagining BlackCrit in education. Urban Education, 51(4), 415-442.
Glass, K. “Black families were hit hard by the pandemic. The effects of children may be lasting” New York Times. 29 June 2020.
Johnson, L. L., Jackson, J., Stovall, D. & Baszile, D. T. (in press 2017). “Loving Blackness to Death”:(Re)Imagining ELA classrooms in a time of racial chaos. English Journal.
Johnson, L. L. & Bryan, N. (2016). Using our voices, losing our bodies: Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and the spirit murders of Black male professors in the academy. Race Ethnicity and Education, 20(2), 163-177.
Johnson, L. L. (2016). Using critical race theory to explore race-based conversations through a critical family book club. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 65, 300-315.
Love, B. L. (2016) Anti-Black state violence, classroom edition: The spirit murdering of Black Children. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 13(1), 22 - 25.
Love, B.L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Beacon Press.
Parolin, Z., & Wimer, C. (2020). Forecasting Estimates of Poverty during the Covid-19 Crisis. Retrieved from New York, NY: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5743308460b5e922a25a6dc7/t/5e9786f17c4b4e20ca02d16b/1586988788821/Forecasting-Poverty-Estimates-COVID19-CPSP-2020.pdf
Roberts, D. E. (1999). Killing the black body: Race, reproduction, and the meaning of liberty. Vintage.
RTE Episode 4: Money Moves - Neoliberal Reform and Policy in Public Education
Dr. Sonya Douglass Horsford currently serves as Associate Professor of Education Leadership in the Department of Organization and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on the politics of race in education leadership, policy, and reform. She is the Founding Director of the Black Education Research Collective (BERC) and Co-Director of the Urban Education Leaders Program (UELP) at Teachers College – an Ed.D. program for aspiring urban district leaders.
Prior to joining Teachers College, she served on the educational leadership faculty at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia and University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her latest book, The Politics of Education Policy in an Era of Inequality: Possibilities for Democratic Schooling (with Janelle T. Scott and Gary L. Anderson offer a critical analysis of education policy amid widening social inequality, ideological polarization, and the dismantling of public institutions in the U.S.A.
Resources
A Nation at Risk (1983)
President Reagan’s Radio Address to the Nation on Education on April 30, 1983.
Secretary Betsy DeVos Prepared Remarks National Alliance of Charter School
“The Huge Problem with Education Pandemic Pods Suddenly Popping Up,”
The Politics of Education Policy in an Era of Inequality: Possibilities for Democratic Schooling RTE
RTE Episode 3: Latinx Beyond Immigration Featuring Dr. Eddie Fergus
Race Through Education, Episode 3: Latinx Beyond Immigration
In this episode, we focus on Latinidad and identity formation among Latinx populations in the United States. Acknowledging that there is diversity within the Latinx community, we discuss how students navigate their Latino identity and how it impacts their learning experiences. Fawziah and Madison unpack how Madison grew up in Spanish Harlem as a half Black and half Puerto Rican kid that didn’t speak Spanish and his development.
Dr. Eddie Fergus (Temple University) helps us better understand Latinidad from an academic perspective. Through his research, Dr. Fergus explores the effects of educational policy and practice as it intersects the lives of populations living in vulnerable conditions. More specifically, his policy work extrapolates the relationship between discipline codes of conduct, gifted program practice, and academic referral processes and the educational outcomes of low-income and racial/ethnic minority student populations. This work also outlines policy and practice changes in order for schools to develop as protective environments for vulnerable populations.
Resources
English proficiency of Hispanic population in the U.S., 2017Fergus, E. (2009). Understanding Latino students’ schooling experiences: The relevance of skin color among Mexican and Puerto Rican high school students. Teachers College Record, 111(2), 339-375.
Ogbu, J. U. (1981). Origins of human competence: A cultural-ecological perspective. Child development, 413-429.
Ogbu, J. U., & Simons, H. D. (1998). Voluntary and involuntary minorities: A cultural‐ecological theory of school performance with some implications for education. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 29(2), 155-188.
***Bonus Episode "The Doll Test" with Dr. L'Heureux Lewis-McCoy
In this bonus mini-episode from our interview with Dr. L'Heureux Lewis-McCoy, we discuss The Doll Test. The Doll Test was designed by Dr. Mamie Clark, a Black woman, and used by her husband, Dr. Kenneth Clark, in the Supreme Court Case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The Doll Test was the first time a social science study was used in a Supreme Court case. Several researchers later replicated the Test. But Dr. Lewis-McCoy pushes back, why are we using White lenses to understand how Black children see themselves? Should we instead focus on how we understand Black identity formation and self-worth from a non-deficit approach?
RTE Episode 2: Inherently Unequal - A Closer Look at School Segregation in NYC
We all know the famous Brown V. Board case. We all know that it was suppose to desegregate schools legally. Everyone talks about the South but not enough is discussed what happened in the North. In this episode of Race Through Education, we speak to R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy, an Associate Professor of Sociology of Education at New York University, to discuss what happened in the North and why we should pay more attention to our own Northern backyards.
Race Through Education: We Here
Race Through Education welcomes Fawziah and Madison to the podcasting world. Both New York University doctorate candidates decided during COVID that they should bring their interest and passion for education into a podcast. After months of ironing out the details, we bring you a podcast that talks about race and education in America.