School Leader’s Perception of Critical Race Theory

Equity & Excellence in Education, 2002

What can critical race theory, a movement that has its roots in legal scholarship, contribute to research in education? Plenty, as it turns out. Much of the national dialogue on race relations takes place in the context of education--in continuing desegregation and affirmative action battles, in debates about bilingual education programs, and in the controversy surrounding race and ethnicity studies departments at colleges and universities. More centrally, the use of critical race theory offers a way to understand how ostensibly race-neutral structures in education--knowledge, truth, merit, objectivity, and "good education"--are in fact ways of forming and policing the racial boundaries of white supremacy and racism (Roithmayr, 1999, p. 4).

Qualitative Inquiry, 2002

Urban Education, 1999

This article explores the connectivity of research and theories of African American emancipatory pedagogy to Critical Race Theory (CRT). In doing so, the guiding principles and maxims of CRT as an emergent ethical and moralistic discourse on race and racism in the law will be briefly outlined. Next, the premises of CRT will be used to analyze ethnographic interviews conducted with eight African American teachers. The interview data will then be used as a manner in which to articulate a Critical Race Pedagogy.

Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry, 2012

Does the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States prove that critical race theory is not true, or at least has overstated its contrarian claims that racism is permanent?" This is the question that co-editors Ladson-Billings, Gillborn and Taylor (2009) pose in their foreword to Foundations of Critical Race Theory in Education (p. ix). In a recent New York Times article, Westen (2011) has suggested that Obama failed expectations because he has not told the right story. Westen (a professor of psychology) explained that we come to expect certain stories, usually centered around heroes and villains, and that that the kind of story that Americans were hoping to hear from Obama would have provided a clear alternative to the dominant narrative of the right. With Obama, "there was no story-and there has been none since" (p. SR, 6). Meanwhile, here in Canada, Stephen Harper is said to be systematically spinning a revisionist Canadian story, one that undermines the long-held Liberal narrative of Charter, flag, peacekeeping and multiculturalism and that revolves instead around conservative symbols of: the Arctic, military, national sports and, especially, monarchy (Taber, 2011, p. A3). Foundational to critical race theory (CRT) is stories. The truth about stories, Indigenous writer and scholar Thomas King (2003) says, is that they are all we are. Stories convey what we believe; what we imagine and experience, as well as insulate us from what we don't want to think about. Writing about the Canadian treatment of Indigenous peoples, Thomas King is not a card-carrying critical race theorist, but his method of counter-story telling, by combining critical analysis with personal storytelling, is in keeping with CRT, the foundational tenets of which are addressed in this edited volume. One of its key tenets is storytelling. As the title of Foundations of Critical Race Theory in Education suggests, the volume is intended to serve as an introduction to CRT and how it can be applied to educational theory, policy and practice. Except for Taylor's introduction, all chapters were previously published, most in the 1990s, half in legal journals, the rest in journals devoted to education and qualitative research, saving an article from American Psychologist. Of the twenty chapters, six were published post-2000. As several of the contributors point out, CRT started out as a branch of Critical Legal Studies (CLS) and as such, originated as a critical response to the treatment of race in legal discourse and practice. CLS, which had its inception in the 1970s, has focused on the power relationships embedded within legal decisions. CRT concentrates on race, and arose in response to the stalling of civil rights litigation, especially from watershed cases like Brown v Board of Education. CRT has several main tenets: that racism is a permanent, normative feature of (American) society, that any apparent legal progress has been due more to interest convergence (benefits to Whites) than to genuine social justice, that racism needs to be understood historically and that the narratives of oppressed peoples stand as privileged accounts of lived experiences of racist policy and practice (Taylor, 2009). CRT carries on CLS' interest in the law but extends it to other spheres, notably, education. Like CLS, CRT defines itself as a counter-discourse that explores alternative forms of expression and evidence and is highly critical of claims of positivistic social science to neutrality.

2021

The purpose of this project was to cultivate a series of professional development training sessions for secondary teachers to incorporate concepts of Critical Race Theory in their classrooms, through the use of social justice education, social emotional learning, and student-centered learning. The researcher examined material in favor and in opposition to the project topic to collect information on how to best serve educators and students. The researcher engaged with academic writing as well as with high school teachers and administrators about this project topic. This manuscript and attached training material is the result of the researcher's findings and serves to answer the question of whether aspects of Critical Race Theory should be implemented in secondary classrooms as well as if so, how should teachers do so—all in hopes of better supporting more equitable and just education for high school educators and students. <br>

Race Ethnicity and Education, 2005

Handbook of Critical Race Theory in Education, 2013

2015

The increasing diversity of our classrooms means we must learn to work with, and across, cultural, racial and gendered differences, without falling into diversity management. This paper employs Critical Race Theory (CRT) and paradigmatic frameworks to address social crises in our classrooms—thus demonstrating how we can value (i.e., not erase) our differences and equitably share power in the classroom. Employing an CRT intersectional analysis, I will explore the social, economic, and cultural dimensions of racial (in) justice in diverse contexts (within frameworks that recognize the salience of social identities including, but not limited to, class, and race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, immigration status and ability). Examples will be provided from my own teachings of how CRT has been employed in the university classroom setting and how student’s powerful testimonies and voices connect storytelling to validate their lived experiences. The aim of this presentation is to ...

2016

As the nation's schools become increasingly diverse along ethnic and racial lines, examining and understanding the racial complexities in the United States is more germane now than ever in the nation's history. To that end, critical race theory (CRT) has been a transformative conceptual, methodological, and theoretical construct that has assisted researchers in problematizing race in education. As we reflect on 20 years of CRT, it is essential to examine in what ways, if any, CRT is influencing school practice and policy. Given the disparate educational outcomes for students of color, researchers have to inquire about the influence of CRT on the lived experiences of students in schools. In this article, the authors lay out the historical trajectory of CRT, discuss its influence on educational research, and then evaluate to what extent, if any CRT has had on school policy and practice. The article will conclude with research, practice, and policy implications that may influence CRT's development over the next 20-year period. Race and education have always been an essential element in the way opportunities for learning have manifested in U.S. schools. Throughout the last several centuries, there has been an ongoing quest for educational inclusion