University of Pittsburgh

Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Urban Education

Roderick worked at University of Pittsburgh as a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Urban Education

University of Maryland

Graduate Student Researcher: Teacher Performance Assessment –Culturally Responsive Teaching Analysis

Reviewed secondary English teacher portfolios and collaborated with other curriculum and instruction professors to better weave edTPA requirements into core classes for teacher education majors. Analyzed edTPAs for evidence of opportunities or prompts for teachers to reflection on or show evidence of culturally responsive teaching. Research prepared for presentation at conferences and publication.

University of Maryland

Program Associate

Assisted with the implementation and fundraising for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd annual edTPA Mid Atlantic Implementation Conferences in Baltimore, MD.

University of Delaware

Assistant Professor

Roderick L. Carey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Delaware. His current interdisciplinary research serves to make sense of the school experiences of black and Latino adolescent boys and young men in urban contexts, drawing upon critical theories, sociological tools, and constructs from developmental psychology. Dr. Carey employs primarily qualitative approaches in researching and writing about both macro and micro issues related to families and schools, teacher education, professional development for equity, and the ways black and Latino adolescent boys and young men conceptualize their post-secondary school futures and enact college-going processes.

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

Consultant

Social Media Consultant

Georgetown Day School

Diversity and Equity Consultant

Co-Director of the Diversity and Equity Institute for Teachers (Professional Development Seminar)

Power, Penalty, and Critical Praxis: Employing Intersectionality in Educator Practices to Achieve School Equity

The Educational Forum

Intersectionality describes the ways interlocking systems of oppression, evidenced in various identity facets (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, and language), frame individuals' social worlds. An awareness of intersectionality can ensure PreK–12 school policies and practices meet the needs of a student population diversifying rapidly along multiple lines. We situate intersectionality within examples of common schooling dilemmas and pose suggestions for educators to employ intersectional thinking in their practice.

Power, Penalty, and Critical Praxis: Employing Intersectionality in Educator Practices to Achieve School Equity

The Educational Forum

Intersectionality describes the ways interlocking systems of oppression, evidenced in various identity facets (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, and language), frame individuals' social worlds. An awareness of intersectionality can ensure PreK–12 school policies and practices meet the needs of a student population diversifying rapidly along multiple lines. We situate intersectionality within examples of common schooling dilemmas and pose suggestions for educators to employ intersectional thinking in their practice.

“What Am I Gonna Be Losing?” School Culture and the Family-Based College-Going Dilemmas of Black and Latino Adolescent Boys

Education and Urban Society

As educators and service providers in urban schools encourage student college going at higher rates than ever, policy and practice on school improvement discourses would benefit from incorporating students’ perspectives underlying family-based, college-going dilemmas that frame their college preparation. This qualitative article features the voiced experiences of 11th-grade adolescent boys, one Black and one Latino, from one school, as they grapple with both internal dilemmas (e.g., fear of changing and being distanced from their family) and external dilemmas (e.g., their expected familial commitments) inherent in their college access, success, and graduation. Using a conceptual framework that considers the social, cognitive, and institutional factors influencing their college preparation, this article focuses on social factors and advocates for institutional practices that better meet student needs.

Power, Penalty, and Critical Praxis: Employing Intersectionality in Educator Practices to Achieve School Equity

The Educational Forum

Intersectionality describes the ways interlocking systems of oppression, evidenced in various identity facets (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, and language), frame individuals' social worlds. An awareness of intersectionality can ensure PreK–12 school policies and practices meet the needs of a student population diversifying rapidly along multiple lines. We situate intersectionality within examples of common schooling dilemmas and pose suggestions for educators to employ intersectional thinking in their practice.

“What Am I Gonna Be Losing?” School Culture and the Family-Based College-Going Dilemmas of Black and Latino Adolescent Boys

Education and Urban Society

As educators and service providers in urban schools encourage student college going at higher rates than ever, policy and practice on school improvement discourses would benefit from incorporating students’ perspectives underlying family-based, college-going dilemmas that frame their college preparation. This qualitative article features the voiced experiences of 11th-grade adolescent boys, one Black and one Latino, from one school, as they grapple with both internal dilemmas (e.g., fear of changing and being distanced from their family) and external dilemmas (e.g., their expected familial commitments) inherent in their college access, success, and graduation. Using a conceptual framework that considers the social, cognitive, and institutional factors influencing their college preparation, this article focuses on social factors and advocates for institutional practices that better meet student needs.

Dismantling Barriers by Operationalizing Critical Race Theory in P-16 Educational Contexts

Presentation at the National Association for Multicultural Education, Tuscon, AZ

Critical Race Theory (CRT) arms scholars and multicultural educators to "talk race" more fluently. By bringing CRT into K-16 practice more centrally, multiple stakeholders can better understand and illuminate hegemonic systems of oppression.

Power, Penalty, and Critical Praxis: Employing Intersectionality in Educator Practices to Achieve School Equity

The Educational Forum

Intersectionality describes the ways interlocking systems of oppression, evidenced in various identity facets (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, and language), frame individuals' social worlds. An awareness of intersectionality can ensure PreK–12 school policies and practices meet the needs of a student population diversifying rapidly along multiple lines. We situate intersectionality within examples of common schooling dilemmas and pose suggestions for educators to employ intersectional thinking in their practice.

“What Am I Gonna Be Losing?” School Culture and the Family-Based College-Going Dilemmas of Black and Latino Adolescent Boys

Education and Urban Society

As educators and service providers in urban schools encourage student college going at higher rates than ever, policy and practice on school improvement discourses would benefit from incorporating students’ perspectives underlying family-based, college-going dilemmas that frame their college preparation. This qualitative article features the voiced experiences of 11th-grade adolescent boys, one Black and one Latino, from one school, as they grapple with both internal dilemmas (e.g., fear of changing and being distanced from their family) and external dilemmas (e.g., their expected familial commitments) inherent in their college access, success, and graduation. Using a conceptual framework that considers the social, cognitive, and institutional factors influencing their college preparation, this article focuses on social factors and advocates for institutional practices that better meet student needs.

Dismantling Barriers by Operationalizing Critical Race Theory in P-16 Educational Contexts

Presentation at the National Association for Multicultural Education, Tuscon, AZ

Critical Race Theory (CRT) arms scholars and multicultural educators to "talk race" more fluently. By bringing CRT into K-16 practice more centrally, multiple stakeholders can better understand and illuminate hegemonic systems of oppression.

College-going dilemmas for Black and Latino boys: Advocating for more precise PreK-12 school interventions

American Journal of Education Forum

Power, Penalty, and Critical Praxis: Employing Intersectionality in Educator Practices to Achieve School Equity

The Educational Forum

Intersectionality describes the ways interlocking systems of oppression, evidenced in various identity facets (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, and language), frame individuals' social worlds. An awareness of intersectionality can ensure PreK–12 school policies and practices meet the needs of a student population diversifying rapidly along multiple lines. We situate intersectionality within examples of common schooling dilemmas and pose suggestions for educators to employ intersectional thinking in their practice.

“What Am I Gonna Be Losing?” School Culture and the Family-Based College-Going Dilemmas of Black and Latino Adolescent Boys

Education and Urban Society

As educators and service providers in urban schools encourage student college going at higher rates than ever, policy and practice on school improvement discourses would benefit from incorporating students’ perspectives underlying family-based, college-going dilemmas that frame their college preparation. This qualitative article features the voiced experiences of 11th-grade adolescent boys, one Black and one Latino, from one school, as they grapple with both internal dilemmas (e.g., fear of changing and being distanced from their family) and external dilemmas (e.g., their expected familial commitments) inherent in their college access, success, and graduation. Using a conceptual framework that considers the social, cognitive, and institutional factors influencing their college preparation, this article focuses on social factors and advocates for institutional practices that better meet student needs.

Dismantling Barriers by Operationalizing Critical Race Theory in P-16 Educational Contexts

Presentation at the National Association for Multicultural Education, Tuscon, AZ

Critical Race Theory (CRT) arms scholars and multicultural educators to "talk race" more fluently. By bringing CRT into K-16 practice more centrally, multiple stakeholders can better understand and illuminate hegemonic systems of oppression.

College-going dilemmas for Black and Latino boys: Advocating for more precise PreK-12 school interventions

American Journal of Education Forum

Hegemonic Illuminations in Teacher Educator Preparation: The Experiences of Three PhD Students of Color

Presentation, American Educational Studies Association, Annual Conference

This paper examines the experiences of three PhD students of color as they train to become teacher educators in a predominantly White College of Education. Specifically, the study asks: What are the experiences of PhD students of color in a predominantly White COE as they train to become teacher educators? How can these lived experiences provide a necessary counter-narrative to “business as usual” teacher education program structures, processes, and ways of knowing/being? Using critical race methodology, this paper reveals the continuing enactment of hegemonic forces within a College of Education as these students train to become equity-centered teacher educators.

Hegemonic Illuminations in Teacher Educator Preparation: The Experiences of Three PhD Students of Color

Presentation, American Educational Studies Association, Annual Conference

This paper examines the experiences of three PhD students of color as they train to become teacher educators in a predominantly White College of Education. Specifically, the study asks: What are the experiences of PhD students of color in a predominantly White COE as they train to become teacher educators? How can these lived experiences provide a necessary counter-narrative to “business as usual” teacher education program structures, processes, and ways of knowing/being? Using critical race methodology, this paper reveals the continuing enactment of hegemonic forces within a College of Education as these students train to become equity-centered teacher educators.

Power, Penalty, and Critical Praxis: Employing Intersectionality in Educator Practices to Achieve School Equity

The Educational Forum

Intersectionality describes the ways interlocking systems of oppression, evidenced in various identity facets (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, and language), frame individuals' social worlds. An awareness of intersectionality can ensure PreK–12 school policies and practices meet the needs of a student population diversifying rapidly along multiple lines. We situate intersectionality within examples of common schooling dilemmas and pose suggestions for educators to employ intersectional thinking in their practice.

“What Am I Gonna Be Losing?” School Culture and the Family-Based College-Going Dilemmas of Black and Latino Adolescent Boys

Education and Urban Society

As educators and service providers in urban schools encourage student college going at higher rates than ever, policy and practice on school improvement discourses would benefit from incorporating students’ perspectives underlying family-based, college-going dilemmas that frame their college preparation. This qualitative article features the voiced experiences of 11th-grade adolescent boys, one Black and one Latino, from one school, as they grapple with both internal dilemmas (e.g., fear of changing and being distanced from their family) and external dilemmas (e.g., their expected familial commitments) inherent in their college access, success, and graduation. Using a conceptual framework that considers the social, cognitive, and institutional factors influencing their college preparation, this article focuses on social factors and advocates for institutional practices that better meet student needs.

Dismantling Barriers by Operationalizing Critical Race Theory in P-16 Educational Contexts

Presentation at the National Association for Multicultural Education, Tuscon, AZ

Critical Race Theory (CRT) arms scholars and multicultural educators to "talk race" more fluently. By bringing CRT into K-16 practice more centrally, multiple stakeholders can better understand and illuminate hegemonic systems of oppression.

College-going dilemmas for Black and Latino boys: Advocating for more precise PreK-12 school interventions

American Journal of Education Forum

Hegemonic Illuminations in Teacher Educator Preparation: The Experiences of Three PhD Students of Color

Presentation, American Educational Studies Association, Annual Conference

This paper examines the experiences of three PhD students of color as they train to become teacher educators in a predominantly White College of Education. Specifically, the study asks: What are the experiences of PhD students of color in a predominantly White COE as they train to become teacher educators? How can these lived experiences provide a necessary counter-narrative to “business as usual” teacher education program structures, processes, and ways of knowing/being? Using critical race methodology, this paper reveals the continuing enactment of hegemonic forces within a College of Education as these students train to become equity-centered teacher educators.

Hegemonic Illuminations in Teacher Educator Preparation: The Experiences of Three PhD Students of Color

Presentation, American Educational Studies Association, Annual Conference

This paper examines the experiences of three PhD students of color as they train to become teacher educators in a predominantly White College of Education. Specifically, the study asks: What are the experiences of PhD students of color in a predominantly White COE as they train to become teacher educators? How can these lived experiences provide a necessary counter-narrative to “business as usual” teacher education program structures, processes, and ways of knowing/being? Using critical race methodology, this paper reveals the continuing enactment of hegemonic forces within a College of Education as these students train to become equity-centered teacher educators.

A Cultural Analysis of the Achievement Gap “Discourse”: Challenging the Language and Labels Used to Reform Schools

Urban Education

In this article, I critique the labels and terms used to frame practices aimed at closing the achievement gap. I examine how an unacknowledged achievement gap Discourse has emerged from the language that informs practices and policies of contemporary school reform. I use Gee’s uppercase “Discourse” and a cultural analytic framework to critique what I refer to as the achievement gap “Discourse.” I challenge educational stakeholders to rethink (a) student comparisons, (b) teacher and student assessments, (c) labels, (d) community input and involvement, and (e) the collective commitment to public schooling as an institution.

Power, Penalty, and Critical Praxis: Employing Intersectionality in Educator Practices to Achieve School Equity

The Educational Forum

Intersectionality describes the ways interlocking systems of oppression, evidenced in various identity facets (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, and language), frame individuals' social worlds. An awareness of intersectionality can ensure PreK–12 school policies and practices meet the needs of a student population diversifying rapidly along multiple lines. We situate intersectionality within examples of common schooling dilemmas and pose suggestions for educators to employ intersectional thinking in their practice.

“What Am I Gonna Be Losing?” School Culture and the Family-Based College-Going Dilemmas of Black and Latino Adolescent Boys

Education and Urban Society

As educators and service providers in urban schools encourage student college going at higher rates than ever, policy and practice on school improvement discourses would benefit from incorporating students’ perspectives underlying family-based, college-going dilemmas that frame their college preparation. This qualitative article features the voiced experiences of 11th-grade adolescent boys, one Black and one Latino, from one school, as they grapple with both internal dilemmas (e.g., fear of changing and being distanced from their family) and external dilemmas (e.g., their expected familial commitments) inherent in their college access, success, and graduation. Using a conceptual framework that considers the social, cognitive, and institutional factors influencing their college preparation, this article focuses on social factors and advocates for institutional practices that better meet student needs.

Dismantling Barriers by Operationalizing Critical Race Theory in P-16 Educational Contexts

Presentation at the National Association for Multicultural Education, Tuscon, AZ

Critical Race Theory (CRT) arms scholars and multicultural educators to "talk race" more fluently. By bringing CRT into K-16 practice more centrally, multiple stakeholders can better understand and illuminate hegemonic systems of oppression.

College-going dilemmas for Black and Latino boys: Advocating for more precise PreK-12 school interventions

American Journal of Education Forum

Hegemonic Illuminations in Teacher Educator Preparation: The Experiences of Three PhD Students of Color

Presentation, American Educational Studies Association, Annual Conference

This paper examines the experiences of three PhD students of color as they train to become teacher educators in a predominantly White College of Education. Specifically, the study asks: What are the experiences of PhD students of color in a predominantly White COE as they train to become teacher educators? How can these lived experiences provide a necessary counter-narrative to “business as usual” teacher education program structures, processes, and ways of knowing/being? Using critical race methodology, this paper reveals the continuing enactment of hegemonic forces within a College of Education as these students train to become equity-centered teacher educators.

Hegemonic Illuminations in Teacher Educator Preparation: The Experiences of Three PhD Students of Color

Presentation, American Educational Studies Association, Annual Conference

This paper examines the experiences of three PhD students of color as they train to become teacher educators in a predominantly White College of Education. Specifically, the study asks: What are the experiences of PhD students of color in a predominantly White COE as they train to become teacher educators? How can these lived experiences provide a necessary counter-narrative to “business as usual” teacher education program structures, processes, and ways of knowing/being? Using critical race methodology, this paper reveals the continuing enactment of hegemonic forces within a College of Education as these students train to become equity-centered teacher educators.

A Cultural Analysis of the Achievement Gap “Discourse”: Challenging the Language and Labels Used to Reform Schools

Urban Education

In this article, I critique the labels and terms used to frame practices aimed at closing the achievement gap. I examine how an unacknowledged achievement gap Discourse has emerged from the language that informs practices and policies of contemporary school reform. I use Gee’s uppercase “Discourse” and a cultural analytic framework to critique what I refer to as the achievement gap “Discourse.” I challenge educational stakeholders to rethink (a) student comparisons, (b) teacher and student assessments, (c) labels, (d) community input and involvement, and (e) the collective commitment to public schooling as an institution.

Reasons Youth Engage in Activism Programs: Social Justice or Sanctuary?

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Youth activism programs have been studied for their impact on societal change and their contribution to youth development; however, less is known about what motivates youth to engage in such programs. In this study, we draw on survey and focus group data from eight youth activism programs to understand reasons that youth attend. We find that engaging in social justice work was the highest rated reason for participation, followed closely by sanctuary, and lastly, relationships with adults and peers in the program. Analysis of qualitative data highlights the importance of sanctuary—not limited to psychological safety, but with an emphasis on celebrating aspects of identity. Findings also point to important intersections between social justice work and sanctuary, with youth expressing a desire to impact change from protected and affirming spaces that are liberating and allow them to take risks.

Power, Penalty, and Critical Praxis: Employing Intersectionality in Educator Practices to Achieve School Equity

The Educational Forum

Intersectionality describes the ways interlocking systems of oppression, evidenced in various identity facets (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, and language), frame individuals' social worlds. An awareness of intersectionality can ensure PreK–12 school policies and practices meet the needs of a student population diversifying rapidly along multiple lines. We situate intersectionality within examples of common schooling dilemmas and pose suggestions for educators to employ intersectional thinking in their practice.

“What Am I Gonna Be Losing?” School Culture and the Family-Based College-Going Dilemmas of Black and Latino Adolescent Boys

Education and Urban Society

As educators and service providers in urban schools encourage student college going at higher rates than ever, policy and practice on school improvement discourses would benefit from incorporating students’ perspectives underlying family-based, college-going dilemmas that frame their college preparation. This qualitative article features the voiced experiences of 11th-grade adolescent boys, one Black and one Latino, from one school, as they grapple with both internal dilemmas (e.g., fear of changing and being distanced from their family) and external dilemmas (e.g., their expected familial commitments) inherent in their college access, success, and graduation. Using a conceptual framework that considers the social, cognitive, and institutional factors influencing their college preparation, this article focuses on social factors and advocates for institutional practices that better meet student needs.

Dismantling Barriers by Operationalizing Critical Race Theory in P-16 Educational Contexts

Presentation at the National Association for Multicultural Education, Tuscon, AZ

Critical Race Theory (CRT) arms scholars and multicultural educators to "talk race" more fluently. By bringing CRT into K-16 practice more centrally, multiple stakeholders can better understand and illuminate hegemonic systems of oppression.

College-going dilemmas for Black and Latino boys: Advocating for more precise PreK-12 school interventions

American Journal of Education Forum

Hegemonic Illuminations in Teacher Educator Preparation: The Experiences of Three PhD Students of Color

Presentation, American Educational Studies Association, Annual Conference

This paper examines the experiences of three PhD students of color as they train to become teacher educators in a predominantly White College of Education. Specifically, the study asks: What are the experiences of PhD students of color in a predominantly White COE as they train to become teacher educators? How can these lived experiences provide a necessary counter-narrative to “business as usual” teacher education program structures, processes, and ways of knowing/being? Using critical race methodology, this paper reveals the continuing enactment of hegemonic forces within a College of Education as these students train to become equity-centered teacher educators.

Hegemonic Illuminations in Teacher Educator Preparation: The Experiences of Three PhD Students of Color

Presentation, American Educational Studies Association, Annual Conference

This paper examines the experiences of three PhD students of color as they train to become teacher educators in a predominantly White College of Education. Specifically, the study asks: What are the experiences of PhD students of color in a predominantly White COE as they train to become teacher educators? How can these lived experiences provide a necessary counter-narrative to “business as usual” teacher education program structures, processes, and ways of knowing/being? Using critical race methodology, this paper reveals the continuing enactment of hegemonic forces within a College of Education as these students train to become equity-centered teacher educators.

A Cultural Analysis of the Achievement Gap “Discourse”: Challenging the Language and Labels Used to Reform Schools

Urban Education

In this article, I critique the labels and terms used to frame practices aimed at closing the achievement gap. I examine how an unacknowledged achievement gap Discourse has emerged from the language that informs practices and policies of contemporary school reform. I use Gee’s uppercase “Discourse” and a cultural analytic framework to critique what I refer to as the achievement gap “Discourse.” I challenge educational stakeholders to rethink (a) student comparisons, (b) teacher and student assessments, (c) labels, (d) community input and involvement, and (e) the collective commitment to public schooling as an institution.

Reasons Youth Engage in Activism Programs: Social Justice or Sanctuary?

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Youth activism programs have been studied for their impact on societal change and their contribution to youth development; however, less is known about what motivates youth to engage in such programs. In this study, we draw on survey and focus group data from eight youth activism programs to understand reasons that youth attend. We find that engaging in social justice work was the highest rated reason for participation, followed closely by sanctuary, and lastly, relationships with adults and peers in the program. Analysis of qualitative data highlights the importance of sanctuary—not limited to psychological safety, but with an emphasis on celebrating aspects of identity. Findings also point to important intersections between social justice work and sanctuary, with youth expressing a desire to impact change from protected and affirming spaces that are liberating and allow them to take risks.

‘‘Keep that in mind…You’re Gonna go to College’’: Family Influence on the College Going Processes of Black and Latino High School Boys

The Urban Review

This article highlights the voices of two 11th grade boys of color (one Black and one Latino), attending one U.S. urban charter school, as they describe the various ways their families supported their college going efforts. This study finds that these participants were equipped with what the author conceptualizes as college going familial capital, which describes the rich knowledge, information, inspiration and resources students of color gain from their families (nuclear, extended, and fictive kin), transferred through lessons, values, practices, and beliefs, that serve as rationale, motivation, and support for securing postsecondary educational attainment. College going familial capital was encompassed in the ways the families of participants valued college for economic betterment and emphasized its importance to participants from an early age. College going familial capital was gained when participants assessed the experiences of various family members when they considered the role of college in their own lives. Implications suggest that as educators support the collegiate aspirations of Black and Latino boys, they should consider and employ students’ already existing college going familial capital.

Power, Penalty, and Critical Praxis: Employing Intersectionality in Educator Practices to Achieve School Equity

The Educational Forum

Intersectionality describes the ways interlocking systems of oppression, evidenced in various identity facets (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, and language), frame individuals' social worlds. An awareness of intersectionality can ensure PreK–12 school policies and practices meet the needs of a student population diversifying rapidly along multiple lines. We situate intersectionality within examples of common schooling dilemmas and pose suggestions for educators to employ intersectional thinking in their practice.

“What Am I Gonna Be Losing?” School Culture and the Family-Based College-Going Dilemmas of Black and Latino Adolescent Boys

Education and Urban Society

As educators and service providers in urban schools encourage student college going at higher rates than ever, policy and practice on school improvement discourses would benefit from incorporating students’ perspectives underlying family-based, college-going dilemmas that frame their college preparation. This qualitative article features the voiced experiences of 11th-grade adolescent boys, one Black and one Latino, from one school, as they grapple with both internal dilemmas (e.g., fear of changing and being distanced from their family) and external dilemmas (e.g., their expected familial commitments) inherent in their college access, success, and graduation. Using a conceptual framework that considers the social, cognitive, and institutional factors influencing their college preparation, this article focuses on social factors and advocates for institutional practices that better meet student needs.

Dismantling Barriers by Operationalizing Critical Race Theory in P-16 Educational Contexts

Presentation at the National Association for Multicultural Education, Tuscon, AZ

Critical Race Theory (CRT) arms scholars and multicultural educators to "talk race" more fluently. By bringing CRT into K-16 practice more centrally, multiple stakeholders can better understand and illuminate hegemonic systems of oppression.

College-going dilemmas for Black and Latino boys: Advocating for more precise PreK-12 school interventions

American Journal of Education Forum

Hegemonic Illuminations in Teacher Educator Preparation: The Experiences of Three PhD Students of Color

Presentation, American Educational Studies Association, Annual Conference

This paper examines the experiences of three PhD students of color as they train to become teacher educators in a predominantly White College of Education. Specifically, the study asks: What are the experiences of PhD students of color in a predominantly White COE as they train to become teacher educators? How can these lived experiences provide a necessary counter-narrative to “business as usual” teacher education program structures, processes, and ways of knowing/being? Using critical race methodology, this paper reveals the continuing enactment of hegemonic forces within a College of Education as these students train to become equity-centered teacher educators.

Hegemonic Illuminations in Teacher Educator Preparation: The Experiences of Three PhD Students of Color

Presentation, American Educational Studies Association, Annual Conference

This paper examines the experiences of three PhD students of color as they train to become teacher educators in a predominantly White College of Education. Specifically, the study asks: What are the experiences of PhD students of color in a predominantly White COE as they train to become teacher educators? How can these lived experiences provide a necessary counter-narrative to “business as usual” teacher education program structures, processes, and ways of knowing/being? Using critical race methodology, this paper reveals the continuing enactment of hegemonic forces within a College of Education as these students train to become equity-centered teacher educators.

A Cultural Analysis of the Achievement Gap “Discourse”: Challenging the Language and Labels Used to Reform Schools

Urban Education

In this article, I critique the labels and terms used to frame practices aimed at closing the achievement gap. I examine how an unacknowledged achievement gap Discourse has emerged from the language that informs practices and policies of contemporary school reform. I use Gee’s uppercase “Discourse” and a cultural analytic framework to critique what I refer to as the achievement gap “Discourse.” I challenge educational stakeholders to rethink (a) student comparisons, (b) teacher and student assessments, (c) labels, (d) community input and involvement, and (e) the collective commitment to public schooling as an institution.

Reasons Youth Engage in Activism Programs: Social Justice or Sanctuary?

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Youth activism programs have been studied for their impact on societal change and their contribution to youth development; however, less is known about what motivates youth to engage in such programs. In this study, we draw on survey and focus group data from eight youth activism programs to understand reasons that youth attend. We find that engaging in social justice work was the highest rated reason for participation, followed closely by sanctuary, and lastly, relationships with adults and peers in the program. Analysis of qualitative data highlights the importance of sanctuary—not limited to psychological safety, but with an emphasis on celebrating aspects of identity. Findings also point to important intersections between social justice work and sanctuary, with youth expressing a desire to impact change from protected and affirming spaces that are liberating and allow them to take risks.

‘‘Keep that in mind…You’re Gonna go to College’’: Family Influence on the College Going Processes of Black and Latino High School Boys

The Urban Review

This article highlights the voices of two 11th grade boys of color (one Black and one Latino), attending one U.S. urban charter school, as they describe the various ways their families supported their college going efforts. This study finds that these participants were equipped with what the author conceptualizes as college going familial capital, which describes the rich knowledge, information, inspiration and resources students of color gain from their families (nuclear, extended, and fictive kin), transferred through lessons, values, practices, and beliefs, that serve as rationale, motivation, and support for securing postsecondary educational attainment. College going familial capital was encompassed in the ways the families of participants valued college for economic betterment and emphasized its importance to participants from an early age. College going familial capital was gained when participants assessed the experiences of various family members when they considered the role of college in their own lives. Implications suggest that as educators support the collegiate aspirations of Black and Latino boys, they should consider and employ students’ already existing college going familial capital.

Am I Smart Enough? Will I Make Friends? And Can I Even Afford It? Exploring the College-Going Dilemmas of Black and Latino Adolescent Boys

American Journal of Education

Black and Latino adolescent boys and young men from low-income communities face numerous perceived and actual barriers to achieving their postsecondary educational goals. To advocate for more precise interventions, this study investigated how black and Latino eleventh grade boys’ college ambitions were shaped by their school’s college-going culture, racial stereotyping, and their families’ economic marginalization. Drawing from social cognitive theory, the author examined the boys’ college-going dilemmas as internal (e.g., participants’ self assessments of their academic [un]preparedness and [un]ease about making new friends) and external (e.g., concerns about affording college, given limited financial resources and familial responsibilities).