U.S. libraries and classrooms are under siege by private and governmental entities working to simultaneously ban/remove justice-focused literature and inundate these spaces with reactionary/ultra-conservative materials. It is within this educational crisis that we conducted a critical content analysis of the award-winning, best-selling historical…

This longitudinal case study utilizes critical event narrative methodology and intersectionality to examine the experiences of one female Caribbean teacher as she sought to enact her vision of socially just science education in secondary schools in the USA. This research explored how the convergence of racial, cultural, and science teaching…

This study applies critical theory to examine the relationship that exists between teachers and students in the classroom and whether the classroom is a microcosm of social injustice, replicating the inequities between those in a position of power and those that are subject to them. The purpose of the study was to expose gaps in current practices…

In middle-grades settings, students are cultivating critical consciousness to apply general knowledge of equity to their local context(s) (Nojan, 2020). As educators work to foster environments that allow middle-grade students to cultivate critical consciousness, expectations have shifted in the area of leading for equity. We have outlined a…

This article reports on the educational experiences of select students with an inconsistent/interrupted formal education (SIFE) currently enrolled at an alternative high school. Interview data were collected during two consecutive academic years during 2018-2020 and analyzed by drawing on positioning theory and the culture of power to address the…

This study assesses the extent to which public high schools become more or less socially mixed after families are allowed to choose schools outside their designated catchment areas in a mid-sized Canadian city. We draw on settler-colonial theory, critical human geography, and critical social theory while applying a critical mapping of school…

The narrow manner in which giftedness is often regarded perpetuates the underrepresentation of students of Color in gifted education programs, particularly for Black students. This case study highlights the story of a gifted Black high school student attending a predominantly White high school in the South. Bianca's story illuminates her struggle…

Case studies of single classrooms and schools have shown promising evidence of learning outcomes associated with action civics and student voice. These findings justify efforts to expand and sustain such opportunities, to ensure greater access for students, and to create a positive feedback loop between youth activism and equity-centered systems…

In this critical qualitative case study, we examined the ways three critically identifying social studies teachers understood and adopted critical pedagogy. We argue that the praxis of these teachers unfolded based on their understanding of and willingness to attend to the many dialectical relations associated with teaching. We understand the…

Drawing from a larger study of teacher empathy, this article offers a critical race analysis of three teachers' "dispositions" to discern (a) their social and emotional competencies (SEC) and (b) evidence of "transformative" social and emotional learning (SEL). Data sources include one-on-one teacher interviews, focus groups,…

As part of a larger study, through this research I examined the ideological foundations of public school teachers' interpretations of Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I discovered that White teachers in this study talked about oppression in ways that implied it was a natural part of life, and even in some cases necessary for learning.…

Critical conversations take on heightened importance with current tensions about issues involving race, income inequality, sexual orientation, and gender identity, both locally and globally. These tensions demonstrate a dire need for classroom discussions about literature to serve as a space where youth engage in rigorous, critical conversations…

In this article, the authors present a qualitative study focused on preservice teachers employing a framework using tenets of critical race theory (CRT)--permanence of racism, experiential knowledge and counter-storytelling, interest convergence, and critique of liberalism--in literature study. Drawing on critical English education, critical race…

As an English Language Arts teacher, I have experienced cost-effective approaches replacing the actual "arts" of ELA (Trend, 1992). This article explores how Surrealist-oriented pedagogies could restore imaginative freedom and deconstruct conceptual barriers (normative standards, curricular constraints, and status quo power relations) in…

Focusing on moments in the English classroom imbued with affective forces that produce racial differentiation is central to the support of classrooms addressing race and racism. This work focuses on an event in an English classroom where race was constructed in ways that disrupted not only silence but habitual ways of social differentiation.…