The racial mismatch between the overwhelmingly white teaching force and an increasingly heterogeneous student population continues to widen (Boucher, M. (2016). "Urban Education," 51(1), 82-107.) with pernicious implications for BIPOC students "who are systematically marginalized by the institution of schooling" (Kinloch, V.,…

In this paper, the authors utilize critical reflection and autobiographical narratives as a pedagogical tool for aspiring school leaders to examine beliefs and assumptions on equity and social justice in an educational leadership preparation program. Comparative themes related to their developing social justice and equity orientations included:…

The creation of trauma-sensitive schools has become an increasingly central focus of school reform and urban school reform in particular. While these initiatives have been framed as social justice imperatives, this framing warrants critique. This critical analysis surveys the history, models, and documented outcomes of trauma-sensitive approaches…

In this conceptual article, the authors argue that diversity is an invitation to educators, youth, families, and community members to work together--a goal accomplished only by centering the local community rather than the local school--to educate youth and create a more just society. Based upon liberatory and emancipatory education, liberatory…

Participatory action research (PAR) with youth holds potential to spur social justice-oriented change due to its explicit orientation to transform systemic inequity. Whereas youth in PAR projects embody agency in their actions, they hold less institutional power than adults in positions of authority. In addition, youth who have been marginalized…

The education system has been heralded as a tool of liberation and simultaneously critiqued as a tool of social control to maintain the oppressive status quo. Critical consciousness (CC), developed by the Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, advanced an educational pedagogy to liberate the masses from systemic inequity maintained and perpetuated by…

Critical Race Theory (CRT) scholars in Education, like activists, are intent on dismantling racism in education (and society at large), and often do so by engaging the problem of racial injustice through social science research. CRT research creates a wealth of awareness about how racism functions, and as a result, inspires social agency to create…

What is radical love in teaching? How can radical love incite change and transformation within teacher education? What does radical love entail to prepare critically minded teachers for urban schools? In this conceptual paper, we respond to these questions through our individual and collective experiences as social justice oriented teacher…

Throughout the past several decades, there has been an abundance of research about school reform, particularly in schools predominated by students of color and students experiencing poverty. Critics acknowledge that many reform efforts have failed and comprehensive solutions to school change remain elusive. In this article, we provide an overview…

This review examines empirical studies of educational equity in and through the arts with broad implications for urban education. It extends the literature by (a) describing the interrelated spaces of urban education and the arts, (b) integrating knowledge of arts education across formal and informal learning environments, and (c) examining the…

Because of the changing nature of race the role of antiracist teaching is a forever-evolving process. Acknowledging that the majority of the U.S. teaching force, from K-12 to teacher education in institutions of higher education, are white middle-class females, it becomes imperative to unveil pedagogical applications of critical whiteness studies.…

This article reviews three emergent measures of critical consciousness (CC), which refers to marginalized or oppressed people's critical reflection on oppressive social, economic, or political conditions, the motivation to address perceived injustice, and action taken to counter such injustice in a liberatory manner (Freire in "Education for…

Outside of school time (OST) programs are playing an increasingly prominent role in the lives of youth, particularly Black children. Because many schools are not meeting the social, cultural, and academic needs of Black students, the ability of OST programs to support students in these areas is essential. Ladson-Billings ("The dreamkeepers:…

Research has sought to understand how parents socialize their children around race and ethnicity, but few studies have considered how contexts outside the home are also important sources of socialization. In this paper we review and integrate literature on practices in school settings that have implications for ethnic-racial socialization using a…

This paper examines the history of welfare policy discourse in the United States since the publication of the "Moynihan Report" (1967) and traces its implications for contemporary education policy research. The central thesis is that an overemphasis on "parents" historically invites unwarranted assumptions about autonomy and…