American poet William Carlos Williams once wrote, "It is difficult to get the news from poems, but men die miserably every day from lack of what is found there." This line speaks to the crucial but often unacknowledged importance of literature in helping citizens to understand and analyze the major challenges that our society faces. Indeed, despite the relationship between literacy and democracy in practice, the fields of literacy and civic education have operated largely in isolation and privileged standardized test preparation and economic competitiveness over meaningful preparation for collective public life. As a result, two interrelated challenges inform my dissertation research: the lack of meaningful civic learning opportunities and the lack of high-quality literacy instruction, specifically with regard to low-income students of color in urban schools.

This study seeks to re-envision literacy instruction as a critical civic activity that helps students and teachers create new ways of understanding and transforming a complex, often unequal society. My mixed-methods study utilizes a nationwide survey of over 300 high school English teachers and ethnographic case studies of three high school English classrooms in Los Angeles to answer the following questions: How do high school English teachers conceptualize `good' citizenship and the purposes of literacy instruction? How do the civic experiences and attitudes of teachers relate to the practices they introduce to their classrooms? How do students and teachers negotiate civic identities through shared engagement in literacy practices?

This study puts critical theories of democracy, literacy, and classroom practice that have traditionally stood alone into productive conversation with each other in order to frame new critical classroom research. The use of critical ethnographic observation provided insight into the micro-processes through which students and teachers construct meanings about literacy and democracy, while survey research targeting a larger, purposeful sample of English teachers from across the country also provided valuable information about the ways that educators think about the purposes of their discipline.

Major findings from my work indicate that teachers nationwide rank preparation for civic and political life as an important purpose of English education and conceptualize literary texts as powerful tools of civic learning that spur discussion and analysis of complex and controversial social issues. Teachers from low-income and high-minority schools are more likely to connect literacy to civic empowerment and develop curriculum that pushes students to use literacy to improve society. Indeed, the teachers in my study encouraged students to use reading and writing skills in conjunction with digital literacy tools to interact with civic leaders and develop community action projects about local issues. Nevertheless, teachers continually negotiate barriers to connecting literacy development to civic learning that must be addressed, particularly the pressures of standardized testing and high-stakes accountability systems.

My research offers insight into innovative classroom practices that can transform the way we prepare teachers, educate students, and conceptualize the purpose of literacy and civic education in public education policy. It provides strategies that aim to create a more robust, diverse democracy through empowering urban youth of color academically and civically.

In 2017, the Supreme Court in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District RE-1 clarified the substantive FAPE standard for the first time in 35 years. This dissertation used interdisciplinary legal research methods to understand how federal courts and district representatives in a large, urban school district have interpreted the recent changes in special education law. Part 1 is a doctrinal legal analysis of case law applying the substantive FAPE standard from 2015-2018. Part 2 is a qualitative legal analysis of the socially constructed realities of law experienced by special education professionals. Part 3 is a critical policy analysis of the social practices of power in IEP meetings by local actors in the school district.

This dissertation provided a critical reflection on the interpretations of the substantive FAPE standard by internal (e.g. judges and lawyers) and external (e.g. educators and families) actors. Thus far, federal courts have interpreted the changes in Endrew F. narrowly. While they acknowledged that Endrew F. raised the minimum threshold for progress, they have not read the decision as requiring a higher maximum threshold for progress. Moreover, federal courts found 88.4% of plaintiffs’ IEPs to be substantively appropriate, which reflects an 8:1 pro-district outcome ratio and suggests courts strongly defer to the educational expertise of school authorities when determining whether a substantive FAPE was provided. However, district representatives reported significant gaps in their understanding of special education law and did not articulate a clear standard for determining appropriate progress. Furthermore, district data disaggregated by geographic region revealed an inequitable distribution of related services and legal remedies for students with disabilities based on racial/ethnic demographics, socioeconomic status, and disability classification.

This dissertation explores how four critical teachers of color learn and develop through dialogue and reflection about their own educational and life histories as well as their work in ethnic studies classrooms. As K–12 schools in states like California integrate ethnic studies into their curricula, educators are looking to established ethnic studies programs and experienced ethnic studies teachers as models. The existing literature on K–12 ethnic studies primarily focuses on students’ educational experiences, though it offers limited examinations of the experiences of ethnic studies educators. This dissertation addresses this gap by examining the lives, experiences, and insights of four critical teachers of color who teach a ninth-grade ethnic studies program at an East Los Angeles high school. Through individual and focus group interviews, this study explores how these four teachers learned and developed their ethnic studies teaching practice. In particular, this study explores (1) the individual life and educational trajectories of these educators; (2) the ways in which they drew upon individual and shared experiences as a pedagogy-focused collective; and (3) the ways that these educators envision ethnic studies as an inclusive, healing-centered, and restorative justice teaching practice. The study yields two overarching understandings. First, ethnic studies teacher development is a process of becoming—a process that is recursive and reflexive as educators link their own lives with their praxis. Second, the professional learning that these educators engage in is instrumental to their praxis, to the extent that critical professional development (CPD) with an ethnic studies ethos is humanizing and transformative. This dissertation argues that this type of ethnic studies-centered CPD space offers three pedagogical interventions into mainstream K–12 professional development: first, CPD holds space for reflection, vulnerability, and collaboration that cultivate a humanizing pedagogy; second, it cultivates teaching practices that center healing and restorative justice; and third, it encourages a counter-storytelling practice that helps educators reimagine pedagogical possibilities. In mapping out these findings, this study offers tangible ways for educators to build community, share knowledge, and heal together in the pursuit of empowering and transforming both themselves and their students.

Outcomes of formal accountability measures often portray schools in low-income communities as ineffective. This happens without taking into account the broader issues that impact a schools’ ability to create the conditions for teaching and learning. This qualitative study sought to understand site-based goals established by leadership teams in high-need schools and how these goals address student and community needs, including how contextualization of formal data sheds light on issues of shared responsibility for school success. It also sought to understand how site-based goals and context shape the supports provided by the district. The leadership teams of three pilot schools in the Paso Nuevo Unified School District (pseudonym) were interviewed. These schools all service low-income high-need communities throughout Paso Nuevo. Although these schools exhibit some of the conditions considered optimal for teaching and learning, they have struggled to meet formal accountability measures. The principals for each school were also interviewed for this study, including four members of district leadership. My findings show that leadership team members prioritize the immediate needs of students and communities. These site-based goals address issues of trauma, safety, poverty, violence and dislocation. Contextualization of formal data pointed to issues that make the conditions for teaching and learning a challenge. These include a lack of resources, lack of effective teachers, lack of accurate and timely data and serving a disproportionate number of students with high needs, including English Leaners, Newcomers and Special Education students. Although district leadership acknowledged the broader issues that impact these conditions, they failed to provide solutions to these challenges. District leadership was focused on addressing formal accountability measures, which are prioritized by LEA’s and state accountability systems. These findings suggest that leadership teams work collaboratively and effectively, aligning resources and supports to address the immediate needs of students. Additionally, findings suggest that broader issues that are not measured by formal measures impact a schools’ ability to create the conditions for teaching and learning. Lastly, the state and district should develop reciprocal intelligent accountability systems that hold districts and states accountable for not addressing and supporting the needs of schools.

In efforts to transform schools, federal- and state-driven agendas often disregard students as viable producers of meaningful educational space. Some scholars have centered the experiences, actions, and voices of students in transforming their unequal education, establishing that youth play an important role in the educational decisions that shape their lives. Other scholars have focused their research on the organized ways in which students create direct impact on educational and school change, such as through civic engagement, participatory action research programs, and organizing. Similar to the aims studied by these scholars, youths’ everyday interaction with space and place may also reflect their agentive capabilities.

This study is about how four Latina student leaders at one small school in Los Angeles created and maintained spaces of social membership, meaning, and belonging. Through an ethnographic approach, I set out to answer the following research questions: How do Latina student leaders at one urban high school in Los Angeles create place? In what ways is their place-making informed by their culture, identity, community context, or history? To what extent does their place-making shape school space?

Major findings from my work indicate that students’ community context plays a role in the way they understand their actions within their meaningful school spaces. Democratic practices are created and enacted as students claim school spaces, though these spaces are more about membership, meaning, and belonging than political means and ends. Nevertheless, through the spaces they are involved in at school, Latina student leaders learn about themselves, what they can do as a collective, how to be role models, and how to gain affirmations from their interactions with other Latinas.

My research offers insights into the ways students shape school spaces and places in order to represent themselves and their communities. At both theoretical and practical levels, I provide recommendations that call on educational scholars, leaders, and educators to be attentive to issues of space and place as ways to build upon notions of democratic practices and visions occurring within schools.

Teachers’ work is inherently political at both the interpersonal and structural levels. Yet, now, many teachers are under state-sanctioned and local pressure to be apolitical. Moreover, many teachers are citing feelings of political attack as a significant driver in their decisions to stay or leave the teaching profession, even as the US faces growing teacher shortages. Historically, the impact of teacher shortages fall most negatively upon urban intensive schools which already find themselves at the center of harsh political critique and relative political disadvantage. However, little appears in the current body of academic scholarship around teachers’ political development. Against this backdrop, I conducted interviews with 15 current unionized TK-12 teachers serving in a financially imperiled urban school district to better understand urban intensive teachers’ own conceptions of the political dimensions of their profession in terms of both constraints and opportunities. Of particular interest was discerning if and/or how the teachers’ varying degrees of involvement in their teachers union impacts their expression of “teacher political fluency” or the skills and knowledge teachers employ to navigate the political lay of their work. The results of this five month qualitative study offer valuable preliminary insights into the political dimensions affecting urban intensive teachers’ work, teachers’ strategies for navigating work-related political challenges, and how these relate to teachers’ involvement in teacher unionism. Further research is recommended to build out understanding on the topic of teacher political fluency development with implications for a variety of education stakeholders including educational researchers, teacher education programs, teachers unions, and educational policymakers.

This qualitative study examined the social and academic needs of formerly incarcerated students upon reentry to public high schools with the goal of graduating. The sample consisted of a total of 17 participants across two public high schools in one large urban district in California. The research design consisted of semi-structured interviews with students, teachers, counselors, principals, probation officers, and delinquency court judges. The interview design was intended to gain insights into the participants’ perspectives on the needs of formerly incarcerated youth towards graduation. Findings are organized around three themes: oppression and control; dignity and agency; and, sense of belonging and turning point. Findings reveal that students experience psychosocial stressors upon reentry that are either diminished or strengthened based on adult actors’ responses to student behavior, students perceive adults use coercive control in their attempts to help them succeed, colorblind adults downplay their influence and attribute student success to connectedness with family and students’ willingness to work hard in school, critical adults have a strong sense of agency to support student beyond a technical level, students perceive graduation as a means to change life course although the motivator to graduate and change life course is sense of belonging and connectedness with adults at school, and critical adults perceive students’ relationships with school adults as a driver to graduate and change their life course.

Implications of the findings include a focus on social and emotional supports for student learning and targeted allocation of resources for professional staff training and teacher education programs on race conscious and culturally relevant pedagogy. Moreover, implications include a need for targeted staff training on critical consciousness to reduce stigmatization and further criminalization of delinquent youth upon return to school. Five recommendations for policy and practice are made as a result of this study’s findings: (a) direct and additional resources to schools with high numbers of students returning from jail, (b) critical consciousness training for adult actors, (c) school-based interdisciplinary teams to develop individual student plans, (d) development of inter-agency communication and monitoring of students, and (e) service centers should be developed to render multidisciplinary support to students.

Limitations of the study include generalizability given that data were collected from participants at only two school sites. In addition, the participants were purposefully selected based on success with formerly incarcerated youth and may not be a representative sample of the majority of large comprehensive high schools. The two judges and one probation officer who participated did not have direct knowledge of or contact with the student participants in this study.

The intent of this study was to understand the experiences of female superintendents, including those of color, serving in public school districts across California as they navigate the politics associated with culturally divisive conflict. The sample comprised 12 female superintendents serving various lengths of tenure in nine counties in Northern and Southern California. The research design was a qualitative phenomenological study that used a semistructured interview protocol. Study participants were asked to elaborate on their experiences with culturally divisive conflict, the strategies they employed in relation to their intersectional identities, and their recommendations for future female superintendents. Once data were collected, an inductive coding process was used. The data analysis revealed that the California female superintendents in this study experienced an escalation of routine issues into culturally divisive conflict; misinformation is rampant in the age of social media; conflict can escalate quickly when there is a ring leader who involves external national players; and there is a cost to culturally divisive conflict. To navigate culturally divisive conflict, female superintendents leveraged identity-conscious leadership strategies and employed the use of formal structures, proactive communication, and coalition building to stay focused on their district’s mission while counteracting gendered and racialized assumptions about their own competence. The findings also indicated that female superintendents recommended more robust executive coaching, mentorships, and networking, ensuring these learning opportunities are available earlier in their careers and focusing on aspects of the superintendency that females typically have less access to, such as specialized training in politics, governance, and contract negotiation. Having strong superintendent contract negotiation skills including securing severance packages and other essential financial provisions such as conducting a comparable salary analysis, could aid female superintendents in navigating contentious political environments with more confidence. Implications of this study have a wide audience—district superintendents, school board members, county and state officials, member organizations, nonprofits, and philanthropy—including male allies who play an important role in realizing more gender equity. Future research should focus on understanding all aspects of culturally divisive conflict because it jeopardizes democratic values of equal representation and human dignity for all.

Although Latinas/os are the fastest growing population in California, their attainment of Bachelor’s degrees is not keeping pace with their rapidly increasing numbers. In the literature, little attention is being given to mental structures, or cognitive frames, that Latina/o parents and policymakers have regarding college. People use cognitive frames to organize and understand experience. Thus, framing can lead to radically distinct understandings related to college. My study examined how Latina/o parents and policymakers framed the value and purpose of college, who belongs there, and why there is a college access problem. Importantly, I also explored what factors influence the development and maintenance of cognitive frames as well as analyzed race within emerging cognitive frames. Understanding the similarities and differences in the cognitive frames of Latina/o parents yields critical information about why many Latinas/os do not ultimately pursue a postsecondary education. For policymakers, documenting their frames illuminates ways that they could set policy agendas related to college for Latina/o students. In my study, I used qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews with 10 Latina/o immigrant parents and eight policymakers in one metropolitan region in Southern California. Findings indicate that Latina/o immigrant parents and policymakers have deep frames for the importance of college, but most Latina/o parents’ frames for college quality are still emerging. A second finding is that most Latina/o immigrant parents frame differential educational opportunities and outcomes in terms of individual circumstances, while policymakers frame these as systemic phenomena. Third, while sources of college information that shape the frames of Latina/o parents and policymakers are different, both rely on their own experiences to shape their frames about college. Lastly, most Latina/o parents held an equity frame where all children should go to college, while most policymakers held the frame of choice where all children should have the choice to go to college.

While discussions of controversial social and political issues are described as vital to a quality school-based democratic civic education, teachers may find it difficult to broach divisive partisan issues, especially during times of increasing political polarization and contentiousness like the United States in the Trump era. It is often taken for granted that when leading controversial issue discussions, teachers should create an open classroom climate and should enact a neutral political stance. In this dissertation, I studied the limitations of these traditional approaches to discussions in contexts of sociopolitical hostility.

This study follows up on Rogers et al.’s (2017) nationwide study of teaching and learning in the Trump era. I draw on qualitative semi-structured interviews that were conducted with social studies teachers in diverse communities across the United States in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Drawing on theories and frameworks of teacher political disclosure (Kelly, 1986), pedagogy of political trauma (Sondel et al., 2018), and sympathetic touch (Du Bois, 1935), I explored how U.S. public high school social studies teachers made sense of their experiences leading discussions in this time of contentious and polarized national politics.

Findings from this dissertation speak to the conditions and priorities of teachers in controversial issue discussions. First, I describe how teachers experienced and understood the contentiousness and sociopolitical hostility of the national political climate as it played out in their classrooms. Second, I examine how teachers prioritized competing goals related to classroom climate; specifically, as teachers described wanting to build classrooms that were safe for their students, I explore what they understood a safe environment to be, and whose safety they prioritized. Finally, I look at how teachers thought about disclosing their personal political beliefs and opinions in the classroom.

This research offers insights into how teachers conceptualize their roles in discussions of controversial issues with young people, including the complexity and contextual nature of these seemingly straightforward pedagogical decisions, and the need for teachers to take proactive, empathetic steps to provide support and protection to young people from marginalized groups in order to challenge intolerance under the guise of academic discourse.