Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2023, Educational Leadership

Over time, Lincoln Heights High School has seemingly been erased from history. With the exception of a Facebook group and a few articles about state championships that were won during its final year of operation, there is no information on the internet or in published books or research about the high school. This research project aims to fill the void in the literature about Lincoln Heights High School. Data for this project were collected through a combination of oral histories and archival documents to unpack the trials and triumphs of a school that aimed to provide a quality education for its students despite having insurmountable budget issues that inevitably led to its closure. The purpose of this research is to understand the unique case of Lincoln Heights High School as it was one of the few Black schools in Ohio. What were the experiences of Black educators who taught at Lincoln Heights High School? The teachers' narratives highlighted that the staff was more than willing to work with the limited resources that they had in an attempt to educate students and build community. From the archival documents, the main takeaway is that there were so many external forces attempting to hinder the Lincoln Heights community. The battles over land and industrial tax revenue caused Lincoln Heights to be a landlocked community without the opportunity of expanding or generating substantial tax dollars from industry. Gerrymandering was the legal method used to ensure that thriving communities around Lincoln Heights were able to create the hopeless situation for the largest all Black town in the United States. Policies are the reason for the dire situation that the Lincoln Heights community and high school found themselves in. These findings indicate the need for an analysis of school funding in Ohio. The funding model that Ohio utilizes has been deemed illegal, but the model still exists. This model is what also forced the closure of Lincoln Heights High School and con (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Joel Malin (Committee Chair); Brian Schultz (Committee Member); Lisa Weems (Committee Member); Denise Taliaferro Baszile (Committee Member) Subjects: Black History; Black Studies; Education; Education Finance; Education History; Education Policy; Law; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Modern History

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2020, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

Did Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 1954, have an adverse impact on the employment of Black art educators? In this study, I questioned what specifically happened to Black art educators and Black art education in desegregated schools after Brown? Also, with the disappearance of Black and minority culture being taught in primary schools after Brown, how was Black and minority art impacted? The sub question of my research explores the capacity in which Black art educators were teaching art to Black students prior to Brown and the possible implications Brown had on their employment in desegregated public schools. Included in this study is a brief history of art departments established at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) by pioneering Black art educators. As there is scarce research regarding how Brown potentially effected the employment of Black art educators, this research explores the possible connection between Brown and the displacement of Black art educators. In this study I aim to articulate why Black art educators and culturally inclusive art curricula could have been rejected from desegregated public primary schools.

Committee: Joni Acuff Ph.D (Advisor); Karen Hutzel Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Art Education; Art History

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2009, Educational Leadership

Many Americans in the nineteenth century argued for limited education for blacks –or no education at all for African Americans in the south. As a result, black churches took up the role and pushed for education as a means to liberate African Americans. The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church stands as a good exemplar for a black denomination that explicitly expressed in their policies that they understood the connection of education to African American liberation. This study is a historical analysis of the AME Church's advocacy of African American empowerment through education from 1816 to 1893. In the AME Church's nineteenth century doctrinal statements and publications the leaders explicitly stated that education was a necessary component for black liberation. In this dissertation I argue that, although there were other organizations that pushed for African American education in the nineteenth century, the African Methodist Episcopal Church stood at the fore in advocating for education and connecting it to African American liberation. My primary question is: How did the AME Church connect their advocacy for black education to liberation for African Americans in the nineteenth century? The dissertation will explore two aspects of liberation in the nineteenth century. During the first half of the nineteenth century–from the AME Church's founding in 1816 through the end of the Civil war in 1865 –the Church worked toward a liberation that was focused on the abolition of slavery and overcoming racial oppression. In the latter half of the nineteenth century from 1865 to 1893 –with the death of Bishop Payne– the AME Church focused on a liberation that was geared toward the notions of uplift and self-agency within the black community, namely black social, economic, and political advancement. The last chapter will examine how this historical analysis has implications for transforming African American education in present times. The text will examine the black chu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kate Rousmaniere PhD (Committee Chair); Mark Giles PhD (Committee Member); Kathleen Knight-Abowitz PhD (Committee Member); Carla Pestana PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; African History; American History; American Literature; American Studies; Bible; Black History; Education; Education History; Educational Sociology; Educational Theory; History; Literacy; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Multicultural Education; Philosophy

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Educational Studies

In the context of United States (U.S.) education policy, Black erasure refers to a policy tool the racial majority has historically leveraged to preserve the social benefit of education for white people. In this three-article dissertation, I probe the lineage of Black erasure in education policy from the 1600s to the present day to build an understanding of its modern-day implications for the aims of higher education and underrepresented minority (URM) students' perceptions of their success. In the opening chapter, I lay the blueprint for my dissertation, describing the foundation of my research agenda and, as such, my three articles. In the first article, I theorize how Executive Order 13950 and educational gag orders, the modern era of Black erasure in education policy, interferes with the aims of higher education. I argue these aims include providing learning opportunities, preparing individuals to contribute to the workforce, and assisting people in contributing to our democracy. I conclude by discussing how the modern era of Black erasure most weakens the democratic purpose of higher education, endangering academic freedom for faculty, staff, and students. Notably, this article is now published in the Journal of Academic Freedom. In the second article, I theorize and conceptualize how whiteness has historically functioned as a property in U.S. state education policy and weaponized Black erasure as a policy tool. Using critical race theory (CRT) and critical policy analysis, I trace slave codes, anti-literacy laws, Jim Crow Laws, bans on multicultural education, and educational gag orders. Upon examining the origins and rhetoric of the policies, I bring forth a framework for understanding Black erasure in U.S. state education policy and consider implications for policy and advocacy. In the final co-authored article, written by myself, Courtney Gilday, Amy Farley, Ph.D., and Chris Swoboda, Ph.D., we analyze how Black erasure policies in leg (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Amy Farley Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Mark Sulzer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Miriam Raider-Roth Ed.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education Policy

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Arts and Sciences: History

The dissertation illuminates the complex interplay between African American higher education, self-help, gender bias, capitalist exploitation, white supremacy, and politics in the state of North Carolina. At the core of this monograph is an exploration into competing forces between black men and women who led and created opportunities at the higher education institutions and the economic and political agenda of white supremacy. I argue the institutions were built environments for economic and social justice through its curriculum and various social organizations that responded to the local, state, and national issues facing black men and women. I further explore how these leaders' upbringing influenced a curriculum that instilled self-determination and community, which entailed an astute independent citizenry that would create economic and educational opportunities for rural and urban dwellers. Lastly, to retain these institutions, I illuminate how the black leaders used the fear of integration as a tool to garner funds and resources. Overall, the research not only explores how the state institutions were established as a compromise by white democrats seeking to appease African Americans to prevent federal intervention, but how these institutions, in many ways, were dual controlled spaces that allowed the state government to regulate the education and labor of African Americans, while black leaders instilled ideas of racial pride, uplift, and entrepreneurship. For a while, historians have provided studies on black education through a regional analysis, centering their studies mainly on blacks' gains in the South through self-determination, compromise, and accommodation. But because the training focused on agriculture, mechanical, and liberal arts, historians often referred to the ideas, advocacy, and works of Samuel Chapman Armstrong, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Du Bois, whose debates without a doubt are pivotal to the study of black education but dismisses (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Tracy Teslow Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Mark Lause Ph.D. (Committee Member); David Stradling Ph.D. (Committee Member); Nikki Taylor PhD in US History (Committee Member) Subjects: Black History

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2012, Higher Education Administration

International education helps students become more engaged within the United States and abroad. Black undergraduates continue to be underrepresented in study abroad despite two decades of increased enrollment by Black students in higher education in the United States. This study had three purposes: (1) to explore how Black undergraduates attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) perceived study abroad programs, (2) to understand how individual and institutional characteristics related to the desire of Black undergraduates at HBCUs to study abroad, and (3) to determine to what degree individual and institutional variables predicted Black undergraduates' desire to participate in study abroad. A survey research design was utilized to understand the perceptions and characteristics of Black undergraduates attending four HBCUs. Two hundred ninety-eight students responded to the survey during the spring and summer of 2011. Findings indicated that there was a significant relationship between students who initiated discussion about study abroad with their advisor or professor and their desire to study abroad at their current institution. There was a significant relationship between professors who initiated conversations about study abroad with students outside the classroom and the respondents' desire to study abroad. There was a significant relationship between professors who discussed study abroad outside the classroom and respondents' perceptions of study abroad. Students who had interactions with faculty or advisors regarding study abroad were less represented among students who did not desire to study abroad. Respondents who were born or raised abroad were less likely to desire to study abroad than those that did not report they were born or raised abroad and education majors were more likely to desire to study abroad than those in other majors. Respondents who initiated discussions about study abroad with their professors were more likely to desire (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dafina Stewart PhD (Committee Chair); Patrick Pauken PhD (Other); Michael Coomes EdD (Other); Robert DeBard PhD (Other) Subjects: African Americans; Higher Education

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2015, Leadership and Change

This study is a leadership biography which provides, through the lens of Black feminist thought, an alternative view and understanding of the leadership of Black women. Specifically, this analysis highlights ways in which Black women, frequently not identified by the dominant society as leaders, have and can become leaders. Lessons are drawn from the life of Anna Julia Cooper that provides new insights in leadership that heretofore were not evident. Additionally, this research offers provocative recommendations that provide a different perspective of what leadership is among Black women and how that kind of leadership can inform the canon of leadership. Cooper's voice in advocacy, education, community service, and involvement in the Black Women's Club Movement are the major themes in which evidence of her leadership is defined. This leadership biography moves beyond the western hegemonic point of view and the more traditional ways of thinking about leadership, which narrowly identify effective leaders and ways of thinking about leadership development. The findings of this study propose an alternative view of leadership that calls attention to the following critical elements: 1. Black women carry the co-identifers, gender and race, which continue to be nearly nonexistent in leadership theories, discourse, and mainstream leadership literature. 2. The positivist view, as being the only legitimate knowledge claim, must continue to be challenged. 3. There is a need to correct and update our history, making it more inclusive of all human beings. This leadership biography centers on the notion that Cooper, as a quintessential leader, remains paradoxical. For the most part, she continues to be an unknown figure to most Americans, both Black and White. Yet, remnants of Cooper's ideology and leadership are prolific. It is precisely this dissonance between Cooper the undervalued figure and Cooper the scholar/activist leader that is being analyzed in this study. Under (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jon Wergin Ph.D (Committee Chair); Laurien Alexandre Ph.D (Committee Member); Barbara Nevergold Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; African American Studies; African Americans; American History; Biographies; Black History; Black Studies; Continuing Education; Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership; Gender; Gender Studies; Higher Education; History; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2009, (Education)

Research indicates that minority males, especially Black males, are often overrepresented in special education programs. While the reasons for overrepresentation vary from school to school and from district to district, the literature reveals that many special education referrals for minority males are generated as a result of non-academic issues. The purpose of this study was to determine if gender and racial bias influence teachers' decisions when referring students, specifically Black males, for special education services and attempted to answer two questions: Are teachers biased in making referrals to special education services based upon student race and/or gender? and Are teachers biased in making referrals to special education services, specifically for Black males? An ANOVA procedure was used to analyze the relationship between teachers' ratings of how likely they were to refer a student for special education services and how certain they were of their ratings of a student's need for referral. While the study produced some interesting patterns, no definitive conclusions could be drawn from the study due to a limited sample size. Additional research is needed to either support or refute the hypotheses that teacher bias does influence one's decision to refer a student to special education services.

Committee: Dianne Gut PhD (Advisor); Yegan Pillay PhD (Committee Member); George Johanson PhD (Committee Member); Scott Titsworth PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Elementary Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2012, College of Education and Human Services

How Black artists—othered and positioned at the margins of “civilization” in the United States—construct knowledge, context, and historical memory is informative to urban education research and policy. The exploration of this reflects the wisdom of an African proverb that others will tell the story of the struggle should it not first be told by those who live it. To create reciprocity between participants and the researcher, this study employed participatory methods and critical analysis of data from interview sessions, observation, works of art, journal reflections, and information from existing studies and artist documentaries. The study uncovers an approach to the creative process—a form of visual stenography fusing art, inquiry, and activism while considering the historical, social, and ideological context. Findings suggest art may be employed as a method, an indigenous paradigm countering the threat of being scripted into history and disrupting unequal research hierarchies and social relations.

Committee: Anne Galletta PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Brian Harper PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Michelle Fine PhD (Committee Member); Karen Clark-Keys PhD (Committee Member); Karen Sotiropoulous PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Art Education; Black Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Curriculum Development; Divinity; Education; Education Policy; Educational Theory; Fine Arts; Social Research

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Educational Studies

While Perkins V legislation and newer career and technical education programs were designed to prepare students for success in both college and career pathways and modern career and technical education programs are supposed to expand college and career readiness outcomes for students, there is a lack of research examining supports that promote the academic engagement and success of Black male students in high school career academies. Career academies are a type of high school reform initiative that is designed to prepare students for college and careers in career fields such as engineering and informing technology (Fletcher & Tan, 2022; Fletcher et al., 2018). In the 1970s, career academies were designed as career-oriented schools that delivered college preparatory instructional curriculum, and operated as smaller schools within larger schools (ACTE, 2019; NAF, 2023). Comprehensive school reform efforts like career academies are likely to ensure that Black male students are prepared for college and careers with personalized resources and services such as trade and apprenticeship pathways, work-based learning, early career exploration, guidance counseling, and college-level examination programs. In this study, I described the need for research to examine college and career readiness of high school Black male students at a NAF (formerly known as the National Foundation Academy) Academy of Engineering. I utilized the theoretical frameworks of college and career ready by Stone and Lewis (2012) and culturally relevant pedagogy by Ladson-Billings (1992) to review the research questions, background of the problem, problem statement, purpose statement, and significance of the study. Since Black males are a vulnerable group of youth with lower academic achievement and performance and barriers to career prospects and access to higher education (Brown et al., 2019; Hines et al., 2014; Wright, 2019), I explored the role of career academies, culturally relevant education for Bla (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Edward Fletcher Jr. (Advisor); Christopher Zirkle (Committee Member); Antoinette Errante (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Black Studies; Cultural Resources Management; Curricula; Curriculum Development; Education; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory; Ethnic Studies; Gender Studies; Mathematics; Mathematics Education; School Administration; Science Education; Secondary Education; Sociology; Teacher Education; Teaching; Technology; Vocational Education

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Leadership , Franklin University, 0, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

The Black-White achievement gap has been an acknowledged problem in American public education since the 1960s with the release of the Coleman Report (1966). Academic optimism has been linked to student achievement since its development in 2006. This study seeks to confirm the link between academic optimism and student achievement, and to see if there is a connection between academic optimism and the Black-White achievement gap in an urban public-school setting.164 high school teachers from an urban school district in Ohio were surveyed to assess the level of academic optimism in their schools. This variable was then compared to the difference in math and ELA test scores between Black and White students at each school. The results of this study confirmed a significant positive correlation between academic optimism and student achievement, as well as between each of the three components of academic optimism (academic emphasis, collective efficacy, and faculty trust) and student achievement. However, there was no significant correlation found between academic optimism and the Black-White achievement gap, nor between the factors of academic optimism and the Black-White achievement gap.

Committee: Matthew Barclay (Committee Chair); Anne Ross (Committee Member); Julie Hao (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education History; Education Policy; Educational Theory

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2021, Business Administration

This dissertation studies how institutions of higher education occupy a unique space that can add to the discourse of business studies by relating how consumers can simultaneously function as products. This is substantiated by defining the word “student” beyond the traditional meaning of a student as learner when considering the higher education business model. As such, the student as defined in this research co-exists as both consumer and product, shifting institutional culture and power dynamics while influencing senior-leadership decision-making. Given current research on the topic shows a one-sided view, concentrating on students as consumers rather than products or both, this study addresses gaps in the current research, with a focus on how the concept of higher education has not only two products (the curriculum and the student), but also two consumers (the student and the corporate structure who seeks to employ graduates at the lowest value, but the most productivity). A further gap in the research that served to benefit this study considered low-resourced, minority serving institutions with business models that depend on student enrollment, particularly Full-Time Equivalencies (FTE), to meet institutional budget constraints. Such a definition of the student binary that exists at tuition-driven, mission focused institutions create challenges that exist with accommodating and somewhat acquiescing to student socio-economic needs, organizational behavior, and institutional culture. Thus, using grounded theory, this qualitative study identifies semiotics as a business practice that not only creates symbolic meaning of the word “student”, but also identifies how that definition shifts depending on function, influencing the institutional power structure and decision-making practices of institutional leadership particularly at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In particular, this study used a sample of nine senior-level administrators at the 37 s (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Beverly Smith (Committee Chair); Bora Pajo (Committee Member); Jeffrey Ferezan (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Administration; Economic Theory; Education; Education Finance; Educational Leadership; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Organizational Behavior

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2020, College of Education and Human Services

In a qualitative narrative study of 11 urban teacher education faculty who teach courses that prepare teacher candidates for field immersions in metro-urban schools, I problematized “whiteness” by asking participants what it meant to them in the contexts of their work in contact zones were teacher candidates and K-12 students meet. The research was shaped as an abolitionist justice project (Tuck & Yang, 2018, p. 8) and considered how “whiteness” might be deconstructed and decentered in urban teacher education. Participants described whiteness as both fixed phenotype and historical and social construct which causes harm and which requires intervention. In scenarios where the harm of whiteness was mitigated for non-white K-12 students and teacher candidates, participants described themselves in supportive rather than authoritative educational roles. The study reflects upon what might constitute one or more forms of abolitionist praxis which might have the utility to dismantle systemic white supremacy as well as to cease and desist in the oppression of children.

Committee: Anne Galletta (Committee Chair) Subjects: African American Studies; Education Policy; Educational Sociology; Ethnic Studies

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2020, Leadership and Change

Inservice teachers' influence and power are vital components for academic success among Black children. Previous research has shown that when teacher/student interactions are culturally responsive, engaging, and equitable, student learning is positively impacted (Banks, 2001; Gay, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 2011; Sleeter, 2000; Warren, 2018). However, equity gaps between Black and White k-12 students continue to exist within classroom settings (Grant & Sleeter, 2012; Ladson-Billings, 2018). Using a mixed-method approach that includes Repertory Grid Technique underpinned by Personal Construct theory to identify the teaching perceptions of inservice teachers, I gathered data that indicate how k-12 teachers understand what enables Black students to learn. The findings reveal that respondents shared five key constructs as being important to Black students' learning: “professional and skills development,” “impacts of administrative responsiveness and supports,” “caring,” “trust,” and “inclusion of lived experiences.” However, what is important to note is that my study indicates that neither Black nor White teachers held the entire picture of what enables Black students to learn. By integrating the results of both Black and White teachers' responses, I theorize a framework which represents a path for Black student learning. I call this framework Culturally Collaborative Teaching, which takes into account both Black and White teachers' understandings of what the critical factors are when educating Black students. Culturally Collaborative teaching is a framework in which teachers, regardless of their race and cultural background, can integrate and develop a shared set of skills and values. The inclusion of administrator support and understanding of cultural practices, serves as the foundation for positively impacting academic learning for Black students. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Donna Ladkin PhD (Committee Chair); Lize Booysen DBL (Committee Member); Elmar Kutsch PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Curriculum Development; Education; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory; Elementary Education; Middle School Education; Multicultural Education; Pedagogy; Secondary Education; Teacher Education; Teaching

Master of Fine Arts, Miami University, 2019, English

The Token Project, my creative thesis, contains poetry, journal entries, and creative nonfiction. It addresses ways in which blackness, masculinity, and black culture are tokenized while playing on the term “token” in order to reinvent and powerfully repurpose it. Repurposing this term is a way to create agency in a world that widely fails to recognize me in the full human spectrum. The project investigates capitalism, colonialism, entertainment, and love through the concept of the “token.

Committee: Wagner Cathy (Committee Chair); Cheek Cris (Committee Member); Tuma Keith (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; American History; Black History; Black Studies; Education; Language Arts; Literature

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Higher Education Administration

Mentoring in graduate education is considered a vital component of graduate education. The purpose of this qualitative research was to hear the stories Black women in doctoral programs (BWDP) tell about their faculty mentoring experiences. The theoretical frameworks used to ground this study were Critical Race Feminism and Hunt and Michael's (1983) framework for the study of mentorship. The participants were nine Black women currently enrolled in doctoral programs across the United States. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with women who self-identified as being Black and enrolled in a doctoral program. Interviews were conducted face-to-face or virtually. Through a `creative nonfiction' style, the stories BWDP shared about their faculty mentoring experiences were illuminated. Findings revealed that faculty mentoring for BWDP was about guidance, relationships, and having a faculty mentor who is culturally competent. The discussion section linked previous literature to the current study. This study contributes to the knowledge base on mentoring and doctoral education. It also illustrates the importance of centering the needs and the lived experiences of BWDP to counter dominant mentoring approaches within doctoral education.

Committee: Maureen Wilson Dr. (Advisor); Dafina-Lazarus Stewart Dr. (Committee Member); Hyun Kyoung Ro Dr. (Committee Member); Louis Katzner Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; African American Studies; Black Studies; Education; Educational Leadership; Ethnic Studies; Gender Studies; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Pedagogy; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, EDU Teaching and Learning

This study is a story about the relationships between nine Black men and some of the White educators in the K-12 schools and correctional education settings these men attended. I developed this story from face-to-face individual and group interviews with these men while they were inmates at Springdale Correction Center (a pseudonym), a community based correctional facility located in the Appalachian region of Ohio. I also interviewed the three teachers (each of whom was White) in the education department at SCC for their perceptions of educating Black males. My goal was to examine the school experiences of Black males to better understand education. However, I did not anticipate the degree to which participants' stories would highlight that issues of race and racism in education are pervasive, persistent, and harmful to Black male students. In many respects, the Black male inmates interviewed for this study are new voices in the field of education. No scholars previously analyzed these men's narratives to better understand the cultural relevance of their educators, or their relationships with their educators. On the other hand, this study's participants' voices illustrate what scholars have long been saying—namely, that schools and educators fail to nurture, support, or protect Black male students (Du Bois, 1903; Howard, 2013; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Palmer, Wood, Dancy, & Strayhorn, 2014; Woodson, 1933). This study highlights the importance of relationships between educators and students of color. White educators who have a developing awareness about the social and cultural realities of people who are Black from having relationships with these people are more likely to engage in developing pedagogical relationships with Black male students. A pedagogical relationship is a relationship between an educator and individual or groups of students in which the educator gets to know students, imagine what may help them achieve some educational success, and actually do w (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brian Edmiston PhD (Advisor); Patricia Encison PhD (Committee Member); Dean Cristol PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Curriculum Development; Education; Multicultural Education; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Music

This dissertation aims to explore and describe, in ethnographic terms, some of the principal formal and non-formal environments in which jazz music is learned today. By elucidating the broad aesthetic, stylistic, and social landscapes of present-day jazz pedagogy, it seeks to encourage the revitalization and reorientation of jazz education, and of the cultural spaces in which it takes place. Although formal learning environments have increasingly supported the activities of the jazz community, I argue that this development has also entailed a number of problems, notably a renewal of racial tensions spurred on by 1) the under-representation of non-white students and faculty, especially black Americans; 2) the widespread adoption of 'color-blind' methodologies in formal music-learning environments, which serve to perpetuate ambivalence or apathy in the addressing of racial problems; 3) a failure adequately to address cultural studies related to the black heritage of jazz music; and 4) the perpetuation of a narrow vision of jazz music that privileges certain jazz styles, neglects others, and fails to acknowledge the representative intersections between jazz and related forms of black music. The study seeks to answer two main questions: What is the nature of the twenty-first-century learning environment? Moreover, how do cultural and racial dynamics affect the ways in which jazz is taught and understood in formal and non-formal settings? My proposition is that teaching jazz as a part of a broad spectrum of black musical styles and cultural traditions, which I shall call the black musical continuum, provides solutions for the dearth of cultural competency and narrow vision of jazz found in many learning environments. Through a continuum theory, I seek to provide a framework for viewing, teaching, learning, and performing jazz that situates it within the larger socio-cultural context of black American music. I argue that such a reorientation toward African-American cu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Graeme Boone (Committee Chair); Ryan Skinner (Committee Member); William McDaniel (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; American Studies; Black History; Black Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Fine Arts; Folklore; Music; Music Education; Performing Arts

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Leadership Studies

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of race in the implementation of education reform through organizing strategies. This study examines the experiences of nine African American community leaders from Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit in their endeavors to lead education reform. More specifically, this work examines the tradition of racial solidarity as an organizing strategy for change in the African American community. Three research questions guided this study: To what extent does race impact African American leaders' implementation of education organizing? What influence does intragroup vs. intergroup ties have on leaders in education organizing efforts? To what extent do African American community leaders rely on calls for racial solidarity in their efforts to transform schools? A phenomenological approach was used to answer this study's research questions. Phenomenology describes the meaning of a group of individuals lived experiences of a concept or phenomenon. Using a phenomenological lens, I analyzed individual experiences to uncover the universal essence of how African American community leaders understand and experience education organizing. During my conversations with leaders, I learned that race: (a) affirmed many leaders ability to lead within their communities (b) was essential to the understanding of how to navigate school bureaucracy and empathize with the experiences of their constituents (c) framed the type of educational issues respondents' communities face and (d) influenced how communities are engaged in the educational change process.

Committee: Mark Earley (Advisor); William Morrison (Other); Judy Alston (Committee Member); Joyce Litten (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Black Studies; Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

There is considerable research on the challenges of public education for African American youth. Such research often paints a dismal picture of African American academic achievement. As a result, it is necessary to take a close look at the innovative education strategies within African American communities that offer a contrasting perspective. Specifically, this research uses Invitational Education Theory (IET), critical participatory action research, Black Feminist Epistemology, and critical multiculturalism to investigate the narratives of African American mothers who homeschool their children and analyze the purpose and outcomes of an African American homeschool cooperative. Families in this study offer insight into how African Americans are instituting change in their homes and communities and bring to light the over-arching challenges many African American families face in traditional education. Their work can inform creative ways to incorporate parents, community, and funds of knowledge into traditional education.

Committee: Vesta Daniel (Advisor); Karen Hutzel (Advisor); Maurice Stevens (Committee Member); Patty Bode (Committee Member); James Moore, III (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Art Education; Black History; Black Studies; Continuing Education; Counseling Education; Counseling Psychology; Cultural Anthropology; Cultural Resources Management; Curricula; Curriculum Development; Early Childhood Education; Education; Educational Leadership; Educational Psychology; Educational Theory; Elementary Education; Ethnic Studies; Families and Family Life; Gender; Gender Studies; Multicultural Education; Personal Relationships; Personality Psychology; School Administration; School Counseling; Secondary Education; Social Research; Social Work; Sociology; Teacher Education; Teaching; Therapy; Urban Planning; Womens Studies