Date of Award

Spring 5-6-2022

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Open-Access Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

Advisor

Catharine Biddle

Second Committee Member

Maria Frankland

Third Committee Member

Ian Mette

Abstract

Increased public scrutiny and outcry over police shootings of unarmed Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor to name just two, forced a greater awareness of societal demonizing and criminalizing of Black and Brown people due to racial stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination. This examination of American policing and justice systems, as one element of systemic racism then spawned a broader look at how Black, Indigenous, and People of Color face racism in every aspect of their lives, including in education. As school districts heed the call to understand the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in order to achieve more equity in education, effective staff training often under diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts becomes a step forward. White majority communities and schools face unique challenges in equity training with White educators, who often have limited personal experience with racism and cultural diversity, leading to lack of understanding about the presence and consequences of systemic racism. This research evaluated how a White majority school district’s equity training impacts White teachers’ racial literacy. Evaluation of the implementation of equity training, as well as staff responses to the training, provided understanding of benefits and shortcomings of DEI programs in a White majority school districts. The combination of examination of context of White majority schools with analysis of responses to specific trainings resulted in findings that have pragmatic applications to develop improved equity training for schools.

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