Coalition of Black Education Deans - Truth and Consequences: Leading in a Post-Truth Era

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

"In this symposium session, the leadership group of the relatively new Coalition of Black Education Deans will lead a discussion that clarifies the issues related to leading schools and colleges of education during a time when education is a highly contested political space. While not new, the contours of the current culture wars implicate the priorities, values and vision of academic education researchers, practitioners, and leaders, requiring solidarity, strategies and uncompromising work to emerge. Such work must interrogate inequity, offer evidence-based solutions to systemic issues, and serve to advance the promise of education to support social mobility and preserve democracy. Specifically, the session will consist of the Coalition leaders addressing the following moderated questions:

How can Black education deans advance research that addresses educational inequality during a time when ‘equity’ and other critical concepts have been weaponized? How are they uniquely positioned to do so?
What tools and strategies are useful for navigating threats to educational research that addresses racism and hegemony in education?
What powerful lessons have Black education deans learned as they have tried to map out a transformative agenda in an increasingly politically polarized context?
The research base reflected by this symposium includes educational equity research, culturally responsive pedagogy, critical race theory, and empirical studies on Black leadership in higher education. The session will disrupt the broader master narrative that suggests that race doesn’t matter in educational leadership. Further, the extant research illustrates the opportunity that Black education leaders have to disrupt seemingly intractable disparities in educational experiences and outcomes for Black children that have persisted unabated throughout history. "

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Laura P. Kohn-Wood, University of Miami

Participants

• Donald Easton-Brooks, University of Nevada - Reno

• Don Pope-Davis, The Ohio State University

• Valerie Kinloch, Johnson C. Smith University

• Marvin Lynn, University of Colorado - Denver

• Kimberly A. White-Smith, University of San Diego

Discussant

• Michael E. Dantley, MED Consulting LLC