Critical Race Possibilities for Civics in the Middle-Level World History Classroom

• In Event: Imagining a Just Future: The Generative Possibilities of Critical Race Theory for Classroom Practice

Abstract

Purposes and Framework
Critical race theory (CRT) illuminates how traditional civic education excludes and distorts Black citizenship and civic identities; conversely, CRT informs alternative views of citizenship and identity rooted in critical patriotism, community, and activism. Scholars and teachers alike have explored critical race praxis, especially the critical consciousness element of culturally responsive pedagogy, as an approach to history and civics instruction (Epstein et al., 2011; Ladson-Billings, 2014; Milner, 2014; Rodriguez, 2018; Stovall, 2013).

Engaging in critical race praxis provides a framework for operationalizing CRT in a way that promotes social justice and encourages students to become informed civic actors (Quigley & Mitchell, 2018; Yamamoto, 1997). The author explores how engagement with CRT informed practice in a middle school social studies classroom challenged and disrupted elements of civic instruction and curriculum that reinforce white supremacy and marginalize Black students’ civic experiences.

Data Sources and Methods
This paper draws on data from a larger action research and participatory action research (PAR) study that incorporates critical ethnography and narrative inquiry, which focus on discovery through observation (Hemment, 2007; Spradley, 1980) to investigate civics curriculum that disrupts traditional messages of citizenship. Unlike traditional educational research—on, rather than with, participants—action research provides room for real-time growth of all involved (Efron & Ravid, 2013). The study analyzed changes that occurred within the classroom in which the study took place (the setting), in students (the participants), in the classroom teacher (the participant/collaborator), and in me (the researcher).

Data included observations, student coursework (surveys and artifacts related to the activity), teacher interviews, and coaching documents.

Results
Black middle school students’ interactions with a high-quality civics curriculum complicated traditional notions of citizenship; provided authentic opportunities for engagement and participation; centered student voices; and fostered positive, empowered civic identities. 

Significance
With deliberate planning based on what is and what is not explicitly excluded from acceptable practices, teachers can take bold steps with an eye towards emancipatory outcomes for students. This study proves that educators can engage in the hard work of dismantling unjust systems, even as they color in the lines. Black students deserve spaces to contemplate injustice, work through complicated emotions, deliberate on the implications of racism in their lives, and discover how to challenge the status quo. Social studies classrooms are uniquely situated to be those spaces, and we have a responsibility to secure them.

Word Count: 390

Author

• Erica D. Kelley, KIPP Northern California