Learning From New Research on Large-Scale Efforts to Disrupt Racial Injustices in Education

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

Out-of-school suspensions, often the symptom of broader patterns of discrimination and exclusion have taken place for generations, especially for young people of color (Gregory & Skiba, 2019). When DuDois (1903) theorized about the ecology of racism and oppression, he speculated that race would become a determinant of exclusion and oppression. His theory has come to life in many problematic ways in education where Black, Native, Pacific Islander and Latinx youth, especially youth of color with disabilities are suspended at higher rates compared to their white peers (Leung, Gagne et al,. 2023).
However, new insights from a national research consortium comprised of scholars and universities from across the United States suggests academic, social and economic scholarship has a critical role to play in informing large scale efforts like multi-tiered systems to disrupt racial injustices that disproportionately impact young people by age, race, gender, sexual orientation and ability. The implications for this type of research geared toward dismantling the school-to-prison nexus through interdisciplinary research design models can be profound for both practice and policy.
Findings from the research of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools California Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Research Consortium provides a window into the power and promise of research geared toward systems of support initiatives nationally and advancing an unapologetic focus on racial justice. Further, this symposium and its experts can help spur the development of new initiatives and policies as a way to dismantle, not reinforce structures of white supremacy across the United States (Bishop, 2023).
Consortium findings will resurface the challenges of top-down, colorblind, race neutral approaches for building out systems of support. Instead, researchers present strong, empirically-grounded alternatives for not only ending exclusionary practices, but also

emphasizing prevention, key investments and embracing the racial, cultural and linguistic assets often disregarded in tiered systems of support models.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Joseph P. Bishop, University of California - Los Angeles

Papers

• Supporting the Academic Success of Students With Foster Care Experience: Lessons From Sweetwater Union High School District - Sierra Wollenhall, University of Washington; Angelique Day, University of Washington; Anthony Gómez, University of California - Berkeley

• The Economic Benefits of Equity Across California Schools - Clive R. Belfield, Queens College - CUNY; Viviana Rodriguez, University of Texas - San Antonio; A. Brooks Bowden, University of Pennsylvania; Julia Oas, University of Connecticut

• No Shame or Stigmas: Prioritizing Students Experiencing Homelessness in Long Beach Unified and Monterey County - Travis E. Dumas, Rutgers University; Angela James, University of California - Los Angeles; Joseph P. Bishop, University of California - Los Angeles

• The Landscape of Language Learners in California’s MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Support) - Mary Louise Leger, University of California - Los Angeles; Lucrecia Santibanez, University of California - Los Angeles; Olivia E. Obeso, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo; Sarah Perez, University of California - Los Angeles

Discussant

• Danfeng Soto-Vigil Koon, University of San Francisco