Unearthing the Power Behind the Language: Anti-CRT K-12 Policies in Iowa, Tennessee, and Texas

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Analyses and Sensemaking of Language Policy (Table 13)

Abstract

In this session, a research team comprised of critical educators and a legal scholar apply Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to investigate anti-Critical Race Theory (CRT) policies in K12 education across Iowa, Tennessee, and Texas. CDA uncovers the influential political voices that intersect to create divisive concept legislation and determine its implementation. This research builds on recent educational scholarship about divisive concepts and anti-CRT laws. Anti-CRT laws aim to ban educators in K12 schools from teaching aspects of racism and sexism they deem as divisive or inappropriate for classroom instruction. The ambiguous and arbitrary language of these laws compounds educators’ concerns about legal and ethical compliance. By examining the underlying power of language, this study unearths the motivation behind anti-CRT legislation.

Authors

• Tasha Adrienne Lindo, University of Iowa

• Kelly A. Brown, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

• Leslie Ann Locke, Minnesota State University - Mankato

• Sonya D. Hayes, University of Tennessee

• Ann E. Blankenship Knox, University of Redlands

• Nicholas R. Stroup, Ohio University