Dismantling Systemic Racism Through Detracking: Teachers' Stories of Promise and Contradiction

• In Event: Racism and White Supremacy: Confrontation, Conflict, and Curriculum

Abstract

This qualitative study examines teacher’s experience in detracked Freshman English, History and Biology, reconfigured as rigorous “earned honors” courses. Forty hours of teacher interviews and multiple observations, analyzed using a Critical Race Theory lens, revealed teachers saw improved racial equity. They were also concerned that assessments determining who “earned” honors actually reified inequity. The reform enacted to resolve racial inequity potentially recreated the problem. Administrators, aware of affluent white parents’ interest in preserving honors status, were reluctant to consider this concern. The theory of convergence of interest asserts forces of White privilege, when challenged, can recreate themselves. This study suggests sustaining racial equity requires constant vigilance, openness to conflict, and centrality of race in all situations.

Authors

• Sharon M. Chubbuck, Marquette University

• Cynthia M Ellwood, Marquette University