Critical Race Pedagogy as Educational Debt Relief: Putting Theory to the Test in Classroom Space

• In Event: 34.079 - Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: 34.079-2 - Critical Race Classroom Ecology: Using Critical Race Theory to Inform Praxis in the Pre-K–20 Classroom

Abstract

Objectives/Purpose: In her 2006 Presidential address to the American Educational Research
Association, Gloria Ladson-Billings posed a challenge to researchers, classroom educators, community organizers and students to rethink the concept of the “achievement gap.” Reframing the issue as one of an “educational debt,” Ladson-Billings challenges members of the aforementioned groups to critique the language of the gap to address the historical lineage of exclusion and resistance in urban areas. In simple terms, the educational debt is “the forgone schooling resources that we could have (should have) been investing in (primarily) low income students” (Haveman in Ladson-Billings, 2006). Instead of thinking about the “gap” as a description of the achievement disparity between students of color and their White counterparts, Ladson-Billings suggests that we think of our teaching and engaged scholarship as paying a debt that is owed to students and families in light of the historical resource disparities that have plagued urban schools, primarily populated by low-income African-American and Latino/a youth.

…we must use our imaginations to construct a set of images that illustrate the
debt. The images should remind us that the cumulative effect of poor education,
poor housing, poor health care, and poor government services create a bifurcated
society that leaves more than children behind. The images should compel us to
deploy our knowledge, skills, and expertise to alleviate the suffering of the least
of these (Ladson-Billings 2006, 10).

Theoretical framework/ Modes of inquiry: The proposed presentation engages the concept of educational debt as directly coupled with the tenets of CRT and Critical Race Praxis (CRP). From CRT, the “commitment to social justice” is critical as the “justice” condition in this project is access to colleges and universities. From CRP, the course was specific to the performative, material and reflexive tenets. As classroom pedagogy, the idea is to incorporate the performative, making my classes indicative of the tangible actions steps needed to address the issue at hand (lack of college access). The material tenet is evidenced in a charge to develop a project that would address the lack of college access. We also incorporate the reflexive element in order to revisit our theoretical understandings based on the practical, real life events that take place in our classrooms.

Results/Significance: Upon reading Ladson-Billings’ (2006) remarks, I began to rethink the purpose of policies under the Bush and Obama administrations positioned the purpose of federal legislation like the Troubled Asset Relief Fund and the American Reinvestment and Relief Act. Because the educational policies of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top are not aimed at improving the education of low-income African-American and Latino/a youth, a re-imagining needs to take place (Leonardo 2009). This such reimagining moves away from job growth stimulation and supporting corporate banking institutions that were “too big to fail,” to addressing the debt incurred for the legacy of disinvestment and marginalization in Black and Brown communities. For myself, our students are “too valuable to be ignored.”

Author

• David O. Stovall, University of Illinois at Chicago