Black Exceptionality in Academia: A Cultural-Historical Re-Conceptualization of Black Male Students Identified With Learning Disabilities in Higher Education

The under-representation of Black male students identified with learning disabilities (LD) in higher education is a symptom of a larger social injustice, the racialization of educational opportunities and outcomes in the United States. We provided a critical review of literature to examine the structural and social barriers facing Black college students identified with LD in terms of access to adequate support services, refusal of funds of knowledge that Black students bring to higher education, and hegemonic organization of higher education. Following themes are explored: a) historical legacy of racial inequity in academia; b) systemic contradictions in institutional practices; c) absence of collaborative networks. This article offers a conceptualization of antiblackness and the denial of Black exceptionality informed by Vygotskian cultural-historical activity theory and critical pedagogies. The concepts of cultural mediation, cultural hegemony, resistance, and agency will be used to examine the challenges and possibilities of scaffolding success and joy of Black males identified as LD in higher education

Inclusive knowledge production at an elementary school through family-school-university partnerships: A formative intervention study

Students from racially minoritized backgrounds have been disproportionately subject to exclusionary school discipline in the United States. Utilizing cultural-historical activity theory and the formative intervention methodology, we conducted a yearlong formative intervention, Learning Lab, in an elementary school with significant racial disproportionality in school discipline. Teachers, family members, administrators, support staff, and community members with diverse and often opposing histories and goals worked together to critically examine their existing behavioral support system and racial disparities in practices, assumptions, processes, and outcomes from multiple perspectives. We utilized the method of expansive learning actions to analyze qualitative data from ten subsequent sessions. Our findings showed that local stakeholders successfully formed and sustained a diverse working group that represented families, educators, researchers, and community members. Learning Lab members worked collaboratively to question their existing school practices and to examine the root causes of racial disproportionality through historical and empirical analyses. We discuss both possibilities and challenges regarding inclusive knowledge production and the systemic transformation process at local schools

Transformative agency for Justice : Addressing racial disparity of school discipline with the indigenous learning lab

In the U.S. school systems, Native American students receive harsher and more frequent school discipline than White counterparts. Exclusionary discipline may result in adverse academic, social, and life outcomes. There is an urgent need for creating an inclusive, equity-oriented learning environment where Native American students’ identities, well-being, and dignity are promoted and nurtured. To develop a culturally responsive behavioral support system aimed to address racial disparity in school discipline, the Indigenous Learning Lab was implemented at a rural high school in Wisconsin. Indigenous Learning Lab is an inclusive problem-solving process through which Native American students, parents, and community members and non-native school staff collectively examine disproportionality in school discipline and design a new school-wide system. The purpose of this study is to examine how participation in Indigenous Learning Lab expanded local stakeholders’ individual agency to collective, transformative agency in designing a culturally responsive behavioral support system.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe