Structured whiteness: a study of social studies teachers who teach in predominately-white public schools
Creators: name: Farag, Antony
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2020

description: Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a powerful and insightful theoretical framework that examines the way race plays a role in American society and, by extension, its education system. However, much of the empirical work framed by CRT is qualitative and explores the way race plays a role in the educational experiences of marginalized students and/or is used to prepare white teachers to educate marginalized students. This study sought to use quantitative methodology framed by CRT to study teachers who teach in predominantly-white districts, examine their critical multicultural educational competencies, their critical consciousness, and finally their knowledge of CRT and comfort level with its basic premises. As the one of the basic premises of CRT posits that “racism is normal in American society” (Ladson-Billings, 1998), it therefore becomes crucial to employ CRT as a framework to study predominantly white districts as well as districts populated by marginalized students. The following research questions guided the study: 1) What is the relationship between critical multicultural educational competencies (CMEC) as measured by the Critical Multicultural Educational Competency Scale (Acar-Ciftci, 2016) and critical consciousness (CC) as measured by the Critical Consciousness Scale (Diemer et al., 2017)? 2) Are there differences in CMEC and CC scores as a function of teacher demographics? 3) How do teachers perceive CRT as a foundation of their pedagogical approach to teaching social studies? High school social studies teachers across New Jersey were sampled with 104 teachers meeting the criteria of teaching in predominantly-white high schools. These teachers completed an electronic survey that included a demographic questionnaire, items from the CMEC scale, items from the CC scale, a questionnaire modeled around the basic premises of CRT along with questions regarding the support (or lack thereof) they receive from their districts in teaching about the institutional nature of racism and white supremacy. Descriptive statistics and frequencies were used to describe the demographic data and the CRT-based questionnaire. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the relationship between CMEC and CC and MANOVA was used to examine CMEC and CC full scale and sub-dimension scale scores by gender and years of teaching. The findings of this study suggest that the “structured whiteness” of American society has impacted the teachers of white students. These teachers are mostly white themselves, grew up in predominantly-white towns, and rarely if ever had a social studies teacher of color. In addition, there is no relationship between teacher critical multicultural educational competency and their own critical consciousness as measured by the CMEC and CC scales. Finally, the majority of these teachers have never heard of CRT and reported that they do not know enough about CRT to infuse it into their pedagogy. These findings inform the need for policy that includes supporting the teachers of white students in their knowledge of CRT as well as assisting them with infusing their pedagogy with CRT. This study also shows the need to provide professional development to teachers that increases the likelihood that all students, regardless of race or ethnicity, graduate their high schools exposed to CRT and better able to navigate the complex racial landscape of New Jersey and the rest of U.S. society.