Reclaiming Our Promise: Victorious Narratives of African American Males Navigating the School-To- Prison Nexus

Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations Department of Middle and Secondary Education Spring 5-11-2018 RECLAIMING OUR PROMISE: VICTORIOUS NARRATIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES NAVIGATING THE SCHOOL-TO- PRISON NEXUS Clarice Thomas Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mse_diss Recommended Citation Thomas, Clarice, "RECLAIMING OUR PROMISE: VICTORIOUS NARRATIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES NAVIGATING THE SCHOOL-TO-PRISON NEXUS." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2018. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mse_diss/56 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Middle and Secondary Education at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ACCEPTANCE This dissertation, RECLAIMING OUR PROMISE: VICTORIOUS NARRATIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES NAVIGATING THE SCHOOL-TO-PRISON NEXUS, by CLARICE O. THOMAS, was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s Dissertation Advisory Committee. It is accepted by the committee members in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Doctor of Philosophy, in the College of Education and Human Development, Georgia State University. The Dissertation Advisory Committee and the student’s Department Chairperson, as representatives of the faculty, certify that this dissertation has met all standards of excellence and scholarship as determined by the faculty. _________________________________ Nadia Behizadeh, Ph.D. Committee Chair _________________________________ ________________________________ Michelle Zoss, Ph.D. David O. Stovall, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member _________________________________ ________________________________ Joyce E. King, Ph.D. Stephanie Behm Cross, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member _________________________________ Date _________________________________ Gertrude Tinker Sachs, Ph.D. Chairperson, Department of Middle and Secondary Education _________________________________ Paul A. Alberto, Ph.D. Dean, College of Education and Human Development AUTHOR’S STATEMENT By presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the library of Georgia State University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote, to copy from, or to publish this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose direction it was written, by the College of Education and Human Development’s Director of Graduate Studies, or by me. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and will not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential financial gain will not be allowed without my written permission. Clarice O. Thomas NOTICE TO BORROWERS All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University library must be used in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this dissertation is: Clarice O. Thomas Department of Middle and Secondary Education College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University The director of this dissertation is: Nadia Behizadeh, Ph.D. Department of Middle and Secondary Education College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303 CURRICULUM VITAE Clarice O. Thomas ADDRESS: Department of Middle and Secondary Education College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303 EDUCATION: Ph.D. 2018 Georgia State University Middle and Secondary Education M.Ed. 2010 Grand Valley State University Secondary Education B.A. 2005 Grand Valley State University History and Political Science PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 2018 Instructor EDUC 2120: Exploring Sociocultural Perspectives on Diversity Georgia State University 2014-2018 Graduate Research Assistant Georgia State University 2010-2012 Adult Education Instructor Muskegon Public Schools 2009-2010 History Teacher Kelloggsville Public Schools PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS (selected): Thomas, C. (accepted for inclusion). Negotiating Words and Worlds: An Autoethnography of Linguistic Identity Development. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Thomas, C. (2018, April). Tired of the Handcuffs: A Narrative Inquiry into the School-to-Prison Nexus. Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY. Behizadeh, N., Thomas, C., & Behm Cross, S. (2017). Reframing for Social Justice: The Influence of Critical Friendship Groups on Preservice Teachers’ Reflective Practice. Journal of Teacher Education. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/0022487117737306. Cross, S.B., & Thomas, C. (2017). Mitigating first year burnout: How reimagined partnerships could support urban middle level teachers. Middle Grades Review, 3(1), 1-9. Thomas, C., & Zoss, M. (2017, August). Resilience and Resistance in the School-to-Prison Nexus: A Narrative Study. Poster presented at the International Society for Cultural Historical Activity Research, Quebec City, Canada. Thomas, C., & Donovan, M. (accepted for inclusion). What Does it Mean to be United?: Using our Voices to Dismantle the School-to-Prison Connection. In K. Varner, K. Tobin, & S. Lentz (Eds.) Broken Promise: Black Deaths and Blue Ribbons in Urban Centers. Cross, S.B., Jones Williams, M., & Thomas, C. (2017, November). Listening to our Teachers of Color: Using Story to Reconsider the Design of Initial Teacher Preparation. National Association for Multicultural Education, Salt Lake City, UT. Thomas, C., Neely, A., & Jones Williams, M. (2015, October). A Trans-disciplinary Examination of African American Women Educators Holistic Experiences Post-Slavery to Present. Paper presented at the annual Black Doctoral Network Conference, Atlanta, GA. HONORS AND AWARDS (selected): 2016-2018: CREATE Grant Graduate Research Assistantship: Georgia State University ($25,000/ year plus tuition remittance) 2017: CEISMC Educational Research & Program Evaluation Internship: Georgia Institute of Technology ($4000) 2017: Beverly J. Armento Doctoral Award: Georgia State University ($1000) 2017: Spencer Small Grant Graduate Research Assistantship: Georgia State University ($12,000) 2016: Asa G. Hilliard, III Memorial Scholarship: Georgia State University ($1000) 2014-2016: Associate Dean Graduate Research Assistantship: Georgia State University ($27,000/year plus tuition remittance) 2015: Outstanding Student Research Award: Georgia Educational Research Association ($100) PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS National Association for Multicultural Education The National Alternative Education Association Member American Educational Research Association Teaching and Teacher Education Doctoral Students RECLAIMING OUR PROMISE: VICTORIOUS NARRATIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES NAVIGATING THE SCHOOL-TO-PRISON NEXUS by CLARICE O. THOMAS Under the Direction of Dr. Nadia Behizadeh ABSTRACT The school-to-prison nexus (STPN) disproportionately targets African American students for school suspension and expulsion, which increases their risk of future incarceration (Heitzeg, 2016). The nexus metaphor describes how students transition from education spaces to the criminal justice system through punitive policies such as zero tolerance discipline (Meiners, 2007), and practices of criminalized control and over-surveillance that reinforces prison-like school structures (Stovall, 2016). Thus, interrupting the social injustice of the STPN calls for a collaboration between K-12 schools and university-based teacher education programs that prepare classroom teachers. In this qualitative narrative inquiry study, I examine the victorious narratives of three African American men who traversed K-12 education and incarceration spaces and seek higher education as an act of agency and resistance to the long-term disenfranchisement of the STPN. Drawing on a constellation of theoretical frameworks including critical race theory, the carceral state, and experience, I gathered their stories to shift the narrative around the STPN and to inform critical praxis in teacher education programs. INDEX WORDS: school-to-prison nexus, narrative inquiry, critical race theory, carceral state, experience, African American men, higher education, K-12 education RECLAIMING OUR PROMISE: VICTORIOUS NARRATIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES NAVIGATING THE SCHOOL-TO-PRISON NEXUS by CLARICE O. THOMAS A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Teaching and Learning in Middle and Secondary Education in the College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 2018 Copyright by Clarice O. Thomas 2018 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my children Aniyah, Noreyon, and CinQue, WE DID IT! You three have been my strength and motivation and this dissertation is dedicated to each one of you. May the years, months, days, and hours you watched me put into this work always remind you that-- where you start out in life does not determine where you end. If you believe it, you can achieve it, and this is the beginning of our legacy! To my family: my mother Evelyn and

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