University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2012 Raising Race Questions: Whiteness, Education and Inquiry in Seven Teacher Case Studies Ali Michael University of Pennsylvania,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the African American Studies Commons, Educational Sociology Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons, and the Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons Recommended Citation Michael, Ali, "Raising Race Questions: Whiteness, Education and Inquiry in Seven Teacher Case Studies" (2012). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 550. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/550 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/550 For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Raising Race Questions: Whiteness, Education and Inquiry in Seven Teacher Case Studies Abstract Race matters in schools. In addition to the highly publicized racialized achievement gap, race has historically determined who can access education and what kind of education people receive. Additionally, teachers and students bring racial identities to school that impact how they relate to one another, to the school community and to the curriculum. Finally, schools are places where race gets constructed. This study uses qualitative and action research methods to do research with teachers—rather than on teachers—as they learn about how and why race matters in education—and what that means for their classrooms. Because 85% of the K–12 teaching force in the United States is White and middle–class (National Center for Education Statistics, 2010), this research focuses on seven White and middle–class teachers. Through in–depth case studies of each teacher, I explore the conflicts, questions and revelations that arise as they struggle to learn about race, and apply their learning in their classrooms.