I have a new co-authored article in the (comma bereft) journal Race Ethnicity and Education. Titled, “Toward a teacher solidarity lens: former teachers of color (re)envisioning educational research,”this article is an expansion of dialogue conducted as part of a working group of former teachers of color at UCLA organized by Thomas Philip. I am grateful to Thomas, Eduardo Lopez, and Danny Martinez for working this paper. Also acknowledged at the end of the document, friends Ursula Aldana, Elexia Reyes McGovern, and Oscar Navarro also greatly contributed to the dialogue as former teachers of color.

The abstract follows (the article is behind a subscription wall, so please get in touch if you are unable to access it and I will share my author eprint copy):

Based on a two-year self-study by a group of early-career scholars of color, we explore and purposefully name our role, within the contemporary context of neoliberal reform, as educational researchers of color who are former K-12 teachers. We capture the insights that emerged from our self-study through a close reading of dominant neoliberal educational reform discourses, particularly through an examination of the writings of Michelle Rhee and Wendy Kopp. Along three dimensions of: (1) experience as teachers; (2) solidarity with teachers; and (3) analyses of racism in schooling, we characterize prominent discourses through which educators, researchers, and the public describe teachers and teaching. We name these discursive frames to make explicit the assumptions that are embedded in each and the intentional or inadvertent consequences of each. Finally, we propose a teacher solidarity lens through which we strive to approach our research and work with teachers.