In this article, Linn Posey-Maddox, Maxine McKinney de Royston, Alea R. Holman, Raquel M. Rall, and Rachel A. Johnson examine Black parents’ educational decision-making in the racial and educational contexts of predominantly white suburban districts, majority-Black urban schools with an Afrocentric focus, and racially diverse urban public and private schools. Undertaking a qualitative meta-analysis, they ask, How and why is anti-Black racism salient in Black parents’ educational decision-making around schooling? Their findings reveal that race and anti-Black racism are central to Black parents’ school choice decisions. Specifically, they shape the trade-offs parents made in choosing a school for their child(ren), their ongoing risk assessments regarding the potential for racialized harm in their child(ren)’s schooling, and their continuous decision-making about whether to keep their child enrolled or move them to a different school. Regardless of geography, school type, grade level, and/or social class, race and anti-Black racism shape Black parents’ educational decision-making as they work to ensure that their child(ren) receive a high-quality education within highly racialized schooling contexts.
Demographic shifts within the nation have elicited an explicit and implicit call to action to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Topics such as curriculum, access, and tuition and individuals such as students, faculty, staff, and even administrators are presently foci for equity-centered initiatives and research within higher education. Within the equity imperative, however, one vital stakeholder group continues to be ignored in both research and practice—governing boards of higher education. As the group situated at the highest level of leadership, governance, and decision-making in higher education institutions, it is of great concern that research has not explored the role of the board as related to issues of equity, inclusion, and diversity. The authors reflect on the development of culturally sustaining governance (CSG) and the ways it can be applied in higher education. The authors argue for an increase of scholarship at the intersection of governance and equity. The authors discuss their work with boards as an example of how culturally sustaining governance facilitates a recognition of decision-making that intentionally prioritizes matters of equity and justice. Specifically, using document analysis, extant literature, and exemplar board cases, the authors present and define CSG within higher education, then delineate its features specifically for boards. The authors encourage additional research in this space in order to advance equity goals in higher education. Ultimately, the authors suggest that to better recognize, comprehend, and challenge systemic educational and social injustices, postsecondary stakeholders must consider and center the decision-making practices of trustee boards.
Given the juxtaposition of student demographic shifts in public higher education with the near stagnancy of postsecondary leadership demographics, this chapter illuminates and critiques scholarship at the intersection of equity and academic governance, specifically focused on boards of higher education. Implications, grounded in a comprehensive literature review, frame a new conceptually focused research agenda concerned with (1) challenging homogeneity and hegemony that slow institutional change efforts, (2) pushing for a board representative of and accountable to the public, and (3) extending the research, knowledge, and conversation centered on higher education boards in general and diversity of boards in particular. The chapter per the authors first highlights the prominence of higher education governing boards then shifts to a critique of how governance has traditionally been researched. Afterward, the authors discuss why a concentrated look at issues of diversity and equity within the governance context is of paramount importance.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.