The Counter-Deficit Lens in Educational Research: Interrogating Conceptions of Structural Oppression

Abstract

Deficit framings of marginalized students, though maintaining widespread social influence, are thoroughly condemned in recent educational scholarship. The goal of this “counter-deficit” scholarship is to challenge racism in schools and improve opportunities for marginalized youth. To meet the lofty ambition of racial equity in education, how scholarship understands racial oppression is a central concern. Sociologists of race have emphasized the duality of racial oppression. Racism is ideological and structural. Ideologically, racism shapes how communities of color are perceived and how they are treated in educational settings. Structurally, racism is embedded in histories and policies that systematically disadvantage racially minoritized people. Both processes matter to educational inequality. However, in this review of counter-deficit literature, we find that racism is primarily understood by way of ideology and seldom by way of structures. This framing has important implications for how schools can support racially minoritized students to overcome racism in schools and communities.

Systemic racial disparities in funding rates at the National Science Foundation

“…The widespread use of the URM category is a cautionary example of statistical significance being prioritized at the expense of individuals from groups with less representation, leading to problematic mergers of categories that dilute multifaceted experiences into simplistic counts and proportions ( Mukherji et al, 2017 ; McCloskey and Ziliak, 2008 ). Furthermore, future work on racial disparities in STEM funding must move away from deficit-oriented framings that have largely fallen out of favor in higher education research, and instead look towards structural mechanisms that affect outcomes ( Valencia, 1997 ; Kolluri and Tichavakunda, 2022 ). For example, through the organizationally facilitated distribution of resources ( Ray, 2019a ), NSF’s application of racial and aggregated URM categories may have exacerbated the racial disparities themselves.…”

“…While simulations of peer review show that significant differences in funding rate can result from even subtle biases ( Day, 2015 ), these disparities are a reflection of the larger system of science that has conferred advantages and disadvantages in research support, publications, recognition, and influence across innumerable careers, with downstream implications for the promotion or diminishment of certain ideas. No amount of intervention focused on individual mindset change alone will undo this legacy and its influence ( Kolluri and Tichavakunda, 2022 ; Carter et al, 2020 ; Onyeador et al, 2021 ; Ray, 2019b ; Bonilla‐Silva, 2021 ). Without a transformation of the historical structures that distribute power and resources for knowledge production in STEM, even in the complete absence of individual racial animus or unintended bias, these racial disparities and their harmful impacts on scientific progress will continue.…”

A new path: Why we need critical approaches to cognitive and psychological sciences.

“…In the last 20 years, scholars have made significant progress in addressing a range of concerns about the history of how our work has come to be and its potential future trajectories. This wide range of concerns includes, but is not limited to, open science (Matsick et al, 2021), replicability (Irvine, 2021), theoretical foundations (Eronen & Bringmann, 2021), scientific racism (Winston, 2020), disability frameworks (Henner & Robinson, 2021), homogeneous participant samples (Apicella et al, 2020), and deficit models (Kolluri & Tichavakunda, 2022). Given that a wide range of psychological and cognitive scientists have increasingly been critical of the state of our sciences, the time is right to bring this work together to articulate a broad framework that helps us make good on promises to improve how science is done.…”

Developing an Equity-Centered Practice: Teacher Study Groups in the Preservice Context

“…We also identified barriers to experiencing insights, including deficit assumptions about students (Kolluri & Tichavakunda, 2022) and misconceptions about engagement. In Angel's case, deficit beliefs about students' intrinsic motivation may have barred them from experiencing insights and, thus, changes in practice.…”

“…These experiences tend to compound for multiply marginalized students (e.g., Black, Indigenous, and Youth of Color [BIYOC] in special education; see (Annamma et al, 2018; Morris & Perry, 2017). Although oppression functions through complex educational systems (Kolluri & Tichavakunda, 2022), “placing equity front and center” (Nieto, 2000, p. 180) in special educator preparation holds potential to infuse the field with practitioners prepared to dismantle entrenched injustices.…”