Twelfth Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research: So That Any Child May Succeed: Indigenous Pathways Toward Justice and the Promise of Brown

Abstract

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepared to rehear for the second time the case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1953, the 83rd Congress passed House Concurrent Resolution 108 and Public Law 280—policies that would terminate federal treaty and trust responsibilities to Native Americans. Even as post-Brown desegregation went into effect, thousands of Native American children continued to attend segregated, English-only federal boarding schools. This lecture considers the Brown legacy and broader issues of education equality in the context of research, policy, and practice in Indigenous education. Focusing on a core argument in Brown—that equality of opportunity is a prerequisite “so that any child may succeed”—I examine hard-fought pathways toward education justice forged by Indigenous educators, parents, leaders, and allies; the larger settler colonial project in which those efforts are embedded; and the ways in which Indigenous initiatives are braided with those of other racialized groups. Key to this analysis is recognition that equal access and uniformity of education approach are not synchronous with equity. I conclude with the ongoing challenges in fulfilling the promise of Brown—in particular, the simultaneous homogenizing and stratifying effects of current education policies—and what can be learned from diverse models of contemporary Indigenous education practice.

A Systematic Review of Indigenous Representation in School Psychology Research

“…First, coders met to review the coding survey (see Coding Process of Identified Articles below) housed in REDCap—a secure platform for data entry and storage (Harris et al, 2009)—and collaboratively coded an example article from the 57 selected studies. Next, coders reviewed the REDCap coding survey and then independently coded five practice articles (i.e., Corenblum, 2014; Lujan et al, 1989; McCarty, 2018; Riser et al, 2019; Willeto, 2007) focused on Indigenous students from psychology-related journals outside of school psychology and represented diverse types of articles (e.g., editorial, original research) and a range of publication years (i.e., 1989–2019). Coders met to discuss discrepancies in practice coding as well as questions and comments related to coding to certify that the coders’ methods were consistent with one another, and coding practices were thoroughly understood.…”

Civic Sovereignty: Indigenous Civic Constructs in Public School Spaces

“…However, when students of color visit a predominantly white suburban school and learn that their experience in their school is still profoundly unequal to that of their white peers (Ladson-Billings, 2006), the civic learning of Brown v. Board of Education as a remedy for educational inequality is undone. McCarty (2018) reminded us that in 1953, when Brown was being discussed, legislation was signed to terminate Tribes, “revoking federally recognized tribal sovereignty” (p. 273) in an attempt to fully assimilate Native Americans into a single U.S. citizenship. In addition, McCarty brings our attention to Alice Piper, a Paiute student who brought the inferior conditions of federal Indian schools to the California Supreme Court in 1923.…”

The Ongoing Quest for Culturally-Responsive Assessment for Indigenous Students in the U.S.

“…Many of the most important and successful efforts to teach Native students in a culturallyresponsive manner have used students' heritage languages for extended periods of time-either as the primary language of instruction for several years, or for a significant portion of time each day (e.g., Wilson and Kamana, 2001;McCarty and Roessel, 2015). In some cases, when students have not learned the heritage language fully at home, it has been taught to them in school (Holm and Holm, 1995;McCarty, 2018).…”

“…Language is a fraught topic within Native communities in the US. Language policies of the U.S. government have led to extensive, intentional, unnecessary, language loss in nearly every Native group, with resulting threats to the maintenance of dynamic cultures and cultural transmission to following generations (Chavers and Locke, 1989;McCarty, 2002McCarty, , 2018Lee, 2015). So, any discussion of language and aspects of schooling among Native educators, parents, and communities may not only entail complex educational decision-making but also evoke deep pain (Adams, 1995;cf., Coles-Ritchie and Charles, 2011;Bombay et al, 2014).…”