Racial Justice in Learning Contexts

Dear colleague,

Sixty-five years since the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka decision that ruled that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, schools within the U.S. continue to be segregated by race and class. Despite the fact that racially and ethnically diverse teachers are beneficial for all students, teachers remain overwhelmingly White and female. The educational disparities that exist in schools, whether charter or public, continue to persist today. These disparities include unfair school discipline practices and policies, unfair discriminatory dress and hair policies, unequal access to resources, and school curricula that exclude the contributions of people of color. Whether in public or private school settings, urban, suburban, or rural communities, students of color report higher experiences of unfair treatment in school due to racism, which impacts educational trajectories.

The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together original research (empirical and theoretical) that will underscore the importance of utilizing transdisciplinary perspectives in dismantling racism and promoting racial justice in classrooms. Quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods studies are welcome. Areas that papers might emphasize include but are not limited to:

• Manuscripts that use a racial justice and intersectional lens to understand the lived experiences of children and youth (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, social class, disability, and sexual orientation) in classrooms and the impact on educational trajectories;
• Manuscripts that discuss or test theoretical frameworks that illuminate the association between racial injustice in school settings and trauma;
• Manuscripts that discuss the impact of racism in school settings and identify promotive and protective factors for children and youth of color (PK-12) in various school settings (e.g., predominately white, predominately black, or racially and ethnically diverse), locale (e.g., urban, rural, and suburban), and region (e.g., south or north);
• Manuscripts that identify and specify how anti-racist training and dismantling whiteness benefits teaching and learning.

Dr. Sheretta Butler-Barnes
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.