I aim to excavate how students, other school community members (e.g., teachers and parents), and those journeying into particular school communities (e.g., preservice teachers) make meaning of the world and their situated experiences, so that their understandings can be leveraged for emancipatory change (Fossey et al., 2002; Nygreen, 2006). Further, I strive to expose how power can be used as both a tool for oppression and an instrument of emancipation (Steinberg & Kincheloe, 2010).
Broadly, my research focuses on exploring the challenges and opportunities involved in creating a formal education system in the United States (U.S.) that advances democracy and meets the academic, physical, and social-emotional needs of students from historically marginalized backgrounds. Students from historically marginalized backgrounds include those whose bodies, histories, cultures, voices, and perspectives have been forced to the peripheries in society, broadly, and in education, specifically (Andrews et al., 2019). The reality is that, in U.S. public schools, access, participation, and quality opportunities to learn are granted to some and denied to others—either deliberately or unintentionally—via a number of culturally laden practices at the federal, state, district, school, and classroom levels (Waitoller & Kozleski, 2013). Consider that students from historically marginalized backgrounds are disproportionately placed in special education, particularly in the high-incidence (subjective) disability categories of learning disability and emotional/behavioral disorder (Voulgarides et al., 2017). This is the result of confluent cultural-historical factors that shape educational processes (e.g., cultural gaps between clinicians who are responsible for making diagnostic judgements and the students that they evaluate) (Artiles et al., 2010). While in special education, minoritized students often experience segregated schooling—away from their general education peers—and are excluded from the general education curriculum (Blanchett, 2014). Further research is needed to help tackle such equity issues.
Specifically, I am interested in understanding the identities and lived experiences of Black boys with and without disability labels and those with whom Black boys co-construct the world (e.g., teachers and family members) to improve Black boys' schooling experiences and post-school outcomes. Extant quantitative research reveals that Black boys with and without disability labels are disproportionately subjected to exclusionary punishment (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 2019). During the 2015-16 school year, Black boys represented eight percent of the total student population but comprised 25% of those suspended from school (Office for Civil Rights, 2019). Moreover, scholars have identified a link among being labeled disabled as a Black student, experiencing exclusionary discipline, and being overrepresented in the juvenile justice system (Annamma et al., 2014). These equity issues, along with many others, are largely a consequence of the cultural fissures and tensions between Black boys and their families and those who have the institutional responsibility of educating and supporting Black boys (Mccray et al., 2015, Skiba et al., 2011).
I seek to help improve Black boys’ educational and life journeys through two related lines of inquiry. The first line is seeking insight into how Black boys, especially those labeled with disabilities, and their families make meaning of their identities and the world in the context of their schooling experiences. The second concerns teacher education. I explore how teachers and those who educate them (i.e., teacher educators) understand their identities, teaching practices, and the world in the context of providing an equitable education for Black boys.
All research is informed by theory either explicitly or implicitly and regardless of the extent to which a researcher is aware of this fact with respect to their own research (Ravitch & Riggan, 2017). Here, I make explicit the theories that I employ as I pursue my lines of inquiry. I draw primarily from cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and multiple critical theories including, but not limited to, critical race theory (CRT) and disability critical race theory (DisCrit). Together, these theories have implications for the type of questions I ask, and the research designs I develop. I use CHAT to examine and explain how teaching and learning are culturally and historically situated activities that are mediated by material and symbolic tools (Cole & Engeström, 1993; Engeström, 1999; Roth & Lee, 2007). I also use CHAT to theorize about the ways in which I and the participants with whom I work co-construct knowledge throughout the research process. I use critical theories to explicitly foreground how and to what extent issues of power, oppression, and emancipation manifest in particular contexts, including in schools and during the research process (Giroux, 1983; Ladson-Billings, 2013; Annamma et al., 2013). For instance, critical race theory has helped me understand Black boys’ challenges in school as a reflection of systemic racism and driven me to center Black boys’ own stories about themselves in my research, as their stories can serve as counternarratives to the deficit-based notions of Black boys that flourish in educational research and in society, broadly. (Howard, 2013). Given the constructivist nature of my inquiry (Young & Collin, 2004), I primarily use qualitative methods to collect and analyze data (Charmaz, 2000; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). At the same time, I recognize the value of quantitative methods for illuminating context.
Current Projects
Under the supervision of Professor Elizabeth Kozleski, I and a colleague, Chris Wilt, are currently working on a pilot project in which we are examining the culture of the department specialization of which we are members. Chris and I are co-principal investigators. We will use the knowledge that is gained from conducting the pilot, especially knowledge regarding the effectiveness of our methods, to inform a larger study in which we will investigate the culture of our entire department. Like all doctoral programs, special education programs can be contested spaces where oppressive and emancipatory ideas and practices go head-to-head. We are curious how the identities and activities of doctoral students and faculty are mediated in these spaces because we recognize that both parties play a consequential role in training teachers and other educational leaders who are responsible for educating the nation’s children and youth, including Black boys. Understanding why and how certain ideas and practices take precedence over others is critical for reforming doctoral training for emancipation.
Publications
Each of my four peer-reviewed publications are tied to my lines of inquiry. Three have been written collaboratively. One is sole authored. Together, the articles focus on the need to re-mediate education at multiple levels to advance equity for historically marginalized individuals and communities.
*The references are hyperlinked. Click on the references to access the articles*
Kozleski, E. B., & Proffitt, W. A. (2020). A journey towards equity and diversity in the educator workforce. Teacher Education and Special Education, 43(1), 63-84. Elizabeth and I co-wrote this article. I contributed to the article's framing, the review of literature, and the discussion. This article addresses my second line of inquiry as it concerns the need to develop a general and special education teaching force that is well equipped to support students that exist at the intersections of multiple oppressions, including Black boys labeled with disabilities.
Kozleski, E. B., Stepaniuk, I., & Proffitt, W. A. (2020). In the eye of the storm: When retreat is an unacceptable option. Multiple Voices for Ethnically Diverse Exceptional Learners, 20(1), 16-31. This article was collaboratively conceived. I wrote a sizable portion of the introduction and the section on disproportionality in special education. This article is mainly concerned with my first line of inquiry as is stresses the importance of leveraging the intersectional voices, histories, knowledges, and cultures of diverse students and their families to improve local educational conditions.
Kozleski, E. B., Stepaniuk, I., & Proffitt, W. A. (2020). Leading through a critical lens: The application of DisCrit in framing, implementing, and improving equity-driven, educational systems for all students. Journal of Educational Administration, 58(5), 489-505. I contributed to the article's framing and helped conceptualize the section on centering marginalized perspectives. This article is congruent with both lines of inquiry as it unpacks how power operates between and among students and street-level bureaucrats (e.g., teachers and principals), each of whom may come from non-dominant backgrounds. The article also highlights the importance of centering marginalized perspectives, which includes the perspectives of Black boys labeled with disabilities and their families, and minoritized teachers who also play a crucial role in educating Black boys.
Proffitt, W. A. (2022). From “problems” to “vulnerable resources:” Reconceptualizing Black boys with and without disability labels in U.S. urban schools. Urban Education. OnlineFirst. 1-28. This article primarily addresses my first line of inquiry as it is explicitly concerned with the framing of Black boys with and without disability labels in school. The article also stresses the criticality of embracing the differences and perspectives of Black boys. The article also addresses the second line of inquiry. It draws attention to the ways teachers and other education professionals (mis)position Black boys and the cultural-historical factors that influence those professionals' activities.
Broadly, my research focuses on exploring the challenges and opportunities involved in creating a formal education system in the United States (U.S.) that advances democracy and meets the academic, physical, and social-emotional needs of students from historically marginalized backgrounds. Students from historically marginalized backgrounds include those whose bodies, histories, cultures, voices, and perspectives have been forced to the peripheries in society, broadly, and in education, specifically (Andrews et al., 2019). The reality is that, in U.S. public schools, access, participation, and quality opportunities to learn are granted to some and denied to others—either deliberately or unintentionally—via a number of culturally laden practices at the federal, state, district, school, and classroom levels (Waitoller & Kozleski, 2013). Consider that students from historically marginalized backgrounds are disproportionately placed in special education, particularly in the high-incidence (subjective) disability categories of learning disability and emotional/behavioral disorder (Voulgarides et al., 2017). This is the result of confluent cultural-historical factors that shape educational processes (e.g., cultural gaps between clinicians who are responsible for making diagnostic judgements and the students that they evaluate) (Artiles et al., 2010). While in special education, minoritized students often experience segregated schooling—away from their general education peers—and are excluded from the general education curriculum (Blanchett, 2014). Further research is needed to help tackle such equity issues.
Specifically, I am interested in understanding the identities and lived experiences of Black boys with and without disability labels and those with whom Black boys co-construct the world (e.g., teachers and family members) to improve Black boys' schooling experiences and post-school outcomes. Extant quantitative research reveals that Black boys with and without disability labels are disproportionately subjected to exclusionary punishment (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 2019). During the 2015-16 school year, Black boys represented eight percent of the total student population but comprised 25% of those suspended from school (Office for Civil Rights, 2019). Moreover, scholars have identified a link among being labeled disabled as a Black student, experiencing exclusionary discipline, and being overrepresented in the juvenile justice system (Annamma et al., 2014). These equity issues, along with many others, are largely a consequence of the cultural fissures and tensions between Black boys and their families and those who have the institutional responsibility of educating and supporting Black boys (Mccray et al., 2015, Skiba et al., 2011).
I seek to help improve Black boys’ educational and life journeys through two related lines of inquiry. The first line is seeking insight into how Black boys, especially those labeled with disabilities, and their families make meaning of their identities and the world in the context of their schooling experiences. The second concerns teacher education. I explore how teachers and those who educate them (i.e., teacher educators) understand their identities, teaching practices, and the world in the context of providing an equitable education for Black boys.
All research is informed by theory either explicitly or implicitly and regardless of the extent to which a researcher is aware of this fact with respect to their own research (Ravitch & Riggan, 2017). Here, I make explicit the theories that I employ as I pursue my lines of inquiry. I draw primarily from cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and multiple critical theories including, but not limited to, critical race theory (CRT) and disability critical race theory (DisCrit). Together, these theories have implications for the type of questions I ask, and the research designs I develop. I use CHAT to examine and explain how teaching and learning are culturally and historically situated activities that are mediated by material and symbolic tools (Cole & Engeström, 1993; Engeström, 1999; Roth & Lee, 2007). I also use CHAT to theorize about the ways in which I and the participants with whom I work co-construct knowledge throughout the research process. I use critical theories to explicitly foreground how and to what extent issues of power, oppression, and emancipation manifest in particular contexts, including in schools and during the research process (Giroux, 1983; Ladson-Billings, 2013; Annamma et al., 2013). For instance, critical race theory has helped me understand Black boys’ challenges in school as a reflection of systemic racism and driven me to center Black boys’ own stories about themselves in my research, as their stories can serve as counternarratives to the deficit-based notions of Black boys that flourish in educational research and in society, broadly. (Howard, 2013). Given the constructivist nature of my inquiry (Young & Collin, 2004), I primarily use qualitative methods to collect and analyze data (Charmaz, 2000; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). At the same time, I recognize the value of quantitative methods for illuminating context.
Current Projects
Under the supervision of Professor Elizabeth Kozleski, I and a colleague, Chris Wilt, are currently working on a pilot project in which we are examining the culture of the department specialization of which we are members. Chris and I are co-principal investigators. We will use the knowledge that is gained from conducting the pilot, especially knowledge regarding the effectiveness of our methods, to inform a larger study in which we will investigate the culture of our entire department. Like all doctoral programs, special education programs can be contested spaces where oppressive and emancipatory ideas and practices go head-to-head. We are curious how the identities and activities of doctoral students and faculty are mediated in these spaces because we recognize that both parties play a consequential role in training teachers and other educational leaders who are responsible for educating the nation’s children and youth, including Black boys. Understanding why and how certain ideas and practices take precedence over others is critical for reforming doctoral training for emancipation.
Publications
Each of my four peer-reviewed publications are tied to my lines of inquiry. Three have been written collaboratively. One is sole authored. Together, the articles focus on the need to re-mediate education at multiple levels to advance equity for historically marginalized individuals and communities.
*The references are hyperlinked. Click on the references to access the articles*
Kozleski, E. B., & Proffitt, W. A. (2020). A journey towards equity and diversity in the educator workforce. Teacher Education and Special Education, 43(1), 63-84. Elizabeth and I co-wrote this article. I contributed to the article's framing, the review of literature, and the discussion. This article addresses my second line of inquiry as it concerns the need to develop a general and special education teaching force that is well equipped to support students that exist at the intersections of multiple oppressions, including Black boys labeled with disabilities.
Kozleski, E. B., Stepaniuk, I., & Proffitt, W. A. (2020). In the eye of the storm: When retreat is an unacceptable option. Multiple Voices for Ethnically Diverse Exceptional Learners, 20(1), 16-31. This article was collaboratively conceived. I wrote a sizable portion of the introduction and the section on disproportionality in special education. This article is mainly concerned with my first line of inquiry as is stresses the importance of leveraging the intersectional voices, histories, knowledges, and cultures of diverse students and their families to improve local educational conditions.
Kozleski, E. B., Stepaniuk, I., & Proffitt, W. A. (2020). Leading through a critical lens: The application of DisCrit in framing, implementing, and improving equity-driven, educational systems for all students. Journal of Educational Administration, 58(5), 489-505. I contributed to the article's framing and helped conceptualize the section on centering marginalized perspectives. This article is congruent with both lines of inquiry as it unpacks how power operates between and among students and street-level bureaucrats (e.g., teachers and principals), each of whom may come from non-dominant backgrounds. The article also highlights the importance of centering marginalized perspectives, which includes the perspectives of Black boys labeled with disabilities and their families, and minoritized teachers who also play a crucial role in educating Black boys.
Proffitt, W. A. (2022). From “problems” to “vulnerable resources:” Reconceptualizing Black boys with and without disability labels in U.S. urban schools. Urban Education. OnlineFirst. 1-28. This article primarily addresses my first line of inquiry as it is explicitly concerned with the framing of Black boys with and without disability labels in school. The article also stresses the criticality of embracing the differences and perspectives of Black boys. The article also addresses the second line of inquiry. It draws attention to the ways teachers and other education professionals (mis)position Black boys and the cultural-historical factors that influence those professionals' activities.