Race-Reimaging Educational Psychology Research: Investigating Constructs through the Lens of Race and Culture
Guest Editors: J. Sharif Matthews, Montclair State University, & Francesca López, University of Arizona
Scope
Despite the increasing racial and cultural diversity within the United States and other developed countries, race-based research articles only represent 1.3% of all published articles in top educational psychology journals since the turn of the century (DeCuir-Gunby & Schutz, 2014). Consequently, there is a need to acknowledge race and culture as central yet understudied constructs in educational psychology research. However, beyond simply increasing the representation of race-based research in educational psychology, this Special Issue primarily aims to promote greater integrity in how race and cultural constructs are handled in the theories, methods, analyses and interpretations of educational psychology research.
Race-reimaging in educational psychology research means understanding the significance of race and culture beyond social identifiers of diverse people groups; more over examining race and culture as rich sociopolitical experiences that provide deep and nuanced meaning to the very constructs we consider central in teaching and learning. DeCuir-Gunby and Schutz (2014) note that race-reimaged constructs are traditional educational psychology constructs (e.g., self-efficacy, self-regulation, achievement motivation) that are re-conceptualized to include racially influenced, sociocultural perspectives (e.g. history, context, multiple identities).
Research designs claiming “diverse” ethnic minority samples or race as a moderator variable have set a low standard for acknowledging race and culture in psychological research. Similarly, studies that simply compare racial-cultural groups on key learning outcomes can limit a deeper consideration of race and perpetuate perceived deficiencies in the marginalized group (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001; Yee, Fairchild, Weizmann, & Wyatt, 1993). Overall, more research is needed that examines the complex influences of race, culture, and sociopolitical histories on psychological functioning in educational spaces.
This Special Issue
Contemporary Educational Psychology calls for empirical manuscripts that provide a race-reimaged perspective on traditional educational psychology constructs. We invite papers across a variety of topics (e.g., expectancy-value, school readiness) across four broad areas that have comprised educational psychology research over the past three decades. These areas are a) Functional Processes in Learning (e.g., motivation, volition, or emotions), b) Learner Readiness and Development (e.g., cognitive development, identity development, language development, or character/moral education), c) Domain Expertise (e.g., mathematics education, or civic education), and d) Classroom and Task Environment (e.g., assessment, teacher perceptions, collaborative learning, or technology). Proposed papers should be focused on learning or development, and quantitative studies should include data beyond self-report. These are basic requirements for all papers published in Contemporary Educational Psychology. Papers will also be evaluated according to their methodological rigor, quality of writing, novelty, theoretical significance, and appropriateness in addressing the call on race-reimaging.
Here are some representative, although not fully exhaustive, examples of race re-imaging research in educational psychology. Rodgers and Summers (2008) re-conceptualized a psychological model to explain retention in college students to be more culturally sensitive of Black college students’ experiences and retention trends in predominantly white versus historically black colleges and universities. Matthews (2017) underscored how attainment value in mathematics may have unique contextualized meaning for stigmatized urban adolescents beyond the traditional conceptualization of “I think of myself as a math person.” López (2017) interrogated the teacher expectancy literature, illustrating how teacher expectancies of Latino children’s reading abilities indeed act as self-fulfilling prophecies, but are also culturally biased. She showed how critical consciousness in combination with high expectations represent a productive teacher belief system related to increased achievement and ethnic identity for Latino children. For other examples of race-reimaged research in educational psychology, see DeCuir-Gunby and Schutz (2014).
Review Procedure
There will be a two-stage review process employed for this Special Issue. First prospective authors are required to submit a 1-2 page summary of their proposed manuscript. The summary should include:
• a brief description of the topic
• theoretical significance in educational psychology, race, or culture
• details on the data and methodological design
• an overview of results and interpretation
These summaries will be evaluated by the co-editors.
Second, authors of the summaries that appear to meet the goals of the Special Issue will be asked to submit full manuscripts through the CEP EVISE system. Those full manuscripts will then undergo a blind peer review. All manuscripts will be expected to meet CEP’s standards for publication as well as the goals of the Special Issue. The external review process will determine which submissions are ultimately included in the Special Issue.
The timeline for the submission and the initial external review is as follows:
- April 1, 2018: Summaries of proposed submissions are due to editors.
- May 1, 2018: Guest editors will respond to all summary submissions and notify authors if they have been selected to submit a full manuscript.
- Oct 1, 2018: Full manuscripts due to the online submission system.
Please submit summaries and questions about the Special Issue to [email protected] or [email protected]
References
DeCuir-Gunby, J. T., & Schutz, P. A. (2014). Researching race within educational psychology contexts. Educational Psychologist, 49, 244-260. doi:10.1080/00461520.2014.957828
Gallimore, R., & Goldenberg, C. (2001). Analyzing cultural models and settings to connect
minority achievement and school improvement research. Educational Psychologist, 36(1), 45-56.
López, F. A. (2017). Altering the trajectory of the self-fulfilling prophecy: Asset-based
pedagogy and classroom dynamics. Journal of Teacher Education, 68(2), 193-212. DOI: 10.1177/0022487116685751
Matthews, J. (2017). When am I going to use this in the real world? Cognitive flexibility and urban adolescents’ negotiation of the value of mathematics. Journal of Educational Psychology. doi: 10.1037/edu0000242
Rodgers, K. A., & Summers, J. J. (2008). African American students at predominantly white
institutions: A motivational and self-systems approach to understanding retention.
Educational Psychology Review, 20(2), 171-190. DOI: 10.1007/s10648-008-9072-9
Yee, A. H., Fairchild, H. H., Weizmann, F., & Wyatt, G. E. (1993). Addressing psychology’s
problem with race. American Psychologist, 48, 1132–1140.