Publications

LaToya has both independently and co-authored several publications including book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, reports, research briefs, and blogs.

Higher Education Publications

Outcomes Based Funding and Race in Higher Education: Can Equity be Bought?

This book examines how Performance or Outcomes Based Funding (POBF) policies impact racial equity in higher education. Over the last decade, higher education has become entrenched in a movement that holds colleges and universities more accountable to its supporters. There are pressures to answer questions about student outcomes and performance, the value of education, the effectiveness of instructors, and the ability of existing leaders to manage efficiently and effectively.

Choosing Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs)

There has been significant discussion recently regarding the uptick in HBCU enrollment. In recent years, enrollment increases across the HBCU landscape have been attributed to a variety of reasons. Some cite the political atmosphere as a reason, noting that HBCUs serve as a reprieve for students fleeing overt racism and racial microaggressions present in communities and schools. For instance, all-star athlete and little league world series famed pitcher Mo’ne Davis explained that she wanted to attend an HBCU to connect with other young Black women and have an experience outside of the all-White schools she has attended as an adolescent. Others note the renewed interest and popularity of the Black tradition and Black aesthetic among a new generation of Millennials and Centennials.

Equity Considerations for Policymakers & Researchers

With the face of higher education changing rapidly, colleges and universities are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their value to an increasingly skeptical public. New America reports that although Americans see the value in a college degree, they are disappointed with the higher education system, with millennials most likely to believe that colleges put the needs of the schools over that of students (Fishman, Ekowo, & Ezeugo, 2017). Much of this skepticism is driven by the fact that far too many students leave college without graduating and those who complete and graduate leave college with more and more debt, averaging nearly $17,000 for those who graduate and $28,000 for those who do not graduate, a total that continues to grow every year (The College Board, 2017).

HBCUs TRANSFORMING GENERATIONS: Social Mobility Outcomes for HBCU Alumni

This Is How We Do It: Promising Practices for Implementing an Institutional Transformation Initiative at HBCUs

Governing HBCUs for the Future

As institutional performance, outcomes and effectiveness become a major focus in higher education, the conversation regarding the accountability of historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and HBCU leadership has increased. More scrutiny has been placed on administrative practices, presidential turnover and board of trustees’ decision-making and presidential relations. Historically and contemporarily, this conversation has centered on the HBCU presidency. However, as we move into the HBCU community’s next great era, it is imperative that current ideas around leadership be broadened to include all parties that strategically plan and make decisions for HBCUs. Along with the president, this team includes senior-level administrators and the board of trustees.

The Cost of Academic Freedom: How Ghosts of Racism’s Past Haunt College Campuses

Today’s millennial college student has been stereotyped as “color-blind thinking,” believing that today’s racism is unrecognizable, possibly nonexistent, and a problem of the past. An education on the realities of structural and institutional racism is not the only way to challenge color-blind thinking; instead, one can to point to the persistent presence of overt racism of college campuses. This time of year, racism is far from invisible, as college students model their most creative, “racially insensitive” or overtly offensive Halloween costumes that they post proudly on social media.

Investing in the Future: Lessons on Advancing Institutional Effectiveness from Historically Black Colleges and Universities

When asked, “What institutional processes influence curricular decisions?” assessment-driven activities were the most common answer. Activities such as program reviews and curriculum mapping, coupled with outcome measurements such as graduation, recruitment, and transfer data were mentioned most often among focus group members. Program reviews, the participants explained, is essentially designed to help institutions gauge their academic programs’ strengths and areas for improvement. The process typically entails collecting data on course enrollment, retention and graduation rates, number of students in a major, employment data, etc., to provide a holistic picture of an academic program’s viability. Departments conduct a self-study and the results are also reviewed by external peers and experts in the field. Focus group members described this as a process to monitor the quality of the program and the extent to which its student learning outcomes are being realized.

K-12 Education Publications

Relationships, Being-ness, and Voice: Exploring Multiple Dimensions of Humanizing Work with Black Girls

This work argues for an approach to research and education practices that considers the historically deficit-based research practices and views on Black girls and develops humanizing research methods that consider the multiple oppressions that act as barriers for this group. Research must acknowledge the precarious position of Black girls in order to adequately address their needs and inform policy around Black girl achievement. We contend, along with Ruth Nicole Brown (2009), that the research process needs to celebrate Black girls as much as it works to relieve the social, political, and economic challenges they navigate. Through a series of vignettes, the authors explain how relationships, a regard for being, and voice offer methods for humanizing educational research with Black girls.

Black Women Researchers’ Path to Breaking Silence: Three Scholars Reflect on Voicing Oppression, Self-reflexive Speech, and Talking Back to Elite Discourses

Black women attempting to conduct research on Black girls experience a multitude of issues in the academy. These issues are highlighted in the collection of literature from the Black feminist tradition documenting the struggle to legitimate the field. In reflecting on the work they have done, various critical Black women researchers have discussed challenges including invisibility in the literature on girls, resisting the prevalence of deficit ideologies surrounding Black girlhood/ womanhood, creating a space to do nonprescriptive non-Eurocentric work with Black girls, and navigating research hierarchies to honor lived experiences of Black women and girls. The purpose of this paper is to give voice to the lived experiences of researchers attempting to further the Black feminist call to carve out space for authentic Black girl work and expression. For the authors of this article, the call to create, celebrate, and privilege Black girl cartographies is heavily rooted in the authors’ positionalities and experience-informed research on Black girls in the United States. Thus, we self-reflexively disclose that this writing foregrounds the experiences of Black women and girls in the U.S.

The State of Black Education in the New Millennium. THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON AT 50  

This IBW Black Paper is focused on the last half a century of struggle from 1963 to the present in recognition of the 5oth Anniversary of the Historic “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” It is an effort to offer a perspective, a 50-year reflection on the progress, or lack thereof, of African-Americans since 1963, and an effort to suggest strategic directions for the future, which will hopefully re-ignite movements for democracy and social change.

Liberating Urban Education for Human Freedom

"This volume brings together leading scholars in urban education to focus on inner city matters, specifically as they relate to educational research, theory, policy, and practice. Each chapter provides perspectives on the history and evolving nature of urban education, the current education landscape, and helps chart an all-important direction for future work and needs. The Handbook addresses seven areas that capture the breadth and depth of available knowledge in urban education: (1) Psychology, Health and Human Development, (2) Sociological Perspectives, (3) Families and Communities, (4) Teacher Education and Special Education, (5) Leadership, Administration and Leaders, (6) Curriculum & Instruction, and (7) Policy and Reform.