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Description
Police brutality is a major opposing force to racial justice today. While police brutality in the United States is nothing new, the increase in accessibility to videos, images, headlines, and discussions that stem from police brutality has only risen due to the rise in social media usage and the speed at which information is shared. As the views rise, so does the likelihood that Black college students may experience an emotional and psychological response to the racial violence seen and develop symptoms of race-based traumatic stress. Black college-aged students who spend ample amounts of time on social media and engage with police brutality content are more likely to experience episodes of anger, exhaustion, guilt, irritability, avoidance, depression, and fear for their physical safety. These are symptoms of race-based traumatic stress (RBTS), an emotional and psychological reaction to a racial incident, which views racism as a potential traumatic stressor.The aim of this thesis was to use Dr. Robert Carter’s (2007) theory of race-based traumatic stress as a framework to explore the experiences Black college students have when engaging with police brutality content online and investigate the various mechanisms used to cope with the nonstop media coverage and viral nature of Black Death. The use of existing scholarship, including theories, other studies, and primary data gathered from focus groups, provides a fresh angle to the conversation of police brutality and the effects of widely sharing its content via various social media platforms. This study found that Black college-aged students experience’s online when engaging with police brutality content is overwhelmingly negative, the incident occurs suddenly, and the user has no control over the situation. In addition, participants experienced the core reactions of arousal (anxiety, anger, hypervigilance, and sleeplessness), avoidance (pushing the events out of mind and not using social media often), and intrusion (reoccurring thoughts about the incident). It is reasonable to conclude that witnessing police violence online can lead to the development of race-based traumatic stress, as all participants fit its criteria, as outlined by Carter (2007).
ContributorsDonaldson, Marcus R (Author) / Swadener, Beth B (Thesis advisor) / McGuire, Keon (Committee member) / Charron-Chenier, Raphael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Over the past 20 years in the United States (U.S.), teachers have seen a marked
shift in how teacher evaluation policies govern the evaluation of their performance.
Spurred by federal mandates, teachers have been increasingly held accountable for their
students’ academic achievement, most notably through the use of value-added models
(VAMs)—a statistically complex tool that aims to isolate and then quantify the effect of
teachers on their students’ achievement. This increased focus on accountability ultimately
resulted in numerous lawsuits across the U.S. where teachers protested what they felt
were unfair evaluations informed by invalid, unreliable, and biased measures—most
notably VAMs.
While New Mexico’s teacher evaluation system was labeled as a “gold standard”
due to its purported ability to objectively and accurately differentiate between effective
and ineffective teachers, in 2015, teachers filed suit contesting the fairness and accuracy
of their evaluations. Amrein-Beardsley and Geiger’s (revise and resubmit) initial analyses
of the state’s teacher evaluation data revealed that the four individual measures
comprising teachers’ overall evaluation scores showed evidence of bias, and specifically,
teachers who taught in schools with different student body compositions (e.g., special
education students, poorer students, gifted students) had significantly different scores
than their peers. The purpose of this study was to expand upon these prior analyses by
investigating whether those conclusions still held true when controlling for a variety of
confounding factors at the school, class, and teacher levels, as such covariates were not
included in prior analyses.
Results from multiple linear regression analyses indicated that, overall, the
measures used to inform New Mexico teachers’ overall evaluation scores still showed
evidence of bias by school-level student demographic factors, with VAMs potentially
being the most susceptible and classroom observations being the least. This study is
especially unique given the juxtaposition of such a highly touted evaluation system also
being one where teachers contested its constitutionality. Study findings are important for
all education stakeholders to consider, especially as teacher evaluation systems and
related policies continue to be transformed.
shift in how teacher evaluation policies govern the evaluation of their performance.
Spurred by federal mandates, teachers have been increasingly held accountable for their
students’ academic achievement, most notably through the use of value-added models
(VAMs)—a statistically complex tool that aims to isolate and then quantify the effect of
teachers on their students’ achievement. This increased focus on accountability ultimately
resulted in numerous lawsuits across the U.S. where teachers protested what they felt
were unfair evaluations informed by invalid, unreliable, and biased measures—most
notably VAMs.
While New Mexico’s teacher evaluation system was labeled as a “gold standard”
due to its purported ability to objectively and accurately differentiate between effective
and ineffective teachers, in 2015, teachers filed suit contesting the fairness and accuracy
of their evaluations. Amrein-Beardsley and Geiger’s (revise and resubmit) initial analyses
of the state’s teacher evaluation data revealed that the four individual measures
comprising teachers’ overall evaluation scores showed evidence of bias, and specifically,
teachers who taught in schools with different student body compositions (e.g., special
education students, poorer students, gifted students) had significantly different scores
than their peers. The purpose of this study was to expand upon these prior analyses by
investigating whether those conclusions still held true when controlling for a variety of
confounding factors at the school, class, and teacher levels, as such covariates were not
included in prior analyses.
Results from multiple linear regression analyses indicated that, overall, the
measures used to inform New Mexico teachers’ overall evaluation scores still showed
evidence of bias by school-level student demographic factors, with VAMs potentially
being the most susceptible and classroom observations being the least. This study is
especially unique given the juxtaposition of such a highly touted evaluation system also
being one where teachers contested its constitutionality. Study findings are important for
all education stakeholders to consider, especially as teacher evaluation systems and
related policies continue to be transformed.
ContributorsGeiger, Tray (Author) / Amrein-Beardsley, Audrey (Thesis advisor) / Anderson, Kate (Committee member) / McGuire, Keon (Committee member) / Holloway, Jessica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020