Papers
Dr. Jimmy Caldwell, Jr
J.R. Caldwell, Jr, PhD, is an assistant professor at Xavier University of Louisiana’s Division of Education & Counseling. A proud graduate of Florida A&M University, he earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction with a specialization in Special Education and a cognate in Sociology of Education from the University of South Florida.
​
Dr. Caldwell’s research centers on investigating interconnected paradigms that impact the educational outcomes of Black students. His current research agenda focuses on the role of racism-white supremacy and the academic outcomes of Black boys. Other areas of inquiry include critical examinations of teacher preparation programs, discovering culturally transformative school disciplinary practices, and developing educational theories that best serve the academic outcomes for Black students.
Black Students Existing is an Act of Defiance
Dr. Jimmy Caldwell, Jr continues the discussion on the linkage between racial microaggressions and the development of Racial Battle Fatigue. Moreover, this paper centers on the collective impactof these transgressions on the academic development of Black students within K-12 and Black Students Existing is an Act of Defiance 3 collegiate settings and challenges acceptable strategies for addressing racial microaggressions.
Watch The Video
Dr. Jimmy Caldwell, Jr continues the discussion on the linkage between racial microaggressions and the development of Racial Battle Fatigue. Moreover, this paper centers on the collective impactof these transgressions on the academic development of Black students within K-12 and Black Students Existing is an Act of Defiance 3 collegiate settings and challenges acceptable strategies for addressing racial microaggressions.
Dr. Melanie Acosta
Melanie M. Acosta, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Education at Florida Atlantic University. Her research is focused on supporting African American educational excellence through improved teaching and school supports, particularly as it relates to elementary literacy in classrooms and local communities.
Her work also centers Black educators to illuminate the potential of Black intellectual traditions in transforming education and society. Prior to her work in higher education, Melanie was an elementary school teacher and a community organizer for a grassroots parent empowerment group. Her research is featured in journals such as the Journal of Teacher Education, Urban Education, Reading Horizons, and Race, Ethnicity, & Education.
School and Classroom-level Factors Affecting Black and Latino Learning
​
Dr. Melanie Acosta discusses race-based structural inequity in education is its alienating impact on Black and Latinx students within the learning environment.
Watch The Video
CRESTS graduate assistant, Ashlei Rabess, interviewed Dr. Melanie Acosta to gain a more comprehensive understanding of Dr. Acosta’s perspective on teaching Black children.
Dr. Samuel Burbanks, IV
Dr. Samuel Burbanks, IV is a multidisciplinary African Centered Education scholar whose research focuses on examining the casual genetic mechanisms underpinning learning preferences and affective disorders brought about by environmental stressors among people of African descent to understand why certain methods work and don’t work for this group. Dr. Burbanks has been the lead and co-author of several scholarly journal articles, presented at national and international conferences, and currently serves as a Postdoctoral Fellow for the Center for Traumatic Stress Research at the Xavier University of Louisiana.
Healing Community Research and Practice
This concept paper discusses some of the limitations of traditional trauma care among youth of color and examines culturally centered methods as a tool that is better suited to help educators, parents and counselors develop positive mental health outcomes for youth of color who are at risk of or suffer from race-based trauma, historical trauma, and continuous traumatic stress which can impair academic achievement and positive social development.
Watch The Video
Dr. Sam Burbanks was interviewed by our CRESTS graduate research assistant, Ashlei Rabess. In the interview, Dr. Burbanks elaborates on the concepts and research basis for his commissioned concept paper.
