In the midst of current environmental and social crises we–educators and educational scholars–have been called to prepare our youth with the skills, attitudes, and knowledge needed to face and solve such crises. While mastery of academic content and relevant skills remain key educational goals, teachers need to be prepared and equipped to instruct such content in integration with information on the causes, consequences, and mechanics of local and global sustainability issues; with information on the current innovations to mitigate and solve sustainability issues; and how individual and collective action can be taken. Such learning for social and environmental sustainability can be weaved into formal academics through the alignment of teaching practices and curricular content with the internationally recognized framework of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) My study was conducted with four elementary grade teachers from a public school in the central coast of California. The study involved six phases, from late 2022 to mid 2023, that included the implementation of a professional development (PD) event on ESD, class observations prior and after the PD event, sessions with the participants to co-design an integrated lesson plan, a focus groups, and one-on-one interviews. My data sources largely included field notes and transcripts of audio recordings of the before mentioned phases. I used critical ethnography (Carspecken, 1996) to identify the affordances as well as the challenges that participants experienced when attempting to align their instruction with ESD and the forms of collaboration and resources that would support them best to achieve this alignment. Findings from my analysis revealed multiple challenges that the participating teachers faced when attempting to create and deliver lessons that merged subject matter content with sustainability content. Reported challenges included: time constraints on planning and implementation; lack of time and resources necessary for increasing teachers’ literacies about sustainability issues and science education; need for fostering students’ foundational academic knowledge; the dominant presence of a test-score school culture; the preparation received during their pre-service years; and inadequate support from their school district to overcome diverse needs. Moreover, I found that participants expressed the desire for: having access to integrated teaching resources and to sustainability literacy resources; having district-adopted textbooks with integrated transdisciplinary content; and having ongoing support from a sustainability focused TOSA (teacher on special assignment) or coach. Results from my analysis also revealed specific features that a PD on ESD should have to effectively train teachers in the framework’s design methods, learning goals, and pedagogies. These features include the architecture of the PD; the forms of support teachers should receive after the PD has been completed; the elements from ESD that serve teachers to build integrated lessons; and the content and activities that should be prioritized.

Researchers interested in understanding the perspectives of U.S. minoritized parents of children with special needs often recruit participants based only on their ethnicity (e.g., Zuckerman et al., 2015; Jegatheesan, 2011; Chiang, 2014). However, this strategy masks the additional, unique challenges of minoritized parents who immigrated to the U.S., leading to potential biases in findings. Such a concern is supported by researchers who have observed significant social-political differences between immigrant and native-born parents from ethnically minoritized groups (Berry et al., 2006; Fernandez et al., 2018;). In addition, combining acculturating and domestic minoritized groups based on race may be misleading as critical characteristics, like ethnic subgroup, socioeconomic position, and duration of residence, are often rendered invisible (Song et al., 2012; Bornstein, 2017). Moreover, there has been little research examining immigrant families' experiences using a critical framework related to capital theories to date; such a dearth in research is particularly concerning given that foreign-born immigrants make up 13.6% percent of the total U.S. population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021). A two-study critical approach is applied in this research: the first study is a systematic review that adopts a quantitative perspective synthesizing studies that have reported the relationship between variables of immigrant or minority parents and their choices of services; the second study employs qualitative methods to delve into service-related perceptions, offering qualitative insights into immigrant parents' experiences, which is grounded on the notion of social status and power relations (Bourdieu, 1986) in order to explore the subjective experiences of social structures that immigrant parents must navigate when advocating for their children with special needs. The findings of this research offer new insights into the intricate interplay of cultural, social, and structural factors influencing immigrant parents' engagement with the special education system. These insights extend beyond ASD, informing culturally responsive policies and practices for parents of children with various special needs. The research underscores the necessity of empirical evidence to support culturally responsive policies and practices, urging researchers to incorporate variables identified in the study into parent-school interaction research. Educator training is advocated, alongside the development of culturally sensitive special education services that acknowledge the complexity of cultural issues.

My dissertation titled Native ways of knowing: Navigating life as a transracial adoptee is anautoethnography of my experience in coming to understand my childhood and schooling experiences as a Native adoptee who grew up in a white family in Alberta Canada. I highlight my journey in coming to learn about my Native roots as well as unpacking experiences with various institutions, including primary, secondary and university schools’ systems, all of which represent ways of learning that exclude Native ways of knowing. I view this dissertation as a way of regaining what has been long denied centering on Native ways of knowing, and integrating teachings from my biological family members, particularly my aunt uncle who invited me to the Siksika Nation located in southern Alberta. I begin this thesis with an introduction to the reader as a participant in what is called a talking circle. A talking circle is a healing space for members to connect with Creator and share challenges and emotional wounds in a way that allows one to let go and replenish one’s soul and voice. I welcome the reader into my virtual teepee, and begin with a traditional smudging ceremony, all of which is visually illustrated through my artwork. As such, art is a throughline vi for this dissertation; I can best clarify meaning through art, which is a shared skill among members of my biological family who engage in a variety of crafts–beadwork, tapestries, painting, and the like. I come from a long line of artists and as such, the artwork presented throughout this thesis is a crucial component of my story. Following the practices of Native scholars like Kimmerer (2013) and Archibald (2008), I tell my journey about coming to understand my transracial identity through an approach that reflects values centered on the natural world that communicates with us if we have the ears to hear. The flow of my story work begins with establishing the talking circle (Grounding), then moves to my understanding of scholarship about and by Native communities (Native Ways of Knowing and Being), and how who authors such work makes a big difference in how the Native lens of knowing and being is represented. Then, I tell the reader about my own story (My Journey) about how I came to know my native roots, and how no matter how long it takes, it is never too late to cultivate connections to one’s roots. I end my talking circle with note of hope and care for all with experiences similar to mine (Onward), that while not all of us have, or will have the same opportunities to connect with our Native roots, and we represent a broad range of cultural identities, often a mix of ethnicities that should be celebrated.