Statistically, all but 2% of Interior Designers in the United States are Black, making Interior Design historically one of the least diverse professions in the world. Due to the lack of representation, diversity, and inclusion in Interior Design education, students of color struggle to succeed amongst their counterparts. To take a closer look into this information, while answering questions of why and how, we must first consider the ways demographics, statistics and curriculum at colleges and universities play a significant role in the diversity gap in such programs. Furthermore, we must also study other college programs that are more successful in the recruitment of Black students and the basis for Interior Design curricula at PWI’s.

In the United States, the book ban movement’s targeting of ethnic and diverse literature undermines educational and cultural learning while promoting the oppression of diverse student identities. This topic is sensitive for educators, officials, and parents advocating book removals due to disapproved themes, often overlooking censorship’s consequences. My study investigates the trajectory of book removals over the past decade, focusing on the school districts of Tucson, AZ and San Bernardino, CA. The methods include analyzing the content of 20 English and Ethnic Studies teachers’ syllabi to construct a comparative timeline, demonstrating how state political laws influence the inclusion of diverse narratives in education. This study underscores the critical importance of preserving diverse literature in education, ensuring access to a wide range of stories that cultivate critical thinking, empathy, and an inclusive understanding of the world.

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT), is a student-based teaching practice that uses the students' customs, characteristics, experiences, and perspectives as tools to create a conducive classroom environment. This study will serve to create a comprehensive database of the various approaches of CRT practice implementation throughout LAUSD elementary school curriculums. There are two questions that this study hopes to answer, the first: What can the findings of a detailed analysis of LAUSD elementary school websites uncover about their respective implementations of Culturally Responsive Teaching practices? The second: Can a significant correlation be found between the inclusion of CRT practices in elementary school classrooms and higher rates of academic success of the students in those classrooms? The data collection process, completed for each of the 400+ LAUSD elementary schools, examines student population racial composition, the percentage of students on free/reduced fee lunch programs, school size, whether the school claims to implement CRT practices into their curriculum, the methods for CRT practice implementation, the accessibility of CRT information on their school website, and academic achievement trends of the students both prior to and following the proposed CRT practice implementation. This study aims to bridge the perspectival gaps that lay between the theory of CRT practices and its application, and seeks to provide insight regarding the work that may need to be done to create truly Culturally Responsive classroom environments.

In 2019, Minnesota adopted new science education standards that would require science educators teaching grades 1 through 12 to integrate Indigenous knowledge into the curriculum. In Minnesota, almost eighty percent of teachers are White and teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities are taught by majority White faculty with little exposure to other ways of knowing. In a survey of Minnesota educators, findings showed sixty six percent did not feel confident enough in their abilities to incorporate Indigenous content into their curriculum. These educators identified that if they were to connect with Indigenous communities, elders, etc. their confidence in teaching this content would increase. The purpose of our year-long Teacher Professional Learning Communities (PLC) for Indigenous Science project is to support science educators in learning about Indigenous science concepts and ways of knowing and to increase their efficacy to implement these concepts and pedagogies into their curriculum in a culturally responsive way. Over the course of the year, teachers attend 2 to 4 in-person experiential sessions with Indigenous educators and 4 virtual sessions focused on continued learning, community building and application to their classrooms. We employed reflexive interviews to understand participant experiences with the PLC program and the impact of their participation on project goals. We utilized reflexive interviewing to collect data and analysis was completed with two coders. Preliminary findings on teacher experience and efficacy are presented in addition to an exploration of implications for higher education and teaching training and Native and non-Native student achievement and school connectedness.