Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Dissertation

Abstract

The promotion of monoracial normativity has profoundly influenced the language used in policies, creating societal expectations that other the identification of Black/white Biracial and multiracial identities. Despite the reality of our quickly shifting demographics, multiracial identities continue to be marginalized and misconstrued through racial reporting guidelines. Racial reporting used on forms required by the Iowa Department of Education are comingled with non-racially categorized data to further distance reality in education and the public-school rankings (Iowa Department of Education, 2012; State of Iowa, 2024).

The purpose of this study was to trace the legacy of the socially constructed racial binary, preserved by racial reporting guidelines. Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (SPD 15) determines the standards for maintaining, collecting, and presenting federal data on race and ethnicity. The socially constructed nature of race and power necessitates a method of inquiry that critically analyzes the linguistic structures in educational policy that misrepresent numerical discourse. As such, this study describes, interprets, and explains the ways in which educational policy discourses misrepresent the integrity of SPD 15 to construct, maintain, and legitimize social inequities (Mullet, 2018).

Year of Submission

2025

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

First Advisor

Morgan Anderson

Date Original

5-2025

Object Description

1 PDF (viii, 105 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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