Analysis of Chapter #2, “Review of the Literature”
Article #2 of my analysis considers Chapter II, “Review of the Literature,” in which the author reviews the previous research pertinent to the subject of the dissertation and identifies the key problem that she is considering: the impact of race and gender on the experiences of African American women principals, utilizing the theoretical frameworks of Intersectionality, Black Feminist Thought, and Critical Race Theory.
The following are my own analytically critical comments.
Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 12
The sentence, “Black feminist research suggests that it is impossible to understand the African American female experience clearly if it is not held separately from race and gender,” should be rendered,
“Black feminist research suggests that it is impossible to understand the African American female experience clearly if it is held separately from race and gender.” (Use of the word, “not,” inverts the meaning.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 13
When referring to human beings, the pronoun, “who,” is preferable to the pronoun, “that.”
Hence, another sentence above would best be rendered, “Citizens who disobeyed these laws faced monetary fines or imprisonment, while death, torture, or dismemberment befell the enslaved if they were caught learning to read or write.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
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Page 15
The sentence, “The idea was that these buses and schools would be segregated, but the facilities and accommodations would equal for White Students,” omits important words and should be rendered as follows:
“The idea was that these buses and schools would be segregated, but the facilities and accommodations would be equal for Black and White Students”.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 16
The following passage would interesting if later connected to the dissertation topic:
“African American educators during the pre-Brown era played a significant role in the building and operation of schools. African American teachers and administrators were essential to securing funding and other necessary resources to promote education for African Americans (Klein, 2014). The school remained the hub of the African American community, symbolizing the culture and reinforcing community values. African American educators' educational philosophy is deeply rooted in the community and believes education is the key to a better future for their children (Tillman, 2004).
Sayles-Adams, though, does not establish a firm connection between the historical circumstances described in the passage as they would apply to her interviewees.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 17
The following statement given in the paragraph above is interesting and may be true but is not objectively established either for the historical period discussed or as would apply to Sayles-Adams’s interviewees:
“African American principals were also central figures in the school and community, with their leadership representing early evidence of the relationship between principal leadership and student achievement.”
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 19
The word, “aided,” in the sentence, “Ethridge (1979) identified factors that aided the loss of employment for African American educators after Brown,” is poorly selected and should be replaced with “contributed to,” as follows:
Ethridge (1979) identified factors that contributed to the loss of employment for African American educators after Brown.
Note that Sayles-Adams does not mention any of the factors apparently given by Ethridge (1979) that contributed to the loss of employment for African American educators after Brown.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 19
The sentence, “Judges were faced with questions about inferior schools perceived African American teachers as inferior,” features incorrect English usage and should be rendered in one of the following two ways:
Judges who were faced with questions about inferior schools perceived African American teachers as inferior.
Judge faced with questions about inferior schools perceived African American teachers as inferior.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 25
The sentence, (e) “Black women are intricately connected through their lived experiences as they dedicate their efforts to rescuing Blacks and women (Jones & Guy, et all, 2015),” is not parallel with the forms used for the other distinguishing characteristics of Black Feminist Thought. Parallel usage would be achieved by changing the wording, as follows: e) the connection that Black women feel through their lived experiences as they dedicate their efforts to rescuing Blacks and women (Jones & Guy, et all, 2015).
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 26
These two sentences are errantly written, unclear, and, with terrible syntax:
“Through the lens of an intersectional paradigm, Alinia (2015) discusses the light on Black feminist thought’s framework and the relationship between power and knowledge and questions the idea of objective knowledge and neutral spaces. Blackshear (2021) posits that Black women have shared experiences that only they can identify with despite other intersections (e.g., class and sexual orientation) among Black women.”
The first sentence should be changed to read,
“Through the lens of an intersectional paradigm, Alinia (2015) discusses the explanatory power of Black Feminist Thought and questions whether objective knowledge and neutral spaces exist.”
The second sentence should changed to read,
“Blackshear (2021) posits that Black women have shared experiences with which only they can identify, despite intersectional differences, such as class and sexual orientation, that exist among Black women themselves.”
Also, a grave problem apparent in this paragraph, and throughout the dissertation, is the lack of explanation on the part of Sayles-Adams as to the relevance to her interviews of five African American women principals. The case could be clearly made, but Sayles-Adams does not make that case.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 28
The independent clause, “(e) intersectionality explains the notion that individual groups do not have unitary identities instead many characteristics intersect a person such as race, sex, class, national origin, sexual orientation, debunking the practice to reduce individuals to one essential characteristic or identity,” is run-on, so that the following change should be made:
(e) intersectionality explains the notion that individual groups do not have unitary identities; instead, many characteristics intersect a person such as race, sex, class, national origin, sexual orientation. Thus intersectionality debunks the practice of reducing individuals to one essential characteristic or identity
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 28
Aaron (2020) noted Black women leaders’ race, gender, and age are intersecting power structures that influence how they experience and enact leadership and how others perceive them.
Sayles-Adams seems to cite Aaron so as to discuss the societal power structures pertinent to race, gender, and age that affect the professional lives of Black women adversely, so that the following would constitute a clearer expression of the intended meaning:
Aaron (2020) discusses how intersecting power structures pertinent to race, gender, and age are influence how African American women experience and enact leadership and how others perceive them.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Pages 29-30
The data presentation in this paragraph is not clear.
The source for the following statement and the subsequent data given is not certainly identified:
“Demographic data on principals in K-12 public education shows how leadership positions are more easily accessible to White candidates (both males and females).” The source may be Bailes and Guthery (2020), but Sayles-Adams does not clearly tie the data to that source.
Sayles-Adams cites data indicating that 10% of all principals in the United States are African American and that of those 4% are women; she must surely mean that four percentage points of the total ten percentage points representing African Americans refer to women, while six percentage points refer to men, but the phrasing is misleading.
But to further confuse the matter, she cites Peters (2021) as finding that black women make up approximately 12.9% of the public school principalships. But the data that she had given immediately prior to the Peters data apparently meant that only of all principalships in the United States only 4% were occupied by women.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 30
The sentence, “African American women (and other women of color) principals often lead troubled urban elementary schools that effectively lack resources, systems, and structures to operate” (Newcomb & Niemeyer, 2015; Peters, 2021), is written as if leading troubled urban elementary schools” suggests that this situation is negative; but one would hope that all teachers, of whatever
race, would find this the most important mission for any principal concerned with economic and, implicitly, racial equity.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Pages 30-31
The sentence, “Previous literature has included how African American women principals demonstrate their leadership philosophies, including caring for their students, their approaches to political, cultural, and social challenges, and notions of social justice, democracy, and equity (Peters, 2012),” would be clearer if the use of semi-commas were employed, as follows:
“Previous literature has included how African American women principals demonstrate their leadership philosophies, including caring for their students; and approaches to political, cultural, and social challenges, and notions of social justice, democracy, and equity (Peters, 2012).”
Note also that I eliminated the word, “their,” before the word “approaches” to make the phrase parallel with the others.
And the assertion in the sentence, “[African American women principals] have implemented changes in schools to transform their communities into places of hope and not despair,” is not factually substantiated.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 31
The claim implied by the sentence, “Williams and Loeb (2012) discussed the multifaceted impact African American women principals have on African American students' academic success, including symbolic representation, cultural identity, higher academic achievement, higher performance on standardized assessments, and increased graduation rates,” needs greater discussion and should later be tied to the objective performances of the five principals interviewed by Sayles-Adams.
What is the proof for the claims?
Did the five principals interviewed by Sayles-Adams objectively demonstrate these indicators of success in raising student performance?
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Pages 32-33
The claim made in this sentence needs to be backed with objective evidence, and would have been an interesting claim to examine at length through the experiences of the five African American principals interviewed by Sayles-Adams; no such lengthy examination was conducted by Sayles-Adams or revealed in the interview responses:
“Horsford and Tillman (2012) cite the marginalization of African American women principals through the minimization and dismissal of their culturally relevant leadership practices to ensure every child receives the education they deserve.”
The phrase, “effective ways to educate African American students,” broaches an enormously important topic for discussion, but Sayles-Adams does not deal with this matter at any length, nor do her interviewees offer any objective account of “effective ways to educate African American students” that they may have utilized.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Pages 34-35
The above paragraph again entails numerous contradictions that go unresolved in this dissertation.
Does the phenomenon of placing African American principals in troubled urban schools exist objectively?
If that phenomenon does exist, is the phenomenon really a problem, or would such placement be expected if the principal has life experiences that would assist improving the educational experiences of students of the same ethnic or economic descriptors as the principal?
What value attends any goal that African American women principals might have to seek placement in schools in which students are already achieving at a higher rate than students at most schools in a district?
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 35
With regard to the reference, “Holder et al. (2015) cite racism as a critical factor in explaining the underrepresentation of African American women in leadership positions,” evidence of such underrepresentation and its determinative reason as racism are lacking.
Presentation of such evidence and vigorous discussion of such verified underrepresentation and racism would contribute much to any discussion of the situation that is asserted.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 36
In the sentence, “Holder et al. (2015) confirmed harmful themes that included stereotypes, the universality of the Black experience, invisibility, and exclusion,” we need evidence of the confirmation attributed to Holder’s research, as well as detailed discussion and clarification of the themes (stereotypes, the universality of the Black experience, invisibility, and exclusion) cited.
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Gary Marvin Davison Comments
Page 38
The sentence, “Their expertise focused on academic achievement, mission-driven leadership, and promoting education as an inalienable right for all students,” is at odds with the phrase, “their desire to lead high-performing schools.”
The issue, as in my prior references, raises interesting questions about the goals of African American women principals:
2) Do African American women principals seek opportunities to improve the academic performance of all students, including nonwhite and economically challenged students?
or,
2) Do African American women principals seek easier principalships at schools, typically those at which students are mainly white and middle class or above in economic status?
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