Author, Researcher to Speak on K-12 Issues in UA’s Laible Lecture

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Kevin K. Kumashiro, dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco, will deliver the annual Julie C. Laible Memorial Lecture on Anti-Racist Scholarship, Education, and Social Activism Wednesday, Nov. 4 at The University of Alabama.

Kumashiro, the founding director of the Center for Anti-Oppressive Education, is a leading expert on educational policy, school reform, teacher preparation, and educational equity and social justice. His lecture, “Bad Teacher! How blaming teachers distorts the bigger picture,” will begin at 5 p.m. Wednesday in room 118 of Graves Hall.

Kumashiro will also speak that day during a brown-bag lecture from noon to 1:30 p.m. in room 102 of Graves Hall.

Kumashiro will discuss some of the reforms currently trending in education and how the rhetoric sounds promising, but is actually hurting education, he said.

“There are a number of problems, like inequitable funding in schools, segregation in schools, narrowed and very limited curriculum, too much emphasis on testing, and even things like who is making decisions,” Kumashiro said. “A lot of reforms aren’t being made by elected leaders and educators, but people with a lot of money.”

Kumashiro said he’ll also detail how special interest groups who are steering particular reforms aren’t using data to back what’s becoming “common sense” to people.

“For instance, that the public sector has failed and we need to privatize education,” Kumashiro said. “Or, test scores are fair and objective, and that’s how we should make high-stakes decisions. But science tells us tests are good for measuring some things, but not all. The so-called ‘reformers’ are most successful when they can make their initiative sound like common sense.”

Kumashiro is an award-winning author and editor of 10 books on education and social justice. In 2012-2014, he served as president of the National Association for Multicultural Education.

The Julie C. Laible Memorial Lecture Series on anti-racist scholarship, education and social activism honors the memory of Julie C. Laible, who was an assistant professor in the College of Education before passing away unexpectedly in 1999. Laible served at UA for four years and was known for her community involvement through such programs as the Community Anti-Racial Group, which she helped found, and as an Aid to Inmate Mothers.