Activists, Advocates, and Agitators: 21st Century Justice-Oriented Teacher Activist Organizations

Description: 2025 SPE Outstanding Book Award Honorable Mention

In recent years, the field of education has been fraught with a variety of different challenges. A multi-year pandemic, book banning, and legislative efforts seeking to ban Critical Race Theory and LGBTQ positive curriculum have had negative effects on K-12 education, leaving many educators feeling the progress made in several states and communities before and during the 2018 teacher walkouts and strikes was now gone. Teacher morale is sitting at a historic low point, with teachers leaving the profession in droves. Education as an institution is at a crucial tipping point, and changes focused on equity and reducing the neoliberal hold on reform need to be implemented in order to keep schools as democratic spaces. The way this vision can be realized is through activism and existing social movement organizations that use both traditional and netroots practices. The purpose of Activists, Advocates, and Agitators is to provide readers with a history and analysis of 21st century teacher activism in K-12 schools to better understand the effectiveness of organizing and activism. Additionally, the text will introduce readers to present-day activist groups whose work is positively changing education and schools and the ways in which some teachers are working within their communities to assist in their specific needs.

Activists, Advocates, and Agitators is the perfect book to instruct preservice teachers about the conditions that they will face in their classrooms, arming them with valuable strategies to help them to achieve their academic goals.

Perfect for courses such as: Social Foundations of Education; Foundations of Education; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Teacher Leadership; Sociology of Education; Politics of Education; and Democratic Education

Brief description: Brianne Kramer, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Education in the College of Education and Human Development at Southern Utah University where she teaches Social Foundations of Education courses. Additionally, she coordinates the Educational Foundations and Policy major for the Master's of Education and Master's of Interdisciplinary Studies programs. She earned a Ph.D. in Social Foundations of Education from the University of Toledo, and her research focuses on teacher workforce issues, diversity, equity, and inclusion, educational policy, and teacher activism. She co-edited the 2022 book Children and Trauma: Critical Perspectives for Meeting the Needs of Diverse Educational Communities. She also currently serves on the ACLU Utah Board of Directors and is a Contributing Scholar for the Policy Research-to-Policy Collaboration housed at Pennsylvania State University.

Review Quotes: "Activists, Advocates, and Agitators: 21st Century Justice-Oriented Teacher Activist Organizations is a clear demonstration of the power of educator activism through the growth and establishments of rank-and-file movements. As a former veteran teacher and 6-year Maryland State Education Association and National Education Association Board member, I understand firsthand the importance of educator activism from the ground up through rank-and-file organizing and caucuses. Throughout my tenure as a union leader, I became more and more disillusioned with the NEA and AFT, realizing the intensely embedded bureaucratic structure and the unwavering dedication to democratic party with what seems like zero accountability demands. It was the CORE groups and other on-the-ground educator activism movements across the country described in this book that kept me inspired and motivated to keep up the fight for educational justice in my own state and county. Reading through each chapter reminded me of the pride I felt as a teacher watching educators across the country fight back against the incessant criminalization of Black, Indigenous, and brown students, anti-CRT legislation, and other racist policies and legislation. I felt the connection of the stories shared throughout this book to my own involvement in activism movements like Black Lives Matter at School, and how collective action and power can absolutely create change. I highly recommend this book to anyone in the education field, especially to Aspiring Educators seeking camaraderie and unity in union spaces."--Erika Strauss Chavarria, Former Teacher and Former MSEA/NEA Director