Ain A Grooms
Biographic Data
| ID | 4468968 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ain A Grooms |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ain A |
| FAMILY NAME | Grooms |
| SIGNATURE | GROOMS A A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Iowa |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6039-7044 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Fragile Edge of Innovation: Examining Policy Resilience in State-Level K-12 Artificial Intelligence Guidance
As generative AI reshapes K-12 education, U.S. states are rapidly developing guidance to navigate its implementation. This study investigates the structural composition of AI education guidance across thirty-five states through qualitative document analysis. Utilizing the CAPE framework and the concepts of policy resilience versus fragility, the research examines how state-level signals influence systemic preparedness for AI education. Findings r…
Contextualizing education reform: How urban school districts design equity-focused leadership pathways
This paper explores the evolving landscape of K-12 education in the aftermath of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and the “racial awakening” following George Floyd's murder. Despite the return to in-person learning, persistent pre-pandemic barriers hinder academic opportunities, particularly for minoritized students. The study focuses on equitable educator practices and leadership models to address educational and opportunity gaps. Three large urban sc…
“Let's Take the B*tch Down!”: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Race and Gender in HBO's Vice Principals
Purpose: In the HBO comedy series, Vice Principals , two white men vice principals respond to the hiring of a Black woman high school principal with physical, emotional, and workplace violence. The purpose of this study was to explore (1) white men educational leaders’ perceptions of a Black woman educational leader, and (2) their responses to being passed over for promotion by a Black woman. Methods: Using whiteness as property as the theoretica…
Do we have the capacity? The policy imperative for equity‐focused K‐12 computer science education
Access to computer science education (CSEd) has greatly expanded in recent years. Starting with the Computer Science for All Initiative, launched in 2016 under President Obama, CSEd has expanded across the U.S. with over half of high schools offering at least one computer science course. Although there has been growth in computer science course offerings, disparities exist when it comes to ‘who’ enrolls in CSEd courses, and ‘where’ those courses …
Countering Racialized Logics About Black Students and School Attendance
Deficit narratives about Blackness are embedded in research, discourse, and policies as policymakers and researchers theorize about differences in schooling outcomes between Black students and their peers. We offer a counterstory to prevailing conceptualizations of student absenteeism by arguing that they center racialized and deficit narratives about Blackness in explaining why students miss school and noting how they ignore the influence of sys…
When Past is Present and Future: How Contextualizing a Community’s Historical Context Can Shape the Development of Equity-Focused Principal Pipelines
Using data from eight large, urban school districts, this study explores how district leaders can use an understanding of local sociocultural and historical contexts to shape the development and implementation of policies and practices designed to support educational equity. We theorize the Contextualizing Community Histories Model, a four-stage iterative process that uncovers local histories and uses a strengths-based approach to outline promisi…
Educational Equity and the Logics of Covid-19: Informing School Leadership Practices in a New Period of Democratic Education
The COVID-19 pandemic created numerous disruptions for schools and districts that are still being dealt with heading into year three of the pandemic. These disruptions significantly impacted approaches and initiatives that were being set in motion prior to the pandemic. However, recent political and social shifts in U.S. society have exacerbated barriers for students and have created unfavorable conditions for school leaders. In this conceptual p…
Hidden in (Virtual) Plain Sight: A Charter District’s Focus on Attendance During Covid-19
COVID-19 placed a significant burden on urban students of color and their families. Changing environmental, community, and schooling factors influenced students’ ability and desire to attend school regularly. To ensure that students would attend school, district and school leaders were challenged with creating school environments and cultures that would promote attendance and overall safety. This case study of a charter school district in Texas h…
Industry’s push for computer science education: Is computer science really for all
Recent research on Computer Science (CS) has largely found that inequities in access persist. In 2016, President Obama announced the Computer Science for All initiative, recognizing that CS is a “new” basic skill in K-12 schools and over US$4 billion was pledged to Computer Science education (CSEd) initiatives. While general support for computer science and the associated funding is currently evident, this has not always been the case. From no me…
I felt like a butterfly spreading my wings ”: Early college high schools as educational counterspaces for women from marginalized groups
Early College High Schools (ECHS) partner with post-secondary institutions to award students, specifically those from historically marginalized groups, with significant transferrable college credit—tuition free—along with a high school diploma. Utilizing the frameworks of counterspace and counterstory, this study aimed to understand the perceptions of 13 women who identify as of Color and/or low-income, who graduated from an ECHS and are now in c…
The Retention of Educators of Color Amidst Institutionalized Racism
Representing approximately 20% of the workforce, educators of color (EOC) leave the field at a rate 25% higher than their White counterparts. Despite workforce diversification efforts, few studies investigate the psychosocial consequences of navigating racialized school climate as reasons EOC may leave the workforce. This study relies on survey data collected from educators of color (paraprofessionals through superintendents) across the state of …
Turbulence in St. Louis County: School Transfers, Opportunity Hoarding, and the Legacy of Brown
In the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregated schools unconstitutional, and the process of school desegregation fell mostly to Black children. For over 35 years, Black families in St. Louis City have been using school transfers to cross boundaries in order to send their children to higher performing, predominately White schools in suburban St. Louis County in search of “a better education.” Relying on turbu…
Straddling the Boundaries of the Zone of Tolerance: One District’s Response to Rapid Demographic Change
Sewall County, located in metropolitan Atlanta, and its public school system experienced significant demographic change between 2000 and 2010. The population doubled, reaching more than 200,000 residents, and its percentage of White residents fell by 25% to just more than 55%. Its public school system is now considered majority–minority. Using the zone of tolerance framework, which argues that there are boundaries within which community members w…
The Reversed Role of Magnets in St. Louis: Implications for Black Student Outcomes
Magnet schools were originally created to attract a diverse student population. Using data from the 23 magnet schools in St. Louis, this longitudinal study is twofold: first, to review the performance outcomes of the magnet schools across a 5-year period, between 2005-2006 and 2009-2010, and second, to examine whether the magnet schools are fostering segregation among the city’s Black families. The relationship between a school’s demographics, it…
The Reversed Role of Magnets in St. Louis: Implications for Black Student Outcomes
Magnet schools were originally created to attract a diverse student population. Using data from the 23 magnet schools in St. Louis, this longitudinal study is twofold: first, to review the performance outcomes of the magnet schools across a 5-year period, between 2005-2006 and 2009-2010, and second, to examine whether the magnet schools are fostering segregation among the city’s Black families. The relationship between a school’s demographics, it…
Turbulence in St. Louis County: School Transfers, Opportunity Hoarding, and the Legacy of Brown
In the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregated schools unconstitutional, and the process of school desegregation fell mostly to Black children. For over 35 years, Black families in St. Louis City have been using school transfers to cross boundaries in order to send their children to higher performing, predominately White schools in suburban St. Louis County in search of “a better education.” Relying on turbu…
I felt like a butterfly spreading my wings ”: Early college high schools as educational counterspaces for women from marginalized groups
Early College High Schools (ECHS) partner with post-secondary institutions to award students, specifically those from historically marginalized groups, with significant transferrable college credit—tuition free—along with a high school diploma. Utilizing the frameworks of counterspace and counterstory, this study aimed to understand the perceptions of 13 women who identify as of Color and/or low-income, who graduated from an ECHS and are now in c…
Countering Racialized Logics About Black Students and School Attendance
Deficit narratives about Blackness are embedded in research, discourse, and policies as policymakers and researchers theorize about differences in schooling outcomes between Black students and their peers. We offer a counterstory to prevailing conceptualizations of student absenteeism by arguing that they center racialized and deficit narratives about Blackness in explaining why students miss school and noting how they ignore the influence of sys…
Hidden in (Virtual) Plain Sight: A Charter District’s Focus on Attendance During Covid-19
COVID-19 placed a significant burden on urban students of color and their families. Changing environmental, community, and schooling factors influenced students’ ability and desire to attend school regularly. To ensure that students would attend school, district and school leaders were challenged with creating school environments and cultures that would promote attendance and overall safety. This case study of a charter school district in Texas h…
Straddling the Boundaries of the Zone of Tolerance: One District’s Response to Rapid Demographic Change
Sewall County, located in metropolitan Atlanta, and its public school system experienced significant demographic change between 2000 and 2010. The population doubled, reaching more than 200,000 residents, and its percentage of White residents fell by 25% to just more than 55%. Its public school system is now considered majority–minority. Using the zone of tolerance framework, which argues that there are boundaries within which community members w…
The Reversed Role of Magnets in St. Louis: Implications for Black Student Outcomes
Magnet schools were originally created to attract a diverse student population. Using data from the 23 magnet schools in St. Louis, this longitudinal study is twofold: first, to review the performance outcomes of the magnet schools across a 5-year period, between 2005-2006 and 2009-2010, and second, to examine whether the magnet schools are fostering segregation among the city’s Black families. The relationship between a school’s demographics, it…
Turbulence in St. Louis County: School Transfers, Opportunity Hoarding, and the Legacy of Brown
In the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregated schools unconstitutional, and the process of school desegregation fell mostly to Black children. For over 35 years, Black families in St. Louis City have been using school transfers to cross boundaries in order to send their children to higher performing, predominately White schools in suburban St. Louis County in search of “a better education.” Relying on turbu…
Straddling the Boundaries of the Zone of Tolerance: One District’s Response to Rapid Demographic Change
Sewall County, located in metropolitan Atlanta, and its public school system experienced significant demographic change between 2000 and 2010. The population doubled, reaching more than 200,000 residents, and its percentage of White residents fell by 25% to just more than 55%. Its public school system is now considered majority–minority. Using the zone of tolerance framework, which argues that there are boundaries within which community members w…
The Retention of Educators of Color Amidst Institutionalized Racism
Representing approximately 20% of the workforce, educators of color (EOC) leave the field at a rate 25% higher than their White counterparts. Despite workforce diversification efforts, few studies investigate the psychosocial consequences of navigating racialized school climate as reasons EOC may leave the workforce. This study relies on survey data collected from educators of color (paraprofessionals through superintendents) across the state of …
Industry’s push for computer science education: Is computer science really for all
Recent research on Computer Science (CS) has largely found that inequities in access persist. In 2016, President Obama announced the Computer Science for All initiative, recognizing that CS is a “new” basic skill in K-12 schools and over US$4 billion was pledged to Computer Science education (CSEd) initiatives. While general support for computer science and the associated funding is currently evident, this has not always been the case. From no me…
I felt like a butterfly spreading my wings ”: Early college high schools as educational counterspaces for women from marginalized groups
Early College High Schools (ECHS) partner with post-secondary institutions to award students, specifically those from historically marginalized groups, with significant transferrable college credit—tuition free—along with a high school diploma. Utilizing the frameworks of counterspace and counterstory, this study aimed to understand the perceptions of 13 women who identify as of Color and/or low-income, who graduated from an ECHS and are now in c…
Educational Equity and the Logics of Covid-19: Informing School Leadership Practices in a New Period of Democratic Education
The COVID-19 pandemic created numerous disruptions for schools and districts that are still being dealt with heading into year three of the pandemic. These disruptions significantly impacted approaches and initiatives that were being set in motion prior to the pandemic. However, recent political and social shifts in U.S. society have exacerbated barriers for students and have created unfavorable conditions for school leaders. In this conceptual p…
Hidden in (Virtual) Plain Sight: A Charter District’s Focus on Attendance During Covid-19
COVID-19 placed a significant burden on urban students of color and their families. Changing environmental, community, and schooling factors influenced students’ ability and desire to attend school regularly. To ensure that students would attend school, district and school leaders were challenged with creating school environments and cultures that would promote attendance and overall safety. This case study of a charter school district in Texas h…
Contextualizing education reform: How urban school districts design equity-focused leadership pathways
This paper explores the evolving landscape of K-12 education in the aftermath of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and the “racial awakening” following George Floyd's murder. Despite the return to in-person learning, persistent pre-pandemic barriers hinder academic opportunities, particularly for minoritized students. The study focuses on equitable educator practices and leadership models to address educational and opportunity gaps. Three large urban sc…
“Let's Take the B*tch Down!”: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Race and Gender in HBO's Vice Principals
Purpose: In the HBO comedy series, Vice Principals , two white men vice principals respond to the hiring of a Black woman high school principal with physical, emotional, and workplace violence. The purpose of this study was to explore (1) white men educational leaders’ perceptions of a Black woman educational leader, and (2) their responses to being passed over for promotion by a Black woman. Methods: Using whiteness as property as the theoretica…
Do we have the capacity? The policy imperative for equity‐focused K‐12 computer science education
Access to computer science education (CSEd) has greatly expanded in recent years. Starting with the Computer Science for All Initiative, launched in 2016 under President Obama, CSEd has expanded across the U.S. with over half of high schools offering at least one computer science course. Although there has been growth in computer science course offerings, disparities exist when it comes to ‘who’ enrolls in CSEd courses, and ‘where’ those courses …
Countering Racialized Logics About Black Students and School Attendance
Deficit narratives about Blackness are embedded in research, discourse, and policies as policymakers and researchers theorize about differences in schooling outcomes between Black students and their peers. We offer a counterstory to prevailing conceptualizations of student absenteeism by arguing that they center racialized and deficit narratives about Blackness in explaining why students miss school and noting how they ignore the influence of sys…
When Past is Present and Future: How Contextualizing a Community’s Historical Context Can Shape the Development of Equity-Focused Principal Pipelines
Using data from eight large, urban school districts, this study explores how district leaders can use an understanding of local sociocultural and historical contexts to shape the development and implementation of policies and practices designed to support educational equity. We theorize the Contextualizing Community Histories Model, a four-stage iterative process that uncovers local histories and uses a strengths-based approach to outline promisi…
The Fragile Edge of Innovation: Examining Policy Resilience in State-Level K-12 Artificial Intelligence Guidance
As generative AI reshapes K-12 education, U.S. states are rapidly developing guidance to navigate its implementation. This study investigates the structural composition of AI education guidance across thirty-five states through qualitative document analysis. Utilizing the CAPE framework and the concepts of policy resilience versus fragility, the research examines how state-level signals influence systemic preparedness for AI education. Findings r…
Political science (12 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Pedagogy (6 works) · Critical Race Theory in Education (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Public relations (5 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · School Choice and Performance (4 works) · Attendance (3 works)