GSEHD Community Takes Part in JCT Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice
GSEHD was well represented by faculty, students, and alumni at the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing's Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice.
Sandra Vanderbilt
Sandra Vanderbilt
Research Assistant Professor
School: Graduate School of Education and Human Development
Department: Educational Leadership
Contact:
Email:
Sandra Vanderbilt
Dr. Sandra K. Vanderbilt is an educator and community-based researcher in Washington, DC. Her research interests include youth storytelling, counterstory, critical literacy, critical dis/Abilities studies, and dis/Ability justice. She is also currently principal investigator for a study of middle and high-school aged young people’s memetic media use for which she is working with a GSEHD colleague and graduate student.
Specializing in teaching qualitative methods, Dr. Vanderbilt supports students in the GSEHD community and those across the university and consortium. She enjoys exploring the ways that theory informs research practice and working with students to find ways to best hear and learn from study participants. Dr. Vanderbilt actively collaborates with students and fellow researchers to engage individuals as experts in the topics being investigated through innovative methods.
Dr. Vanderbilt was elected in October 2022 to the executive board of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies (AAACS) as Secretary. Previously a schoolteacher and reading specialist in Chicago and Washington, DC, she continues to work with schools, neighborhood community centers, and local arts-based and youth activist organizations.
- EdD, Curriculum & Instruction, The George Washington University (Graduate School of Education & Human Development)
- MAEdHD, Curriculum & Instruction, Reading and Literacy Concentration, The George Washington University (Graduate School of Education & Human Development)
- BA, Secondary Education, English Major , DePaul University
- Qualitative Methods
- Critical Methods
- Postqualitative Methods
- Ethnography
- Critical Literacy
- Critical Disabilities Studies
- Disability Studies in Education
- Racial Justice
- Critical Whiteness Studies
- Community-based Research
- Community Organizing
- Youth Engaged Research
- Curriculum Studies
- Curriculum Theory
- K-12 Academic Intervention
- Diversity training for teachers and school staff
Select Publications:
K. Vanderbilt, S., Buffington-Adams, J., & Vaughan, K. (2024). Demanding More: Currere and dis/Ability. The Currere Exchange Journal, 8(2). https://cej.lib.miamioh.edu/index.php/CEJ/article/view/274
Vanderbilt, S. (2024). Demanding more than equity and inclusion: Historical and Emerging Understandings of Dis/Ability Justice. In Social Foundations of Education Reader: Critical essays on teaching, learning, and leading (Volume II). https://emma-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/vfscb/c9b4fc3f9937b19cfc7d6398d9992b04/Vanderbilt_2024.pdf
Vanderbilt, S. (2023). “Bridging a Conversational Chasm: White Antiracist Confrontations in Personal Spaces.” Educational Theory, 72, 6.
Vanderbilt, S. and Ralston, D. (2023). “Young people reading and writing the world through meme curation, creation, and critical conversation” in Leah Panther and Darren Crovitz (Eds). Critical Memetic Literacies in English Education: How do you meme? Routledge.
Vanderbilt, S. (2021). Hope in Remembrance of a Life Well Lived. Hope and Joy in Education: Engaging Daisaku Ikeda Across Curriculum and Contexts. Jason Goulah and Isabel Nunez (Eds.). Teachers College Press.
Vanderbilt, S. and Ali, A. (2020). Community Engagement and Meaningful Trust as Bedrocks of Well-Crafted Research. Critical Youth Research in Education: Methodologies and Praxis. Teresa McCarty and Arshad Ali (Eds.). Routledge.
Vanderbilt, S. (2019). “The Ethics of Care in Research with Youth.” Neos: A Publication of the Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group, February 2019.
Buffington-Adams, J., Cannon, M.A., Hernández-Saca, D.I., Vanderbilt, S., Vaughan, K., and Winfield, A. (2019). "Radical (Re)naming through a tapestry of authoethnographic voices: healing through dis/ability theorizing.” Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies 13 (1).
Vanderbilt, S. (2018). "A Playground with Swings:” Counterstories of Black Adolescent Girls Living in Urban Public Housing. ProQuest. ISBN: 9780355826432. ProQuest Document Id: 2030415750.
- May 2025 - Dr. Vanderbilt, along with master's student Cooper Sved (Education Policy), presented, "King Friday’s Wall: The Magic of Make Believe to Face the Spectacle of the Present,” at the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies 2025 Annual Conference in Colorado. Dr. Vanderbilt also presented, "Radical Solidarity Avenues and the Teachings of Fred Rogers," at the conference.
- November 2024 - Dr. Sandra Vanderbilt presented at two conferences,"Inhabiting contradictions: Black girls’ imaginary of themselves in Washington, DC public housing," on a panel titled Poetry and Arts-Based Methodologies: Dismantling Racism, Microaggressions, Discrimination, and Social Justice Across Diverse Settings at the 2024 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting; and “Learning from imperfect pasts: currere, LatDisCrit, and hope for interconnectedness in the classroom," at the 25th Annual Curriculum and Pedagogy Group Conference.
Dr. Vanderbilt and Doc Student Present Book Chapter at Convention
Dr. Sandra Vanderbilt and staff/student DJ Ralston (Human and Organizational Learning) present at National Council for Teachers of English Convention.
GSEHD Faculty, Students, Alumni Share Research and Keynotes at 2023 JCT/Bergamo Conference
GSEHD was well represented by our faculty, students and alumni at the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing (JCT) Conference in Dayton, OH.