Black Liberatory Educational Policy: A Systematic and Unapologetic Literature Review on the Advancement of Black Teachers’ Pedagogies and Practices

Our systematic, unapologetic, and Black education-focused literature review sought to examine how educational researchers, Black teachers, and Black students describe and co-imagine educational policies that advance Black liberatory pedagogies and practices. Our work addresses a need in educational policy studies to shift paradigms and invites scholars to leverage their power and privilege. The review team searched for policy-specific and Black liberation-focused articles. Our search criteria and review process yielded 51 articles that showed clear evidence of connections to educational policy advancing Black liberatory pedagogies and practices. Rooted in Black educational policy scholars, teachers, and students’ co-created knowledge, we found nine Black liberatory educational policies (BLEPs) we organized within three levels—–Classroom, District/School, and Federal/State. Our findings implicate how Black teachers, BLEP scholars, and Black students have engaged in negotiations that build power, so our work is bolstered, and not halted, by educational policy studies and its laws. Finally, we offer the Reality-Imaginary Spectrum (RIS) conversational tool to center power analysis in Black-led, educational justice movements.