This issue contains four manuscripts, including: a critical organizational theory perspective to an examination of how higher education scholars struggled with the issue of institutional racism within their studies on Black doctoral students at Predominantly White Institutions (Nagbe); an examination of the Córdoba University Reform Movement of 1918 through both an historical perspective and the application of Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (Patterson); an exploratory analysis of teacher gesturing via a case study of an elementary teacher (Fernandez, Tharayil & Callahan); and an analysis of Texas postsecondary institutions that have enrolled students with disabilities over a five-year period (2013-2017) (Charran, Bicak & Taylor).
In addition to these pieces, we feature two critical forums curated by TxEd editorial board members. The first forum, edited by Chloe Latham Sikes, examines the current political landscape in Texas educational policy through a review of some of the most salient debates in public education during the state legislative session of 2019. Inspired by the first volume of TxEd, which offered a “time capsule” of perspectives on state educational policy issues, this forum provides an update on Texas educational policy and politics, and directions for the future. In the second critical forum, Z.W. Taylor presents pieces that examine cross-cultural mentoring in education and its ability to connect people from different races, ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, genders, and other personal identities.