Bettie Ray Butler

Bettie Ray Butler

Professor
Department of Middle, Secondary, and K-12 Education
704-687-7098
COED 317D

Bettie Ray Butler, PhD is a Professor of Urban Education and the Director of the M.Ed. in Urban Education program at UNC Charlotte. She also serves as the Associate Editor for the Journal of African American Women and Girls in Education (JAAWGE). Dr. Butler completed her Ph.D. at Texas A&M University in 2011.

Her research explores restorative approaches, using a spiritual lens, within educational contexts. Her current work uses a restorative philosophy to identify ways to improve school/institutional climate, reduce educational disparities, and positively impact academic and socioemotional outcomes. 

Her scholarly research has appeared in several peer-reviewed research journals including, Qualitative Inquiry, Theory into Practice, Urban Education, Urban Review, and The Journal for Multicultural Education (recipient of the 2019 Emerald Literati Award for Outstanding Paper/Article). She is the author of two books Mentoring While White (2022) and Un-silencing Youth Trauma (2022). In 2023, she was honored with the Cato College of Education’s Distinguished Faculty Award for her research and service to the profession.

Education

  • Ph.D. – Texas A&M University Curriculum and Instruction (Urban Education)
  • M.A – Texas A&M University Political Science (Public Administration and Public Policy)
  • B.A. – North Carolina A&T State University and Duke University Political Science and Criminal Justice (Minor in Mass Communication)

Teaching

  • Power, Privilege and Education
  • Urban Educational Policy
  • Social Deviance, Delinquency, and Education
  • Urban Schooling, Curriculum, and Pedagogy
  • Critical Readings in Urban Education
  • Critical Readings in Urban Education Research
  • Culturally Responsive Classroom Management
  • Diverse Learners
  • Critical Media Pedagogy
  • Diversity and Inclusion in Secondary Schools
  • Honors Seminar in Education

Research Interests/Areas of Expertise

  • Culturally Responsive Practices
  • Restorative Approaches
  • School Discipline
  • Classroom Management

Community Involvement

  • Behailu Academy
  • Turning Point Academy (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools)
  • Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
  • Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
  • Veritas Community Charter School
  • Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

Selected Publications

Books:

Garo, L.,Butler, B. R., Lewis, C. (2022). Un-silencing youth trauma: Transformative school-based strategies for students exposed to violence and adversity. Information Age.*

Butler, B. R.,Farinde-Wu, A., Winchell, M. (2022). Mentoring while white: Culturally responsive practices for sustaining the lives of Black college students. Rowman & Littlefield, Lexington Books.*

Articles/Book Chapters:

Farinde-Wu, A.,Butler, B. R., & Allen-Handy, A. (2022). Policing Black femininity: The hypercriminalization of Black girls in an urban school. Gender and Education. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/09540253.2022.2072477 

Butler, B. R., Gladney, D., Lo, Y-y., & Caldera, A. (2022). Classroom management instruction in teacher education: A culturally responsive approach. In E. Sabornie & D. Espelage (Eds.), The handbook of classroom management (3rd. ed), Routledge.

Butler, B. R. (2021). Ain’t I a woman: Black women’s endurance in higher education, the implications of linked fate, and the urgent need for greater cultural responsiveness. Journal of African American Women and Girls in Education, 1(3), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.21423/jaawge-v1i3a97

Butler, B. R.,Farinde-Wu, A., Winchell, M. (2022). Mentoring while white: Culturally responsive practices for sustaining the lives of Black college students. Rowman & Littlefield, Lexington Books.*

Butler, B. R., & Triplett, N. (in press). The effects of administrative leadership on racial disparities in school discipline. A closer look at White male principals. In D. Armstrong & B. McMahon (Eds.). Convictions of conscience: How voices from the margins inform public actions and educational leadership.

Butler, B. R., Coffee, H. , & Young, J. (in press). Justice-oriented teaching dispositions in urban education. A critical interpretive case study. Urban Education.

Coffee, H. & Butler, B. R. (in press). Developing social justice through service learning: The potential of university-school partnerships for fostering justice oriented dispositions among students of color. International Journal of Research on Service-Learning in Teacher Education.

Young, J., Butler, B. R. Dolzhenko, I., & Ardrey, T. (2018). Deconstructing teacher quality in urban early childhood education. Journal for Multicultural Education.

King, E., & Butler, B. R. (2015). Who cares about diversity!? A preliminary investigation of exposure to courses on cultural diversity in teacher preparation programs in North Carolina. Multicultural Perspectives, 17 (1), 46-52.

Blake, J., Butler, B. R., & Smith, D. (2015). Challenging middle class notions of femininity: The cause of Black females’ disproportionate suspension rates. In D. Losen (Ed.). Closing the school discipline gap: Equitable remedies for excessive exclusion (pp.75-88). New York: Teachers College Press.

Butler, B. R., Robinson, D., & Walton, C. (2014) A perfect storm: How pose, perception and threat converge to perpetuate discriminatory discipline practices. In C. Lewis & J. Moore (Eds.). African American male students in preK-12 schools: Informing research, policy, and practice (pp. 151-175). Bradford, United Kingdom: Emerald Group Publishing.

Butler, B. R., Lewis, C., Moore, J. & Scott, M. (2012). Assessing the odds: Disproportional discipline practices and implications for educational stakeholders. Journal of Negro Education, 81(1), 11-24.

Blake, J., Butler, B. R., Lewis, C., & Darensbourg, A. (2011). Unmasking the inequitable discipline experiences of urban Black girls: Implications for urban educational stakeholders. Urban Review, 43(1), 90-106.

Lewis, C., Butler, B. R., Bonner, F., & Joubert, M. D. (2010). African American male discipline patterns and school district responses resulting impact on academic achievement: Implications for urban educators and policy makers. Journal of African American Males in Education, 1(1), 7-25.

Butler, B. R., Joubert, M. D., & Lewis, C. (2010). Who’s really disrupting the classroom: An examination of African American male students and their disciplinary roles. National Journal of Urban Education and Practice, 3(1), 1-12.*