College of Education and Human Development

Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development

Nathaniel Stewart

  • Assistant Professor; Carmen Starkson Campbell Endowed Fellow for Innovation in Teacher Development

Nathaniel Stewart

Areas of interest

Critical educational policy analysis
Anti-colonial epistemologies
Black Critical Theory
Critical quantitative methods

Degrees

Ph.D., The Ohio State University, Educational Policy
M.A., The Ohio State University, Educational Policy
B.A., Berea College, African and African American Studies

Biography

Profile

I am a former middle school science teacher and Black liberatory pedagogist, turned educational policy scholar.  My knowledge-creation activities explore Black, justice-oriented, and K-12 educators’ unique roles as policy activists and Black student agency shepherds. In the classroom, I delivered general science education, and curriculum rooted in the scientific advancements and contributions of my students and I's African ancestors.  However, I realized that oppressive educational policy structures suppressed the influence my community had on the educational politics that dictated our lives.  Aligned with other Black educators’ experiences, I was pushed out of the classroom due to anti-democratic structures.  Now, I position my work to support Black, Brown, and Indigenous-serving, justice-oriented school leaders and educators as we partner to produce knowledge capable of abolishing, dismantling, and transforming oppressive educational policy structures.

I situate our collective inquiry guided by critical quantification, anti-colonial epistemologies, and Black Critical Theory, purposed to bolster the political and pedagogical activities of Black educators, school leaders, and our co-conspirators.

Courses Taught

OLPD 8302—Educational Policy Perspectives

Publications

Stewart, N., & Mayo, J. (2024). Let Us Celebrate: Negotiating Black Joy in Academic (Un)Conference Spaces. Black Educology. 

Stewart, N. D. (2023). Black Liberatory Educational Policy: A Systematic and Unapologetic Literature Review on the Advancement of Black Teachers’ Pedagogies and Practices. Equity & Excellence in Education. 

Stewart, N. D., & Uanhoro, J. (2023). Understanding the quantitative debt owed to Africa: A call to action. Alliance for African Partnership Perspectives. 

Stewart, N. D., & Thompson, L. (2023) Black and Indigenous Solidarity for Justice: Leaning into Our Nuanced Racialized Identities. Social Sciences. 

Stewart, N. D. (2023). Ethnic Studies Pedagogies as Living Archives in Black and Indigenous Americans’ Dual Educational Politics. Journal of Ethnic Studies Pedagogies, 1(1). 

Stewart, N. D., Beard, K. S., & Kim, M. (2023). Using Quantitative Critical Race Methodology to Explore Teachers’ Perceived Beliefs. Educational Policy, 08959048231174879.

Stewart, N. D. (2023) (Re)connecting with our ancestral roots: Toward Black educational resistance. The Negro Educational Review.

Stewart, N. D., & Goddard, Y. (2023) Discussion Boards as a Pedagogical Tool Engendering Critical Race Conversations: Disrupting Whiteness and Raising Consciousness. Social Science & Humanities Open.