School of Education

Education

• Ph.D.  in Mexican American studies, University of Arizona
• M.S. in Mexican American studies: Latina/o health, University of Arizona
• B.A. in international studies: Latin America, University of Washington
• B.A. in Spanish, University of Washington

Research interests

Race, ethnicity and education in K-20 schools; participatory action research; sociopolitical context of education in urban schools and Latinx and Black communities; institutional factors in academic achievement and persistence, socioeconomic status, civic engagement, and health; and racial dynamics on college campuses

Recent projects

• Book manuscript on healing relationships in academia

Recent publications

• Gómez, R.F., *Bennett, E., & Cammarota, J. (2023). The Battle for Curriculum: Critical  Race Theory and the Politic of Education. Race, Ethnicity & Education. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2023.2239726
• Rachel F. Gómez, Ejana Bennett & Julio Cammarota (2023). The battle for curriculum: arrested semantics and reconciling racism with Critical Race Theory and Ethnic Studies, Race Ethnicity and Education, DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2023.2239726
• Gómez, R.F., Guy, C. & Cammarota, J. (2022) The psychological rages of Whiteness: acceptable casualties and the White American identity, Ethnic and Racial Studies, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2021.2015418
• Gómez, R.F., & Cammarota, J. (2021). Taking the Teachers to School! Critical Consciousness Emerging: A Qualitative Exploration of Mexican American Youth’s Social Justice Orientation Development. The Urban Review, 1-28.

Bio

Dr Rachel F. Gómez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foundations of Education, and faculty with the Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry, and Innovation (iCubed) at Virginia Commonwealth University. Gómez is a Chicana, first-generation college graduate. She studies the influence of race and ethnicity in K-12 schooling and educational outcomes of Latino students and English Language Learners (ELLs). Gómez earned an interdisciplinary doctorate in Mexican American Studies at the University of Arizona. She has published research in critical pedagogy and curriculum and critical race policy analyses of current anti-CRT and anti-Ethnic studies legislation. Her most recent research in education policy uses Critical Race Theory and Mexican American Studies Curriculum to analyze Whiteness in education policies, procedures, and practices.