Rate My Professor Bettie Butler

Bettie Ray Butler is a Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Middle, Secondary, and K-12 Education at the Cato College of Education, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction (Urban Education) from Texas A&M University (2011), an MA in Political Science (Public Administration and Public Policy) from Texas A&M University, and a BA in Political Science and Criminal Justice (minor in Mass Communication) from North Carolina A&T State University and Duke University. As Director of the M.Ed. in Urban Education program and the Student Discipline Joint Task Force, she advances urban education initiatives. Her teaching portfolio includes courses such as Power, Privilege and Education, Urban Educational Policy, Culturally Responsive Classroom Management, and Critical Readings in Urban Education Research.

Dr. Butler's research examines restorative approaches using a spiritual lens to improve school climate, reduce educational disparities, and positively impact academic and socioemotional outcomes. Her expertise covers culturally responsive practices, restorative approaches, school discipline, and classroom management. Key publications include books Un-silencing Youth Trauma: Transformative School-Based Strategies for Students Exposed to Violence and Adversity (2022, co-authored with Garo and Lewis) and Mentoring While White: Culturally Responsive Practices for Sustaining the Lives of Black College Students (2022, co-authored with Farinde-Wu and Winchell). Selected articles are Policing Black Femininity: The Hypercriminalization of Black Girls in an Urban School (2022, with Farinde-Wu and Allen-Handy), Classroom Management Instruction in Teacher Education: A Culturally Responsive Approach (2022, with Gladney, Lo, and Caldera), Assessing the Odds: Disproportional Discipline Practices and Implications for Educational Stakeholders (2012, with Lewis, Moore, and Scott), and Unmasking the Inequitable Discipline Experiences of Urban Black Girls: Implications for Urban Educational Stakeholders (2011, with Blake, Lewis, and Darensbourg). Awards include the 2023 Cato College of Education’s Distinguished Faculty Award for research and service and the 2019 Emerald Literati Award for Outstanding Paper in The Journal for Multicultural Education. As Associate Editor for the Journal of African American Women and Girls in Education, her work in journals such as Urban Education, Urban Review, and Theory into Practice influences equity and social justice discussions in urban education.