About

Carissa McCray, PhD (she/her), is an English instructor in K–12 education who has worked in the city of Duval County and rural Sumter County, Florida. With insight gained from teaching grades 6 through 12, including teaching corrective to advanced courses, she has refined her craft to focus on redefining the educational trajectory for students of color that addresses equitable education, rural education, and the impact of trauma.

Dr. McCray is a member of Research, Advocacy, Collaboration, and Empowerment Mentoring program, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the American Educational Research Association. She has presented across the United States, from Massachusetts to Hawaii, on topics ranging from implementing social-emotional strategies in the classroom to culturally responsive teaching techniques with an emphasis on equitable and justice-driven education developed through the lens of critical race theory. Her ongoing scholarship and practitioner-based work are driven by creating equitable learning opportunities through the inclusion of multicultural literature, media, and curricula.

Dr. McCray received her bachelor’s degree in English from Fisk University, her master’s degree in educational leadership from Walden University, and her doctorate in curriculum, instruction, and assessment from Walden University.

As a motherscholar (Howard, Nash, & Thompson, 2020), Dr. McCray has two beautiful daughters who inform her teaching, scholarship, professional and personal experiences.