
Christopher J. Cormier
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Education
Bio
Dr. Christopher J. Cormier is a former special education teacher in the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area. He has taught all grades from first through 12th exclusively in Title 1 schools. His research program is the social and cultural contexts of minoritized learners and teachers in special education. Under this overarching theme he examines two lines of scholarship. The first is the surrounding the professional and socio-emotional lives of minoritized teachers . The second is around culturally informed identification of minoritized students in special education. Dr. Cormier brings a comparative lens across national and international contexts to both of his research lines. He is the current President Elect for the Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners (DDEL) of the Council for Exceptional Children and also serves as chair for the Research and Professional Issues Committee.
Current research projects include:
•Special education teacher burnout, stress and mental health and how it changes over three time points in the school year.
•Understanding the protective nature of Afrocentric schools in the United States and Canada and its impact on Black students with disabilities.
•The role of mentoring among Black male teachers
Professional Education
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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Special Education
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Master of Theology (MAT), Fuller Theological Seminary, Theology
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Master of Education (MAEd), Pepperdine Universtiy, Education with emphasis in Psychology
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Bachelor of Science (BS), Fisk University, Special Education
Research Interests
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Educational Policy
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Equity in education
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History of Education
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International and Comparative Education
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Psychology
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Race and Ethnicity
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Sociology
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Special Education
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Teachers and Teaching
2019-20 Courses
- Child Development In and Beyond Schools
EDUC 283 (Sum) - Supporting Students with Special Needs
EDUC 285B (Win) - Supporting Students with Special Needs
EDUC 285C (Win) - Supporting Students with Special Needs
EDUC 285D (Spr)
All Publications
- Foreword Diversity, Autism, and Developmental Disabilities: Guidance for the Culturally Sustaining Educator edited by Harkins Monaco, E. A., Fuller, M. C., Stansberry, L. L. The Council For Exceptional Children. 2021
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A Transnational Examination of Black Teachers’ Affirmations of Learners’ Socioemotional and Mental Health Needs
Kappa Delta Pi Record
2021; 57 (1): 30-36
View details for DOI 10.1080/00228958.2021.1851584
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Castaways on Gilligan’s Island: Minoritized Special Education Teachers of Color Advocating for Equity
TEACHING Exceptional Children
2021; 53 (3)
View details for DOI 10.1177/0040059920974701
- I Wouldn’t Invite Them To The Cookout: How Black Male Special Education Teachers Feel About Socializing With Their White Colleagues [provisionally accepted] Harvard Educational Review 2021
- Unicorns Are Real: A Thematic Literature Review of Research on Black Male Special Education Teachers [in press] Berkeley Review of Education 2021
- Stress, Burnout, and Mental Health Among Teachers of Color The Learning Professional 2021; 42 (1): 54-62
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If We're Not Doing It, Then Who? A Qualitative Study of Black Special Educators' Persistence
EXCEPTIONALITY
2020
View details for DOI 10.1080/09362835.2020.1850453
View details for Web of Science ID 000596251100001
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They Do It for the Culture: Analyzing Why Black Men Enter the Field of Special Education
Multiple Voices: Disability, Race and Language Intersections in Special Education
2020; 20 (2): 24-37
View details for DOI 10.5555/2158-396X-20.2.24