Kamilah B. Legette

Assistant Professor

Faculty

Frontier Hall, 2155 S. Race St. Denver, CO 80208

What I do

I am an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Denver, conducting research, teaching, student mentoring, and university service.

Professional Biography

Dr. Legette is an assistant professor in the Psychology Department and director of the Reducing Inequities in Student Education (R.I.S.E.) Lab. Her interdisciplinary research investigates ways individual and institutional racial biases impact youth academic performance and social-emotional and identity development. The goal of this work is to inform effective interventions, school policy changes, and teacher preparation programs to optimize healthy development in racially minoritized youth.

Degree(s)

BA, Psychology, Spelman College
MA, Counselor Education , UNC Charlotte
Ph.D., Human Development and Family Studies, UNC Greensboro

Research

The primary goal of my research is to reduce schooling inequities that negatively impact youth academic, social, and emotional development and perpetuate racial inequity. My research takes multiple approaches toward this goal, including summarizing existing research on this topic, conducting mixed method, experimental, observational, and longitudinal studies.

I am director of the Reducing Inequities in Student Education (R.I.S.E.) lab. The R.I.S.E. lab conducts research on the following topics:

1. Elucidating mechanisms impacting racial disparities in youth school discipline and curricular tracking experiences
2. Understanding the implications of racialized schooling experiences on youth academic, social-emotional, and identity development.
2. Examining protective factors for racially minoritized youth experiencing racial discrimination.
3. Investigating racial beliefs and emotions as mechanisms of racial bias
4. Designing and implementing interventions and teacher professional development programs to promote racial equity in youth schooling experiences.
5. Promoting race consciousness in social-emotional learning and development for teachers and youth.

Featured Publications

Legette, K. B., Halberstadt, A. G., & Majors, A. T. (2021). Teachers' understanding of racial inequity predicts their perceptions of students' behaviors. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 67, 102014. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2021.102014

Legette, K. B., Hope, E. C., Harris, J., & Brown Griffin, C. (2022). Integrating culturally relevant pedagogy with teacher social and emotional competencies capacities training to support racially minoritized students. In N. Yoder & A. Skoog-Hoffman (Eds.), Motivating the SEL field forward through equity (pp. 99-112). Bingley, UK: Emerald.

Legette, K. B., & Kurtz-Costes, B. (2020). Curricular Tracking, Students' Academic Identity, and School Belonging. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 027243162097765. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0272431620977659

Legette, K. B., Rogers, L. O., & Warren, C. A. (2020). Humanizing Student-Teacher Relationships for Black Children: Implications for Teachers' Social-Emotional Training. Urban Education, 004208592093331. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0042085920933319

Legette, K. B., & Kurtz-Costes, B. (2020). Math track placement and reflected classroom appraisals are related to changes in early adolescents' math self-concept. Educational Psychology, 41(5), 602-617. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2020.1760212

Legette, K. B. (2020). A Social-Cognitive Perspective of the Consequences of Curricular Tracking on Youth Outcomes. Educational Psychology Review, 32(3).