About

Donna Y. Ford, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor of Education and Human Ecology in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. She is also a Faculty Affiliate with the Kirwan Institute and the Center for Latin American Studies. Professor Ford is in the Department of Educational Studies and the Special Education Program. Her academic background includes a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Urban Education (educational psychology) from Cleveland State University, earned in 1991, along with a Masters of Education degree in counseling (1988), and a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and Spanish (1984). She has held academic positions at Vanderbilt University, where she was a Professor of Special Education and held two Endowed Chairs, as well as at the University of Virginia and the University of Kentucky. Professor Ford's research primarily focuses on gifted education and culturally responsive, multicultural, and urban education. Her work addresses critical issues such as the achievement gap, recruiting and retaining culturally different students in gifted education, multicultural curriculum and instruction, culturally competent teacher training and development, African-American identity, and African-American family involvement. She actively consults with school districts and educational and legal organizations on topics including gifted education under-representation, Advanced Placement, multicultural/urban education, counseling, and efforts to close the achievement gap. Throughout her career, she has authored over 300 articles and book chapters, and has made over 2,000 presentations at professional conferences and organizations. She has also authored, co-authored, or co-edited 14 books on related topics. Her contributions have been recognized by numerous professional organizations, including awards from the American Educational Research Association, the National Association for Gifted Children, and the National Association of Black Psychologists, among others. She is the creator of The Ford Female Achievement Model of Excellence (FAME) and has served on various editorial boards. Dr. Ford is also a two-time board member of the National Association for Gifted Children and has received awards from student organizations. She is ranked among the top public scholars and researchers nationally and internationally. On a personal note, she is the proud mother of Khyle L. Ford and grandmother of Khyle Jr. (KJ).

Research topics

• Sociology
• Pedagogy
• Political Science
• Mathematics education
• Gender studies
• Psychology
• Aesthetics
• Law
• Social psychology
• Public administration

Selected publications

• Historical and New Outlooks on Urban Education: Introduction to the Special Issue

  Urban Education · 2026-03-23

  article1st author
  PublisherDOI

• Broaching as an Equitable Approach to Counseling Black Students in Advanced Academic Courses and Programs

  Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development · 2026-02-10 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT Broaching is a cognitive willingness or directedness to initiate a conversation on a topic that may be difficult or uneasy to discuss with all parties involved. Within the counseling context, broaching refers to the school counselor's or helping professional's effort to initiate or respond to issues related to race, ethnicity, and culture in the counseling process. Further, within the broaching framework, the counseling context is interpreted broadly, but it includes strong awareness and understanding of the dynamic interplay of race, ethnicity, gender, social class status, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, immigration status, ability/disability, and so forth, and how they individually and collectively shape beliefs, practices, value orientations, sociopolitical realities, and positionalities. Given the symbiotic relationship among race, ethnicity, and culture, this article emphasizes the social construction of race and class and how they work together to influence counseling/educational and non‐counseling/educational dynamics. Because Black students are disproportionately underrepresented in Gifted and Talented Education (GATE), Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, we highlight the effects of race and class in such programs, contributing to Blacks’ underrepresentation. We also include Boykin's Afro‐centric cultural styles framework and Cross’ racial identity theory to illustrate the additional layers to the broaching process.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Becoming Culturally Competent School and School-Based Mental Health Counselors for Gifted and Talented Black Students: Theories and Practices for Support

  Roeper Review · 2026-04-03

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Reconceptualizing Verbal Intelligence: Perspectives From Gifted and Talented Black Elementary Students and Teachers in Urban Schools

  Urban Education · 2026-04-21

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This paper presents a study that employs a raciolinguistic language ideology lens to examine perspectives on verbal intelligence of Black elementary students and their teachers. A content analysis of qualitative interviews indicates that verbal intelligence existed within and across three communication modes (informative, performative, and associative), that students and teachers differed with respect to the characteristics associated with each mode, and that teachers did not link verbal intelligence with communication in the associative mode. Implications for educational theory, Black English perspectives, and gifted and talented education identification and assessment practices are offered with attention to an urban characteristic school setting.

  PublisherDOI

• Innovative Qualitative Collection Methods for Centering Race and Ethnicity

  Teachers College Record The Voice of Scholarship in Education · 2026-03-01

  articleSenior author

  Race, equity, and justice remain challenging yet critical topics for education researchers in the contemporary U.S. context. Meaningful engagement with these topics requires researchers to critically acknowledge dominant paradigms and intentionally design research approaches that meaningfully center race and ethnicity. This research note offers innovative and tested methods for qualitative data collection that enable researchers to engage in deeper dialogues on race and ethnicity with participant-collaborators: (1) purposeful sampling to reflect racial/ethnic diversity within the group under investigation, (2) “matched” and “mixed” focus groups to center participants’ social identities, and (3) vignettes with auditory and visual depictions to facilitate discussion. Each proved beneficial for in-depth and rich data collection, fostering deeper analyses, discussions, and recommendations for practice.

  PublisherDOI

• Black Lives Sure Matter: Decolonizing the Academic Experiences of Academically Advanced Black Students

  Urban Education · 2026-03-23

  article1st author

  A monumental amount of data, reports, and stories reveal a troubling reality—Black students are inequitably denied access to opportunities for advanced learners and, thus, opportunities to advance their P-12, higher education, and career experiences, particularly in urban school settings. They are underrepresented in gifted and talented education, AP, STEM, and the ivory tower. Individually and collectively, these denied opportunities compromise their Black precious lives—leading to underachievement, underemployment, and unemployment. In this article, we unpack these injustices and provide recommendations grounded in antiracism to correct them because Black Lives Sure Matter!

  PublisherDOI

• An Equity-Based and Culturally Responsive Bill of Rights for Early Childhood Students of Color with Exceptionalities

  Perspectives on early childhood psychology and education /Perspectives on early childhood psychology and education · 2026-05-12

  articleSenior author

  The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing disparities in early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) services for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) disabled children, exposing critical gaps in access, services and support. systemic inconsistencies in implementation, training, and funding, remain barriers limit opportunities for CLD students to benefit, despite the aims of the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEA). To address these inequities, this manuscript proposes an expanded and updated Culturally Responsive Equity-Based Bill of Rights for EI and ECSE. Building upon Ford and colleagues' (2018) work, this revised document extends protections to children aged zero to five, emphasizing access to technology, internet, and healing-centered engagement services. It serves as a practical tool for parents, communities, schools, curriculum developers, and universities to advocate for and implement culturally sustaining practices. By highlighting the limitations of current legal frameworks and providing actionable recommendations, such as increased funding for culturally responsive training, this Bill of Rights aims to ensure equitable, culturally responsive education for all CLD disabled children, fostering improved outcomes and well-being.

  PublisherDOI

• An Overview of Instructional Violence: Promoting Culturally Responsive Instruction

  Gifted Child Today · 2025-06-08 · 4 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Black students in Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) programs are often subjected to biases, as well as barriers to success. Some of these biases and barriers include deliberately leaving culture and race out of the curriculum, lower education expectations, and entering higher levels of school discipline. Separately and combined, this leads to academic/educational violence. In this article, we discuss one aspect of barriers— instructional violence —on Black GATE students. We incorporate Boykin’s Afro-centric cultural styles framework for educators to avoid and end instructional violence. Boykin’s culturally asset-based framework is intended to assist educators in becoming culturally responsive and competent when working with Black GATE students. We draw implications for other minoritized students; although combined, minoritized represents the majority of students in public schools, despite some being inequitably underrepresented in GATE.

  PublisherDOI

• Black Male STEM Identities as Motivators to Engage in a High School Academy of Engineering

  Journal of Minority Achievement Creativity and Leadership · 2025-08-01

  articleSenior author

  Abstract This article examines the reasons for Black male students’ participation in a high school academy of engineering. The authors were particularly interested in how the academy promoted (or inhibited) positive STEM identities among the Black male students. Using a case study approach, the authors interviewed seventeen Black male students about their motivations to participate in a high school academy of engineering. This study found that the high school STEM-themed career academy had a positive impact on Black male students as it relates to developing a positive STEM identity. Thus, the programmatic components of the academy served as protective factors for Black males who are marginalized in society and underrepresented in STEM spaces. To that end, the hands-on nature of the engineering curriculum, the abilities of the academy teachers to utilize Black male STEM professionals to interact and network with Black male students, and the building of pre-engineering curricula in middle school were components deemed essential in developing STEM identity with Black high school students.

  PublisherDOI

• Creating Diverse and Inclusive Engineering Pathways

  2025-11-05

  book-chapter

  Black and Hispanic individuals are underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Further, they are underrepresented in the field of engineering. Building a diverse, inclusive, and equitable STEM workforce is critical to the United States staying competitive (National Science Foundation, n.d.). In this chapter, we provide a vignette and discuss the barriers to STEM for Black and Hispanic students in gifted and talented education (GATE), as both are underrepresented in GATE, which is a STEM pathway. Additionally, we list recommendations for developing a more diverse and inclusive pathway for PreK–8 Black and Brown students to pursue engineering, including young trailblazers as role models, multicultural curriculum, culturally responsive tests and assessment, and educator training and preparation.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• James L. Moore

  WinnMed

  102 shared

• Erik M. Hines

  George Mason University

  79 shared

• Edward C. Fletcher

  The Ohio State University

  73 shared

• Turhan Carroll

  University of Georgia

  65 shared

• Mack Shelley

  Iowa State University

  64 shared

• Adriel A. Hilton

  Southern University at New Orleans

  64 shared

• Anthony Munroe

  Florida Gulf Coast University

  64 shared

• Kip Jones

  Bournemouth University

  64 shared

Awards & honors

• Research Award from the Shannon Center for Advanced Studies
• Early Career Award from The American Educational Research As…
• Career Award from The American Educational Research Associat…
• Senior Scholar Award from The National Association for Gifte…
• Early Scholar Award from The National Association for Gifted…