Ardavan Eizadirad

Biography / Academic Background

Prior to being at Laurier, I was an instructor in the School of Early Childhood Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) and in the Master of Teaching and Bachelor of Education program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Before teaching at the graduate and undergraduate level at various universities, I taught in the field of Child and Youth Care at Humber and George Brown College.

I received a Masters of Education in Equity and Social Justice in 2013 and a PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto in 2018.

I received a Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology and Exercise Science and a Bachelor of Education from York University in 2012 at the Intermediate/Senior level in Health and Physical Education and Social Sciences. I have been an educator with the Toronto District School Board since 2013 and taught all grades from Kindergarten to Grade 12.

I am the author of Decolonizing Educational Assessment: Ontario Elementary Students and the EQAO (2019), and co-editor of Equity as Praxis in Early Childhood Education and Care (2021 co-edited with Drs. Zuhra Abawi and Rachel Berman), Counternarratives of Pain and Suffering as Critical Pedagogy: Disrupting Oppression in Educational Contexts (2022 co-edited with Drs. Andrew Campbell & Steve Sider), The Power of Oral Culture in Education: Theorizing Proverbs, Idioms and Folklore Tales (forthcoming 2022 with Dr. Njoki Wane), Enacting Anti-racism and Activist Pedagogies in Teacher Education: Canadian Perspectives (forthcoming 2023 with Drs. Zuhra Abawi & Andrew Campbell), and International Handbook of Anti-Discriminatory Education (forthcoming 2023 co-edited with Dr. Peter Trifonas).

I am also the founder and Director of EDIcation Consulting (www.edication.org) offering equity, diversity, and inclusion training to organizations.

Lastly, I am the Chair of the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization (EDI&I) Coalition in the Faculty of Education. I am also a community activist with non-profit organizations Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE) in the Jane and Finch community in Toronto, a past Board of Directors member for Amadeusz which provides educational programs and services for incarcerated youth and young adults, and a member of the Race and Identity-Based Data Collection Community Advisory Panel with the Toronto Police Services. I am also a cerified basketball official at various levels including elementary, high school, college, university, OSBA prep championships, NBL, and international basketball with Wheelchair Basketball Canada.

Many of my research and publications can be accessed open access via: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ardavan_Eizadirad

Research Interests / Ongoing Projects

Upcoming book projects:

Eizadirad, A. & Wane, N. (forthcoming 2022). The power of oral culture in education: Theorizing proverbs, idioms and folklore tales. Palgrave Macmillan.

Eizadirad, A., Abawi, Z., & Campbell. A. (forthcoming 2023). Enacting anti-racism and activist pedagogies in teacher education: Canadian perspectives. Canadian Scholars Press.

Eizadirad, A., & Trifonas, P. (forthcoming 2023). International handbook of anti-discriminatory education. Springer.

Research Grants:

Eizadirad, A. (Principal Investigator). Racialized Trauma in BIPOC Youth; Healing and Increasing Civic Engagement through Storytelling (2022-2023). Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Partnership Engagement Grant. $24,957 funded. May 2022.

Masakure, O., Wilson-Forsberg, S., & Eizadirad, A. (Co-Investigator). Paths Less Traveled: Experiences of Young African Immigrant Entrepreneurs (2021-2023). Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Insight Grant. $48,283 funded. April 2021.

Eizadirad, A. & Sider, S. (Principal Investigator). COVID-19: Closing the Achievement Gap through Remote Learning for Children and Youth in Racialized and Under-Resourced Communities (2020-2021). Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Partnership Engagement Grant. $24,946 funded. December 2020. Final Report of Findings: Eizadirad, A., Abudiab, S., & Baartman, B. (2022). Addressing the social determinants of learning: The Community School Initiative closing the achievement gap for racialized under-resourced communities. https://www.communityschoolinitiative.com/final-report

Eizadirad, A. (Principal Investigator). Look at My Life: Access to Post-Secondary Schooling and The Credit Transfer Experience of the Remand Population in Ontario. Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer. $15,000 funded. April 2020.

Eizadirad, A. (Principal Investigator). Assessment as Stereotyping: Experiences of Racialized Children and Parents with the Grade 3 EQAO Standardized Testing Preparation and Administration in Ontario. Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program. $15,000 funded. 2017-2018.

Awards and Achievements

Selected Publications

Books:

Abawi, Z., Eizadirad, A. & Berman, R. (2021). Equity as praxis in early childhood education and care. Canadian Scholars Press. ISBN: 9781773382616. (215 pages).

Eizadirad, A. (2019). Decolonizing educational assessment: Ontario elementary students and the EQAO. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN-10: 3030274616. (255 pages).

Journal Publications:

Eizadirad, A., Abudiab, S., Baartman, B. (Accepted- forthcoming 2022). The Community School Initiative in Toronto: Mitigating opportunity gaps in the Jane and Finch community in the wake of COVID-19. Radical Teacher.

Sider, S., Eizadirad, A., Morvan, J., & Beck, K. (Accepted- forthcoming 2022). Canadian perspectives: Performative commitments on equity, diversity, and inclusion by educational institutions. Global Comparative Education: Journal of the WCCES.

Eizadirad, A., Holm, J. & Sider, S. (2021). A case study of teacher candidates’ experiences: Writing the pilot Math Proficiency Test in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Leadership Studies, 2(4), 121-139. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52547/johepal.2.4.121

Eizadirad, A. & Sider, S. (2021). Pedagogy of visibilizing pain and suffering: A commentary on the special issue. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education. 15(4), 221-223. DOI: 10.1080/15595692.2021.1961510

Eizadirad, A. & Campbell, A. (2021). Visibilizing our pain and wounds as resistance and activist pedagogy to heal and hope: Reflections of 2 racialized professors. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education. 15(4), 241-251. DOI: 10.1080/15595692.2021.1937600

Eizadirad, A. & Chambers, T. N. (2021). Amadeusz: Inequities in the enactment and implementation of records suspensions. Journal of Law and Social Policy. 35, 100-112.

Abawi, Z., & Eizadirad, A. (2020). Bias-free or biased hiring? Racialized teachers’ perspectives on educational hiring practices in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 193, 18-31.

Eizadirad, A. (2020). External assessment as stereotyping: Experiences of racialized grade 3 children, parents and educators with standardized testing in elementary schools. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies. DOI: 10.1080/10714413.2020.1742531

Eizadirad, A. (2018). Legitimization and normalization of EQAO standardized testing as an accountability tool in Ontario: Rise of quantifiable outcome-based education and inequitable educational practices. OISE Graduate Student Research Conference Journal, 1 (1), 6-18.

Eizadirad, A., & Portelli, J. (2018). Subversion in education: Common misunderstandings and myths. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 9(1), 53-72.

Eizadirad, A. (2017). The university as a neoliberal and colonizing institute; A spatial case study analysis of the invisible fence between York University and the Jane and Finch neighbourhood in the City of Toronto. Journal of Critical Race Inquiry, 4(1), 25-53.

Eizadirad, A., Martinez, X., & Ruminot, C. (2016). Comparative analysis of educational systems of accountability and quality of education in Ontario, Canada and Chile: Standardized testing and its role in perpetuation of educational inequity. Interfaces Brasil/Canada, 16(2), 64-98.

Eizadirad, A. (2016). Is it “bad” kids or “bad” places? Where is all the violence originating from? Youth violence in the City of Toronto. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 38(2), 162-188. DOI: 10.1080/10714413.2016.1155956

Eizadirad, A. (2016). International experience in a non-Western country, teacher habitus, and level of inclusion in the classroom. International Journal of Teaching and Education, 4(1), 1-15. DOI: 10.20472/TE.2016.4.1.001

Co-editor of a Special Issue:

Eizadirad, A. & Sider, S. (September 2021). Special Issue: Visibilizing Systemic Wounds of Oppression in Education via Pedagogy of Engaging with Pain and Suffering. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education. 15(4).

Book Chapters:

Tsang, J., & Eizadirad. A. (forthcoming 2023). We are all racists: Calling out and undoing whiteness in teacher education. In Kempf. A., & Watts, H. (Eds.). Critical Perspectives on Racism and White Supremacy in Canadian Education. Routledge.

Eizadirad, A., Abawi, Z., & Campbell. A. (forthcoming 2023). Disrupting the weaponization of difference with intentionality: What it means to be an activist and anti-racist educator. In Eizadirad, A., Abawi, Z., & Campbell. A. (Eds.). Enacting Anti-Racism and Activist Pedagogies in Teacher Education: Canadian Perspectives. Canadian Scholars Press.

Eizadirad, A. (forthcoming 2023). Dear community of anti-racist activist educators. In Eizadirad, A., Abawi, Z., & Campbell. A. (Eds.). Enacting Anti-Racism and Activist Pedagogies in Teacher Education: Canadian Perspectives. Canadian Scholars Press.

Eizadirad, A., & Wane. N. (forthcoming 2022). The power of oral culture in education: Remembering, documenting, and revitalizing oral teachings. In Eizadirad. A., & Wane, J. (Eds.). The Power of Oral Culture in Education: Theorizing Proverbs, Idioms and Folklore Tales. Palgrave Macmillan.

Eizadirad, A. (forthcoming 2022). Maintenance of an Iranian identity through oral culture and the Shahnameh: “The shame is not in asking, shame is in not knowing”. In Eizadirad. A., & Wane, J. (Eds.). The Power of Oral Culture in Education: Theorizing Proverbs, Idioms and Folklore Tales. Palgrave Macmillan.

Eizadirad, A., Campbell, A., & Sider, S. (forthcoming 2022). Centering pedagogies of pain and suffering by embracing our wounds and scars. In Eizadirad, A., Campbell, A., & Sider, S. (Eds.). Counternarratives of Pain and Suffering as Critical Pedagogy: Disrupting Oppression in Educational Contexts. Routledge.

Eizadirad, A. (forthcoming 2022). Poetic justice: Healing and disrupting systemic oppression in education through critical pedagogy. In Eizadirad, A., Campbell, A., & Sider, S. (Eds.). Counternarratives of Pain and Suffering as Critical Pedagogy: Disrupting Oppression in Educational Contexts. Routledge.

Eizadirad, A. (Accepted- forthcoming 2022). Systemic racism and inaccessibility to education for the incarcerated in Canada. In Trifonas, P. (Eds). Handbook of Curriculum Theory and Research. Springer.

Tsang, J. & Eizadirad, A (Accepted- forthcoming 2022). Disrupting the colonizing gaze and mobilizing for systemic decolonization: 2020 world events and the curriculum of critical consciousness. In Trifonas, P. (Eds). Handbook of Curriculum Theory and Research. Springer.

Abawi, Z. & Eizadirad, A. (2022). Neutrality always benefits the oppressor: The need to rupture the normalized teacher education programs to diversify the teacher workforce. In Danyluk, P., Burns, A., Hill, L. S., & Crawford, K. (Eds.) Crisis and Opportunity: How Canadian Bachelor of Education Programs Responded to the Pandemic (pp. 321-333). [eBook]. Canadian Association for Teacher Education/Canadian Society for the Study of Education. http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/39534

Pattison-Meek, J., Eizadirad, A., Guerrero, C, Phillips, C., Temertzoglou, C., & (2022). Designing and facilitating an “adapted” practicum experience amidst a pandemic. In Danyluk, P., Burns, A., Hill, L. S., & Crawford, K. (Eds.) Crisis and Opportunity: How Canadian Bachelor of Education Programs Responded to the Pandemic (pp. 274-288). [eBook]. Canadian Association for Teacher Education/Canadian Society for the Study of Education. http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/39534

Eizadirad, A., Abawi, Z., & Berman, R. (2021). Introduction: Healing and hoping in community and love as a tool for advancing equity as praxis. In Abawi, Z., Eizadirad, A. & Berman, R. (Eds.) Equity as Praxis in Early Childhood Education and Care (xiii-xxv). Canadian Scholars Press.

Eizadirad, A., & Abawi, Z. (2021). State of emergency: Mapping inequities in early childhood education and care in Canada. In Abawi, Z., Eizadirad, A. & Berman, R. (Eds.) Equity as Praxis in Early Childhood Education and Care (pp. 1-19). Canadian Scholars Press.

Eizadirad, A. (2020). Closing the achievement gap via reducing the opportunity gap; YAAACE’s social inclusion framework within the Jane and Finch community. In Trifonas, P. (Eds.) Handbook of Theory and Research in Cultural Studies and Education (pp. 275-297). Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham.

Eizadirad, A. (2019). Be a good citizen or else! Neoliberal citizenship and the grade six 2013 revised Ontario social studies curriculum. In Villegas, F. & Brady, J. (Eds.) Critical Schooling: Transformative Theory and Practice (pp. 201-224). Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-00716-4

Eizadirad, A. (2019). Fusion of the Ontario curriculum, the Tyler rationale, and EQAO standardized testing: A counterproductive approach to reducing the achievement gap. In Trifonas, P. & Jagger, S. (Eds.) Handbook of Cultural Studies and Education (pp. 70-84). Routledge. ISBN: 978-0-8153-8508-0

Eizadirad, A. (2018). The university as a neoliberal and colonizing institute; A spatial case study analysis of the invisible fence between York University and the Jane and Finch neighbourhood in the City of Toronto. In Wane, N., & Todd, K. (Eds.) Decolonial Pedagogy: Examining Sites of Resistance, Resurgence, and Renewal (pp. 9-31). Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-01539-8

Podcasts & Creative Outputs:

VoicEd Radio. (2022, August 17). Special public engagement event-Panel conversation PT I. [Audio podcast episode]. Decolonizing Professional Development Conference.

Eizadirad, A. & Raj Varma, G. (2022, July 15). Why we need to focus on gun violence as a public health crisis [Editorial]. The Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/07/15/why-we-need-to-focus-on-gun-violence-as-a-public-health-crisis.html

Eizadirad, A., Jones, D., &, Grant, T. (June 2022). Ontario can close students’ access and opportunity gaps with community-led projects. The Conversation.

Eizadirad, A., Abudiab, S., Baartman, B., & Jones. D. (2022). The Community School Initiative: Mitigating opportunity gaps through extra-curricular community programs for racialized low-income communities. Laurier EdTalk Series.

Eizadirad, A., Abudiab, S., & Baartman, B. (2022). Addressing the social determinants of learning: The Community School Initiative closing the achievement gap for racialized under-resourced communities. https://www.communityschoolinitiative.com/final-report

Eizadirad, A., Jones, D., Abudiab, S., & Baartman, B. (2021, December 9). Closing the opportunity gap for racialized and under-resourced communities through the Community School Initiative. Community-Based Research Canada Webinar.

Holm, J., Eizadirad, A, & Sider, S. (2021). Exploring the experiences of teacher candidates with the Math Proficiency Test: Recommendations for Ontario educational systems. Ontario Mathematics Gazette. 59 (4), 45-48.

Eizadirad, A. (2020, September 9). Equity, diversity, and inclusion in schools and communities: Inequality of opportunity and the achievement gap [online lecture]. Laurier-Milton Lecture Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP0-FwipYUQ&feature=youtu.be

VoicEd Radio. (2020, August 11). Schools after coronavirus ft. Steve Sider and Ardavan Eizadirad (WLU). [Audio podcast episode]. In Conversation with Stephen Hurley Podcast.

Holm, J., Eizadirad, A., & Sider, S. (2020). Report to the Ontario Ministry of Education on a Study on the Ontario Math Proficiency Test. Toronto, ON.

Sider, S., Holm, J., & Eizadirad, A. (2020). Report to the Faculty of Education on a Study on Ontario Math Proficiency Test. Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty of Education, Waterloo, ON.

Eizadirad, A. & Sider, S. (July 2020). Schools after coronavirus: Seize ‘teachable moments’ about racism and inequities. The Conversation.

Eizadirad, A. (July 2020). Settling the score: Redefining accountability and closing the opportunity gap. Our Schools Our Selves- Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

York Village Housing Association. (2020, June 23). The Village and the “New” Jane-Finch. (Episode 6) [Audio podcast episode]. In La Ville Podcast.

Courses Taught

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