My current work centers on the moral disagreement about affirmative action in higher education admissions. I am trying to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of the disagreement in an attempt to learn how to transcend the moral-political conflict and focus on equality of educational opportunity. I also am studying the increasing number of state ballot initiatives designed to eliminate affirmative action.

In general, my research agenda centers on issues of educational equality and social justice within education policies related to race and class. Thus far, it has had two interrelated foci.

First is a philosophical analysis of various race-conscious policies such as multicultural curricula, affirmative action, bilingual education, and remedial education. This work began as my dissertation and after various revisions and chapter additions, became my first book: Embracing Race: Why We Need Race-Conscious Education Policy , which was published by Teachers College Press in 2002 (see photo and link below). In it, I conceptualized a new framework within contemporary liberal political philosophy that I then applied in demonstrating the need for each of the four education policies. The central arguments hinged on the premise that students' development of self-determination (i.e., personal autonomy) is required for social justice. I reinterpreted the individualistic concept of autonomy for use in defending policies concerned with group rights. I argued that race-conscious education policies are critical because they systematically foster the ideal of self-determination through the support of authenticity and favorable contexts of choice for students. Supporters of race-conscious educational policy generally highlight the persistence of institutionalized racism and oppression in the United States educational system and the country as a whole. They argue that measures that take racial and ethnic factors into account in the distribution of opportunities are thus sometimes warranted in the interests of social justice. Critics of race-conscious policies claim that it is unfair to discriminate against members of the dominant culture in educational programs and selection processes. They maintain that white students end up losing out when, for example, available monies are spent on things that do not benefit them directly, such as bilingual programs or the recruitment of students of color. The question, then, is whether or not those policies are still somehow justifiable. The aim of this work is to make a strong, theoretically grounded case that race-conscious education policies are defensible because they play a central role in the development of self-determination of students who otherwise are left with a deficient education.

Embracing Race focused on the political debates over race-conscious education policies, particularly on answering critics and presenting an innovative argument for race-conscious policies. While this scholarly approach puts forward a well-considered response to debates over race-conscious policies, I have been nonetheless left with the significant puzzle of how to move beyond the entrenched political-ideological differences that lead to the debates in the first place. Education policy actors too often seem poorly prepared to provide justifications for policy positions and decisions that will seem reasonable to policy actors of different ideological leanings. As a result, I have begun to go beyond the approach of defending race-conscious policies in an attempt to really understand the moral tenor of those political debates and why they remain so intractable.

This has led to the second focus within my research agenda, on the nature of the moral disagreement over controversial education policy issues that profoundly affect equality of educational opportunity such as affirmative action, welfare-to-work policy, and high stakes high school graduation testing. I explore the connections between moral disagreement, political theories of justice, and opportunities for higher education. The analysis centers on coming to understand how it is that those on either side of the dominant policy debates seemingly share significant substantive political ideals yet endorse different policy prescriptions. I examine how important notions like equality, liberty, and diversity are conceptualized within the moral and political debate. My hope is that a deeper understanding of the nature of the disagreement over race- and class-conscious policies will foster policy compromises that honor opportunities for all students.

This U.S. based work has expanded into other national contexts, such as that of Brazil. Through the Fulbright New Century Scholar program I was able to visit Brazil in 2007and conduct a comparative analysis of affirmative action policy in the U.S. and Brazil.

As a final note on my program of research, I complement the work in political philosophy described above with research on philosophical and ethical issues in educational research and policy. This corollary area is represented by the article "Ethics in Educational Research" written with Ken Howe for the Review of Research in Education (1999) and a paper entitled "The Heart of the Matter: Philosophy and Educational Research" also in RRE (2002).

Some Relevant Links:
My CU Web page
Fulbright New Century Scholars
Exemplary Teacher-Scholar article

Winner of the 2004 Critics Choice Award, given by the American Educational Studies Association to "recognize and increase awareness of recent scholarship deemed to be outstanding in its field." by Michele S. Moses

Teachers College Press

Foreword by Gary Orfield
"Moses' perspective produces a different and important set of ideas about rights and equality and allows her to recast the philosophic and social arguments over policies.This is a solid contribution to the vital work of rethinking American democracy for a transforming society."

-From the Foreword by Gary Orfield

"A wonderful book. Moses reframes the multicultural debate in some very creative ways that, in my opinion, will only end up strengthening educators' and students' commitments to social justice, equality, and equity. I enthusiastically recommend it to my colleagues in foundations education."

- Robert Nash, University of Vermont

With clarity, passion, and creativity, Michele Moses offers a new and promising lens for viewing the unsolved issues of race and education. In this book, Moses provides a comprehensive examination of four major race-conscious education policies: bilingual education, multicultural curricula, affirmative action, and remedial education. She argues, convincingly, that such policies are critical to fostering self-determination and personal autonomy in students who will otherwise be left with a deficient education.

Presenting a strong, theoretically grounded case for race-conscious education policies, this volume offers a new framework for examining the complex interaction between race, education, opportunities, and justice.

Some of the important questions addressed in this volume include:

• What must the educational system do to promote social justice for students of color and poor students?
• What is required to help these students to develop self-determination?
• How will race-conscious education policies help to provide a fair education for all students?

Audience: Graduate courses in educational foundations, educational policy, philosophy of education, sociology of education, politics of education, multicultural education, bilingual education, and higher education; philosophers, policy analysts, policymakers, administrators, and educators.