Employing critical race theory (CRT) in conducting research to study race and racism can be extremely effective to uncover information and advance theoretical knowledge. However, unstudied application of CRT endangers its inherent criticality (Leonardo, 2013). That is why the purpose of this systematic review was to learn how authors of empirical music education research studies described their use of CRT as a research framework. Research questions included:1. How does the authors’ use of CRT interact with decisions made in their research methods?2. What theoretical frameworks are being applied by music education researchers in conjunction with CRT when investigating topics involving race and racism? a. How are these theoretical frameworks being applied in conjunction with CRT?3. What components of CRT are music education researchers drawing from in establishing their frame? A database search of music education research articles was conducted in the spring of 2025. Studies were included based on whether they contained empirical research in the field of music education and were written by authors who explicitly stated that they employed CRT as a theoretical framework. Two rounds of screening resulted in 70 selected studies. These included 51 doctoral dissertations, 17 journal articles, and 2 masters theses. Relevant portions of the studies including the areas devoted to describing the theoretical framework(s) and method sections were extracted for coding. Open-coding procedures piloted between the authors were then utilized to determine how other theoretical frameworks were being applied in conjunction with CRT. Finally, a list of a priori codes containing major CRT components was assembled and applied to extracted materials. Analyses are still underway and the study will be completed by December, 2025. Emerging results reveal that in dissertation studies, CRT or related offshoots like Disability Critical Race Studies was often the sole or the most prominent framework, although the same was not true for journal articles. The topics of many studies involved the examination of white experiences with race and racism rather than centering Black voices, a core tenet of CRT. It was also often unclear how scholars were using CRT as a framework in their study, whether to establish study procedures, code data, or draw conclusions. By explicating how CRT is used in their study, centering Black voices, and implicating power structures as a core component of CRT, music education researchers can better retain criticality in their research rather than appropriate and dilute CRT.