Out-of-School Time and African American Students: Understanding the Health, Environmental, and Social Determinants of Academic Success <em>(Guest Editorial)</em>

Abstract

In light of the recent murders of unarmed African Americans by police officers, the academic community must investigate ways to promote healing and resilience in the midst of deep and persistent systemic inequities. Children's health and well-being, in addition to family and community assets and challenges, can determine how well they perform in school. The current emphasis on academic standardization, typically measured and enforced through standardized tests, neglects the impact of a student's health status, traumatic experiences, and community resources. Simply put, children's experiences outside of the classroom influence how well they perform within the classroom. Schools that have inadequate knowledge and resources to accommodate health, family, and community barriers to learning have higher rates of suspension, absenteeism, and dropouts, which lead to further systemic problems including arrests and incarceration, chronic diseases and mortality, and overall diminished opportunities for success. The purpose of this special issue is to explore out-of-school time experiences and conditions that impact academic success among African American students.The structural inequalities that lead to reduced academic attainment mirror the social determinants of health. Education is one of the most powerful determinants of health, and disparities in educational achievement as a result of structural inequalities closely track disparities in health. These disparities lead to both sub-standard healthcare and reduced academic attainment among children from underserved minorities, especially African Americans. The articles in this special issue discuss how this may result in children with poorer mental health outcomes; higher school dropout rates; increased risks of arrests and incarceration; higher rates of chronic diseases and mortality; and overall diminished opportunities for success. They consider out of school time by including additional factors outside the classroom which have an impact on health and education. The articles in this volume are a collection of empirical quantitative and qualitative studies.The first section of articles addresses the social and environmental determinants of academic success among African American students, including poverty, demographic indicators, the biases and injustices within the criminal and juvenile justice system, and civic, community, school-based and extracurricular activities and afterschool programs. The first article by Lofton and Davis begins the conversation by describing the plight of African American students and their families in the face of structural inequalities in the school system. This is followed by a thorough geographical description of the social epidemiological factors that correlate with socioeconomic status and race, specifically African American versus White, in the St Louis Metropolitan area by Jones, Harris, and Tate. This detailed and thorough analysis should serve as a blueprint for examining the issues of every urban core within the United States. The remaining articles in this section move us from the big picture to the impact of these systemic issues on academic achievement. Using two different approaches, systematic literature review and qualitative inquiry, Perry, Tabb, and Mendenhall, and then Brooms unpack the effects of systemic and structural inequalities on African American male students' achievement and success. This section ends with two frank discussions of how the home and neighborhood environments facilitate or inhibit academic development in articles by Iruka, Curenton, and Garner and then, Finigan-Carr, Vandigo, Uretsky, Oloyede, and Mayden.The next section describes facilitators of academic success among African American students during civic, community, school-based and extracurricular activities. Cooper and Davis extend the conversation by examining and challenging various institutional constraints, societal attitudes, and local-state-federal positions which shape the future orientation of African American high school students. …