Black Students Research Articles

The Digitalisation of Elitism and Sifting? Observations on the Online Registration of First-Year University Students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

This paper argues that the digitalisation of university registration processes has given rise to concealed elitism. The phenomenon became apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, as elite students accessed advanced medical care and education degrees while individuals from indigent families and rural communities bore the brunt of the pandemic. Drawing from the perspectives of critical emancipatory research (CER), the observational study described in this paper sought to explain students' experiences during the transition to digitalised registration processes and to identify practical solutions for the deficiencies in the new system, ensuring inclusivity for all students in the future. This observational study did not have a specific sample size but observed the groups of incoming first-year students gathered outside many university gates during the registration period in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study consequently concluded that many universities in KwaZulu-Natal are not prepared for digitalisation of student applications for several reasons: (i) the use of technology conceals elitism, a lingering aspect of the apartheid era that disenfranchises students from indigent and rural communities; (ii) universities lack reliable infrastructure, as they were not initially designed for contemporary communication and teaching methods; and (iii) the rise of technological innovation destabilises the intentions of our South African democracy and the massification agenda. This paper proposes a dual method of communication (virtual and walk-in inquiries) that would accommodate democracy and recognise people's right to education. This approach would ensure that students from different socio-economic backgrounds are accommodated in higher education institutions. The paper recommends technological innovations that do not remind black and poor students that they were once marginalised from accessing tertiary education due to systems that were not favourable to them.

Beyond the Dress Code

Beyond the Dress Code

Academic profiling in Britain? Exploring Black youth’s experiences of tracking in schools

ABSTRACT Based on 30 one-on-one in-depth interviews and 24 focus group interviews with 120 Black Caribbean pupils in one of the largest state secondary schools in South London, this article examines how Black students make sense of their concentration in lower-ranked classes as facilitated through academic tracking. While previous research documents the academic, social and psychological implications of tracking, setting and other “ability” grouping practices for various racial, ethnic and class groups, comparatively little attention has been devoted to how the persistent misrecognition of Black pupils in Britain often results in academic profiling in schools. Academic profiling is here defined as the persistent mischaracterization of Black and other racially minoritized students based on their past achievements and dominant cultural stereotypes. The results of this study suggest that Black Caribbean participants experience academic profiling as a signature feature of their educational experiences, whether in bottom, middle or top sets.

Contextualized Rights as Effective Rights to All: The Case of Affirmative Action in Brazil

This article explores how two main narratives about slavery may lead to varying perspectives on social rights. Some collective narratives endorse a superficial idea of equality of rights, neglecting factors such as race and ethnicity, while others reject this apparent universalistic view, promoting more effective, de facto equality. The latter narrative supports horizontal redistribution, strongly contrasting with the former. Using Brazil’s affirmative action programs for Black students as a case study, this article will address two prevalent national narratives about the slavery of Black Africans and persons of Black African descent. Only one of those narratives could lead to what I would identify as a “contextualized theory of rights,” ensuring horizontal equality amidst a backdrop of brutal slavery and structural racism. This narrative offers a plurally faceted, dialogical approach to rights that can respond to the needs of differently situated individuals. The article will explore the evolution of such a collective narrative in Brazil’s race relations.

Creating dialogic space around purposeful selection for reading and teaching diverse children’s literature

ABSTRACT Diverse children’s literature can support understandings of our world as culturally, linguistically, and socially rich. It can cultivate empathy and understanding, and open a dialogic space of possibilities. In this article, we examine how purposefully selected children’s literature prepares needed conditions for dialogic space: difference in what is already known, and what is presented; multiplicity of many and other ways of interpreting and connecting; and uncertainty as there is no definitive or “right” answer for personal meaning-making. We show how purposefully selecting diverse children’s literature can create dialogic space in two classroom contexts. First, as Christina, a Black female teacher educator and librarian, teaches in a third-grade classroom of primarily Black students. Second, as she teaches a graduate-level teacher course on diverse children’s literature to mostly White pre-and-in-service teachers. We elucidate ways purposeful selection of diverse literature is a first step to engaging with critical inquiry and opening dialogic space.

Pedagogies of collective intersectional care: witnessing the spiritual and affective rigor of carework within daily classroom life

ABSTRACT In this article, we build upon the ethics of collective intersectional care (Nyachae & Pham 2024), a concept central to Women of Color feminisms to emphasize the pedagogical rigors of carework in K-12 classrooms. Drawing from a yearlong video ethnography of the racial literacy practices of teachers of Color, we analyze a case study of a Black woman teacher’s (Author 2) pedagogies of collective intersectional care within day-to-day classroom life, illuminating the spiritual and affective dimensions of how she co-created a ‘Black sense of home’ that fortified and (re)centered the lived realities and full personhoods of Black and Brown students despite ‒ and in spite ‒ of racially violent institutions. Contributing to critical affective studies and racial literacy teacher education, we discuss the significance of how mutual embodiments of care are interwoven with co-creating, witnessing, and replenishing racially just learning spaces.

“The Things We Carry”: Interventions against the cumulative effects of racism in K-12 education

Anti-Black racism in K-12 education settings has long-term impacts on Black students, including negative academic and mental health outcomes. Limited interventions following experiences of racism shape Black students’ expectations of K-12 education, accumulating over time into institutional distrust and these mental health outcomes. As such, it is necessary to understand how Black students experience racism within K-12 settings to better inform interventions that can be implemented at the school level. To that end, this study employed the participatory action research (PAR) method of photovoice to understand the impacts of racism in educational settings among 5 Black women undergraduate students. Results highlight the cumulative effects of racism on identity development and early coping. Implications inform future interventions to address the cumulative effects of anti-Black racism in K-12 education.

A cross-sectional examination of race, gender, and intersectionality on protective behavioral strategies and alcohol outcomes among Black and White college students.

College students consistently report problematic alcohol use (e.g., excessive drinking). Protective behavioral strategies (PBS) are behaviors for reducing alcohol use and/or problems and are negatively associated with alcohol misuse among college students. Studies suggest PBS are used more often and/or more effectively by female individuals. Additionally, examinations specifically between Black and White students have yielded mixed findings and are typically underpowered. Scant studies have investigated the intersectionality between race and gender or examined perceived effectiveness of PBS use related to alcohol outcomes. The current cross-sectional study examined if (a) race, (b) gender, and (c) their interaction moderate the associations between perceived effectiveness of PBS use on PBS use (a path) and between PBS use on alcohol outcomes (i.e., alcohol quantity, peak drinks, and problems; b path). A sample size of N = 528 college drinkers ages 18-24 years old (Mage = 19.85; 52.5%, Black, 40.3% White) completed an online survey and were used for analyses. A series of moderated mediation models were conducted. Race did not moderate the a or b paths. The positive association for the a path as well as the indirect effect of PBS perceived effectiveness on lower alcohol outcomes through PBS use were stronger for female students than male students. The intersectionality examination indicated a stronger association between more PBS use and lower consumption, specifically for White male students, and lower problems for Black female students. More attention is needed toward considering intersectionality when identifying at-risk groups and tailoring alcohol intervention efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Liberatory Literacy Practices for Black Students Through a Lens of Care

AbstractThis article explores how Black teachers have used liberatory literacy practices through a lens of care when working with Black students. The prioritization of care is particularly important for Black students as they often experience a lack of care within schools due to labeling, stereotyping, and a lack of racially and culturally diverse teaching staff, curriculum, and resources. Black teachers are particularly effective in improving literacy outcomes for Black students, and this article emphasizes the importance of the care they provide in implementing culturally and historically responsive pedagogies that foster deep, meaningful learning. This article also emphasizes the funds of knowledge that Black teachers and students possess and highlights approaches that Black teachers have taken that create a warm, caring environment where Black students can thrive instead of being forced to fit into current systems that are unresponsive to Black student needs.

Teacher-Student Race Match and Identification for Discretionary Educational Services

A host of recent literature suggests benefits to Black children of being matched to same-race teachers. We extend this literature to explore whether being matched to a Black teacher is related to Black students’ likelihood of being identified for two types of discretionary educational services in the following academic year: gifted education and special education. While we do not find that access to Black teachers affects students’ likelihood of gifted identification, Black students matched to Black teachers are less likely to be identified for special education. The results are strongest for Black boys, particularly those who are also economically disadvantaged and are strongest for disabilities with more discretion in identification.

“Calling a Black person betún [black shoe polish] is out of love”: questioning the school’s Racial Grammar

ABSTRACT This is a qualitative case study about the Racial Grammar (RG) in a School in Cali, Colombia. We critically interrogate the naturalized elements of the school racial system and show how they are organized, combined, and normalized as the daily standards of school functioning. Data about the school was collected in different spaces: aisles, classrooms, gym, library, offices, and playground. Drawing on black critical theories, we examine how the school’s racial grammar establishes the rules for correctness and for who can(not) speak on racial matters, and how students and staff respond to those shallow and profound racial structures. Findings suggest that the RG’s logic and profound structure are materialized through language, re-produced in social interactions, but also questioned for re-signifying identities. This RG shapes curriculum, instruction, and therefore Black students’ experiences in the school system.

Black adolescents’ motivation to resist the false dichotomy between mathematics achievement and racial identity

This study investigates the racial-mathematical identity profiles of Black American adolescents. Survey data were collected in five schools across one U.S. urban school district at two time points (spring 2018 [n = 197] and spring 2019 [n = 210]). Based on extant research regarding psychological response patterns to racialized school stress, we investigated the existence of an identity negotiation pattern in which students were motivated to resist negative stereotypes about Black people by achieving well in mathematics. We conducted a latent profile analysis combining students’ self-beliefs across five indicators: racial centrality, racial public regard, mathematics attainment value, mathematics mastery experiences, and resistance motivation. Three distinct racial-mathematical identity profiles emerged: (1) Mathematics Devalued/Ambivalent, (2) Moderately Math Attained, and (3) Resistors. We found associations between profile membership and students’ gender, negative math emotions, and their receipt of cultural and critical mathematics instruction. We also found an association between the identity profiles and school type (academically selective “magnet” schools vs. open-enrollment neighborhood schools), but not in the direction that might be assumed. Moreover, we found that certain school environment factors (i.e., racial stereotyping and cultural and critical mathematics instruction) were significantly different in racially diverse magnet schools than in the neighborhood schools. Overall, our data reveal the existence of a highly motivated Resistor profile among Black students, that is predicted by cultural and critical mathematics instruction but underrepresented within this district’s selective magnet schools.

Sense of Belonging as a Predictor of Intentions to Drop Out Among Black and White Distance Learning Students at a South African University

Abstract Sense of belonging plays an essential role in the retention and success of distance learning students. This study investigated the influence of a sense of belonging on the intentions to drop out among black and white distance learning students at a university in South Africa. A total of 831 participants were surveyed and constituted the sample of this study. The study was conducted using a quantitative research approach. The independent samples t-test results showed that there are racial differences in students’ perceived sense of belonging towards the university, with black students (M = 3.26, SD = 0.84) scoring significantly higher on the sense of belonging compared to white students (M = 2.88, SD = 0.79). Additionally, multiple linear regression analysis results showed that a sense of belonging significantly predicts intentions to drop out of university among black and white students. The results suggest that minority students in distance learning institutions should be supported to enhance their sense of belonging towards their learning environment. Furthermore, the results indicate that distance learning institutions should consider multiple strategies to foster a sense of belonging among students and improve the rates of retention.

Young Black Teachers Taking to Social Media to Shame Black Students and Parents: A Narrative Review

Social media is a group of technologies that offers people avenues to engage with one another in a virtual and digital space through their computer or smartphone (Ober & Wildman, 2015) with young black Americans consuming social media more, proportionally, than any other demographic. As such, young Black educators are increasingly availing themselves to social media as a space to communicate and share their professional experiences with other black educators, and the world. In so doing, some young black educators opt to use their social media platform, and their institutional authority to shine a negative light on their black students and parents. In this narrative review, I explore social media consumption, shaming within the educational context, and black teachers as distinct from lower income black parents and students to argue that rather than using their positions as educators to protect their students and parents, young black teachers who have achieved middle-class status and use social media to display their professional frustrations with their black students and parents, only accomplishes the shaming of those with less power and agency - the very people black teachers traditionally protected from harm.

High School Matters: The Abolitionist Journey: Paths to Freedom for Black and Brown Students in the ELA Classroom

The authors provide a brief overview of a continuum of abolitionist work to help readers understand the journey toward educational freedom for Black and Brown students, including information about how the continuum can be used in the English classroom.

Disrupting neoliberal diversity discourse with critical race college transition stories

AbstractThe college transition can challenge students’ sense‐making of diversity, race, and oppression. Yet prevailing neoliberal discourses touting the market value of diversity can thwart this potential by promoting color‐evasive messaging that avoids reckoning with racism. Guided by Critical Race Theory, we explored incoming students’ sense‐making of diversity (n = 421) after being exposed to either color‐evasive transition stories or more critical stories that discussed intersecting experiences with oppression. Using discourse analysis, we observed that Black, Latinx, and Native students and their Asian and white counterparts reproduced common neoliberal logics emphasizing the educational benefits of diversity. However, critical stories reminded Black, Latinx, and Native students of the limits of diversity to change structures. For Asian and white students, critical stories elicited more aversive reactions and more endorsements of how diversity broadens equal access. Understanding students’ diversity discourses can inform how universities engage conversations about difference to counteract neoliberal talk that undermines racial justice.

Supporting Black physics students

Benyam Dejen, outreach director of the Blackett Lab Family, describes a three-day programme aimed at encouraging Black students to see physics as a subject for them.

Barriers and Supports to Engaging in Healthy Behaviors among Black Male Graduate Students

Barriers and Supports to Engaging in Healthy Behaviors among Black Male Graduate Students

The influence of COVID-19 science views, risk perceptions, and group membership on socioscientific decisions

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how much the science education community has yet to understand about myriad variables that impact accurately informed socioscientific issue decision-making. Toward that end, this study investigated 415 university biology students’ COVID-19 behaviours and opinions regarding how COVID-19 mandates might be associated with their views about COVID-19 science and scientists, risk perceptions, race/ethnicity, gender, and political orientation. Science-supported actions and mandate support were more highly exhibited by Asian and Black non-Hispanic and Hispanic students compared to White non-Hispanic students. Science supported actions and mandate support were also significantly associated with increased COVID-19 risk perceptions and knowledge and confidence about COVID-19 science. Higher levels of political conservatism was significantly associated with lower levels of COVID-19 mitigating actions and mandate support. Political orientation appeared to mediate the relationship between views about COVID-19 science, COVID-19 actions, and mandate support. These and other findings demonstrate that cognitive and sociocultural factors associated with socioscientific decision-making are complex and vary across contexts. An implication of this study is that efforts to promote a pragmatic science literacy for accurately informed SSI decision-making will require multivariate and synergistic approaches.

Writing, Rioting, and Righting Como Negra: A Testimonio of Black Latinx Erasure in Bilingual Education

In this autoethnography, María Cioè-Peña recounts her experiences of Black erasure in bilingual education in US schools, where the focus is on language and an imagined mixed-race collective, centering culture to circumvent race and treating language as connective yet racially neutral. But languages and how language users are perceived are not race-neutral constructs. Black erasure in bilingual education upholds anti-Blackness and model minority narratives in education and results in tangible exclusion and oppression for Black bi/multilinguals. Supported by theory and history, Cioè-Peña recounts key moments that contributed to her internalization of anti-Black ideology/rhetoric and respectability politics as a bilingual Black Latina, manifesting in the “taming” of her tongue and cultural identity. Through her testimonio, she sheds light on the erasure of Black students in bilingual education programs and research.