Racial School Research Articles

A Counternarrative Autoethnography Exploring School Districts’ Role in Reproducing Racism: Willful Blindness to Racial Inequities

BackgroundRacialized suspension gaps are logically and empirically associated with racial achievement gaps and both gaps indicate the endurance of racism in American education. In recent U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Office of Civil Rights data, it was revealed that nationally, Black boys are four times more likely to be suspended than White boys. In some geographic areas and for certain offenses, some intersections of race, class, and gender are dozens of times more likely to be suspended for than others. Although most educational leaders and district-level official express disapproval of racism in schools, racialized gaps in achievement and discipline stubbornly persist.Purpose/ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to examine how school district-level administrators react to investigations and indications of racism in their school districts. It is relevant because in many school districts that have disciplinary and achievement gaps, the administrators ostensibly and publically express a hope to reduce or eliminate the racist trends. Yet, one administration after another, they seem unable to disrupt the racially oppressive discipline and achievement gaps. In this study, we examined administrators’ responses to our requests about their districts’ racialized disaggregated disciplinary data, and their responses to our sharing of our findings with them. We use counternarrative autoethnography to describe that school district administrators play a significant role in maintaining practices that reproduce racial oppression in schools.SettingThis study was conducted in large urban school districts in Texas. The profiled districts were predominantly Latino; however one district was over 90% Latino and the other just slightly more than half with sizable White and Black student populations in some schools and areas.ParticipantsAs this is an autoethnography, we are the primary participants of this study; we interrogate our experiences with school district administrators in our investigations of racial disciplinary gaps.Research DesignOur autoethnography is counternarrative, as it counters bureaucratic narratives of impartiality, colorblindness, and objectivity espoused by school districts. In addition to our own self-interviews, we base our counternarrative on the examination of 11 phone calls and 35 email exchanges with district administration, and on field-notes taken during seven site visits. These collective experiences and data sources informed our counternarratives, and led to our findings. Our research encompasses three phases. The initial phase was our attempt to obtain disciplinary data from various school districts in Texas. Only two school districts made the data accessible to us, despite being legally obligated to do so. For the second phase of our study we calculated risk ratios from those two school districts to determine how many more times African Americans and Latinos are suspended than Whites in all of the schools of TXD1 and TXD2. The third phase was the district administrators’ reactions to our presentation of our findings in regards to their district schools with the most egregious disciplinary gaps. Based on the administrative responses to them, we thought that it was important to highlight our experiences through a counternarrative autoethnography.ConclusionsFrom our qualitative data analysis we theorize three bureaucratic administrative responses contributed to the maintenance of racism in school—(1) the administrators discursive avoidance of issues of racial marginalization; (2) the tendency of bureaucratic systems to protect their own interests and ways of operating, even those ways of operating that are racist; and (3), the (perhaps inadvertent) protection of leadership practices that have resulted in such racial marginalization. These responses were enacted through four technical–rational/bureaucratic administrative practices: subversive, defensive, ambiguous, and negligent.

Schools as racial spaces: understanding and resisting structural racism

Analyzing schools as racial spaces can help researchers examine the role of teachers in the perpetuation of structural racism in schools. Based on ethnographic and autoethnographic work, this article offers examples of schools as racial spaces, spaces where whiteness controlled access. It also highlights four teachers who pursued racial equity in their teaching, and how a structural understanding of race was key to their efforts. It makes the argument that racial spaces analysis can help researchers work with teachers to understand structural racism and to better counter it in school practices.

Reproducing monocultural education: ethnic majority staff’s discursive constructions of monocultural school practices

This paper investigates the role of ethnic majority staff in the perpetuation of monocultural education that excludes non-western, ethnic minority cultures and reproduces institutional racism in schools. Based on qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews in four ethnically diverse schools in the Flemish educational system, we specifically investigate the role of ethnic majority staff in the reproduction of monocultural school practices through a discursive theoretical lens. The study advances the current literature on institutional racism by showing how situated meanings of monocultural school practices at the micro level of individuals are discursively inter-linked with the macro-level monocultural model of education.

Racism, Schooling, and the Streets: A Critical Analysis of Vietnamese American Youth Gang Formation in Southern California

This paper is an analysis of the relationship between educational experiences, street life, and gang formation for Vietnamese American youth gang members in Southern California. I use critical narrative methodology to center the life and experiences of a Los Angeles area gang member. His narrative substantiates how racism in schools and on the streets works together to impact and inform gang formation. Schools were sites of inter-ethnic conflict and racialized tension, and streets were spaces for contentious interactions with the police. In addition, I place the Vietnamese American youth gang phenomenon in larger historical and political contexts such as Californias anti-youth legislation, representations of Asian American youth, and U.S. geo-politics and imperialismfactors that have serious material and ideological implications and consequences.

Culturally Relevant Booktalking: Using a Mixed Reality Simulation with Preservice School Librarians

The role of school librarians is often overlooked in advancing a respect for cultural diversity among youth, yet librarians are in key positions to champion for social justice reform in educational settings. In this qualitative study, we examine preservice school librarians' experiences with booktalking multicultural literature in a mixed reality simulation environment, as a vehicle to introduce social justice issues. Our purpose was to explore the booktalking experience as a means of developing preservice librarians' understanding of culturally relevant pedagogy, a stance concerned with developing cultural competence and critical consciousness. Our findings revealed that preservice librarians gained different levels of understanding of culturally relevant pedagogy; yet, the experience provided them with an opportunity for engaging in critical reflection regarding personal bias and systemic racism in schools and literature.

Supporting Interethnic and Interracial Friendships among Youth to Reduce Prejudice and Racism in Schools: The Role of the School Counselor

Supporting interethnic and interracial friendships in schools among children and adolescents is an important part of a progressive educational agenda informed in equity, social justice frameworks, and critical multicultural education that leads to a reduction in racial prejudice. Positive intergroup contact is a necessary condition in prejudice reduction and the development of positive racial attitudes among ethnically and racially diverse groups of children and adolescents. School counseling initiatives focused on promoting interethnic and interracial friendships can have significant individual and systemic consequences such as: improving social, emotional, and cultural competence among youth; prejudice reduction; and the creation of equitable educational spaces informed in multicultural and social justice worldviews.

The Associations of Intergroup Interactions and School Racial Socialization with Academic Motivation

ABSTRACTSchool racial climate is an important aspect of the school environment that can have significant implications for youths’ development. However, existing research is limited by conceptual and methodological concerns that restrict the ability of researchers and educators to identify what about and how the racial climate is important. The author addresses existing limitations by articulating school racial climate as a multidimensional construct composed of interpersonal interactions and school racial socialization. The sample consists of 99 Black middle and high school students who completed surveys on their perceptions of the school racial climate and their belonging, competence, and intrinsic motivation. The results showed, for example, that perceptions of more positive cross-race interactions were associated with greater belonging, and perceptions of colorblind messages were associated with lower competence. Overall, the study demonstrated the utility of a multidimensional approach to school racial climate and supported existing research on the importance of climate for adolescents’ motivation.

Supporting Interethnic and Interracial Friendships Among Youth to Reduce Prejudice and Racism in Schools: The Role of the School Counselor

Supporting interethnic and interracial friendships in schools among children and adolescents is an important part of a progressive educational agenda informed in equity, social justice frameworks, and critical multicultural education that leads to a reduction in racial prejudice. Positive intergroup contact is a necessary condition in prejudice reduction and the development of positive racial attitudes among ethnically and racially diverse groups of children and adolescents. School counseling initiatives focused on promoting interethnic and interracial friendships can have significant individual and systemic consequences such as: improving social, emotional, and cultural competence among youth; prejudice reduction; and the creation of equitable educational spaces informed in multicultural and social justice worldviews.

RACISM IN THE FORM OF SILENT VIOLENCE AND THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF INSTITUTIONAL PEDAGOGY IN ITS FIGHT

This study contextualizes violence within schools, pausing in his expression as symbolic. Symbolic violence is present so subtle that many times we do not realize its impact. Living in a country where hangs the myth of racial democracy, combating racism is also reflect on our own values, beliefs and behaviors. Thus, consisting of Institutional Pedagogy see, add and manage conflict breaks the silence of racism in school, favoring his match through its theoretical foundations. This text highlights the possibilities presented by the Institutional Pedagogy to combat racial discrimination in school that children, youth, adults and seniors are objects. So we can say that the Institutional Pedagogy presents itself as a possibility of mediation to build a society with social justice, the place where the threshold, law and language lead to a land of fairness and respect.

Effects of School Racial Composition on K–12 Mathematics Outcomes

Recently published social science research suggests that students attending schools with concentrations of disadvantaged racial minority populations achieve less academic progress than their otherwise comparable counterparts in more racially balanced or integrated schools, but to date no meta-analysis has estimated the effect size of school racial composition on mathematics outcomes. This metaregression analysis reviewed the social science literature published in the past 20 years on the relationship between mathematics outcomes and the racial composition of the K–12 schools students attend. The authors employed a two-level hierarchical linear model to analyze the 25 primary studies with 98 regression effects. Results indicate that school racial isolation has a small statistically significant negative effect on overall building-level mathematics outcomes. This relationship is moderated by the size of the sample in the study and by the way the independent variable was operationalized. Although it is small, the effect size is substantively meaningful. The effects are stronger in secondary compared to elementary grades, and racial gaps widen as students age. The emergence and widening of the race gaps as students move through the grades suggest that the association of racial segregation with mathematics performance compounds over time. Implications for educational policy and future research are discussed.

Black Achievers’ Experiences with Racial Spotlighting and Ignoring in a Predominantly White High School

Background/ContextDespite a history of racial oppression and degradation in U.S. schools, African Americans have responded to racism and discrimination in ways that promote educational attainment and school success. Many Black adolescents have been empowered to succeed academically partly because of their awareness of racist practices in education and society. This empowerment to succeed in the face of racism is also seen as resiliency. A growing body of research suggests that despite experiencing racism in schools, many African Americans possess an achievement ethos that demands a commitment to excellence; despite experiencing racism as a stressor, these students develop resilient strategies for resisting racism in the school context.Purpose/Objective/Focus of StudyThe purpose of this study was to understand the adaptive behaviors that high-achieving Black students employed in a predominantly White high school to maintain school success and a positive racial self-definition. The focus of this article is to examine how these students describe, understand, and respond to experiencing racial microaggressions in classroom, social, and extracurricular domains within their school.Research DesignThe article includes data from a yearlong qualitative investigation of high-achieving Black students in a predominantly White high school. The author analyzed interview data, participant observations, and field notes and used a grounded theory approach to analyzing the data to arrive at an understanding of how students perceived experiences with racial microaggressions in their school.Findings/ResultsFindings indicate that students experienced racial microaggressions in the form of sometimes being spotlighted because of their race (i.e., racial spotlighting) and sometimes being ignored because of their race (i.e., racial ignoring). Students managed these experiences by utilizing a variety of resilient strategies that represent varying degrees of resistance. The use of these behavioral strategies demonstrates their resilience not only to racism but also to a school climate in which racism acts as a structural barrier to potentially constrain or impede achievement. These strategies allow students to effectively navigate within and across classroom and nonclassroom domains despite experiencing racial discrimination and to acquire and maintain school success without rejecting their racial identity.Conclusions/RecommendationsThe article concludes with implications for teacher education and creating culturally inclusive school and classroom environments. The article challenges educators to critically examine the relationships between race, racism, Whiteness, and teaching and learning. Specifically, recommendations are offered for preservice teacher preparation and in-service teacher professional development.

African American Homeschooling as Racial Protectionism

Academic interest in homeschooling has increased over the past decade, as what was once perceived as a marginal development has, in fact, turned into a significant and growing phenomenon. There has been, in recent years, a noticeable surge in African American involvement in the homeschooling movement as well. However, there continues to be a general paucity of research on the motivations of homeschooling Black parents. It is the purpose of this article, using an Afrocentric lens, (a) to explore one of the main reasons African Americans increasingly choose to educate their children at home, namely, their strong desire to protect their children from the ill effects of school-related racism; (b) to provide a historical and philosophical contextualization of the African American experience with racism in schools; and (c) to present empirical evidence regarding African American motivations for homeschooling.

Brown Fades: The End of Court‐Ordered School Desegregation and the Resegregation of American Public Schools

AbstractIn this paper, we investigate whether the school desegregation produced by court‐ordered desegregation plans persists when school districts are released from court oversight. Over 200 medium‐sized and large districts were released from desegregation court orders from 1991 to 2009. We find that racial school segregation in these districts increased gradually following release from court order, relative to the trends in segregation in districts remaining under court order. These increases are more pronounced in the South, in elementary grades, and in districts where prerelease school segregation levels were low. These results suggest that court‐ordered desegregation plans are effective in reducing racial school segregation, but that their effects fade over time in the absence of continued court oversight.

A Portrait of Black Leadership during Racial School Segregation

The purpose of this paper is to paint a portrait of an African American public school administrator, capturing the essence of his leadership style and educational philosophy during extremely challenging circumstances. This portrait reveals the many creative ways that this administrator handled discipline, secured resources, and ultimately impacted the lives of many students in his district. This research is important in light of the fact that schools across the nation are returning to segregation and an increase in Black superintendents is concomitant with this increase in predominately Black urban school districts. Much can be learned from examining this portrait as administrators find themselves presiding over districts with historically underserved children from low-income families.

Knowing we are White: narrative as critical praxis

A critical concern in preparing teachers for urban schools is helping them make sense of race, identity and racism in schools. Teacher education programs struggle with how to address these issues in classes of primarily White students. Through a document analysis, the present study highlights how teacher educators can use narrative – particularly autobiographies – to help understand the racial and cultural consciousness of White teachers. Narrative construction provides a method to highlight how White teachers understand their identities and how Whiteness functions in society. Places of resistance, and stories yet untold, are also explored as a teacher educator looks to refine her own practice.

Racial group regard, barrier socialization, and African American adolescents’ engagement: Patterns and processes by gender

The current study examined gendered processes via 1) profiles of racial barrier socialization, regard for one’s racial group (private regard), and behavioral engagement and grades and, 2) gender and private regard as a moderator in the link between barrier messages and academic engagement outcomes. One-hundred and twenty-five African American adolescents (ages 10–14, M = 12.39, SD = 1.07) completed measures of socialization, private regard, grades and behavioral engagement. Latent Profile Analysis revealed a 2-cluster solution fit the data best - 1) High Engagement-Race Salient (HERS) cluster and 2) Low Engagement-Non-Salient cluster (LENS). Girls had higher representation in the HERS cluster. When private regard was examined as a moderator, girls’ grades were unrelated to barrier socialization and private regard. In contrast, barrier socialization was associated with lower grades for low private regard boys. Findings are discussed in the context of gendered racial school contexts that African American youth must navigate to be academically successful.

Sonny Montes and Mexican American Activism in Oregon by Glenn Anthony May

 OHQ vol. 113, no. 4 reviews Sonny Montes and Mexican American Activism in Oregon by Glenn Anthony May Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2011. Illustrations, maps, notes, index. 314 pages. $24.00 paper. In a historical biography that resembles a climactic thriller,GlennAnthony May gives voice to the struggles and experiences of Mexican Americans in Oregon, filling a gap in socialmovement history. To readers, the revised images of Chicano resistance and empowerment correct the historical invisibility and recover the historical memory of the Chicano struggle for social justice. Above all, the book powerfullycapturesthehumanity,courage,and conviction of Sonny Montes, a tireless political and community activist for farmworkers and working-class Mexican Americans. It will increase our understanding of Chicanos in Oregon and influence the field of Chicano/a Studies regionally and more broadly. A historian trained at Yale University with a specialization in Chicano history, May tells three related stories: Montes’s activism, the Mexican American community in Oregon, and the development of a Chicano movement. Taking a linear focus, May deftly documents these stories with over thirty-three individual interviews conducted over an eight-year period, along with archival research in private collections and trial records. Using social movement theory, May privileges the experiences of Celedonio Montes, Jr., or “Sonny,” whose gradual ascent into political activism was shaped by his own racialized experiences. By age five, he was working as a migrant farmworker, moving from Weslaco to Fort Worth, Texas, and then to Oregon, with an interim stop in California. He experienced Jim Crow–era segregation in South Texas and institutional racism in schools,where his teachers and counselor told him he was“not college material.”May’s account makes room for feelingswithinsocial -movementtheory,discussing experiences of humiliation, dehumanization, and racial violence. In the chapter“Contexts,”May examines the history of colonization in Oregon, contrasting the land assets of white settlers with the mostly landless economic status of migrant farm laborers, including braceros, who comprised an internal colony a century later. Hypersegregation , intense political repression, and their status as members of internal colonies contributed to the deplorable working conditions of Mexican Americans. The story of the Valley Migrant League (VML), created to assist migrants who wanted to leave the migrant stream and settle in Oregon ,begins during Pres.Lyndon Johnson’sWar on Poverty during the 1960s.Farmworkers used the “Tio Tomás” (“Uncle Tom”) racial epithet to level accusations atVML’s political machination of token representation and control. May alludes to the internal and external colonization that Chicanos struggled with; however, Chicanos’ bicultural identity belies the simple monolithic binary that ignores heterogeneity and the tension of identity politics. Gradually, the VML’s paternalistic and individualistic ideology shifted to community development that examined power relations. Federal regulations and rifts between growers and workers hampered the work and autonomy of theVML. “The Revolution” chapter chronicles John Little’s tenure as director of the VML, relying heavily on organizational minutes and reports. At a study session with farmworker clubs, six resolutions to increase farmworker representation were adopted. The Office of Economic Opportunity’s (OEO) Migrant Division undercut their efforts,however,which prompted the first outreach to politicians. In a  Reviews sequential move,theVML motioned to require “farmworker background” in all key positions and eliminated “educational requirements for VML employment,” thus challenging racial exclusion. Meetings with Little ignited in Montes the fire for racial justice and raised his ethnic consciousness and activist zeal. The “ethnic dimension” was a visible effect of an emerging Chicano movement in Oregon. The VML was portrayed as a collective action group that coalesced with such allies as Los Amigos — what May calls a Mexican American network. That concept, however, ignores the sexist oppression of Chicanas within the male-dominated movement that marginalized them. In the “Activist” chapter, May examines Montes’s personal challenges, in particular his marriage and intrafamily class tensions. May’s analysis conceals Montes’s first wife Librada’s emerging subjectivity and liberation by redefining her own family networks. In the next few chapters, May examines the historical context of Chicano/a Studies in colleges and universities. As the Ethnic Affairs Director for Mount Angel College, Montes recommitted the college to fulfill its mission to the...

Effect of School Racial Composition on Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms from Adolescence Through Early Adulthood

We investigate the effect of high school racial composition, measured as percent of non-Hispanic white students, on trajectories of depressive symptoms from adolescence to early adulthood. We also explore whether the effect of school racial composition varies by respondent race/ethnicity and whether adult socioeconomic status mediates this relationship. We analyzed four waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health using 3-level linear growth models. We restricted our sample to respondents enrolled in grades 9–12 in 1994/5 who were interviewed at a minimum in Waves I and IV. This resulted in 10,350 respondents enrolled in 80 high schools in 1994/5 (5,561 whites, 2,030 blacks, 1,834 Hispanics, 738 Asians, and 187 of other race). As the percentage of white students increased at the high school respondents attended in 1994/5, blacks reported more depressive symptoms. This effect did not vary by age. In comparison, Asian and Hispanic respondents who attended predominantly white high schools had lower levels of depressive symptoms than their counterparts who attended predominantly minority schools, but they also experienced a slower decline in depressive symptoms through early adulthood. Adult SES mediated the relationship between high school racial composition and depressive symptoms for black, but not for Asian or Hispanic respondents. Our results suggest that high school racial composition is associated with trajectories of depressive symptoms through early adulthood, but the effect differs by respondents’ race/ethnicity. Racial/ethnic disparities in depressive symptoms during early adulthood may have their origins in adolescence.

Racial Socialization in Cross-Racial Families

The purpose of this study was to investigate how multiracial people of African descent experience racism in schools and to understand how their parents or guardians prepare them to cope with incidents of racism in school. Through qualitative in-depth interviews with multiracial and transracially adopted adults of African descent, this study seeks to raise awareness regarding the complexity of family racial dynamics and how family racial socialization processes affect students’ ability to navigate racism. Findings suggested that racial socialization processes varied by the racial composition of the family, that is, families in which there was at least one Black parent or guardian present tended to more openly address issues of race and racism in comparison with families in which there was no Black parent or guardian present. Findings from this study hold theoretical implications for how racial socialization is conceptualized and practical implications for programs and policies designed to support families raising children of African descent.

Racial Identity, School Racial Climate, and School Intrinsic Motivation Among African American Youth: The Importance of Person–Context Congruence

Researchers have been concerned with whether strong racial identification promotes or inhibits achievement motivation among African American youth, but current literatures have paid little attention to the role of youths' contexts. In this study, we outline a racial identity–context congruence framework that predicts positive benefits of a strong, positive racial identity when the context is congruent with youths' beliefs. To test this framework, we examined school racial climate as a moderator in the relationships of three racial identity variables (centrality, private regard, and public regard) with intrinsic motivation for attending school in a sample of 11th graders. Overall, results support the congruence perspective and also demonstrate how feelings of belonging at school mediate the relationship between racial identity–racial climate congruence and school intrinsic motivation.