Utilizing Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) and critical race theory to build academic resilience in Black high school students

• In Event: Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Pychosocial Examinations of Students’ Performance and Motivation in K-12 Schooling

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to help educators who work with Black students understand how to apply a developmental psychology framework that foregrounds the importance of ecology (systems and contexts in which individuals interact with reciprocally) and phenomenology (how students make sense of their development in context) can be used to leverage the relationship between strong racial identity and academic resilience. Critical race theory (Delgado and Stefancic, 1998) provides a lens through which educators and students can analyze their ecologies and phenomenologies. PVEST (Spencer, 1997; 2001) provides a psychological framework for teachers to both assess the differential identity formation processes of their students and how they can help students navigate the identity formation process.

Author

• Daren Graves, Simmons College