Poor, Gifted, and Black: Low-Income, High-Achieving African American Students Speak Out About Their Educational Experiences Through a Racial Opportunity Cost Lens

• In Event: 35.082 - Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: 35.082-26 - Culturally Responsive Practices for Broadening Participation

Abstract

Researchers have documented they ways schools perpetuate an unequal opportunity structure for low-income students of color. Most of the attention, however, has been slanted towards low-performers. In this paper, the authors contribute to a growing body of research that shows how the educational needs of high achieving, low-income students of color are not being met. Using the theoretical framework of racial opportunity cost, we share the perspectives of five African American and Latina/o high achieving, low-income students as they explain the high premium they pay to achieve academic success in racialized, white-normed spaces. These students reveal an unconventional explanation of what it means to be at-risk.

Authors

• Terah Talei Venzant Chambers, Michigan State University

• Lolita Antoinette Tabron, Texas A&M University

• Stephanie Mayo, The University of Pennsylvania