Using a Culturally Responsive Trauma-Informed Pedagogy to Help Teachers Unpack Structural Racism and Disrupt Disproportionate Disciplinary Practices

• In Event: 16.061 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.061-4 - Community-Based Interventions to Disrupt Racially Disproportionate School Discipline in an Urban School District

Abstract

The presenter will highlight lessons learned from three separate studies conducted in school districts that have undergone significant demographic shifts in recent years toward increasing poverty and racial diversity. Decades of federal economic policies that have concentrated poverty into isolated communities have devastated urban education (Anyon, 2014), and exposed youth and families to high stress and trauma (Wade et al., 2014). Disproportionately negative outcomes for students of color and those who are economically disadvantaged can be understood as manifestations of negative racial school climate and inadequate responsiveness to student trauma (Blitz, Yull, & Clauhs, 2016). Developing a culturally responsive trauma-informed approach requires teaching skills of healthy resistance and integrating strengths-based strategies to work toward racial and economic justice (Gay, 2014). This paper focuses on understanding White teachers’ perceptions about race, trauma, and the stressors their students face as crucial factors to inform the development of such a model. Specific attention will be given to White teachers’ reactions to training and dialogue about race and difficulties they have shown in accepting and understanding the reality of structural racism as it applies to their school community.

Author

• Lisa Blitz, Binghamton University - SUNY