52.029 - Race, Rights, and Rigor: Identity, Learning, and Motivation Among African American Youth

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

The papers in this symposium expand our conception of the challenges black and brown youth- particularly adolescents - must navigate as they envision future possibilities, understanding that supports and challenges go beyond issues of individual motivation. Drawing on frameworks of risk and resilience, the studies presented here expand how our field conceptualizes the nature of both challenge and opportunity, to include the cognitive demands of pursuing academic excellence, but equally important the social and emotional demands of such pursuits, contextualizing such pursuits as situated in the dynamic processes of identity work that is central – in these cases – to adolescence.

Sub Unit

• Division C - Learning and Instructions / Division C - Section 2b: Learning and Motivation in Social and Cultural Contexts

Chair

• Carol D. Lee, Northwestern University

Papers

• Race, Identity, and Opportunity to Learn - Carol D. Lee, Northwestern University

• The Effects of Awareness of the Achievement Gap on Black Youth and Parents - Stephanie J. Rowley, University of Michigan

• 21st-Century Racism and the Black Male Achievement Crisis: A Multilevel Strengths-Based Approach to Challenges and Strategies - Phillip J. Bowman, University of Michigan

• The Complex Ecology of Racial and Learning Identities: The Consequences of Racial Stratification in Schools - Nailah Suad Nasir, Spencer Foundation; Sepehr Vakil, University of Texas at Austin

Discussant

• Tabbye Maria Chavous, University of Michigan