Examining How School-Based Ethnic-Racial Identity Intervention Informs Identity Development and Academic Engagement

• In Event: Validating Culturally Diverse Student Identities and Experiences: Transformative Approaches and Innovative Methods

Abstract

Our study utilized qualitative interviews to examine students’ experiences when an evidence-based ethnic-racial identity (ERI) intervention was integrated into a complementary unit in their 8th grade English course. We sought to uncover the pathways through which the resulting “Identity Unit” encouraged students’ ERI development and academic engagement. Students discussed how the unit encouraged their ERI development through (a) facilitating family conversations, (b) providing dedicated, scaffolded time for ERI exploration, and (c) facilitating personal and literary exploration in tandem. Students also discussed how the unit encouraged their academic engagement through (a) providing personally relevant books, (b) expanding their critical consciousness, and (c) fostering community building. ERI development also emerged as an additional pathway through which the Identity Unit facilitated academic engagement.

Authors

• Kristia Wantchekon, Georgetown University

• Adriana Umaña-Taylor, Harvard Graduate School of Education