"Adapt and Serve the Community!”: Voices of Families of Youth of Color in Predominantly White, Rural Communities

• In Event: The Consortium of State and Regional Educational Research Associations Distinguished Paper Session 1

Abstract

New England Educational Research Organization -
There is limited research that centers the voices of youth of Color and their families, living and attending school in predominantly white rural communities in the United States. This qualitative case study explores the experiences of parents of children who identify as youth of Color, and who reside or attend school in predominantly white, rural settings. Drawing from in-depth interviews with 5 parents from 4 families, findings reveal that same-race biological parents and transracial adoptive (TRA) parents enact multiple forms of cultural capital as they navigate their communities and their children’s schooling experiences within a broader culture and climate of onlyness. Additional findings indicate the critical need for culturally competent and sustaining practices in predominantly white, rural schools.

Author

• Carie A. Ruggiano, University of Massachusetts - Amherst