"The World Isn't Black and White": Early Adolescents of Color Reflect on School Ethnic-Racial Diversity

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Four
  In Roundtable Session: Student Critical Consciousness: A Vehicle for Positive Academic, Personal/Social, and Career Development (Table 11)

Abstract

Research suggests that the integration experiences of students of color in majority White, suburban schools is nuanced and complex. There are few studies that examine these processes during the early adolescent period, when ethnicity-race become integral to students’ emerging identities. We examined perceptions of ethnic-racial climate and the salience of ethnic-racial diversity for students of color in two suburban middle schools, using face-to-face, individual interviews with 22 students. Qualitative content analyses generated four in-vivo themes that illustrate how students value and leverage ethnic-racial diversity as sources of curiosity, identity, learning, and resilience. Findings have implications for ways that majority White schools and teachers can stand in solidarity with students in challenging hegemonic whiteness in school during the early adolescent period.

Authors

• Tina M. Durand, Boston University
  Presenting Author

• Anna Skubel, Boston University
  Presenting Author

• Efe I. Shavers, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ronnie Blackwell, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author