Third Spaces to Increase Black Student Outcomes

• In Event: Disrupting Antiblackness in the Pursuit of Educational Equity, Truth, and Justice

Abstract

Black students in K-12 schools experience anti-Blackness that impacts their ability to have a positive school experience. This study seeks to answer the following question: How can educators dismantle anti-Blackness in schools? This study documents one schools efforts to enhance outcomes and experiences using an anti-Blackness framework. Findings from this study uncovered the creation of a space of care, Black Student Union (BSU), for Black students where they felt safe and had the opportunity to unpack and strategize around acts of violence and harm done to them. Data sources include observations, meetings minutes, student participation, and surveys. The study analyzes the utility of a third space which enhanced Black students’ experiences. Third spaces are defined as spaces created when the “scripts” of formal spaces (such as classrooms) and informal spaces (such as socialization among students) can meet and new meaning can be negotiated (Gutierrez, Rymes, & Larson, 1995). Third spaces are those in which “counter-hegemonic activity, or contestation of dominant discourse, can occur for both students and teachers” (p. 451). Because third spaces acknowledge that “concepts of cultural identity and knowledge are constantly being negotiated and re-created” (Labos & Sodusta, 2015, p. 445), they are places where students can define who they are according to their own values and ideas. Culturally-specific third spaces like a BSU, contribute to an overall positive school experience. The BSU was designed to help develop students’ self-efficacy and voice to speak up and pushback against anti-Blackness. The BSU’s negotiated curriculum is informed by Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (Hollie, 2017), which seeks to engage students by making the curriculum connected to students’ lives. The study’s findings suggest that third spaces that act as counter spaces are most successful when students see their interests, backgrounds, and lived experiences reflected in the space while learning the language and strategies to challenge anti-Blackness.

Proposed format

The session will be applicable for both place-based and virtual sessions. The place-based format would entail presenter sharing their work in a conference like arrangement, with each person spending 12-15 minutes highlighting their key literature, framework, methods and findings. The virtual option would lead with a burning question that asks each presenter to contribute to the chat to create a more interactive format before each presenter shares his/her/their work.

Authors

• Keara L. Williams, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author

• Gene F McAdoo, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author