Distant Relatives: A Generational Exploration of Black Girls' Experiences in Providence Public Schools

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 10:50 am
  In Roundtable Session: Lighting Our Way Home: Recovering Community, Youth, and Educator Stories as Resistance (Table 27)

Abstract

Black folk across the diaspora are inherently connected. Whether we know one another personally or not, there are common threads across our life stories that create connection and, ultimately knowing and understanding one another in ways that people from outside of our community cannot. Whether through our professions, religious or spiritual practice, parenting, or challenges faced in the societal systems we navigate, we often (re)member and share those experiences as a way to cope. In the US, one common thread woven through all of our experiences is the education system.
This paper examines the lived experiences of Black girls and their mothers in public high schools in Providence, Rhode Island. Through a series of kitchen table talks, we navigate anti-blackness and the ways it manifests in the educational and social aspects of school. This project explores possible linkages between the experiences of Black mothers and children who attended Providence Public Schools and the ways their experiences impact learning, parenting, and mother/daughter relationships.
Providence, RI is a city that has faced numerous challenges within its public school system for the past three decades. Providence has been in various states of academic remediation since the early 1990s, ultimately resulting in a state takeover of the school system (Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, 2019). The district serves 22,000 students (PPSD, 2023). Of the 3,300 black students in the district, less than half are girls (US Department of Education, 2023). Additionally, 2% of all teachers in the state are Black (Rhode Island Kids Count, 2023). The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) recently released its district report card for the 2021-22 school year. According to RICAS standardized testing 14.9% of students in Providence Public Schools are proficient in English Language Arts and 10.2% are proficient in Mathematics (RIDE, 2023). Black students are the second lowest-performing population in the district (RIDE, 2023). Additionally, only 40% of students and families in grades 6-12 in Providence have a favorable view of the climate in the schools and less than ⅓ of students feel the system is appropriately preparing students for college or careers (RIDE, 2023).
Providence also is in alignment with national data on Black students in school. Nationally, Black students are disproportionately recipients of out-of-school suspensions though they are a smaller part of the school-age population. During the 2015-16 school year Black students made up 16% of the school-aged population but received 39% of the school suspensions given out that year (Bell, 2020). Black students also perceive these discipline disparities in their daily experiences within school walls. Black students feel less safe in schools and believe their experiences are excessive, based on the behavioral infractions committed (Bell, 2020). Research also offers that while Black girls report feeling physically safe at school, many felt their well-being was at risk, as the girls faced harassment from faculty and staff and police searches at school, thus impacting their mental health (Watson, 2016).

Author

• Princess Garrett, University of Massachusetts - Amherst