“I'm good on any MLK Boulevard”: Factors that Support Black Students' Brilliance Across Contexts

• In Event: Reconceptualizing the Role of Racialized Identities in Black and Latinx STEM Achievement

Abstract

For Black children in the United States, the schools they attend can represent a myriad of American beliefs and ideals that exist in opposition to their livelihood (Kohli et al., 2017). Understanding the beliefs, identity orientations, and agency Black students bring into these hostile contexts, may afford opportunities for us to learn about their experiences in ways that uplift and serve them. While many are embedded in urban and neighborhood schools among teachers and peers of the same race, many Black students also attend schools where they are minoritized. Regardless of school type and demographics, communal support and relationships, specific to ethnic-racial identity, may affect how Black children navigate academics. Assessing capital serves to underscore how Black students thrive and can be employed where students make up either the majority or minority.
This study explores how Black students excel across various contexts through a mixed methods study. In this study, I employ quantitative regression-based analyses and analyze qualitative semi-structured interviews, using an assets-based capital lens, to understand and investigate components of Black students’ emotional well-being. Quantitatively, I used public regard (Sellers et al., 1997) and critical consciousness socialization (Byrd, 2017) to predict resistance motivation (Carter, 2008) and sense of belonging (Walton & Cohen, 2007), respectively. Qualitatively, I used thematic analysis to analyze student storytelling and make sense of how they describe their worldviews. Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth (CCW) bolstered these mixed methods providing a well-rounded view of Black students and how they view themselves and influences on their livelihood.
The first quantitative research question is: What is the relationship between public regard and sense of belonging at school for Black students? The second research question is: What is the relationship between Black students’ perceptions of critical consciousness socialization and their resistance motivation? School type served as a moderator for both quantitative questions. My qualitative research question is: How are students making sense of racial climate across racially diverse schools and predominantly Black schools? This qualitative focus allowed a more concentrated and in-depth look at students’ meaning and world construction.
School type is a composite measure of the racial composition and academic achievement of the schools in this study. Twenty-four community-placed, homogeneously Black schools, are referenced as “predominantly Black schools” and the remaining five schools, all of which are magnet schools, are referenced as “racially diverse schools.”
Analyses within this study revealed significant factors in predicting both belonging and resistance motivation for Black adolescents regardless of school type. The qualitative findings created from the data include Overcoming Resistance, characterized as oppression within the coding process as mentions of imbalance of power, racial hierarchy, or marginalization. The second, Creating Capital within Mathematics is defined as communal involvement using or providing assistance toward academic trajectories. Continuing the work of this study in practice includes specific measures within school districts for Black students. Further in depth study along with advocating for student voice provides the space for their wealth to thrive beyond the classroom and into their educational experiences.

Authors

• Karina Forsythe, University of Michigan

• Jamaal Matthews, University of Michigan