Impact of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy on School Belonging for an Ethnoracially Diverse Sample of U.S. Youth

• In Event: Factors Contributing to School Belonging and Adjustment in Ethnically Diverse Schools

Abstract

Sense of belonging is a crucial component of positive youth identity development. It has significant impacts on the overall well-being of youth and is informed by multiple contexts. The current prospective longitudinal study investigated how adolescents’ perceptions of teachers’ enactments of culturally sustaining pedagogy were associated with their sense of school belonging. Participants (N = 154) included high school students (65% female; 30% male, 5% another gender identity; Mage = 14.03 years; SD = 0.84; 23% Latine, 44% White, 17% Black, 7% Asian American, 10% other ethnoracial background). Findings indicated that teachers’ pedagogical practices that promoted critical consciousness were positively associated with students’ sense of school belonging.

Authors

• Melina Melgoza, Harvard University

• Michael R. Sladek, University of Oklahoma

• Megan Satterthwaite-Freiman, Harvard University

• Mamfatou Baldeh, Harvard University

• Stefanie Martinez-Fuentes, University of Arizona

• Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Harvard University