Admitted but Not Welcome: Experiences of Black Youth in Suburban Schools

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Cultivating Bridges of Restoration for Healing Within Marginalized Communities (Table 2)

Abstract

This study explored the phenomenological experiences of Black youth in suburban high schools (Chapman, 2017; Ferguson, 2002). Through a series of focus groups, students provided testimony about their experiences in their respective suburban school sites during the course of the 2022-2023 school year. Overall, the findings reflected that the totality of Black student’s interactions with educators and peers in suburban schools had profound effects on student identity development. The implications of this study yield multiple pathways towards ensuring the futurity of Black student education. I posit the need for further scholarship on the schooling experiences of Black suburban youth. Additionally, I urge teacher education programs to better prepare Black student-teachers for the racialized experiences they may encounter in suburban faculties.

Author

• Tamra Gertrude Jenkins, University of the Pacific