Examining the Bright Spots: Successful Strategies for Promoting Black Student Success in K–12 Schools

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Black youth across Los Angeles County continue to underperform in comparison to their peers from other ethnic/racial backgrounds. Efforts to examine the reasons for underperformance of Black youth have often centered on deficit-based accounts of Black youth, families, and communities, while failing to examine structural factors which profoundly explain youth experiences and outcomes. Building on findings from a larger study titled “Beyond the Schoolhouse,” (Noguera et al, 2019) which identified non-school factors which effect Black student outcomes, this session highlights the “bright spots” where Black youth performed better than County and State level outcomes, and looks at characteristics within these schools which explain these performances, and offers considerations for how such efforts can be replicated.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Division G - Section 1: Education and Place, Space, Time

Chair

• Tyrone C. Howard, University of California - Los Angeles

Papers

• Your Network Is Your Net Worth: Exploring the Cultural Wealth That Is Keeping Black Students Experiencing Homelessness in School - Earl J. Edwards, Boston College

• Supporting Black Students in Brown Contexts - Tyrone C. Howard, University of California - Los Angeles

• Demonstrating Care and Empathy for Black Students in the Midst of a Global Pandemic - Jaleel R. Howard, University of California - Los Angeles

• Building a Culture of Excellence That Serves Black Students - Tr’Vel Lyons, University of Southern California

• Looking Back and Forward: Racialized Educational Experiences of Foster Youth in K–12 Schools - Demontea Thomspon, University of California - Los Angeles

Discussant

• Pedro A. Noguera, University of Southern California