“School Really Change my Personality”: Disrupting and Healing from Racism in Schools

• In Event: Perspectives on Racial Equity Practices: From Design to Impact

Abstract

Background and Perspective: Racism-related stress adversely impacts Black and Brown students (Njoroge et al., 2021) via implicit bias in interactions with teachers and peers, exclusionary discipline practices, and other racism-related stressors (Crutchfield et al., 2020). Robust literature demonstrates the protective and promotive nature of ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) in arming youth with adaptive coping mechanisms against the deleterious effects of racism, particularly when disseminated by caregivers (Hughes et al., 2006). Despite the significant role of schools in socializing youth, and rampant racialized discriminatory encounters in the school setting, little research exists on contexts of ERS outside of the home. There is a need to uplift student and caregiver perceptions to inform evidence-based interventions that can directly combat racism in PK-12 schools and highlight the cultural strengths of Black and Brown students and caregivers.

Objective: In this study, we aimed to: 1) explore student and caregiver perspectives of their school racial climate and 2) learn strategies that students and caregivers want schools to employ to dismantle racism and improve their racial climate.

Methods/Data Sources: The current study utilizes a qualitative exploratory design to uplift the voices of Black and Brown students and caregivers on their school racial climate. Qualitative focus groups and interviews were conducted from May 2022 to May 2023 with students and caregivers from a single K-8 charter school in a mid-Atlantic state of which 10 middle school students, 2 Kindergarteners, and 3 caregivers participated. Interviews and focus groups were recorded and transcribed. A team of six coders utilized inductive and deductive approaches to coding (Saldaña, 2021). Reliability and validity techniques were prioritized including memoing. We used reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021) of codes and excerpts to develop themes.

Results: Two themes emerged that described students and caregivers' perspectives of their racial climate: 1) school is a harmful place, with three subthemes that highlighted the punitive disciplinary climate, the danger in expressing their culture, and the racialized traumatic stress symptoms, and 2) school is characterized by avoidant and uncomfortable conversations, with one subtheme that emphasized the colorblind social-emotional learning messages. Two additional themes emerged to describe students and caregivers’ recommendations for schools to address and dismantle racism: schools need culturally affirming ways to address racism, with two subthemes that highlighted creation of safe spaces and emphasis on multiculturalism and cultural pride, and 2) schools need to acknowledge student/caregiver curiosity in learning about racism, with two subthemes that centered not sugarcoating lessons and encouraging open communication with parents. Contradictory evidence is also presented to bolster the reliability of the analysis.

Significance: Findings corroborate existing literature that school racial climate consists of intergroup interactions and structural components, including curriculum and discipline practices (e.g., Byrd, 2017). Further, school racial climate should be assessed beyond positive versus negative dimensions and disentangle the relationship between racial climate and perceived discrimination. Schools should include student and caregiver perspectives in their processes to dismantle racism, provide opportunities for honest and comprehensive discussions about racism, and offer celebratory materials to foster cultural pride.

Authors

• Amanda Parks, Nemours Children's Health

• Zumana Noor, Nemours Children's Health

• Melissa Stoffers, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Mehar Singh, Nemours Children's Health

• Alyssa Decino, Nemours Children's Health

• Tia Navelene Barnes, University of Delaware

• Kira S. Branch, Nemours Children's Health

• Danielle Hatchimonji, Lurie Children's