Education Commons^™

It's The Focus On Black Girls For Me: A Mixed Methods Inquiry Into Perceptions Of School Climate, Eshe Price

Theses and Dissertations

Local and national context, along with some educational research, indicate the racialized and gendered challenges Black girls are facing in schools. Although there has been an increase in research centered on Black girls' schooling experiences, few studies investigate the realities Black girls face in rural communities. Accordingly, the aim of this three-article dissertation is to deepen our understanding of Black girls' schooling experiences in order to improve the climate in schools for Black girls in predominantly white, rural communities. The first article is a conceptual paper that unpacks the four tenets of critical race quantitative intersectionality (CRQI). The second article …

How Much Is A Little Girl Worth? A Critical Qualitative Inquiry Of The Systemic Dehumanization Of Black Girls Through Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (Dmst) And How Schools Can Play A Pivotal Role In Prevention, Nermin Dia Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Black girls who have experienced childhood sexual abuse are disproportionately exploited through domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST)- as the intersection of their experiences of systemic marginalization exacerbates their trauma and increases their vulnerability to DMST. The purpose of this critical qualitative study, involving 10 Black girls and 13 women of color advocates, was to explore the self-identified and observed ways in which systems, especially schools, silence Black and Brown girls, as well as their recommendations for educators/schools and other systems to play a role in DMST prevention. This study builds on existing research on the adultification, criminalization, and sexualization of …

"To Get Free": How A Black Girl’S Ways Of Being And Knowing Inform A Literacy Teacher’S Multimodal Pedagogies In An Alternative Secondary Context, Delicia Tiera Greene Ph.D.

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This qualitative inquiry examines how a White literacy teacher learns from and with a Black girl through multimodal composing in an out-of-school, alternative learning context. Data collection instruments include field observations, teacher planning sheets, teacher reflections, and researcher feedback. Multimodal Literacy Pedagogy and Black Girls’ Digital Literacies drove this study. Critical Discourse Analysis was employed to interpret the data. This inquiry accounts for the factors that reposition the role of a literacy teacher while working with a Black girl’s digital story development process. This inquiry found a literacy teacher’s multimodal pedagogies were shaped by a Black girl’s: (1) home, community, …

For Colored Girls Who Have Experienced Institutional Racism Because The Discipline Code Is Not Enuf: Principals And Assistant Principals, School Discipline Policies, And Discipline Disparities Faced By Black Girls, Lecinda R. Jennings

Theses and Dissertations

For many years, school discipline has been a research focus, particularly the disparities in discipline between Black and White males. Black girls are suspended at a rate that is 5.3 times that of White girls and approximately the same rate as Black boys. Black girls represent the fastest growing group of students who receive discipline disparities. The goal of this case study was to explore if and how principals and assistant principals contribute to discipline disparities faced by Black girls. I discussed the lived experiences of high school administrators to capture their encounters with race, gender, and the implementation of …

Black Female Students’ Perspectives And Experiences With School Resource Officers, Kimberly M. Redding

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black female students are disciplined disproportionately compared to other female students in the Georgia public school system. Negative interactions with school resource officers (SROs) may leave Black female students feeling unsafe at school. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore seven Black female students’ perceptions and interpretations of their experiences with SROs in the school setting in the state of Georgia. Purposive sampling strategy was used to solicit Black female students ages 18 to 22; interviews were conducted via Zoom. Labeling theory and the theory of self-fulfilling prophecy provided the framework for explaining how Black female students …

Creating Crescent: Using Youth Participatory Action Research (Ypar) And Public Media To Promote Epistemic Agency Among Black Girls In South Carolina, Salandra Bowman

Theses and Dissertations

This study uses womanist methodology and youth participatory action research (YPAR), centering the ways of knowing of Black girls, with a focus on epistemic agency, to engage Black girls in the production of educational media. Such a study is necessary because Black girls are underrepresented in educational media, overrepresented in cases of school discipline, and overrepresented in reports of physical violence in schools. As public media is recognized as a transformative intervention in improving learning outcomes for children, addressing the underrepresentation of Black girlhood therein creates opportunities to address these intersecting issues and create humanizing educational media for all students. …

Not Suspended But Not Protected: Challenging School Discipline Reform In The Name Of Restorative Justice For Young Adult Black Girls, Iesha Jackson

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This interpretive case study examines the impact of one high school’s mediation process, which is intended to be a restorative practice, on the schooling experiences of three “overage, under-credited," young adult Black girls. Using critical race theory, this study explicates how the school’s approach to mediation fails to protect these students from both physical and structural violence. While it is important that the findings lay a foundation for understanding the contexts of anti-Blackness in restorative practices in schools, insights from this study can also help establish culturally and contextually specific approaches to mediation for young adult Black girls in high …

Demands For “Sisterly” Love: Exploring The Hyperpenalization Of Black Girls In The School District Of Philadelphia, Danielle Miles-Langaigne

CUREJ - College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal

An immense amount of research, memos, and scholarship has surfaced in the last decade considering the school-to-prison pipeline and Black boys’ involuntary participation in it. Various education scholars have presented data emphasizing how Black male students are disproportionately punished–notably in ways that negatively impact their prospects for educational attainment, social mobility, and long-term empowerment. Many, however, fail to consider their close counterparts: Black girls. This thesis expands upon the Crenshaw, Ocen, and Nanda (2015) report to see if Black girls are also disproportionately penalized in Philadelphia public schools within the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) at higher rates relative to …

Challenging Whiteness At Claremont High School, Terri Nicol Watson, Angel Miles Nash

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Ebony Wright was slated to graduate from Claremont High School in the spring. She was on the honor roll, captain of the girls’ varsity softball and swim teams, and recently awarded an academic scholarship to attend a highly ranked university in the fall. Ebony was a “model” student. How she found herself sitting in the principal’s office several weeks before graduation was a shock to everyone. This case study challenges the function of whiteness in school policies. Aspiring school and teacher leaders are provided with the opportunity to consider the impact of a seemingly race-neutral school dress code policy.

When Black [Girls’] Lives Really Matter, Angela Patton

Richmond Racial Equity Essays: Individual Essays

The author outlines ways Richmond can support Black women and girls. Her vision of an equitable Richmond is one where we see, hear, and celebrate Black girls. It’s one where we experience Black girl “magic,” and we give them every opportunity and resource to achieve and thrive.

Black Girls In 3d Disruptive, Defiant, And Disrespectful: Case Studies Of Culturally Responsive And Sustaining Classroom Management Practices In An Urban Middle School, Janeen Perry-Campbell

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Extensive research has been conducted on the disproportionate amount of suspensions that occur among Black boys, however, there is an emerging body of research that suggests that the rate of suspensions among Black girls is increasing. The most common behaviors that Black girls receive office referrals for, are subjective behaviors such as being disruptive, defiant, and disrespectful. (Nunn, 2018). The purpose of this study was to examine how Culturally Responsive Classroom Management (CRCM) strategies reduce the disproportionate amount of suspensions that Black girls received. This qualitative study conducted through case studies focused on how the teachers’ culturally responsive and sustaining …

For Us: Towards An Intersectional Leadership Conceptualization By Black Women For Black Girls, Angel Miles Nash, April L. Peters

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This article is based on a STEM education case study that illumines the work that three Black women school leaders do specifically on behalf of Black girls, and in examining their asset-based approaches, conceptualises their work by articulating an intersectional leadership framework. By historicising and explicating the rich legacy of Black women school leaders, and specifically including the theoretical dispositions in which their pedagogy is rooted, we shine a light on the lacuna that exists in educational leadership that specifically articulates their praxes when working on behalf of students with whom they identify – that is, Black girls. Black women …

Eliminating Achievement And Opportunity Gaps: Supporting Black Girls As Mathematicians, Carolyn Fitzpatrick

Graduate Teacher Education

The research examined achievement and opportunity gaps for Black girls in the discipline of mathematics. Initiatives for mathematics programs were emphasized in secondary schools to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in mathematics for economic advancement but failed to include certain minority groups. Researchers found underrepresentation of Black girls and women in mathematics programs, at the secondary and post-secondary level, and mathematics-related careers. Upon further investigation, researchers concluded there were achievement and opportunity gaps for Black girls in mathematics. This study was unique from other achievement studies that focused solely on gender or race because of Black girls’ double …

The Rose Who Grew From Concrete: A Black Female Administrator's Perspective Of The Public School Experience For Black Girls Who Attend A Predominantly White Middle School In Southeast Georgia, Latashia S. Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the educational experiences of Black girls who attended a predominantly White school in Southeast Georgia from the perspective of a Black female administrator. Using Critical Race Theory (e.g. Bell, 1987, 1992, 1995; Delgado & Stefancic, 2001; Solorzano & Yosso, 2001) and Black Feminist Thought (e.g. Hill Collins, 2000; hooks, 1984/2000) as theoretical frameworks and memoir (Angelou, 1969/2009; Hurston, 1996) and fiction (Bell, 1992; Morrison, 1970/1993) as methodology, I explore ways in which Black girls are oppressed when they attend majority White public schools.

Six meanings emerged from this inquiry: (1) Writing my memoir has allowed me to …

Perceptions Of Restorative Practices Among Black Girls: Talking Circles In An Urban Alternative Middle School., Vanessa Marie Mcphail

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that Restorative Justice approaches have shown promise in terms of their impact on school climate, student behavior, and relationships. The purpose of this study is to explore Black female students’ perceptions of Restorative Practice (RP) talking circles at an alternative school. The study examined literature on Zero Tolerance, School Discipline Disparities, African American Female students, Intersectionality, Restorative Justice, and Alternative Schools. A qualitative case study method was used for this study, drawing from two sources: (a) face-to-face interviews and (b) observations of the Black female students who attend the alternative school and participate in the talking circles. Analyses …

“Orange Is The New Black” Comes To New Jersey’S Public Schools: Black Girls And Disproportionate Rates Of Out‑Of‑School Suspensions And Expulsions, Dierdre Paul, Jacqueline Araneo

Department of Teaching and Learning Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper explores out-of-school suspensions and expulsions among Black females, who have often been ignored in the extant educational research literature. More specifically, the authors explore the question of whether Black females have been overrepresented in out-of-school suspensions and expulsions in New Jersey public schools. Using data from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), the authors found that Black females in New Jersey have in fact been overrepresented in both, out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. The extent of that overrepresentation of Black females has not only worsened over time but could also be considered graver in New Jersey than in the …

We Wear The Mask: Stories Of The Black Girl Middle School Experience In Predominantly White, Elite, Independent Schools, Tina B. Evans

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examined the experiences of Black middle school girls who attend predominantly white, elite, independent schools in the Greater Los Angeles area. Using Critical Race Theory, Black Identity Theory, and Black Feminism Theory as a conceptual framework, this qualitative research explored the role of race, class, gender, and parental support as contributing factors to the development of participants’ racial consciousness. Utilizing timeline interviews and critical narratives to explore the lived histories of each student and parent participant, data analysis included content coding based on themes that emerged throughout the narrative examination. An analysis of the narratives of student participants …

What About Us? For Girls Between Worlds: How Black Girls Navigate White High Schools, Cryslynn C. Billingsley

Dissertations

This qualitative study is about the experiences and challenges Black girls have while attending predominantly White high schools and what they are doing to navigate that particular space. The purpose of this study was to explore and understand more about how Black girls navigate White space as minority members of a system that was not originally intended for them. Through semi-structured interviews, Black girls were asked directly to share their lived experiences. This study hopes to illuminate and amplify the voices of Black girls and help others see them by giving them a platform to discuss and tell their stories. …

Untying The Knot, Charisse Jones

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Where Our Girls At? The Misrecognition Of Black And Brown Girls In Schools, Amanda E. Lewis, Deana G. Lewis

Occasional Paper Series

Black and brown girls remain too often at the margins not only in society at large and in our schools but also in our research and writing about schools. Herein we argue for careful consideration of the specific ways that their raced and gendered identities render these girls vulnerable and put them in jeopardy so that educators and scholars do not become complicit in their marginalization. We focus on dynamics of invisibility and hypervisibility. While these dynamics may seem to be diametrically opposite, both involve the process of what scholar Nancy Fraser (2000) calls “misrecognition” (p. 113).

Magical Black Girls In The Education Industrial Complex: Making Visible The Wounds Of Invisibility, Teri A. Mcmurtry-Chubb

Journal of Educational Controversy

Black girls in public school are constantly exposed to physical violence, racialized gender hostility and harassment, and hate speech. Yet, the national narrative perpetuates the belief that Black boys are the main targets of such behaviors. This narrative renders Black girls invisible, and normalizes their treatment as another beam in the framework of white supremacy. This article addresses Black girls' invisibility first creatively, though the African diasporic rhetorical practice of storytelling. It then turns to an exploration of Fennell v. Marion Independent School District, where three sisters were subjected to a racially hostile educational environment in Marion, TX. The article …

Queens Speak - A Youth Participatory Action Research Project: Exploring Critical Post-Traumatic Growth Among Black Girls Within The School To Prison Pipeline, Stacey Michelle Ault

Doctoral Dissertations

A gap exists in both research and practice when it comes to issues related to girls within the school-to-prison pipeline. Girls are also often ignored in the educational literature about trauma. Educators tend to take a deficit approach toward youth experiencing trauma and often reinforce trauma through discriminatory and exclusionary disciplinary practices. Using a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methodology centered in the lives of Black girls, with an intentional focus on their agency and growth, this study educated, coached, and supported a research team called Queens Speak. The primary purpose of this qualitative study was to elevate the voices …

Black Female Adolescents And Racism In Schools: Experiences In A Colorblind Society, Nicole Joseph, Kara Viesca, Margarita Bianco

Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

This article takes up the questions: (a) How do Black female adolescents define racism?, (b) What kind of experiences with racism to they report having in schools?, and (c) How can these perspectives and experiences inform educational reform efforts? The in-depth analysis of 18 student surveys and interviews revealed that most of the definitions of racism centered on prejudice, discrimination, and differential treatment; and most of the experiences the girls described regarding racism in school illustrated issues of prejudice, discrimination, and differential treatment as well as stereotypes, labels and low teacher expectations. Critical Race Theory, Critical Race Feminism, and Black …

Engaging School Leaders, Empowering Voices, & Exposing Strengths : Lived Experiences Of The Discipline Gap And School-To-Prison Pipeline., Marcia Faye Carmichael-Murphy, Larhondolyn Michelle Mathies, Erica Elizabeth Young

College of Education & Human Development Capstone Projects

This capstone project includes three distinct studies that explore issues of race, discipline and education. Existing literature underscores the over disciplining of students of Color. Research indicates programs like Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) are successful in decreasing disproportionate discipline for minority students in urban schools. No studies have addressed urban school leaders make sense of PBIS within the racialized context of their schools. The purpose of the first study is to explore ways principals make sense of PBIS policy in the racial context of their schools. This study also explores the role of racialized discourses in principal Sensemaking …

Speaking Of Right And Wrong: Black Girls And Moral Development, Tonya Bibbs

Dissertations

Our current approaches to moral development were generalized from the experiences of white males and females. This study draws upon existing theory in order to consider its relevance to Black girls' everyday lives. The study draws upon the moral reasoning gathered from ethnographic dilemma interviews with 8-11 year old girls and their mothers to develop a grounded theory of moral development. The contents of the resulting theory suggest that, while there are aspects of existing moral development theory that appear to be consistent across contexts, the particularity of Black community and middle childhood culminate in a theory of moral development …

Race, Gender, And The "School To Prison Pipeline": Expanding Our Discussion To Include Black Girls, Monique W. Morris

Monique W. Morris

No abstract provided.