Making Youth Matter:Exclusion and its Impact on the

School Lives of AfricanAmerican Students

Celeste L. Hawkins, PhD, LMSWManisha Leary, LMSW

College of Health and Human Services, School of Social WorkEastern Michigan University

Introduction

This qualitative dissertation study explored:

• How low-income African American students, whohave already experienced forms of exclusion in theirK-12 schooling, view their educational experiences.

• The perceptions of parents, coaches and socialworkers about the schooling experiences ofstudents.

2

The Problem• African Americans’ experiences in school have been linked to

academic under-achievement and educational inequality fordecades.

• Deficit perspectives have focused mainly on the problems ofpoor and minority students and their families who are viewedas products of deteriorating communities, broken homes, andlabeled as culturally disadvantaged and unmotivated (Anyon,2005; Gorski, 2013; Oakes, 1985; Trueba, 1988; Valencia,1997).

• Absent from the discourse are the structural andenvironmental inequities that promote educational failure.

3

Research Questions Guiding thisStudy• How do exclusion and marginalization impact the

schooling experiences of African American children?

• How do low-income, low-achieving AfricanAmerican students perceive and experience theirschool lives?

• In what ways do educational policies and practicesserve to exclude or include students, and how dostudents create their own meanings based on theirlived experiences?

4

Study Participants23 participants9 Students (five female; four male; middle and

high school)• 10 Parents (nine single-headed households,

one two-parent household)• 2 Athletic Coaches• 2 Social WorkersA total of 32 interviews were completed; 23

initial and 9 follow-up interviews withstudents 5

Student ParticipantsRuth: Sixteen-year-old female high school student; eleventh grade. Teen parent living in an

alternative cooperative living environment; attends school in a suburban community.

Esther: Seventeen-year-old female high school student; twelfth grade. Teen parent living inan alternative cooperative living environment; attends school in a suburban community.

Elisabeth: Eighteen-year-old female high school student; eleventh grade. Working towardsGeneral Education Diploma (GED) completion. Attends school in a suburbancommunity.

Sarah : Fourteen-year-old female high school student; ninth grade. Attends school in asuburban community.

Mary: Fifteen-year-old female high school student; tenth grade. Attends school in an urbancommunity.

Mark: Sixteen-year-old male high school student ; eleventh grade. Attends school in anurban community.

Luke: Fourteen-year-old male middle school student; eighth grade. Attends school in anurban community.

Samuel: Fourteen-year-old male middle school student; eighth grade. Attends school in anurban community.

Isaiah: Thirteen-year-old male middle school student; seventh grade . Attends school in anurban community. 6

Study Sample &Participant RecruitmentStudy Inclusion Criteria:

• Middle and High School Students• All public school students

•Low Achieving•GPA of 1.9 or below

•Low-income:•Self-reports, HUD poverty guidelines

•Special Education Students•Excluded from School:

•Suspended Students7

Additional ParticipantsParents

Rebekah (Ruth’s mom): White, 37, married.Martha (Esther’s mom): African American, 46, single parent.Salome (Luke’s mom): African American, 39, single parent.Karen (Mark’s mom): African American, 35, married.David (Mark’s dad): African American, 38, married.Eunice (Isaiah’s mom): African American, 45, single parent.Rachel (Sarah’s mom): African American, 39, single parent.Angel (Mary’s mom): African American, 36, single parent.Hannah (Elisabeth’s mom): African American, 33, single parent.

Social WorkersMs. Light: African American social worker; works with underserved youth in acooperative living environment.Ms. Hope: African American social worker works with underserved youth as aneducational liaison in a cooperative living environment.

CoachesMr. Sampson: African American public high school administrator and athleticdirector.Mr. Jericho: African American public high school coach. 8

Methodology• A Qualitative Approach utilizing

Phenomenology as the key research modecombined with Critical Ethnography

• Phenomenology honors and highlights theindividual lived experiences of the researchparticipants and focuses on their stories.

• Critical ethnography analyzes studentexperiences juxtaposed against the policies andpractices embedded in the broader system ofeducational inequality.

(Guajardo & Guajardo, 2002; Polakow, 1993, 2007; Zou &Trueba,2002)

9

Methodology• Interviews were the primary method of data collection as

they allowed me to explore the emic which Seidman describesas “understanding the experiences of other people and themeaning they make from that experience” (Seidman, 2006, p.9).

• Open-ended and semi-structured questions were used toallow the participants an opportunity to share theirexperiences and perceptions in a manner that was notleading, but exploratory (Seidman, 2006).

• Transcriptions were completed solely by the researcher,allowing for a deeper understanding and analysis of the data.

10

Referential Adequacy, StructuralCorroboration, Consensual ValidityIn qualitative research achieving consensual validity, structural corroboration,

and referential adequacy provides evidence of a research project’sauthenticity and trustworthiness (Eisner, 1991).

• Structural corroboration deals with the whole—and is achieved whenall the pieces of the research puzzle fit together and the thematic analysisis grounded in the use of thick descriptions to illuminate the livedexperiences.

• Consensual validity was supported by the recurring patterns that led tothe same thematic conclusions and the fact that although the studentsrepresented four different districts in Southeast Michigan, they sharedsimilar experiences.

• Referential adequacy was supported by using a variety of relevantresearch to demonstrate coherence between the data, theories, andexisting literature on the subject to support the research study.

11

Theoretical Frameworks• Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) involves a pedagogy that

embraces diversity, fosters respectful student teacher relationships, andaffirms cultural identities (Ladson-Billings, 2006, 2009).

• Critical Race Theory (CRT) is an analytic framework to explore themarginalization and stigmatization of African American students and tochallenge the dominant discourse through the use of counter narrativesand story-telling (Bell, 1992).

• Goffman’s (1963) seminal work on stigma demonstrates how membersof “other” groups are often subject to experiences of stigmatization,stereotyping, and exclusion.

• A Rights-Based Framework examines how children and youth whoare excluded from school, experience fundamental violations of theirhuman rights. The Convention on the Rights of the Child addresses the right toan education that is “child-centered, child-friendly, and empowering”(CRC, 1989, Articles 28, 29).

12

Children’s Rights

•In the United States, education is not a constitutional right, and it fallsto state constitutions to ensure a free public education for all (UnitedStates Constitution Equal Protection Clause, 14th Amendment).

•The International Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) wasadopted in 1989 and has been ratified by 191 countries; yet theUnited States remains an outlier in failing to ratify the CRC.

•From a rights-based framework children and youth who areexcluded from school, experience fundamental violations of theirhuman rights limiting their voice and participation.

•The fundamental rights articulated by the CRC and otherInternational Conventions, are violated by exclusionary schoolpractices and policies (Articles, 12, 28, 29). 13

Educational ExclusionFor students who are impoverished and confronting multiple risk factors, it is

clear that “denying access to education can produce life alteringresults…and for these vulnerable youth the effects are often especiallydire” (Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute, 2012, p.7).

Research demonstrates that many students continue to be excluded frommeaningful participation in education, leading to widespread disparitieswhich include:

• Lower academic achievement;• Lower teacher expectations;• Inadequate and under-resourced schools in vulnerable and

oppressed communities;• Over representation in suspension/expulsion rates, special

education and referrals to juvenile court that often lead toeducational exclusion and violations of students’ rights.

(ACLU, 2008, 2009; Robbins, 2008; Skiba & Noam, 2002)

14

Research Findings

• Lack of Belonging• Lack of a Care• Disrupted Education• Debilitating Discipline• Language Games• Persistence and Resilience• Alternatives that Work

15

In Their Words: Lack of BelongingRuth, a sixteen year-old high-school student shares how her academic

struggles in school led to feelings of exclusion:

If you answered the question wrong, he [the teacher]wouldmake you feel stupid…I just basically ignored it and kindasat there and didn’t say anything...we hated being in thatclass…I always felt uncomfortable…the few black studentswho were there were always treated differently.

Conversely, Ruth discusses the significance of a supportive, caring andvalidating teacher-student relationship at her new alternative school:

He said he thinks I’m one of the smartest kids in theschool. No one has ever told me that before. I know they[principal and teachers] really care ‘cause he didn’t haveto say nothing like that to me. 16

In Their Words: Lack of CareElisabeth, a seventeen year-old student recalls feeling disconnected, having a

low self concept, and not perceiving herself as being as smart as the otherstudents due to her learning disability. She shares:

They say I have a learning disability and I learn differentlythan the other kids . . . it just seems because I struggled somuch that’s what it means that I can’t learn stuff easy andteachers never told me I was smart all I heard was howhard of a time I was having you know?

She describes her feelings:I mean like I said before if you weren’t a smart kid theyreally didn’t pay much attention to you…there wereteachers who never cared if I came to school or not. Iguess those teachers didn’t really care about me.

17

In Their Words: Disrupted Education

Isaiah, a middle school student has internalized feelings of being a trouble-maker:Well, some teachers try to help but most of them act like theydon’t wanna be there and they really only pay attention to kidswhen they doing something wrong. I don’t like to raise my hand inclass really cause they think I’m a trouble maker…the teachersthink just try to get the bad kids out of their class so they don’t haveto deal with them in their class.

Luke, another participant in the study shares:It’s always stuff for the good kids like rewards assemblies, but all weget is worksheets and referrals.

Ruth points out how a disaffirming teacher caused students to disengage in the classroomleading to disruptions in student learning:

In class we just stayed to ourselves…I only passed because I had atutor, he [the teacher] sure didn’t help me with anything. 18

In Their Words: DebilitatingDiscipline

Luke, a middle school student does not believe students receive fair consequences whenthey break the school rules and goes on to express how:

Like being late to school or being around a situation that had nothingto do with you means you get in trouble too, so times like that it’s notfair.

Luke offers a critical viewpoint about metal detectors in school, the long lines studentsneed to stand in to get into the building, and points out the absurdity of theconsequences,

They suspend you for being late…it’s just stupid, like I couldn’t getin and now I can’t even come back.

Mark, a high school student also believes that consequences in school are not fair aseducational time is lost. He shares:

I think that kids mess up every now and then and that doesn’t makeem’ bad kids, and it doesn’t mean that we don’t want to learn...beingkicked out of school for dumb stuff don’t make sense and then youare not learning anything, so I don’t really know how that helps.

19

In Their Words: Language GamesStudents expressed feeling judged based on the way they spoke, and how they would

often engage in code-switching.

Ruth shares feelings of being judged based on how she spoke:

I think they was judging me because I talk black…they had aproblem with me…and they way I talk.

Isaiah shares how he engages in code-switching between home and school:

Like in school around my friends I can talk how I want but justnot like everywhere people don’t understand the slang we use.

Mark also shared how he talks differently in school because as his grandmother alwaysreminds him, the teachers,

Won’t think you smart if you talking in slang. 20

In Their Words: Persistence andResilience

Esther’s is determined to complete school in spite of the setbacks and stigmashe encountered. In her words:

It don’t matter, cause I’m gonna finish school, you betterbelieve that! . . . I know I need to do well for my son.

Another instance of determination and resilience can be found in the case ofIsaiah, who expressed how he wants to make his mother proud,

I know my mom wants me to do good in school, so I canbe something and ‘cause she is always harping on that. Istay in school at least so I can try.

21

Alternatives that workStudents who transferred to alternative programs spoke highly about the levels of

support available to promote their success.• Family-like support structures, in which caring peers and adults are the rule and not

the exception.• The staff in these schools often create opportunities and expand possibilities for

students as they integrate learning and meaningful work.• The structure also includes an ongoing commitment to the training and development

of staff• Alternative programs place a heavy emphasis on developing and transforming the

whole child by focusing on individual learning needs and helping students see howthey can contribute to their communities and society at large.

Esther, who found success in an alternative environment states:Like when I get frustrated, my teacher will let me stay after and shewill work with me just one-on-one. There are some days when myteacher will stay behind a few hours just to make sure I’ve done allmy work for that day. I really like her, she tells us all the time “noone is going to fail in my class” and I believe her too!

22

Voices of Social Workers,Coaches, and ParentsMs. Light, an African American social worker shares her perspective on why she believes students

disengage from school:I think students disengage when they don’t feel supported . . . schools needto get better at giving students the supports they need . . . we all knowstudents don’t learn the same, especially Black students, and I feel that itis the school’s responsibility to make sure there are different teachingstyles for all children . . . it is not a one size fits all, different students needdifferent things.

Mr. Sampson, an African American school administrator and athletic director states:Many teachers do not have the connections needed to make a studentopen to receiving what they are teaching or have not established arelationship including trust . . . I just think that when you are genuine withkids they know. . .as educators we have to make the educational processrelevant to who they are and be genuine with our kids . . .

Esther’s mother, Martha offers her perspective, sharing:I know based on my own struggles all those years ago that you need a lotof support to get through school. I know times are different now, but ourkids have other pressures to deal with and they need as much support asthey can get and everybody plays a part in making sure children have agood education.

23

Student RecommendationsRuth insightfully and simply points out,

Schools can be a good place if the right people areheading it up.

Elisabeth’s recommendations for ensuring students are supportedare simple and memorable:

Someone should reach out to the kids that arestruggling…I think it was probably a lot of kids likeme that didn’t feel like they were smart enough tofinish school, and just dropped out…being thereand showing support for kids can really help themgo a long way I think. 24

Recommendations andImplications• Importance of focusing on student strengths and promoting agency• Importance of listening to youth voices• Importance of challenging dominant deficit-based discoursesPolicy and Practice Implications

• Promote Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in schools.• Provide access to a rigorous and engaging curriculum.• Promote and encourage supportive, caring, and positive

student-teacher-parent relationships.• Critically examine school policies that exclude students and

provide the necessary supports to increase rates of schoolsuccess and promote inclusive practices in schools.

• Explore collaborative strategies to support student learningamong educators, social workers, and coaches.

25

Areas for Future Research• Conducting research which focuses on understanding the

differences in schooling among diverse students.• Conducting further qualitative studies with students from

various racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds tohighlight voice and agency and pay attention to theirperspectives and solutions.

• Conducting further mixed-method studies using qualitativeand quantitative data to examine exclusion and its widespreadimpact on academic achievement and student well-being in USschools.

• Conducting further research on alternatives that work inschool by focusing on student strengths to increase levels ofengagement and promote academic success among students.

26

Final Words• Educators, social workers, and coaches are poised to play a vital

role in supporting students through collaborative efforts inorder to promote increased levels of academic success.

• Focusing on the strengths and assets of students and parents iscritical for academic success.

• Focusing on what works by positively influencing the educationaltrajectories of those African American students who are on themargins in order to ensure all youth matter.

• Excluding marginalized students from meaningful participation ineducation denies children their basic rights—this is a socialjustice issue that must be consistently and intentionallyaddressed.

27

ReferencesAmerican Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. (2008). Schools for all campaign: The school

bias and push-out problem. Retrieved from https://www.aclunc.org/s4a/full_report.pdfAmerican Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. (2009). Reclaiming Michigan’s throwaway kids: Students

trapped in the school to prison pipeline. Retrieved fromhttp://www.aclumich.org/sites/default/files/file/ACLUSTPP.pdf

Anyon, J. (2005). Radical possibilities: Public policy, urban education, and a new social movement. NewYork: Routledge.

Bell, D. (1992). Faces at the bottom of the well: The permanence of racism. New York: Basic Books.Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). (1989, November 20). United Nations Office of the

High Commissioner for Human Rights. Retrieved fromhttp://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm

Eisner, E. (1991). The enlightened eye. New York, NY: McMillon.Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute (2012). Kept out: Barriers to meaningful education in

the school-to prison pipeline. Retrieved from http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/human-rights-institute/fact-finding/upload/KeptOut.pdf

Gorski, P. C. (2013). Reaching and teaching students in poverty: Strategies for erasing the opportunitygap. New York: Teachers College Press.

28

ReferencesGuajardo M., & Guajardo F. (2002). Critical ethnography and community change. In Zou, Y. &

Trueba, E.T. (Eds.). Ethnography and schools: Qualitative approaches to the study of Education(pp. 281-301). Oxford, England: Rowman & Littlefield.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understandingachievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher 35, 3–12.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2009/2011). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African-American children.San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Oakes, J. (1985). Keeping track: How schools structure inequality. New Haven, CT: Yale UniversityPress.

Polakow, V. (1993). Lives on the edge: Single mothers and their children in the other America. Chicago,IL: University of Chicago Press.

Polakow, V. (2007). Who cares for our children: The child care crisis in the other America. New York,NY: Teachers College Press

Seidman, I. (2006). Interviewing as qualitative research. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.Skiba, R., & Noam, G. G. (Eds.). (2002). Zero tolerance: Can suspensions and expulsions keep schools

safe? San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Trueba, E. H. T. (1988). Culturally based explanations of minority students' academic

achievement. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 19(3), 270–287

29

ReferencesTrueba, E. T. (1988). Culturally based explanations of minority students' academic

achievement. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 19(3), 270–287.U.S. Constitution: Fourteenth Amendment retrieved from

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendmentValencia, R. R. (Ed.). (1997). The evolution of deficit thinking: Educational thought and practice.

Washington, DC: Falmer Press.Zou, Y., & Trueba, E.T. (2002). Ethnography and schools: Qualitative Approaches to the Study of

Education. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefied

30