In case you're interested...

At the end of last week I finished my big fat Master's Project! Woo hoo! On Tuesday I finished the 65 page paper and on Thursday I made a presentation to my class on "White Teachers Encouraging Black Students to Develop Positive Racial Identities." In case you're interested, here are the basics of my project:

Even when you correct for things like socioeconomic status and parents' level of education, there is still an achievement gap in our country--i.e. minority students don't score as well on tests as White kids. People really can't figure out why that is or how to fix it.

Some researchers have found that successful minority students point to their ethnic heritage as a source of strength and motivation to do well in school. That is not as true for Black students because they have the unique circumstance of having the worst stereotypes working against them, which they internalize. What that means is that while some minority groups have positive racial identities (meaning they have a positive sense of what it means to be Asian or Hispanic, etc), being Black is still seen as a rather negative concept, even--and research proves this to be true--for Black students themselves.

If students develop a more positive racial identity, research has suggested they will get better grades, score better on tests, be more motivated, be more likely to graduate, have higher career aspirations, and be more likely to go to college. Identity development largely takes place in school and schools have a deep impact on the decisions kids come to about what it means to be Black. Since we're influencing their identities whether we are aware of it or not, and since their conclusions have such a deep impact on their success, I decided to see whether White teachers can encourage Black students to have a more positive racial identity in hopes that it would help them to achieve more academically.

Since I don't have my own classroom right now, I went to a school that is about 25% Black in the city and conducted interviews with White teachers, a focus group with Black students, and classroom observations.

Here are a few of my findings:

First of all, my data holds true with the idea that even for the Black students, being Black is still largely seen as a negative construct. The kids and teachers had a hard time defining what it means to be Black, although they could tell me all about the negative stereotypes and what "some people" think it means. Out of 50 words or phrases they used that show their attitudes about what it means to be Black, 70% of them were negative.

Second, while all of the White teachers were prepared and willing to talk about race in the classroom, two of the three didn't really know much specifically about racial identity.

I also looked at the methods used in the classrooms for influencing Black identity. I found that the most often mentioned/observed method was teaching students about the history of oppression. The students also all mentioned that their school did not celebrate Black history month and a couple of them talked about celebrations they had at their old schools. They really missed that. That lead me to wonder: While teaching about the history of oppression and racism is true and important, if we balanced that with celebrating the positive aspects of Black culture--their food, music, family values, holidays, etc--would our students have a more positive sense of being Black?

The second most often mentioned method for influencing Black identity was relationships. I had to ask the students many times and in many different ways, "Can a White teacher help you to figure out what it means to be Black?" before I was able to get honest answers. The conclusion? It depends. There were a lot of nuances to their answers, but the upshot is: it depends on how knowledgeable a teacher is about Black culture, how sensitive, and what kind of relationship she has with her students.

There were a lot of other interesting findings and also a lot of limitations to my little study, but basically what I've learned is that when I have a classroom again, I want to be sure that my students get a chance to celebrate all the cool things about what it means to be Black. Then I can get a clearer picture about whether or not having a positive racial identity can help them to achieve.