“They Act like You're a Ghost in Class”: Perceptions of Educational Attainment from Black and African American Youth

Background and Purpose:   Black and African American students historically encounter barriers to receiving equitable education, although there are considerable gaps in the research in understanding the mechanisms impacting success.  Complicating this matter more, 4.2 million Black and African American youth live in poverty.  Few studies have explored Black and African American youths’ perceptions of educational attainment, and even fewer have included the voices of elementary and middle school students.  Considering the current social, political, and economic climate that Black and African American youth encounter, understanding the perceived barriers and facilitators of academic attainment is especially salient.  The purpose of this study is to examine the complexities that these youth experience regarding early literacy and academic achievement through providing an avenue for the voices of these young individuals. 

Methods:  This qualitative study was conducted using a phenomenological approach, examining the shared perceptions of Black and African American youth regarding their educational experiences.  Thirty youth (grades 4-5 & 6-8) in a Western metropolis participated semi-structured focus groups.  All participants reside within high-poverty public housing communities, self-identify as Black and/or African American, 63% are male, and 47% are in elementary school.  Participants were recruited through an afterschool agency, in which the research team had prior exposure to students through various roles.  Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and rechecked to maintain accuracy.  All transcriptions were analyzed using Atlas.ti software, and then thematically coded by the principles of phenomenology. 

Results:  Participants’ responses reflect their worldviews of education as Black and African-American youth residing within public housing neighborhoods.  The themes emanating from the data provide a rich context to the numerous factors promoting and/or inhibiting success in schooling for Black and African American youth.  After three cycles of coding, four major themes emerged regarding youth perceptions of academic achievement: cultural considerations, (in)equity and the internalization of messages, teachers as gatekeepers, and community factors.

Findings demonstrate that participants spoke frequently about notions of power differentials received from peers, teachers, schools, and society, often resulting in the internalization of negative messages.  Students also voiced a disposition of feeling invisible, and at times, immersed in an institutionalized racist environment.  Respondents detailed how the construction of difference affects their capacity for learning.  Lastly, participants described the dialectic nature of their communities, as both inhibiting and facilitating academic success. 

Conclusion & Implications:  Black and African American youth are inundated with oppressive messages regarding educational attainment.  The results of these negative messages are ingrained within institutionalized systems and policies, and these factors are important when considering the continual lower academic achievement for these students.  Findings stress the importance of creating spaces for youth to engage in dialogue around social injustice.  Our findings suggest that young people struggle with negative perceptions and stereotypes surrounding their academic potential based on race, socioeconomic status, and environment.  Social work practitioners, researchers, and policy makers need to consider the impact of internalized messages that are being reinforced in our young people, and begin to help support youth in creating a counter narrative to these challenges.