(WITHDRAWN) Embedding Racial Equity: Student of Color and Adult Perspectives of the School-Based Practices That Promote Positive School Climate Social and Emotional Well-Being

Background and Purpose: Racial equity in education can be understood a process that is based on fairness or justice in the provision of education and the redress of race differences in student outcomes (discipline, academic, development). Embedding racial equity in education thus involves acknowledging the influence racism has on students of color experiences and outcomes and integrating their cultural histories and traditions in practice (e.g., hip hop, poetry, Afrocentrism). While studies find school and classroom racial equity strategies to positively influence identity development, little is known about the ways in which these strategies promote positive school climate and social and emotional well-being, especially among students of color. As such, this study examines how students of color, school staff and school partners at one middle school perceive school and classroom racial equity strategies to positively influence school climate and students of color social and emotional development.

Methods: Five focus groups were conducted at a one middle school that is intentionally embedding school and classroom wide racial equity strategies (e.g. anti-racist professional development training, youth participatory equity teams, and culturally congruent social-emotional learning). Three focus groups were conducted with 10 students of color who identified with racial/ethnic groups, one was conducted with eight school staff (administrators, teachers, instructional coaches, restorative justice coordinators), of which 50% identified as a person of color, and another was conducted with three community-based partners who all identified as a person of color. A semi-structured interview protocol was used in all focus groups. Focus groups were audio recorded, professionally transcribed, and analyzed and interpreted using thematic content analysis.

Results: Some school staff perceived efforts to embed racial equity, specifically efforts related to discipline practices, as lacking structure, consistency, and destabilizing to the school climate. Conversely, other school staff and community partners situate such efforts in a broader context, in which they identify initial efforts as the beginning of a longer term transformation. In turn, they viewed the racial equity strategies as helping them facilitate dialogues and lesson plans about issues of race, racism and trauma, which they perceived to promotes healthy expression, agency, and self-awareness. Students of color perceived racial equity strategies to build upon their histories, which support their development of interpersonal skills, conflict resolution and community building. They perceived some strategies, such as talking circles and trauma-informed curriculum, to help them recognize, identify and express difficult emotions.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings suggest that racial equity strategies are important to facilitating positive student-teacher interactions and the social-emotional development of students of color. Yet, divergent perceptions among school staff about whether these strategies positively or negatively impact the school climate and youth development substantiate the need to understand racial equity as a process oriented approach rather than just an outcome-focused endeavor. Implications for school-based practices with students of color are discussed.