Black Youths' perceptions of school cultural pluralism, school climate and the mediating role of racial identity

doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2020.09.002

Journal of School Psychology

Volume 83, December 2020, Pages 50-65

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2020.09.002 Get rights and content

Abstract

Researchers have become interested in the school climate experiences of Black youth given findings of less positive evaluations of school climate in comparison to their other-race peers. School support for cultural pluralism, also referred to as school support for cultural diversity, has been regarded as one aspect of school climate, but is sometimes distinct from Black youth's ratings of general perceptions of school climate. This project sought to understand the relationship between Black students' perceptions of school support for cultural pluralism and perceptions of school climate. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to determine whether previous perceptions of school support for cultural pluralism predicted later perceptions of school climate in a sample of 336 Black adolescents (M_age = 13.74 years). Furthermore, racial identity was explored as the mechanism through which school support for cultural pluralism impacted school climate appraisals, and differences between Black boys (N = 151) and Black girls (N = 185) were tested. Results confirmed that Black youth who rated their school as being supportive of culturally pluralism had more positive ratings of school climate during the following school year after controlling for the previous year's school climate ratings. However, the mediating role of racial identity differed for Black boys and Black girls, underscoring the need for intersectional research for Black youth and the importance of racial identity. We conclude with a discussion regarding the importance of racial/ethnic identity and pluralism within the school context, as well as, the unique role of school psychologists as preventionists and advocates of change within schools.

Section snippets

Theoretical rationale for school's values influencing student perceptions of self and school climate

Black students have a keen awareness of their status as a member of a socially subordinated group and recognize experiences of racial discrimination (Brown, Alabi, Huynh, & Masten, 2011). These experiences have also been well-documented as occurring within schools. Black youth report experiencing discrimination and racism in the form of tracking in their school systems (Hope, Skoog, & Jagers, 2015) and discrimination in their classrooms from peers and school-based adults (Rosenbloom & Way, 2004

Cultural Pluralism in Schools

Historically, school responsiveness to racial diversity has been relegated to curriculum and pedagogical approaches or school policies specific to disciplinary infractions. Although these are important aspects to be considered, they do not capture the relational aspects of a school's culture which school climate research emphasizes. Research on racial school climate has sought to capture the racialized environment of a school (e.g., Byrd, 2015; Byrd & Chavous, 2011), but has primarily focused

School climate research on black youth

Generally, school climate is considered to have three main components, including a school's attempt to foster safety, a supportive environment, and respectful and trusting relationships (National Center on Safe and Supportive Learning Environments, 2020). Through adopting this framework, we operationalize school climate as students' perceptions of teacher-student relationships, school belongingness, positive peer interactions, and institutional fairness. All of these areas are well-cited in the

The Mediating Role of Ethnic/Racial Identity

The development of a stable ethnic/racial identity is one of the primary tasks of adolescence for racially minoritized youth (Spencer et al., 2006; Williams, Tolan, Durkee, François, & Anderson, 2012). As minoritized youth move throughout their day-to-day lives, they are exposed to information in society that informs their initiation or avoidance of racial identity development. Racial/ethnic identity is the process by which individuals come to form thoughts and feelings about their

Gender as a Moderator

One of the limitations of the scant literature on Black youths' development in isolation from other cultural groups is an inability to explore gender differences. When researchers unpack the experiences of Black youth, outcomes tend to differ between boys and girls. For example, in their research on Black and White middle school students, Watkins and Aber (2009) found that Black female students viewed the racial school climate of their schools as worse than their male counterparts as it relates

Current Study

Despite promise in explaining some of the variations in student achievement, much of the research on school climate has been aggregated, resulting in the experiences of Black youth being combined with the experiences of all students in the school, despite findings that suggest that Black youth tend to have differential experiences in their schools as compared to White peers (Bottiani et al., 2016; Konold et al., 2017; Voight et al., 2015). Furthermore, school support for cultural pluralism has

Participants

Participants were 336 Black sixth, eighth, and tenth graders (M_age = 13.74 years, SD = 1.65; 55% girls; 90% low-income, as indicated by students receiving free or reduced-price lunch) from twelve schools within two school districts in Mid-Atlantic region of United States. All school racial populations were predominantly Black and White but varied in specific racial group representation. The first school district was a charter district with district schools' racial compositions ranging from

Support for Cultural Pluralism

To assess study participants' perception of their school's sensitivity to and value of diversity, during the Time 1 data collection period we utilized the Support for Cultural Pluralism subscale of the student version of the Inventory of School Climate (ICS-S; Brand et al., 2003). The ICS-S is a 10-factor, 50-item measure of students' perceptions of school climate that has been used for middle and high school students. Three items from the initial development of the support for cultural

Descriptive statistics

Descriptive statistics for the study variables can be found in Table 1. All variable correlations were as expected, with the four components of school climate having significantly positive associations and there being positive relationships between the same constructs at different time points. Overall, all variables assumed a normal distribution as evidenced by skewness and kurtosis values less than |1|. Given the planned investigation of gender differences in model fit and associations between

Discussion

School climate experiences of Black youth have received minimal attention in the literature despite observed racial school climate gaps and the increased recognition of the value of school climate research and policy. The current study sought to investigate the association between Black students' perceptions of school support for cultural pluralism and their perceptions of school climate, thereby potentially explaining some of the disparate school climate experiences reported in the literature

Conclusion

During a time in which the topics of race, diversity, and inclusion are at the forefront of national media discourse, it is unrealistic to think that students and their school experiences are not impacted. This study suggests that Black youth may find it particularly beneficial when their schools actively and intentionally communicate their support for student diversity and culture. As schools engage in these practices, they can be reassured that doing so does not interfere with the academic

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Black Youths' perceptions of school cultural pluralism, school climate and the mediating role of racial identity

Abstract

Section snippets

Theoretical rationale for school's values influencing student perceptions of self and school climate

Cultural Pluralism in Schools

School climate research on black youth

The Mediating Role of Ethnic/Racial Identity

Gender as a Moderator

Current Study

Participants

Support for Cultural Pluralism

Descriptive statistics

Discussion

Conclusion

International Journal of Educational Research

Journal of School Psychology

Children and Youth Services Review

Journal of School Psychology

Economics of Education Review

Journal of School Psychology

Developmental Review

Aggression and Violent Behavior

Racial-ethnic identity in mid-adolescence: Content and change as predictors of academic achievement

Child Development

Student perceptions of campus cultural climate by race

Journal of Counseling and Development

Black girls and school discipline: The complexities of being overrepresented and understudied

Urban Education

Ogbu revisited: Unpacking high-achieving African American girls’ high school experiences

Urban Education

Designing and interpreting quantitative research in multicultural counseling

The teacher-student relationship as a developmental context for children with internalizing or externalizing behavior problems

School Psychology Quarterly

The transition to high school as a developmental process among multiethnic urban youth

Child Development

A research synthesis of the associations between socioeconomic background, inequality, school climate, and academic achievement

Review of Educational Research

Unmasking the inequitable discipline experiences of urban black girls: Implications for urban educational stakeholders

The Urban Review

School belonging and the African American adolescent: What do we know and where should we go?

The High School Journal

Inequality in black and White high school students’ perceptions of school support: An examination of race in context

Journal of Youth and Adolescence

Multilevel exploration of factors contributing to the overrepresentation of black students in office disciplinary referrals

Journal of Educational Psychology

Middle school improvement and reform: Development and validation of a school-level assessment of climate, cultural pluralism, and school safety

Journal of Educational Psychology

Ethnicity and gender in late childhood and early adolescence: Group identity and awareness of bias

Developmental Psychology

The role of gender in the racial and ethnic socialization of African American adolescents

Youth & Society

Black adolescent males: Intersections among their gender role identity and racial identity and associations with self-concept (global and school)

Child Development

School psychology research: Combining ecological theory and prevention science

School Psychology Review

The congruence between African American students’ racial identity beliefs and their academic climates: Implications for academic motivation and achievement

The associations of intergroup interactions and school racial socialization with academic motivation

Journal of Educational Research

The complexity of school racial climate: Reliability and validity of a new measure for secondary students

British Journal of Educational Psychology

Racial identity, school racial climate, and school intrinsic motivation among African American youth: The importance of person–context congruence

Journal of Research on Adolescence

Structural equation modeling with Mplus: Basic concepts, applications, and programming

School climate and ethnic-racial identity in school: A longitudinal examination of reciprocal associations

Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology

Personnel needs in school psychology: A 10-year follow-up study on predicted personnel shortages

Psychology in the Schools

Educational Attainment in the United States

Role expansion in school psychology: The need for primary and secondary prevention services

Psychology in the Schools

Mainland immigrant and Hong Kong local students’ psychological sense of school membership

Asia Pacific Education Review

An integrative model for the study of developmental competencies in minority children

Child Development

Shades of black: Diversity in African American identity

The psychology of nigrescence: Revising the Cross model

School-and community-based associations to hypermasculine attitudes in African American adolescent males

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

Peer networks of African American students in independent schools: Affirming academic success and racial identity

The Journal of Negro Education