Black Parents' Racial Socialization Practices and Their Children's
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Black Parents’ Racial Socialization Practices and their Children’s Educational Outcomes Rashidah Bowen White Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2019 Ó 2019 Rashidah Bowen White All rights reserved Abstract Black Parents’ Racial Socialization Practices and their Children’s Educational Outcomes Rashidah Bowen White The fields of psychology and education have a tumultuous history with regard to equity, social justice and compassion for marginalized populations, specifically for Black Americans. Access to quality education in the U.S. remains a barrier for many Black Americans while resources for high quality, culturally competent mental health services are also relatively limited (Anderson, Scrimshaw, Fullilove, Fielding & Normand, 2003; Hayes- Bautista, 2003). Fortunately, scholars and practitioners in education and psychology have sought to increase access to high quality, culturally competent education and psychology and have made important contributions to research and practice. Culturally competent pedagogy has been an area of research and practice for over 20 years leading to practical changes in teaching and education in support of the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Similarly, multicultural and culturally competent counseling and psychotherapy has been of intensive focus by scholars and mental health practitioners, particularly counseling psychologist for many years (American Psychological Association, 2003; American Psychological Association, Association, 1993; Constatine & Sue, 2005; DeAngelis, 2015; Sue, Arredondo & McDavis, 1992; Sue, 1998). Psychologists and educators have been responsible for the development of racial-identity development models and the introduction and study of racial and ethnic socialization processes (Cross, 1978; Helms, 1984; Hughes, Stevenson, Cameron, Herrero-Taylor & Davis, 2002; Peters & Massey, 1983; Rodriguez, Smith, Johnson, Stevenson & Spicer, 2006; Tatum, 1987;). Preparation for bias, cultural pride reinforcement, promotion of mistrust, and egalitarianism or silence about race and racism are some of the most common forms of racial socialization practices employed by Black American parents. These practices are used in effort to prepare Black children to navigate and thrive in a society in which they are discriminated against on the basis of race. Racial socialization messages also serve to counteract negative messages from the larger society from various sectors and institutions including education and health systems (Gaskin, 2015). As such, the purpose of this study was to explore Black American parents’ racial socialization practices and the impact of the experiences and educational outcomes of their children who attend private, independent schools. Data was collected through 12 semi- structured interviews with Black American parents whose children attend private, independent schools. Participants’ narratives were transcribed and then analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR). Results illustrated the participants’ experiences in school themselves, messages from family members on race, ethnicity and education. Participants also discussed their own parenting practices including racial socialization practices, messages and beliefs about education and schooling. Implications of the findings, limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed. Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi DEDICATION viii I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 5 A Historical Perspective: Brown vs. Board of Education 5 The role of psychology in Brown vs. Board of Education 7 Enforcement of Brown vs. Board of Education rulings 12 Legacy and relevance of Brown vs. Board of Education 14 School Segregation and Educational Outcomes for Blacks 16 Racial isolation and academic achievement 20 Race, Social Class and Educational Outcomes 24 Social class, poverty and educational experiences and outcomes 25 Concentrated poverty in schools 26 Class-based segregation and schooling 28 Resources in poor schools 30 Environmental hazards 31 Financial resources and instructional spending 31 Educational and instructional practices 32 Peer exposure effect 32 Teacher characteristics and school effects 33 Academic tracking and the achievement gap 39 i Psychological implications of the academic achievement gap 40 Stereotype threat 40 Parents’ Socialization Practices and Children’s Educational Experiences and Outcomes 43 Academic socialization 44 Racial-ethnic socialization 45 Impact of parents’ racial-ethnic socialization 48 Racial socialization and racial identity 48 Racial socialization and academic achievement 51 Racial socialization and mental health outcomes 52 Social Class, Parenting and Education 55 Financial capital 55 Social capital 57 Cultural capital 57 Social class, parenting and education 57 Schooling Options for Parents of Black American Children 59 Independent Schools 60 Counseling Psychology, School Counseling and Students of Color in Independent Schools 64 Purpose of the Study 65 III. METHOD 67 Participants 67 Procedures 68 Instruments 68 ii Demographic Questionnaire 68 Interview 69 Qualitative Methods, Counseling Psychology, and Race-Related Research 69 Data Analysis 71 Research team 71 Expectations and biases 72 Development of and coding into domains 73 Abstracting core ideas within domains 73 Cross analysis and auditing the cross analysis 74 Frequency labels 74 Stability check 74 IV. RESULTS 75 Domains and Categories 76 Parents’ experience of the school community 76 Parents’ reasons for selecting school 81 Children’s experiences at school 84 Parents’ experience with school 86 Parents’ racial-cultural experiences 89 Family messages about education 92 Family messages about race and ethnicity 94 Coping with racism 99 Suggestions for parents and school communities 99 Experience of the interview 101 iii V. DISCUSSION 103 Research Question 1: The racial, cultural and psychosocial experiences of Black parents whose children attend independent schools 105 Racially segregated neighborhoods and schools 106 Black students in gifted and talented programs 109 Race and racism in independent schools 114 Research Question 2: The impact of Black parents’ experience on the child’s integration within the school community 117 Relationships with peers and teachers 118 Academic performance 123 Research Question 3 and 4: Black parents’ utilization of racial socialization practices and the impact on the academic, social and emotional outcomes of children 125 Black parents’ social networks and intergenerational closure 126 Common racial socialization practices of Black parents 128 Black parents’ efforts to support positive racial identity development in children 129 Racial socialization and academic achievement 131 Implications for Counseling Practice 134 Cultural competency in mental health clinicians and educators 134 Racism and mental health 134 Multicultural competency 136 Supporting a healthy racial-cultural identity in Black children 137 Advancing the knowledge and skills of White educators 139 Culturally competent hiring 143 iv Multicultural education and culturally relevant pedagogy 144 Limitation of the Study 149 Future Directions for Research 150 REFERENCES 153 APPENDIX Appendix A: institutional Review Board Application 170 Appendix B: Informed Consent 177 Appendix C: Participant’s Rights 179 Appendix D: Investigator’s Verification of Explanation 181 Appendix E: Demographic Questionnaire 182 Appendix F: Interview Protocol 183 Appendix G: Table 1: Summary of Domains & Categories from the Cross-Analysis 186 v Acknowledgements First, I would like to acknowledge Dr. Laura Smith, to whom I extend my deepest gratitude for the many years of guidance, nurturing and support. Your faith in my ability as a scholar, researcher and clinician gave me the confidence to persevere in the most challenging of times. Laura, my success would not have been possible without your unwavering encouragement, patience, compassion and wisdom. I am eternally grateful. I would like to also express my sincere appreciation to my dissertation committee members: Dr. Sonali Rajan, Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Dr. Robert Fullilove and Dr. Brandon Velez, many thanks for the encouragement, feedback and expertise you provided throughout this process. This research would not have been possible without the dedication, hard work and commitment of my research team members, Ariel Zeigler and Randolph Scott-McLaughlin. Thank you for generously giving your time and energy and for caring about the integrity of this project. Also, to the mothers and fathers who participated in this study, it was an honor and a privilege to hear your stories. Thank you for your honesty, openness and enthusiasm for this project. To my family, thank you for the endless love and encouragement and for believing in my ability to achieve my dreams. To my loving grandfathers, Bubba and Ish, who encouraged my intellectual pursuits from an early age, the memories of your love kept me going each step of the way. To my brilliant grandmothers, Phyllis and Jennie, for being the consummate educators and insisting that I develop and maintain a steadfast thirst for knowledge, your demonstration of strength and intelligence provided a foundation, which allowed me to fulfill my dreams. To the many women in my family who shared their own stories of educational pursuits, you helped me persist