Freedom to aspire: Black children’s career dreams, perceived aspirational supports, and Africentric values

Turner, Jennifer D.

doi:10.1080/13613324.2020.1718074

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Challenging the athletic and anti-intellectual stereotypes that engulf young African American men (Carey, 2019;Harper, 2012;Turner, 2020), the participants perceived their strong college aspirations as a resource for school success. Altan asserted, I want to have a family and a legacy.…”

Section: College Aspirationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies have consistently documented suburban educators' negative perceptions of African American male students, their motivation to learn, and their future trajectories (Ascher & Branch-Smith, 2005;Lynn et al, 2010;Polite, 1993). Myths that African American male students are not "college material," have low academic skills, devalue education, and have limited career aspirations (e.g., professional athletes, entertainers) circulate in schools through educator mindsets and practices (Carey, 2019;Harper, 2012;Turner, 2020). Allen (2015) argued that educators' stereotypical beliefs are often rooted in "deficit views of Black male culture that erroneously portray Black males as lacking normative intellectual and behavioral qualities needed to be successful" (p. 210).…”

Section: Barriers To Ap Enrollment For African American Male Students In Suburban Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The second author is an African American woman scholar and former college access counselor whose research illuminates how Black futurisms are nurtured through culturally responsive instruction (Edwards et al, 2010) and visually articulated and imagined by Black youth through drawings and digital collage (Turner, 2020;Turner & Griffin, 2020). As a student at an all-girls' secondary school in Philadelphia, the second author was enrolled in AP English and earned a qualifying score on the exam.…”

Section: Researcher Positionalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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“I'm Trying to Beat a Stereotype”: Suburban African American Male Students’ Social Supports and Personal Resources for Success in AP English Coursework

McArdle¹,

Turner

2021

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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Background African American male students attending U.S. suburban schools remain severely underrepresented in Advanced Placement (AP) programs. A number of structural barriers, including racialized tracking policies; limited referrals from educators and school counselors; conventional AP practices centered on Eurocentric curricula, literature, and pedagogies; and educators’ deficit mindsets toward Black masculinity, mitigate African American male students’ access to and success in suburban AP classrooms. Despite these sobering realities, African American male students have achieved success in AP English Language Arts coursework. Yet few researchers have investigated the multiple and complex forms of support to which African American male students attribute their successful performance in AP English coursework in suburban high schools. Purpose/Research Question In an effort to close opportunity gaps in AP English programs, the present study illuminates the social supports and personal resources that African American male students mobilized to earn exemplary grades (i.e., maintaining a grade of B- or higher, or 79.6% or higher out of 100%) in an AP English Language and Composition and/or an English Literature and Composition course, and earn a passing score on the formal AP exam (i.e., 3 or higher). Countering deficit-oriented research paradigms, we employed an anti-deficit achievement framework to (re)position young African American men as capable, motivated, and agentive learners who marshal complex supportive networks, as well as their own personal resources, to successfully learn academic literacies in AP English classrooms. Our inquiry was guided by the following research question: To what social supports and personal resources do young African American men who graduated from a suburban high school attribute their success in AP English coursework? Participants Eight young African American men who were enrolled in AP English coursework in a suburban Mid-Atlantic secondary school were the participants in this study. Participants were successful learners who received exemplary grades in an AP English class, were taught by the first author, and earned a passing score on an AP English exam. Participants’ ages ranged from 21 to 33 years, and all were attending or had graduated from a four-year college or university. Research Design The young men participated in one-on-one, in-depth interviews. Interviews probed the participants’ personal experiences in AP English, their perspectives in achieving success in the class and on the formal exam, and their recollections of the AP English curriculum, and were cross-analyzed for common sources of supports through multiple coding cycles. Findings The young men highlighted six sources of support that were integral to their AP English success. They described three sources of social supports—the wisdom, guidance, and caring that they received from family members, English teachers, and peers—that promoted their success in AP English. In addition, participants identified three types of personal resources—their own college aspirations, persistence in learning academic literacies, and racial consciousness—that inspired and motivated their high scholastic achievement in AP English. Conclusion By mobilizing the rich social supports and personal resources in their lives, African American male students have the resilience, courage, and the intelligence to enroll and succeed in AP English coursework. We suggest that suburban school administrators, school counselors, and teachers use open AP enrollment policies; work closely with and provide pertinent information to African American families; address students’ social emotional concerns; and ensure that AP English pedagogical practices are humanizing to improve the recruitment and retention of African American male students in AP English programs. Finally, we contend that educational scholars and practitioners must continue to engage in research and practice that nurture young African American male students’ social supports and personal resources for AP English success.

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Section: College Aspirationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Barriers To Ap Enrollment For African American Male Students In Suburban Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Researcher Positionalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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“I'm Trying to Beat a Stereotype”: Suburban African American Male Students’ Social Supports and Personal Resources for Success in AP English Coursework

McArdle¹,

Turner

2021

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

Self Cite

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“…The current school-level curriculum, has not fully accommodated the spirit and multicultural values. Acording to Trianingsih (2017), among the main reasons to enter a multicultural education in the school program is to correct deficiencies in the preparation of the curriculum. The main objective of multicultural education is to learn about historical background, language, cultural characteristics, donations, critical events, influential individuals, and the social, political, and economic conditions of various ethnic groups and minorities.…”

Section: The Strategy For Developing Multicultural Islamic Education mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Multicultural Islamic Education Development Strategy on Educational Institutions

Hifza¹,

Antoni

Syakhrani³

et al. 2020

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The aim of this study was to analyse the strategies for the development of multicultural Islamic education in Islamic educational institutions. It used literature studies based on a qualitative approach. The study showed that: the first the foundation of multicultural Islamic Education Development consists of religious, historical, psychological, sosio-kultural and geographic foundations. Second, the Multicultural Islamic Education development strategy on Islamic educational institutions can be pursued through two approaches, namely quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative development strategy was with the socialization and internalization program through scientific activities, multicultural education innovation programs, and build a culture that accommodates the spirit and multicultural values in the environment of Islamic institutions. While the development strategy qualitative was the intensive study program of the Qur'an and Sunnah, curriculum revision programs, education and training programs for educators, and local wisdom programs. Keywords: Development Strategy, Multicultural Islamic Education, Strategy Educational Institution

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“…Thus, we purposefully adopt a critical literacy stance toward multimodality that helps us understand how children of color use multimodality for liberatory purposes that lead to individual and collective action and social change (Freire, 1985). In particular, we are interested in how children's multimodal texts express their cultural and linguistic identities; articulate multiple ways of knowing and learning; critique power, privilege and social injustice; and (re)imagine possible futures (Campano et al, 2020;Cappello et al, 2019;Griffin and Turner, 2021;Turner, 2020;Wiseman et al, 2017). Our study, then, brings these conceptual principles together into a critical multimodal literacy perspective that helps us explicate "different ways of learning, emphasizes the importance of social interactions and power dynamics, and provides a framework for understanding how children are designers who create texts, images, and artifacts to communicate" (Cappello et al, 2019, p. 2).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“I Drew Myself Right There”: third grade girls restorying for visual justice

Wiseman

Turner

Cappello

2021

ETPC

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Purpose This paper aims to present three girls’ visual annotations and digital responses that restory a scene in the picturebook I’m New Here. The authors focus on how children use multimodal tools to reflect their critical knowledge of the world by illuminating how this group of girls responded to and incorporated broader social issues. Design/methodology/approach This study takes place in a third-grade classroom. Using qualitative methods that build on critical multimodal literacy, the authors documented and analyzed children’s visual and digital interpretations. Data were generated from classroom sessions that incorporated interactive readalouds, as well as students’ annotated visual images, sketches, video and digital responses. The collaborative analytic process involved multiple passes to interpret visual, textual and multimodal elements. Findings The analyses revealed how Aliyah, Tiana and Carissa used multimodal tools to engage in the process of restorying. Through their multimodal composition, they designed images that illuminated their solidarity with the young female character wearing the hijab; their desire to disrupt xenophobic bullying; and their hope for a respectful and inclusive climate in their own classroom. Originality/value In this paper, the authors examine how three girls in a third-grade classroom restory using critical multimodal literacy methods. These girls’ multimodal responses reflected how they disrupted dominant storylines of exclusionary practices. Their authentic acts of visual advocacy give us hope for the future.

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Freedom to aspire: Black children’s career dreams, perceived aspirational supports, and Africentric values

Cited by 15 publications

References 27 publications

“I'm Trying to Beat a Stereotype”: Suburban African American Male Students’ Social Supports and Personal Resources for Success in AP English Coursework

“I'm Trying to Beat a Stereotype”: Suburban African American Male Students’ Social Supports and Personal Resources for Success in AP English Coursework

The Multicultural Islamic Education Development Strategy on Educational Institutions

“I Drew Myself Right There”: third grade girls restorying for visual justice

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