Psychosocial Issues Affecting African-American Students

Introduction: An Educational Crisis in New York City

"They never want to hear what I have to say…it doesn't matter who started a fight, or what a teacher said to you that made you mad. You might have something heavy going on at home but no one asks. They're not interested. They just want you out of the school."
— 17-year-old 11th grade African-American female student, NYC (Sullivan, 2007, p. iii)

In New York City — one of the two largest urban public school districts in the United States — as well as throughout the country, an educational crisis exists that is particularly acute for African-American students and that links to a number of factors. According to Sullivan (2007) in the published study Deprived of Dignity: Degrading Treatment and Abusive Discipline in New York City and Los Angeles Public Schools, 58% of African-American fourth-grade students attending school in the U.S. during 2005 scored below the basic reading level for fourth graders, compared to 36% of students overall.

Even though African-American children in the U.S. repeatedly demonstrate low performance rates on standardized academic tests and exhibit high dropout rates in high school, Johnson (2011) stresses that not enough is being done to remedy this situation. This paper discusses numerous developmental factors that affect African-American children in school, with particular emphasis on the global self-concept of African-American youth in academia and how it contributes to poor performance. Other considerations include the disproportionate use of "special education" labels applied to African-American students in New York City public schools.

Booker (2006) asserts in the study "School Belonging and the African-American Adolescent: What Do We Know and Where Should We Go?" that a student's sense of belonging and association proves critical in an educational setting. Students need a sense of community and connection to others to maximize their abilities to learn and engage in academic ventures. Sullivan (2007) also expresses concern that many Black students in New York City public schools are routinely labeled as troublemakers, and that some labeled as special needs students or placed in special education classes are sometimes deliberately "expelled, transferred, or counseled out by staff" (Sullivan, 2007, p. iii). Some teachers acknowledge that a number of schools expel students to reduce overcrowding and to avoid helping students with special academic or behavioral needs. In some instances, students who experience repeated suspensions and removals do not receive supportive services, which frequently contributes to greater alienation over time. Students may in turn exhibit more misbehavior, which can also lead to dropping out of school.

Sullivan (2007) reports that recently in NYC:

Students and parents reported that some students who are labeled as troublemakers and/or are struggling academically are intentionally pushed out by being expelled, transferred, or counseled out by staff. Teachers acknowledged that some schools openly push students out as a strategy to reduce overcrowding and avoid the burden of helping students with special academic or behavioral needs. In other cases, schools subject students to repeated suspensions and removals without supportive services, contributing over time to alienation and misbehavior which can lead to pushout. These pushouts contribute to a low four-year graduation rate of 38% in New York City. (Sullivan, 2007, p. iii)

Factors Affecting Academia

"Research shows, for African-American adolescents, issues of school belonging, identification, and engagement are critical to academic performance and successful completion of high school" (Booker, 2008, p. 1).

A 2011 report obtained by the Student Safety Coalition through Freedom of Information requests and analyzed by the New York Civil Liberties Union reveals that New York City's public schools currently suspend more students, and for longer periods of time, than schools did a decade ago. In the publication "City Schools Are Suspending More Students, and for Longer," Phillips (2011) documents substantial growth in school suspensions from 1999–2000 onward in NYC schools.

In response to the fact that Black students are suspended in disproportionate numbers — with a third of suspensions occurring during months when students sit for extended periods completing state exams — NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman stated: "Education is a child's right, not a reward for good behavior. . . . Sadly, the growing reliance on suspensions in New York City schools all too often denies children — often the most vulnerable and in need of support — their right to an education" (Phillips, 2011). Excessively harsh approaches to discipline, combined with aggressive policing in schools, frequently transitions youth from the classroom into the criminal justice system.

The report also found:

Students with disabilities are four times more likely to be suspended than students without disabilities. Black students, who compose 33% of the student body, served 53% of suspensions over the past ten years. Black students with disabilities represent more than 50% of all suspended students with disabilities. Black students served longer suspensions on average and were more likely to be suspended for subjective misconduct, such as profanity and insubordination. Thirty percent of suspensions occur in March and May of each school year, when students are often taking exams (Phillips, 2011; Analysis finds dramatic spike in NYC suspensions, 2011).

Among its recommendations, the report stresses the need for NYC schools to provide support services to address students' emotional and psychological needs. Schools also need to invest in school aides, guidance counselors, and social workers trained in conflict resolution and restorative justice methods to address and help resolve disciplinary infractions. Schools should also collaborate with community-based organizations as well as medical, mental health, and social service providers to help students better address non-academic developmental needs (Phillips, 2011).

Bruce, Getch, and Ziomek-Daigle (2009) report in "Closing the Gap: A Group Counseling Approach to Improve Test Performance of African-American Students" that, historically as in contemporary society, education proves to be of critical value and an indispensable prerequisite for an individual to succeed and experience at least a moderately high quality of life as an adult. African-Americans, however, comprise a major portion of the most at-risk populations for underachieving in school and in society.

As Bruce, Getch, and Ziomek-Daigle (2009) note:

Black men are more highly represented in the prison system than in higher education, and only 15.5% of Black Americans have graduated from college compared to 27.7% of White Americans and 42.4% of Asian-Americans. Regardless of race, opportunities for youth without a high school diploma are scarce, and individuals without a high school diploma are approximately four times more likely to be unemployed than college graduates. . . . Additionally, the poverty rate among African-Americans is approximately three times that of White Americans. (Bruce, Getch, & Ziomek-Daigle, 2009, Literature Review Section, para. 2)

Data from Bruce, Getch, and Ziomek-Daigle (2009) and other credible sources confirm that addressing contemporary challenges relating to African-American youth proves critical to determining the future of these young people. Increases in educational achievement, attainment, and employment need to be implemented to help bridge the existing educational gap in the United States.