Black and Belonging at School: A Case for Interpersonal, Instructional, and Institutional Opportunity Structures

Abstract

This article is guided by two goals: (a) to consider how race-based perspectives can serve as theoretical tools for investigating Black adolescents’ opportunities to belong at school, and (b) to describe cultural and political aspects of schooling that can support a sense of belongingness among Black adolescents. We discuss support for the belonging of Black adolescents in terms of interpersonal, instructional, and institutional opportunity structures. We provide a set of guiding questions for scholars seeking to advance educational psychology research at the intersection of race, belonging, and motivation. We end by describing specific research directions for an inclusive examination of school belonging, along with strategies to accomplish this goal.

Additional information

Funding

The writing of this article was supported by the National Science Foundation's Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings under award no. 1433747, award no. 1614107, and award no. 1350814. We thank Ava Purkiss for her feedback on an earlier version of this article.