Classrooms as Healing Spaces: Decolonizing Conceptual Frameworks of Black Girls in K-12 School Settings

ABSTRACT

There is substantive research that examines the punitive and harsh disciplinary practices in K-12 schools and the disproportionate effects on students of Color. While race has been central to this critical discourse; gender has remained secondary. Although both Black girls and boys face unique challenges in their K-12 academic environments, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting gender, in addition to race, impacts educational and psychological development. More specifically, for many Black girls, education is presented as the key to better opportunities with liberative power. Interestingly, few curricula taught in K-12 schools are designed with consideration of Black girls, who must contend with the typical adolescent developmental tasks within the context of a society that often devalues them. This conceptual article proposes a paradigm shift, which centers strengths and healthy development of Black girls in a time of heightened racial stress. A review of empirical research on punitive environmental norms of schools and the disproportionate effects on Black girls is presented. A conceptual framework is provided to help guide K-12 educators in addressing the mental health needs of Black girls. The framework proposes an anti-racist, culturally informed approach rooted in social justice initiatives to identify strengths and skills for promoting healthy and adaptive pathways for K-12 education for Black girls. The article illuminates the importance of decriminalizing Black girls and promoting an anti-racist paradigm to contextualize their educational and mental health needs. The article concludes with strategies that seek to intentionally create healing spaces in school settings for Black girls to fully explore their identities toward a healthy development.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

GiShawn Mance-Early

Dr. GiShawn Mance-Early is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Howard University. She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and serves as the Director and Principle Investigator of the Youth and Communities Research Group. Her scholarly work focuses on culturally and contextually relevant trauma-informed mental health interventions; community-based participatory research (CBPR), and adolescent and emerging adult mental health. Dr. Mance earned her BS in Psychology from Bethune Cookman University and MS in Community Psychology from Florida A & M University. She earned a MA and PhD in Clinical Psychology from DePaul University. She completed her APA-accredited internship at Duke University Medical Center and Postdoctoral Fellowship in CBPR at Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

Talessa Peck

Dr. Talessa Peck is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist whose clinical work focuses on assessments and therapeutic interventions for children and adolescents, particularly those from ethnically diverse and disenfranchised backgrounds. Her research fuses developmental and mental health concerns of individuals from ethnically diverse backgrounds in the development of culturally responsive treatments. Dr. Peck completed her BS in Psychology at Georgia State University. She earned a MS in Developmental Psychology from Clayton State University and PhD in Clinical Psychology from Howard University. She completed her APA-accredited nternship at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD.

Debra Roberts

Dr. Debra Roberts is Founding Director of the Cultural Socialization Lab (CSL) housed in Howard University’s Department of Psychology, where she is Professor and Chair. She received her B.Sc. in Psychology/Neuroscience from University of Toronto, M.Sc. in Community Psychology from Florida A&M University, and PhD in Developmental Psychology from Temple University. Dr. Roberts’ primary area of research involves examining psychosocial well-being at the intersection of culture/ethnicity and psychosocially toxic environments, otherwise known as PTEs (poverty, discrimination, trauma, etc.) among children and adolescents.

Leonna Ross-Davis

Dr. Leonna Ross-Davis is an Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Studies in the Department of Behavioral Sciences & Human Services Department at Bowie State University. She received her BA in Psychology from San Jose State University, MS and PhD in Developmental Psychology from Howard University. Her primary research interests include the study of Black women and girls’ identity development, self-esteem, body image and social media consumption as they relate to emotional well-being.

Hope Hill

Dr. Hope Hill earned a BS in psychology from Wesleyan University, PhD in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University, and completed a post-doctoral program at the Yale University Bush Center for Child Development and Social Policy. She completed her APA-accredited internship at the Neuropsychiatric Institute, UCLA. Dr. Hill was chief psychologist at the Northside Center for Child Development, the first comprehensive clinic designed to address mental health, educational and developmental needs of children of color in Harlem, New York. She was the principal investigator in the Howard University Violence Prevention Project, a community-based intervention which impacted the empowerment of under-resourced communities with high rates of community violence in the District of Columbia. Her career has focused on the developmental impact of historical race-based trauma for youth of color and the impact of social policies, community protective processes, and historical factors and exposure to violence on their development. She is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Howard University.