Hailey Fisher
Research Mentor(s): Bridget Maher
Mentor Department: Educational Studies
Authors:
Session: Session 1 (9:00am – 9:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 102
Abstract
Racial representation within educational spaces exposes students to aspects of cultural awareness, perspectives, and can reinforce a sense of belonging that can vary among students, but can matter greatly for racially marginalized students. However, within a space predominantly populated by one race, cultural representation may hold different levels of value dependent on the individual, which may shape perceptions of education uniquely. This project initially explores how racial representation within educational media and programming serves Black female students in the context of one elementary and high school setting. This study occurred within a unique university and public school partnership in a large Midwestern city within a campus focused on social justice and engineering. This evaluation aimed to investigate how various forms of media and programming (e.g., art, literature, school projects, school representations, extracurriculars, forums, etc) impact identity development and perceptions of other identities students are exposed to through educational content. Based on various findings, multiple programs implemented in the school also directly contributed to developing students’ identities. Within this predominantly Black community, research is done to better the school and quality of education for students and explore aspects of the school that could positively impact the design of other high school curriculums, school-based partnerships, and university and foundation collaborations. Ethnographic methods, observations, and interviews with teachers and students revealed how the school, teachers, and programs seek to use material realities, texts, people, figures, relationships, and more to create belonging and positively impact student identity and their perception of their education. This study holds implications for other schools or school-university partnerships seeking to emphasize justice and belonging within programming, cultural, and curricular aspects.
