Creating Racially Safe Learning Environments: An Investigation of the Pedagogical Beliefs and Practices of Two African American Teachers in Racially Hostile Urban Elementary Schools

Abstract

Many Americans espouse “post-racial” conceptions of race and its role in children’s access to equitable learning opportunities; however, recent studies have illuminated the need to examine the ways in which “new” forms of institutionalized and interpersonal racism continue to hinder the schooling experiences of students in urban schools. Despite that students in urban schools are predominantly African American (27%) and Latinx (41%), the teaching force remains predominantly white (71%). Within these schools, white teachers’ lack of cultural competence and racial literacy marginalize students’ opportunities for social, emotional, and academic development and, thereby, foster racially hostile learning environments. However, cases of teachers in urban schools who create and sustain learning environments in which their students thrive socially, emotionally, and academically exist and need to be studied. This case study investigated the pedagogical beliefs and practices enacted by two highly regarded African American educators who created racially safe learning environments in two racially hostile urban elementary students. Ethnographic data was collected over a five-month period. Using constant comparative analysis within and across both cases, several significant findings emerged. Findings revealed how “new racism” manifested in the discourses, policies, and practices at both schools and, thus, illuminated the ways in which race marginalized not only the schooling experiences of African American and Latinx students, but their African American educators as well. Findings examined how each teachers’ pedagogical enactments aligned with the ideologies, beliefs, and practices associated with African American pedagogy and revealed how they fostered cultures of community, love, and achievement within their classrooms. Findings suggest that their culturally specific pedagogical beliefs and practices have the potential to create racially safe learning environments within, otherwise, racially hostile schools. Although African American pedagogical excellence is often relegated to discussions of practices needed to reach African American students, this study expands the knowledge base needed to center AAPE in discussions of best practices for teachers in urban schools. This study adds critical insights to discussions of race and its role in the schooling experiences and opportunities to learn in racially hostile urban schools.