What Black boys need from us — and how we can give it to them
A teacher speaks from her experience
By Dr. Yolette Ibokette
In many of our urban public schools, our Black boys are suffocating.
In a session of a community-based, social-justice project that aims to empower Black boys, 18-year-old Khaleeq says, “In school, like I don’t be feelin’ free. You know, like sometimes I be suffocatin’ and think I’m ah stop breathin’. Then, we be out here doin’ this work…I’m breathin’, feelin’ like I’m smart. That’s how I always wanna feel. I be in school and get tired being labeled the Black boy who don’t know somethin’, who ain’t smart enough. Out here, I don’t worry ‘bout that” (Kinlock, Burkhard, Penn, 2017).
Many Black boys don’t feel that their knowledge and experiences are valued in school, that their cultural capital is validated, and that they are free to be boys, because many schools don’t create intellectually as well as physically safe and caring environments for them. They are made to feel and sometimes are told outright that they’re not intelligent and have nothing to contribute in classrooms.
When our Black boys enter preschool, they are curious, intelligent, creative, and eager to learn. Yet, they soon find themselves being viewed through biased lenses not as children, but as Black men. They’re perceived as uninterested in learning, poorly behaved, disruptive, and threatening. Black boys also notice that they’re not cared about and supported in the same manner as other students. Negative perceptions of these boys often result in low expectations and harsh disciplining, beginning in preschool.
Sadly, many of these boys buy into this deficit mindset and come to internalize these negative perceptions. The statistics relative to Black boys’ academic achievement are troubling: Nationally, only 59 percent of our Black boys graduate from high school compared with 80 percent of White boys (Schott Foundation for Public Education, 2015). More Black boys drop out of high school than any other student population, and 60 percent of those who drop out will serve time in jail (Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2015).
What can be done about it?
Thankfully, some educators recognize that Black boys face unique challenges that impede their academic success, are racially aware, and have developed successful, culturally responsive pedagogical practices to address their needs.
They acknowledge that race, ethnicity, class, and culture impact how Black boys are perceived by society and that some educators come to internalize those negative perceptions contributing to low expectations in classrooms and schools. Some educators recognize that Black boys’ low self-esteem is partly due to schools ignoring their racial and cultural identities. They encourage students to choose culturally responsive books and other learning materials, and they integrate Black history, Black authors, and Black people’s achievements into curricula.
In my experience as a teacher, school administrator, and leader in the Boston Public Schools, it was crucial to consider both the unique and collective struggles of our Black boys. Some were resilient in overcoming challenges they faced in their classrooms, schools, and homes through the love and caring of their educators, as well as their academic monitoring and support. Familial capital and advocacy were also vital to their success.
Other Black boys weren’t so fortunate, but they persevered despite buying into a deficit mindset, convinced that they lack assets and strengths and that they will never be successful. They are retained but don’t receive the necessary academic interventions to enable them to achieve grade-level proficiency.
Some of these boys are promoted year after year despite performing below grade level in reading and math. Underperformance in these subject areas frequently results in referrals for special education services. Black boys attribute this lack of support to educators not caring about them and their success. Schools must provide intensive interventions for underperforming Black boys in reading and math before school, during the school day, after school, and maybe on Saturdays. BPS’s February and April acceleration academies are insufficient to close the huge gaps these boys experience.
Knowing that Black boys often don’t believe that their educators care about them, some educators work hard to build nurturing, loving, and trusting relationships with them even under difficult circumstances. Black boys trust educators who believe they can succeed—educators who show love as well as caring through high academic and behavioral expectations.
Intellectually and physically safe classroom communities
The best setting in which to build positive relationships with Black boys is the classroom. Therefore, it’s important for educators to create safe, loving classroom communities where teachers and students learn from each other and where students care about each other, are free to be the children they are, and also feel comfortable critiquing aspects of academic content that they feel are unjust and unrepresentative of their lived experiences.
Humanizing, nurturing, trusting teacher-student relationships
We educators can’t effectively educate Black boys unless we establish loving, nurturing, and trusting relationships with them first. This is especially crucial if students are convinced that educators don’t have their best interests at heart. It may take time and there may be disappointments along the way, but it’s worthwhile.
For example, I supervised an educator who was very adept at forming positive relationships with Black boys. She always treated them with the utmost respect and empathy, took time to listen to their concerns, met privately with them when they misbehaved to get to the root of the behavior, provided academic support when necessary, and attended their basketball games to sustain those relationships.
On the other hand, I worked with another educator whose relationships revolved around feeling sorry for Black boys, having low academic and behavioral expectations for them, and not holding them accountable.
Empathetic disciplining
Holding students accountable for their behaviors indicates caring and investment in their intellectual potential and performance. Most disciplining should occur in the classroom so that students don’t lose much learning time. One educator I supervised resolved most behavior issues by privately conferring with students about their actions in the classroom or the hallway, rarely referring them to administrators. She recognized that misbehaviors were often the result of frustration with schoolwork and difficult situations the student was dealing with outside of school. In contrast, another educator constantly called the office to have students removed from her classroom and demanded they not be returned until they were punished, even for small infractions.
Educators can’t wait until students receive their report cards each semester to address their low performance. They must address student performance with urgency. One educator who’s a great example monitored his students’ performance throughout the semester to ensure that they were on track to pass all subject areas. If a student was failing in any subject, this teacher quickly met with the student and parents and organized the necessary interventions. This is indicative of an educator who’s determined that his students will succeed. Waiting until the student or his parents question his failing grades in their report cards breeds frustration and mistrust among students and families.
Culturally responsive family engagement
Black families probably value education more than any other racial group. For centuries they’ve used their navigational capital to fight for a quality education for their children. Black families also want their children to be enrolled in honors classes and pursue higher education.
Some families successfully engage with educators to support students by attending conferences, chaperoning field trips, and volunteering in classrooms and schools. However, other families don’t feel welcome and comfortable being in their children’s schools due to their own negative schooling experiences in the district. As a result, they’re reluctant to engage, approaching educators with suspicion and mistrust. I remember one father telling me he was convinced that his son’s educator was trying to punish him for something he didn’t do, just as his own educators had done to him. Educators must recognize this to understand the mistrust and build trusting relationships with Black parents.
Additionally, some families’ jobs and economic situations don’t allow them to take time off from work to come to schools when staff ask. I can recall the nurse at one of my schools calling a mom to come to pick up her child who was ill, but as worried as she was, she couldn’t because she didn’t have the bus fare. Educators must consider these challenges when engaging with families. For example, instead of asking families to come to the school, meet with them at their local libraries, parks, churches, or restaurants and during times that are convenient for them. Educators can also have phone conferences or Zoom meetings with families.
Furthermore, educators must reach out to families when students are doing well, not just when they’re not meeting expectations. Families are happy to help address academic and behavioral challenges before they become serious.
Ongoing, two-way communication with families is also crucial, especially at the beginning of the school year, to learn about students, their needs, their challenges, and their ways of learning — acts that show families that educators genuinely care. Importantly, just as educators have expectations for students, a culturally responsive education entails students and families also having expectations for educators. Educators must take time to ask families what they expect from the educators to ensure their children succeed.
Racial awareness and culturally responsive practices are crucial for our Black boys’ success beginning in preschool. They determine if Black boys will be condemned to a life of poverty or be empowered, contributing citizens of this country. Black boys possess cultural capital that teachers can learn from and tap into to inform curricula and instruction.
More importantly, such an education will enable Black boys to feel free and safe to be and express themselves, revel in their cultural capital, and finally breathe in our classrooms and schools.
For 18 years, Yolette Ibokette worked as a Haitian bilingual and Sheltered English Immersion teacher in the Malden and Cambridge Public Schools, teaching English Learners including those with disabilities, and for two years, teaching Civics to mainstream students. She then became an administrator and a school leader at a charter school and the Boston Public Schools. She is also an alum of the Boston Public Schools.
Ibokette holds a Doctorate in Education from Northeastern University. Her dissertation was about culturally responsive pedagogical practices of teachers of students of color, particularly Black boys.
She is now a consultant providing professional development to teachers and other staff.
