109
Volume:
2022
,
April

Further Consensus

Submitted By:
Najee Warner, Urban Assembly Charter High School for Computer Science, New York, NY

Black Education in the Wake of Covid-19 & Systemic Racism by Sonya Douglass Horsford, Leana Cabral, Cami Touloukian, Siettah Parks, Phillip A. Smith, Chy McGhee, Fawziah Qadir, Dominique Lester, & Jade Jacobs
Black Education Research Collective, Black Education Research Collective, July 1, 2021

Throughout this piece, the authors explore the effects of COVID-19 on education in black communities. Researchers collected data from various sources to identify factors that affect the state of black education. They discuss topics like mental health, community trust, and social-emotional learning and reveal consensus within the black experience: the pandemic and racism have disproportionately impacted the lives of black students, families, and communities. Recommendations center around community and ask that there be more involvement in the structures of schools from community organizations, parents, activists, and others connected to education. Additionally, our schools' mental health services must address and be responsive to racial trauma and its impact on black communities—both students and educators—as we move on from the pandemic. Although the study focuses on a small population of independent school students, numerous schools are looking to change their approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion. And the effects of the pandemic have given families little option but to change their students' schooling. This study gives independent schools insight into how to provide for a diverse student population and identify opportunities for that population. It also calls for our schools to be central figures in a mass shift in how we approach education.

Categories
Covid-19
Current Events & Civic Engagement
DEIJ