Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools: Differences That Make a Difference

by Howard C. Stevenson

Overview

Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools uncovers how racial stress undermines student achievement and provides educators and social service support staff with workable strategies to improve their racial literacy skills.

Based on extensive research, this provocative volume explores how schools are places where racial conflicts often remain hidden at the expense of a healthy school climate and the well-being of students of color.

Most schools fail to act on racial microaggressions because the stress of negotiating such conflicts is extremely high due to fears of incompetence, public exposure, and accusation. Instead of facing these conflicts head on, schools perpetuate a set of avoidance or coping strategies. The author of this much-needed book uncovers how racial stress undermines student achievement. Students, educators, and social service support staff will find workable strategies to improve their racial literacy skills to read, recast, and resolve racially stressful encounters when they happen.

Book Features:

• A model that applies culturally relevant behavioral stress management strategies to problem solve racial stress in schools.
• Examples demonstrating workable solutions relevant within predominantly White schools for students, parents, teachers, and administrators.
• Measurable outcomes and strategies for developing racial literacy skills that can be integrated into the K–12 curriculum and teacher professional development.
• Teaching and leadership skills that will create a more tolerant and supportive school environment for all students.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807755044
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	01/03/2014
Series:	0
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Howard C. Stevenson is a clinical and consulting psychologist and the Constance E. Clayton Professor of Urban Education and Professor of Africana Studies, and former chair of the Applied Psychology and Human Development Division in the Graduate School of Education, both at the University of Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Schooling Racial Illiteracy: The Excavation of Racial Stress and Resilience Through Storytelling 1

Gently Approaching Racism and Whiteness Through Metaphor and Storytelling 2

Discovering Racial Stress and Resilience in a Story 5

Shopping While Black: A Child's-Eye View of Racial Stress and Resilience in the Grocery Store 6

Looking for the "Looks": Meta-Observation of the Racial Stress of White People 14

1 If Elephants Could Talk: Stress and Incompetence in the Politics of American Race Relations 25

The Racial Stress of American Schooling 26

Encountering Racial Stress in Social Interaction 28

National Racial Politics Affect Race Relations and Education Reform 29

Can Education Reform Racial Disparities in a Postracially Reactive America? 33

Elephants as Metaphor for the Politics of Racial Stress and Literacy in Schools 34

Seeing Racial Politics in Schools: Assumptions of Racial Stress and Literacy 38

2 Recasting the History of Racial "Firsts": Dancing Around Stereotypes in American Schools 64

Racial Role Strain: How Stereotypes Become Straitjackets and Dance Routines 65

The History of Dancing Around Racial Stereotypes in Schooling 72

Dance Routines for Healing, Not Survival: Countering Stereotypes by Recasting Their Stressfulness 85

3 Fearing Racial Discourse: The Socialization of Racial Threat in Schools 92

Fear of White Gaze: If Race Is a Social Construction, Why Is It So Scary? 93

The Neuroscience of Racial Fear in Predominantly White Contexts 99

4 Recasting Racial Threat: A Model for Coping and Assertiveness During Conflicts 113

RECAST Theory: Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal and Socialization Theory 114

Racial Encounter Awareness: Storytelling to Safely See Stress in Social Interactions 126

Racial Encounter Stress Appraisal: Journaling for Deeper Self-Reflection 131

Racial Encounter Reappraisal: Relaxation In-The-Moment (ITM) of Racial Threat 139

Racial Encounter Engagement: Debating Racial Illiteracy in Self and Others 142

Healthy Comeback Lines: Facing Racial Stereotypes Head On 145

Racial Encounter Resolution: Role-Playing for Diminishing Racial Threat 148

Can We Talk? Piloting a Racial Literacy Intervention in the Classroom 151

5 Walking While Talking: What Parents and Educators Can Do to Promote Racial Literacy 158

The Stress of Racial Socialization for Parents 159

What Parents Should Know to Promote Racial Literacy 169

What if Trayvon Came Home? Giving "The Stalking Talk" 174

Racially Literate Leadership: What Educators Should Know to Reduce Racial Threat 175

6 Racial Literacy as Civil Disobedience: Practicing Racial Assertiveness in Schools 181

Got Skillz? Recommendations for Assertively Engaging and Resolving Racial Stress in Schools 182

The Storyteller's Demise: The Posttraumatic Stress of Racial Assertiveness 198

References 203

Index 219

About the Author 231

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Once more, Howard Stevenson has provided a blueprint of critical importance to policymakers, practitioners, teachers, and parents!”
—Margaret Beale Spencer, University of Chicago