Every Student Succeeds (Except for Black Males) Act

Abstract

In PreK–12 schools throughout the United States, Black male students are the most under-served and punished population. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) misleads Black male advocates and stakeholders into believing that it ensures they succeed. This article examines ESSA and its implications for educational equity for Black boys. Using critical race theory, the authors argue that, similar to past policies, ESSA intends to ensure educational equity for all students but ignores the ways in which race, gender and other forms of oppression are implicated in the teaching and learning process and constrain Black male youths’ opportunities to learn. This article calls for culturally grounded and social-justice-oriented perspectives in the development of policies for Black male students.

Dreaming beyond education policy: a BlackCrit analysis of ESEA and ESSA

“…ESSA functions as an antiblack project insofar as policymakers recognize that black students are more likely to attend schools that have historically received inadequate funding, resources and teachers. Despite policymakers’ awareness of racialized/antiblack educational inequities, ESSA still does not provide specific provisions to address these well-documented issues facing many black students in school settings (Allen et al , 2018;Crenshaw et al , 2015). Federal policy must address the specific issues related to race in education and the longstanding barriers to Black students’ academic and social development.…”

“…Federal policy must address the specific issues related to race in education and the longstanding barriers to Black students’ academic and social development. Instead, ESSA reinforces the metric of standardized testing to assess student success, even though IQ, literary and standardized testing have historically been constructed around white, male social norms (Allen et al , 2018; Little, 2022). Moreover, general academic standards and their associated mathematics and English language arts curricula reinforce white superiority and black inferiority because the standards and curriculum are presented as critically objective, culturally neutral and politically unbiased (Allen et al , 2018; Tate, 1995).…”

“…Instead, ESSA reinforces the metric of standardized testing to assess student success, even though IQ, literary and standardized testing have historically been constructed around white, male social norms (Allen et al , 2018; Little, 2022). Moreover, general academic standards and their associated mathematics and English language arts curricula reinforce white superiority and black inferiority because the standards and curriculum are presented as critically objective, culturally neutral and politically unbiased (Allen et al , 2018; Tate, 1995). This paradigm has contributed to furthering the academic divide between black students and their white peers.…”

“…ESSA refuses to mandate school climate provisions that address educational conditions that reproduce and perpetuate harsher discipline and discriminatory practices for many black students (Payne and Welch, 2015). Instead, ESSA allows states to choose the most relevant indicator for school quality or student success: (a) “student and educator engagement, (b) school climate and safety, (c) student access to and completion of advanced coursework, (d) postsecondary readiness, and (e) state-selected Indicator” (Allen et al , 2018, p. 11). Even when ESSA explicitly requests states to explain how schools would reduce the overuse of disciplinary practices that remove black students from classrooms and the use of aversive behavioral interventions that compromise student health and safety (Allen et al , 2018), it does not explain how to transform schools who do not do so.…”

“…Instead, ESSA allows states to choose the most relevant indicator for school quality or student success: (a) “student and educator engagement, (b) school climate and safety, (c) student access to and completion of advanced coursework, (d) postsecondary readiness, and (e) state-selected Indicator” (Allen et al , 2018, p. 11). Even when ESSA explicitly requests states to explain how schools would reduce the overuse of disciplinary practices that remove black students from classrooms and the use of aversive behavioral interventions that compromise student health and safety (Allen et al , 2018), it does not explain how to transform schools who do not do so. In short, while ESSA asks for explanations of how schools can reduce race-based inequities, it provides neither resources to help schools accomplish these goals nor consequences for states who refuse to adhere to ESSA requests.…”