Thought Leader Q&A: Creating Safer Classrooms For Black Students

Note: This blog post features a thought leader from APA 2019. This will not be a session at APA 2023.

At age 14, when Dena Simmons, EdD, MSed, MA, left her hometown in the Bronx to attend a predominantly white New England boarding school, she experienced intense, personal racism for the first time. She grew ashamed of her blackness. Teachers often corrected her pronunciations of words. Students teased her for applying hair grease to her scalp. Surrounded by white teachers and students who disregarded her identity, Simmons felt like an impostor.

That experience was one of several that motivated Simmons to focus her career on helping educators cultivate emotional intelligence and greater cultural awareness in their classrooms to enable all students to thrive, regardless of skin color. We asked Simmons to talk about what she’ll be sharing at APA 2019.

What will be the key take-aways from your session?
Our educational system is Euro-centric, and when students do not see themselves reflected in what they learn, they internalize the belief that they don’t matter. In school, I learned very little about black narratives of excellence and success. Many students today likely hear about the same two people during Black History Month: Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. While those stories are important, we need to incorporate narratives of local heroes and heroines into the curriculum and give students the opportunity to share their own stories.

When I was a high school student, the educational system also lacked teachers who looked like me. Even today there’s still a lack of diversity, which is why it’s so critical to hire more teachers of color. But these culturally responsive practices will only be effective if teachers foster emotionally intelligent behavior that promotes a safe classroom environment. For example, research has shown that teachers tend to misread black students’ emotions. They may see a neutral emotion as anger, and this can result in inequitable disciplinary practices. Emotionally intelligent and culturally responsive teachers know how to recognize, understand, label, and regulate their own and others’ emotions.

How can psychologists be part of the solution?
Part of the solution is asking [ourselves] whether our work perpetuates the tendency to zero in on single narratives for certain social groups. For example, often research focuses on the problems of disenfranchised communities rather than the strengths, resilience, and assets of these groups of people.

Psychologists can also partner with the education system to ensure that children in economically disadvantaged communities have access to mental health services that promote the healthy development of young people. For example, how often are we volunteering our services in community schools?

What is something about your work that would surprise psychologists?
I’ve had the opportunity to work with educators throughout the nation, and I’ve noticed that many of them tend to describe students of color as “rowdy” or “disengaged” before the students participated in a social emotional learning, or SEL, program. The teachers share narratives of how the programs helped “these kids” become more motivated and engaged. Unfortunately, these narratives can reinforce the stereotype that students of color need SEL more than other students. My hope is that researchers, educators, and clinicians will strive to tell more balanced stories about students of color and begin highlighting their strengths and life experiences.

Interviewed by Heather Stringer