Exploring the Education Experiences of BLACK Girls K-12

Recent research suggests that anti-Black racism is a persistent reality for Black students living in Canada and the U.S. Experiencing anti-Black racism within the education system has contributed to the disparities that exist and the disparate treatment impacting the educational achievement of Black students. Over the past few decades, research that examines the inequitable education experiences of Black youth consistently highlights the experiences of Black male students leading to interventions and supports that solely focus on Black males. Although the education experiences of Black male students are important to understand, this has resulted in the misrepresentation and invisibility of the experiences of Black girls and their adverse education experiences. This research study intends to examines the education experiences of Black girls and how gender intersects with anti-Blackness to shape the experiences of Black girls in schools. Using Black Girlhood Theory (BGT) as a theoretical lens to guide this research which considers age, race and gender, the following research question was examined: 1) What are the specific ways in which Black girls experience anti-Black racism in the education system? Using a systemic narrative literature review, findings revealed that Black girls are subjected to adultification which is the removal of the consideration of childhood as a factor in a child's behaviour. As such, Black girls experience differential treatment, surveillance, inequitable disciplinary consequences, over policing and gendered microaggressions.