Deficit-Oriented Beliefs, Anti-Black Policies, Punitive Practices, and Labeling: Exploring the Mechanisms of Disproportionality and Its Impact on Black Boys in One Urban “No-Excuses” Charter School

Abstract

Background/Context: Embedded in “common sense” and state-mandated reforms to close “the achievement gap,” the urban school, especially those sites with a no-excuses orientation to learning, can produce and reproduce the carceral state in students’ lives. The seemingly innocuous policies and processes limit access to educational opportunities and create disproportionate out-of-class time, which can emerge as the connective tissue for criminalization and the school-to-prison nexus that disproportionately affects Black males in the United States. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: The objective of the study was to illuminate the more unspoken mechanisms of disproportionality in school while concurrently raising awareness of how everyday practices, like school-imposed mis/labeling, contribute to the symbolic violence and dehumanization of Black and Latinx boys in school. Research Design: The article includes purposeful observations and semi-structured interview data with school personnel and students drawn from a 14-month ethnographic study. Findings/Results: The findings from this study revealed that the mechanisms of disproportionality ranged from explicit anti-Black policies to more tacit systems and processes, but all reflected how the no-excuses environment contributes to the connective tissue of criminalization and the school-to-prison nexus for boys of Color. The finding centers on three systems and policies that are influenced by carceral logic and the enforcement of student alienation. Conclusion/Recommendations: The findings from the study reveal the need for a radical transformation of no-excuses public charter schools, one that is community-based and rooted in an Afrocentric education. If educators and other school personnel are working in tandem with community members, they can reassess their negative misperceptions of minoritized communities that begin to shape infractions rooted in anti-Blackness. A community-based approach can begin to dismantle the school-to-prison nexus. Furthermore, an Afrocentric education approach requires school personnel to understand the history and culture of people of African descent and to see students’ full humanity. Here, students’ lived experiences would be centered within the diaspora, while sociocultural norms that may have been criminalized in the past would be valued and accepted.