by Terrell L. Strayhorn & J’Quen O. Johnson
INTRODUCTION
Black students in both K-12 and higher education face numerous challenges stemming from systemic racism, underrepresentation, inequitable disciplinary practices, and harmful stereotypes, just to mention a few. Alarmingly, recent data reveals that 26% of Black students were suspended from school for minor infractions (e.g., dress code violations, inappropriate language) compared to just 2% of White students for similar behaviors. Beyond disciplinary issues, many students experience direct racism from peers and staff. For example, 55% of Black students reported encounters with racial discrimination in school, often leading to higher prevalence of poor mental health, lower learning engagement, fewer connections to others, and a diminished sense of belonging. These troubling statistics and trends underscore the urgent need for administrators and educators to address the role of race in school at all levels, in hopes of creating more inclusive learning environments that support the well-being, belonging, and success of Black students.
THE CONFERENCE
With these issues in mind, the 9th Annual ROCK Conference (hereafter ROCK) was held from July 18th to July 21st in the nation’s third-largest city, Houston, Texas, at the highly-acclaimed JW Marriott by The Galleria. Sponsored by Black Educators Rock (BER) founded by Dr. Melissa Chester, the theme of this year’s conference was “Encouraging Collaboration, EmpoWEring Minds, Cultivating Excellence.” This year’s convening brought together hundreds of administrators, advocates, educators, policymakers, and researchers expressly committed to the vision and mission of BER.
BER’s mission is to cultivate the educational experiences and accomplishments of minority students and professionals through the exchange of instructional strategies & practices, professional knowledge, and advocacy & empowerment. This will, in turn, increase motivation, capacity, and student achievement.
The four-day professional development event comprised dozens of high-quality general sessions, social events, and dynamic keynote addresses by leading voices in the field of education. The cast of featured speakers included multi-hyphenates such as Baruti “Principal” Kafele, Equity Expert and best-selling author; Donald Ruff, President & CEO of Eagle Academy Foundation; Dr. Marcus Jackson, curriculum expert and consultant; Dr. Dennis McKessey, Founder & Chairman, The Off School Grounds Coalition Inc.; and Dr. Terrell Strayhorn, Associate Provost & Professor of Education and Psychology, Virginia Union University, to name a few. Additionally, there were over 30 presenters of concurrent sessions with a perfect balance between men and women speakers including representatives from Chesapeake Public Schools, Florida A&M University, Jacksonville Public Education Fund, Renaissance94, Earners Academy, and Klein Independent School District. Further demonstrating the diversity of speakers’ perspectives, ROCK main-staged entrepreneurs and consultants from over 20 Black- or minority-owned private firms and LLCs, including Happiness Decoded 101, Teaching Lab, Blackwell Magic, and J’Quen Johnson from Do Good Work, among others. Collectively, ROCK speakers have over 200 years of professional work experience, author nearly 100 books, and touch almost every state in the nation, plus dozens of countries across the globe!
THE SESSION
On Day Two (Friday), we joined forces to co-present a 50-minute concurrent session titled, “The Basics of Belonging: EmpoWEring Black Students to Succeed.” The high-energy session centered around ‘sense of belonging’ in education, which has proven to be an often-overlooked but vital key to educational success for ALL students. Belonging is a basic need and a human right. All students deserve the chance and opportunity to feel important, to sense that they matter (to someone) at school, and to know their contributions are valued by members of the learning community. This is particularly true for Black students, whether studying in predominantly White, historically Black, or other diverse settings. We kicked-off the jam-packed session, making these “power points” using a smooth blend of national stats, trend data, and insights from our latest research.
Before presenting a set of evidence-based practices, we thought it necessary to ensure conceptual clarity by introducing widely-cited explanations of belonging. Tag-teaming back-and-forth, we noted that sense of belonging is defined as a “feeling that [one] matters to another…and to the group, and [it reflects] a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together”[1]. Among other things, sense of belonging refers to the “feeling that others depend on us, are interested in us, are concerned about our fate” and excited about our futures [2]. When students feel like they belong, they attend class regularly, study deeply, engage in their learning, retain more information, see brighter connections, and, consequently, are retained at higher rates, persist to degree completion, and graduate on-time with better grades.
THE RECOMMENDATIONS
For all it’s worth, sense of belonging is crucial to education’s “bottom line” but does not happen automatically. It must be built, conditioned, cultivated, facilitated, nurtured, or provoked but never, ever forced. Drawing from our backgrounds as K-12 teachers, higher education researchers, and business consultants, we offered several practical examples for creating supportive spaces where Black students feel valued, seen, and heard. We recommended the following–keeping in mind that belonging isn’t just a strategy, it’s a necessity for student success:
- Incorporate culturally-relevant pedagogy. A long line of scholarship has stressed the importance of teaching to and through students’ cultural backgrounds. For instance, we know a third grade teacher from Massachusetts who decorates his classroom with African kente rugs, displays Native American art, and plays reggae music, as ways to affirm students’ identities. This intentionality not only creates a welcoming atmosphere but also fosters a sense of belonging and encourages students to engage more deeply with the learning space—to see it as their own. Similarly, we’ve found that when teachers incorporate materials, examples, videos, and methods that reflect the cultural backgrounds and lived experiences of students, especially Black students, this not only validates their identities but also increases learning engagement, psychosocial development, and connection to the subject matter. That’s a win-win for everyone!
- Use growth-minded feedback. So much of belonging depends, in part, on hope–that is, feeling and believing that achievement is possible in a given context or situation. Providing growth-minded feedback is a powerful strategy for boosting belonging among Black students. It emphasizes students’ potential for growth, improvement, and learning rather than focusing on their limitations and errors. For example, teachers might provide links to extra resources that can help students improve their work; tools such as YouTube, Grammarly, or learning sites may prove useful. By providing feedback that highlights effort, progress, revision, and improvement, educators affirm students as knowers, reward prosocial behaviors (e.g., help-seeking), and send a powerful message that “perfection isn’t the starting point,” but with practice “perfection is possible” for all, regardless of one’s background, (dis)ability, or race/ethnicity.
- Check-in regularly. Regular check-ins with students are an effective way of boosting belonging among Black students, as this shows genuine care, concern, and interest in the well-being and academic success of students. “Hey, how are you feeling today” or “Are you anxious about tomorrow’s quiz?” can go a long-way toward promoting positive connections in classrooms, whether in-person or online. For instance, you might ask students how they feel on a scale from 1 (unhappy, troubled) to 5 (happy, satisfied). Encourage them to share what makes them feel that way, to the degree they’re comfortable—similar to the “rose or thorn” activity. Follow up with those who self-report scores 3 or below. Engaging in authentic conversations builds trust, strengthens relationships, provides personalized support, and helps foster strong bonds that make belonging possible.
In sum, this year’s ROCK Conference was an inspiring, empoWEring, and transformative gathering of educators, leaders, vendors, and change-makers unapologetically committed to advancing equity in education, even amid political pushback and legal challenge. We count it a privilege to be part of such a supportive professional community, where experts and educators, policymakers and practitioners can come together, join hands, link arms to tackle tough educational problems by day but “Cha-Cha Slide” and “Electric Slide” by night.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- What’s sense of belonging, in your own words?
- Why does it matter so much for students’ success?
- In what ways do you check in with students to support their well-being?
- How do you incorporate students’ cultural backgrounds in your classroom/teaching?
We invite you to share your ideas with us using the “Comments” box below, leaving a “reply,” or tagging others who can join the conversation. Feel free to tag us (@DoGoodWork) or use this hashtag (#DoGoodWork) as a way of crowdsourcing this information. Thanks in advance!
This article was co-authored with J’Quen Johnson, Ph.D. candidate at the University of the Cumberlands and Director of Research at Do Good Work Consulting.