Longitudinal associations between critical consciousness, school racial climate, and belonging in school

Abstract

The dual pandemics (i.e. COVID-19 and racial injustice) in the United States offer a unique socio-historical context to explore adolescents’ belonging, perceptions of school racial climate, and critical reflection (i.e. awareness of social inequality). Longitudinal data were collected at four points from 906 students attending a public high school in the Southeastern United States. Students completed questionnaires regarding their belonging, critical reflection, and perceptions of equal status at school. Longitudinal invariance for these three constructs was documented for White students but not students of color. Therefore, the cross-lagged panel analysis involving White students only revealed considerably different patterns of associations by learning environment/school year (i.e. virtual/2020–2021, in-person/2021–2022). White students’ critical reflection negatively predicted their belonging and perceptions of equal status in school but only during virtual schooling. Further, during in-person schooling, perceptions of equal status predicted belonging. Implications for educational practice and policy are discussed.

Acknowledgements

We thank our collaborating school and university partners for their continued support. This research was supported by a grant from the Education Research Service Projects Program of the American Education Research Association.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author, Jacqueline Cerda-Smith. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.