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Reclaiming Narratives: Centering Black Girls’ Voices in Alternative Schools through Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR)
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DOI：10.1080/2372966X.2026.2665083.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Black girls in alternative school settings face distinct challenges shaped by the intersection of race, gender, and institutional discipline norms. This qualitative study explores the lived experiences of Black girls, ages 13 to 16, who participated in the Black Girl Futures (BGF) Girl Talk! program at an alternative school in the southern United States. Using a youth participatory action research (YPAR) framework, the study positions the girls as coresearchers and centers their perspectives through reflective journaling, interviews, and observations. Findings illustrate how exclusionary discipline, biased adult-student relationships, and limited access to supportive programming shape their educational experiences and emotional well-being. Coresearchers identified a need for culturally affirming spaces and interventions that support identity development, voice, and healing. Their narratives challenge deficit-based portrayals and emphasize the value of school environments that allow them to be seen and supported as whole people. This study calls for greater use of participatory methods in school psychology and encourages critical reflection from clinicians and researchers working with Black girls and other marginalized youth in educational settings to ensure practices are emotionally safe, identity-affirming, and trauma-informed.
Impact Statement
This study amplifies the voices of Black girls in alternative school settings, revealing how exclusionary discipline, biased adult relationships, and limited access to affirming resources shape their educational experiences and emotional well-being. It offers guidance for school psychologists and educators to cocreate supportive environments by building community partnerships to incorporate student-led feedback and embed culturally responsive, healing- centered practices into everyday school systems.
Keywords:
black girlhood
YPAR
alternative education
Tyler Renshaw
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