Abstract

It is well documented that students’ race is a significant predictor of educational outcomes. As a result of this disproportionality, some school districts have opted to create racial equity programs designed to address this issue. In doing so, racial equity programs seek to educate, support, and prepare students to address racial disproportionality within their communities. The researchers collaborated with Asheville High School’s Racial Equity Ambassador (REAP) program to analyze the program’s ability to impact its participating students. Specifically, investigating this program’s capacity to change participating students' perception of their ability to address racial inequity within their environment. The purpose of this research, using a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) framework, was to actively collaborate with Asheville City Schools Foundation’s (ACSF) REAP program to construct research methods that reflect the needs of the school community. Utilizing previous scholarly literature on racial equity and the knowledge and first-hand experiences of racial inequities from ACSF leaders, the overarching research goals, as well as philosophies and preferred methods, took shape. The researchers implemented surveys and interviews that gauged the Racial Equity Ambassadors’ attitudes towards various school-level issues at both the beginning and end of the academic year. The literature review shows that the culture of school communities can affect academic outcomes11. With this in mind, the researchers wanted to see how the REAP students' mission to positively change the community culture might relate back to their connectedness to their school community. This change was captured by specifically measuring the student’s perception through different mediums. The researchers argue that student participation in racial equity programs increases the student’s perception of their capacity to enact social change within their environment.

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