Anti-Blackness permeates P-20 education systems through policies and practices that perpetuate the exclusion and trauma of Black youth. In the college access space, researchers and practitioners are seeking to understand and implement anti-racist advising
practices to better support Black students and achieve racial equity. To address this need, the Journal of College Access released a special edition titled "Access and Blackness: Antiracist College Counseling and Advising."
Across the featured pieces, researchers share critical findings and propose thoughtful recommendations for adopting anti-racist approaches to college access and success work. Four of the featured manuscripts that piqued our interest include:
A systematic review of anti-oppressive frameworks in college counseling literature reveals that more research is needed to explore asset-based advising strategies for Black students. Specifically,
the authors call for future work to disaggregate the gendered experiences of Black students in college access research, especially for Black girls. Increased work in these areas can inform practitioners on how to holistically support Black students
in their college-going pursuits and remove structural barriers on the way.
A quantitative research study examining the career help-seeking behaviors of Black first-generation college students at predominantly-White institutions (PWIs) suggests students experience racialized barriers to accessing career-related services and counseling. Barriers to career development and the use of career services were associated with having a lack of support from friends/mentors, a change in
adviser, and facing microaggressions from faculty and staff. Despite these findings, TRIO programming and same-race connections with faculty members were found to be important for graduate school advising and career exploration for this student
population.
In a critical phenomenological study on the college readiness experiences of high-achieving Black women, participants reported that their interactions with families, peers, school counselors,
and participation in community programs were crucial sources of motivation and support during their college access journeys. The participants also noted receiving mixed messages about the importance of going to college and their perceived ability
to succeed in college from neighborhood members and school staff. The findings draw attention to many implications for school-based practitioners to consider, such as addressing anti-Black college-preparation practices and increasing collaboration
with Black families and community partners to support Black girls to and through college.
While school counselors are interested in adopting racial equity and social justice lenses to their approaches to college access, a study out of San Diego University suggests that they
feel ill-prepared to do so. Even though school counselors reported learning about social justice, critical race theory, and culturally sustaining pedagogies during their graduate education, they find it difficult to translate theory into their
practice. These findings suggest school counseling education programs must be more intentional in training practitioners on how to adopt anti-racist approaches to counseling and be an active agent in disrupting barriers that impede their students’
ability to access higher education.
Because these summaries do not capture the fullness of this work, we encourage members to review these studies and others featured in this special edition to inform their understanding of anti-racist college access and success practices for supporting
Black students.
Have a question or something you would like to contribute to our thinking around addressing anti-Blackness in college access work? Feel free to reach out to me at breens@ncan.org to discuss your inquiries or work –
I would be grateful to hear from you.
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