2026-06-25 at 330PM ET  • Cultural Behaviors of Black Students…

Cultural Behaviors of Black Students Frequently Misconstrued as Problems Through a White Dominant Culture Perspective

Daniel Russell, EdD • 2 Learning, 2 IBAO

Data have consistently shown that Black students continue to be overrepresented in school exclusionary discipline (U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, 2014), and this disproportionality is consistent whether in traditional, magnet, charter, or alternative schools (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2018). This racial discipline gap has even been identified in schools that use intervention frameworks, like Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), with apparent fidelity (Sugai et al., 2012; Vincent et al., 2013; Vincent & Tobin, 2011). Thus, race has been a salient factor in the inequitable application of exclusionary discipline to Black students (Bal, 2016; Bottani et al., 2018; McIntosh et al., 2014; Noltemeyer & McLouglin, 2010).

When examining data for exclusions, such as suspensions, findings consistently show that Black students are removed from the classroom setting for primarily subjective reasons as compared to White students, who are typically removed for objective reasons (Anyon et al., 2014; Eber et al., 2010). In addition to race, researchers have found that this disparate treatment is associated with subjective judgments about the behaviors of Black students that have cultural origins (Parsons, 2017). For example, Morris and Perry (2017) found that Black girls, in particular, are judged by White dominant culture norms of femininity. In addition to overrepresentation in exclusionary discipline, cultural misconceptions have been associated with overidentification of Black students for special education (Morgan, 2020).

Cultural behaviors are patterns of behavior specific to a cultural group. Psychology professor A. Wade Boykin described the process of learning culturally based behaviors through cultural socialization in his cultural patterning theory (Cole & Boykin, 2008). His groundbreaking research on Black children identified cultural assets associated with them, such as verve, movement, and communalism (Boykin & Bailey, 2000). Another way to conceptualize cultural behaviors is to regard them as modal personality traits, where modal denotes the most frequent characteristics (Shade et al., 2004). In other words, these are the cultural behavior patterns most frequently associated with a group that shares a common cultural heritage. Shade and colleagues (2004) warn, however, that although these cultural characteristics may be common across a large group, they should not be used to label or essentialize a group, as individual variation persists within groups that share a common culture.

Recognizing culturally determined behaviors that many Black students are socialized into is critical, though, to countering persistent deficit interpretations and responses to these authentic behaviors. Learning about cultural behaviors is particularly important for behavior analysts because of the critical roles they perform in providing culturally responsive, sustaining, and liberating support to Black students. For example, behavior analysts play a crucial role on IEP teams, where knowledge of cultural behaviors can prevent misidentification of Black students for special education and lead to culturally responsive FBAs and BIPs that incorporate Black students’ cultural assets.

After attending this session, audience members will be able to:

• Identify various cultural behaviors associated with Black students.
• Delineate negative impacts of subject judments about cultural behaviors associated with Black students.
• Explain how knowledge about cultural behaviors associated with Black students can increase the likelihood of more equitable school disciplinary practices.
• Describe how an understanding of cultural behaviors associated with Black students can increase the likelihood of culturally and lingusitically responsive FBAs and BIPs.