In the 1990s, the late Tupac Shakur recorded the song “Ghetto Gospel,” which encouraged listeners to consider the stress that continually confronted U.S. children living in impoverished environments due to racial and social injustices. The first part of the chapter title, “They Tested with Stress,” is from the lyrics of that song, depicting the struggles of Black children. This theme is present throughout the chapter and is used to anchor the meaning of the chapter.

The Problem

Systemic racism in education is multifaceted, adversely affecting Black children. This social justice problem has three inseparable issues. There is the ignorance of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) or trauma that disproportionality impact Black children throughout the U.S. This disproportionality is termed pushout to describe the discriminatory disciplinary and testing practices among Black children. The disregard of ACEs has schools using racially and culturally biased standardized tests, which promote misidentifying and inappropriately placing Black children in special education (SPED). Furthermore, school professionals’ implicit racial and gender biases negatively impact Black children through harsh disciplinary practices that result in a higher number of Black children being suspended from school than children from other groups. Gender bias impacts the perception of Black girls differently than girls from other races. This bias, adultification, leads to the disproportionate punishment of Black girls. Black girls are viewed as being older, more knowledgeable about sexual interactions, needing less nurturance, more independent, and therefore deserving and capable of handling harsh punishments.

Many children experience ACEs, which is a fact that is neglected in educational policy. ACE exposure negatively impacts health and educational performance. According to Felitti and colleagues, researchers who published the original ACE study in 1998, ACEs are specific events occurring during childhood including family challenges (i.e., domestic violence, substance abuse, parental mental illness, parental separation, and parental incarceration), physical and emotional neglect, emotional, and physical and sexual abuse. While the impact of family challenges is well documented by researchers, practitioners and policymakers disregard their importance in considering developmental and academic growth.

Felitti and colleagues explored ACEs across ten categories; however, recent studies have found that Black children living in urban environments experience additional adversities.