Black boys have long been “troubled” by U.S. educational policies, revealing a worrisome narrative that they do not matter in schools, a narrative shaped over decades of accountability-driven reforms (Noguera, 2009). In this paper, we build on the work of Thompson & Allen (2012), who examined the impact of standardized testing on African American K-12 students. We do so with a singular focus on the effects on Black boys; we aim to investigate the persistence of these issues across federal and state-level policies. Utilizing Diem’s (2018) Five Concerns as a framework for Critical Policy Analysis, this paper examines how U.S. educational policies enacted since the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) have deepened the high-stakes testing culture established under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). We argue that these policy shifts have reinforced a test-driven educational environment that renders Black boys increasingly invisible within schools and systems. Additionally, we utilize the Black Boys Mattering Framework theorized by Carey (2022) to examine the ways these policies, through test-driven teaching, have: (1) erased Black boys from the curriculum, (2) promoted the use of data practices that stigmatize Black boys, and (3) have caused intellectual harm that devalues black boys’ knowledge. We conclude with policy recommendations to dismantle decades of US policies and improve outcomes for Black boys.

Authors:
Phelton Moss, Virginia Commonwealth University, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Phelton C. Moss is currrently a tenure-track profession at the Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, Virginia.

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