Cloaked in Invisibility: Dropout-Recovery Narratives of Girls of Color after Re-enrollment

Abstract

Abstract: There is limited research that explores the dropout and re-enrollment experiences of girls of color in urban schools despite these students having higher rates of early school withdrawal than their racial counterparts. Girls of color that dropout often have to navigate racial and gender stereotypes within a larger heteronormative system of oppression that challenges their identity as young women. Drawing from Role-Identity and Social Stress Theory, this qualitative study examined the intersection of race, gender, and space in structuring how female students of color negotiated their status as former “dropouts” to returners. Their narratives illustrate how dropout stigmas of girls of color are mediated by the context in which they experienced racial microstressors, and how they negotiated parent relationships in their pursuit of a high school diploma.