Source: Annalisa Enrile

It’s graduation season and while we often focus on kindergartners in their tiny caps and gowns, the high school students who have made it through, or the college students ready to embark on their next adventure, we often forget the kids who are at the cusp of a pivotal time in their lives: those transitioning from eighth grade to high school. They don’t even call it “graduation.” For them, it’s a “promotion” into the next stage, a reminder that this is what they have been working towards. However, it’s much more than academic progress, it’s also a time of social and psychological development.

Identity Formation

Erikson proposed each stage of the lifespan contained a psychosocial crisis whose resolution defined positive or negative outcomes on personality development. Adolescence focused on identity versus role confusion. Identity formation is crucial because it is one’s sense of self, values and beliefs, personality traits, and expression. Adolescence is a time of experimenting with different identities. Marcia refined Erikson’s theory with four different types of identity statuses: diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, or achievement. Teens either had difficulty developing and committing to an identity (diffusion); allowed external forces such as their parents or cultural expectations to define their identity rather than deciding on their own (foreclosure); suffer an identity crisis and cannot make any decisions (moratorium); or they are able to commit to an identity (achievement).

Racial Identity Formation

For adolescents of color, Sue and Sue proposed that racial identity formation goes through the following stages:

• Conformity: a positive attitude and preference for dominant group cultural values.
• Dissonance: questioning identity and recognizing conflicting messages about their cultural group within the existence of racism.
• Resistance and immersion: embracing a positive preference for their own race and culture while rejecting dominant values of society with a focus on eliminating oppression. This can also result in anger towards dominant groups.
• Introspection: realigning perspective to include both aspects of the cultural and dominant group, even though they struggle with feelings of conflicting loyalties.
• Integrative awareness: developing a secure, confident sense of racial/cultural identity. They can acculturate into dominant society while maintaining their pride in their racial and cultural identities.

Researchers found that adolescents of color are more successful in achieving identity formation and integrative awareness if they can see people who look like them in leadership roles. Being able to witness this representation is a powerful catalyst for strong identity formation overall.

Representation Makes a Difference

This week, my niece got “promoted” from eighth grade to high school. A diverse group of students walked to Pomp and Circumstance, their robes blowing in the breeze, bright smiles on their faces. They were followed by a diverse faculty of multi-generational Black, brown, and immigrant teachers. Then, was the opening speech given in fluent Spanish by Filipina Principal Salter, followed by the Indian American ASB president's address, and the Latino student who gave the class speech. I was reminded what a crucial time this was in identity formation. After the formal program, Principal Salter took a photo with my niece, then hugged her and said, “Congratulations, I’m so proud of you, anak ko (my child).”

At that moment, all I could imagine how impactful it would have been for me, my friends, and so many others to have been able to see our own faces reflected in leadership and hear those words of affirmation—how empowered we could have been, how free with our confidence, how prepared to take our place in the world.

Research shows that adolescent girls of color are influenced by seeing role models that look similar to them. The closer their proximity, the stronger the influence. For example, Michelle Obama may provide inspiration, but Principal Salter provides concrete guidance and day-to-day examples of what might be possible. Girls of color rate “knowledge and access” to female leaders that look like them as key to helping them develop their own leadership skills. One study found that Black girls felt that Black female leaders were more supportive. This can be due to intersectional leaders being able to empathize with their students’ own intersectionality that goes beyond just race and into other identities such as immigrants, first-generation students, economics, geography, religion, and more.

School Changes Everything

Middle school is when the most critical drops in self-esteem and confidence occur. According to a 2021 CDC Study, 60% of teen girls feel sad and hopeless consistently, with more Latinx and mixed-ethnicity girls represented. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) also reports steadily worsening mental health of teen girls. 30% of girls seriously considered attempting suicide within the last year. Researchers found that school connectedness, such as having safe and trusted adults in the form of mentors, teachers, and school leaders can help prevent and reduce the negative impacts of trauma and improve mental health since more than 95% of teens spend most of their day in school.

By 2050, most schools will have a population where the majority are students of color. However, the trend in education is more teachers are white women. Sadly, another trend has been that amongst all groups, women of color are the least likely to be hired to fill principal and other administrative positions. Thus, it becomes even more critical to make sure that teachers are trained in anti-racist, critical pedagogies, and that more is done to mentor faculty of color in higher education and educational leadership to take on vital administrative positions.

I’ve always believed in the magic of educators, but today, I was reminded how powerful and necessary they are—even in the most ordinary acts of representation because they model and mentor our youth to exemplify how the future might be, that they have every right to be included and belong in positions of leadership. For this reminder, all I can say is thank you to Principal Salter and all the other administrators and faculty of color whose very presence is making a long-term difference in the lives of so many young people.