Dismantling the Black–White Achievement Gap Paradigm: Why and How We Need to Focus Instead on Systemic Change

Abstract

More than half a century of educational efforts have focused on eliminating the Black–White achievement gap. Yet, racial disparities persist. In this article, we describe the issues with educational discourse focused on the achievement gap and the ways structural racism drives the educational experiences and outcomes of Black students. We include a discussion of Black children’s developmental competencies and the ways educators may use culturally relevant pedagogy to capitalize upon these competencies and support higher achievement among Black students. We conclude with suggestions for specific actions to foster systemic change for Black students.

Keywords

achievement childhood classroom equity educational studies

The challenge of reducing or eliminating the achievement gap between Black and White children in the United States has been a focus of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers for more than half a century. Despite this attention, Black children, on average, continue to underperform relative to White children across traditional educational indicators, including standardized test scores and high school and college graduation rates. Furthermore, these differences have been found as early as the first year of life, with Black children demonstrating lower levels of cognition in infancy compared with White children (e.g., Halle et al., 2009). Why do these Black–White academic achievement gaps persist, despite efforts to eliminate them? To answer this question, we must recognize that previous efforts to address educational disparities by race have overlooked the problems inherent in the achievement gap paradigm and ignored the root cause of the disparities.

If we want to improve the educational outcomes of Black children, then we need to shift from focusing on the Black–White achievement gap to highlighting the need for systemic change. We need to acknowledge that structural racism is at the root of the educational experiences and outcomes of Black students. Furthermore, it is essential to expand the conceptualization of academic success to move beyond standardized testing metrics and include competencies that are critical for school and life success (i.e., socioemotional development). As we identify Black children’s developmental competencies, we will be better positioned to provide learning environments that are culturally appropriate and effective. In this article, we expand upon each of these points and demonstrate how promoting systemic change can enhance the learning outcomes of Black children and better position them for success.

The Problems With the Achievement Gap Paradigm

The very existence of the Black–White achievement gap paradigm, which compares Black children’s academic performance to that of White children, is problematic in several ways. Below we describe five problems with the achievement gap paradigm. Although this list is by no means exhaustive of the shortcomings of the paradigm, it highlights some of the most pervasive and problematic issues.

Problem 1: The Paradigm Sets White Children as the Ideal

The singular focus on raising the academic achievement of Black children to that of White children sets White children’s achievement as both ideal and the norm. The constant comparison of Black children to White children focuses on the deficits of Black children relative to White children. The comparison perpetuates the idea that White children’s achievement is the gold standard. This perspective assumes that White children are performing at high academic standards.

The data, however, indicate that not all White children are performing at the highest level. For example, according to the 2019 Nation’s Report Card, 54% of U.S. White fourth graders failed to read at proficient levels, indicating that more than half of White fourth graders lacked the skill to “integrate and interpret texts and apply their understanding of the text to draw conclusions and make evaluations” (U.S. Department of Education, 2020). If we eliminated the reading achievement gap between Black and White children whereby Black children read at similar levels as White children, about half of Black children would fail to read proficiently. In this case, eliminating the achievement gap would leave many Black children without proficient reading skills similar to their White peers. This example shows that using White children as the standard for comparison to Black children obscures the low achievement of White children. In doing so, we set a low bar for the achievement of Black children. Thus, rather than continually hold White children as the ideal by comparing Black children’s achievement to the achievement of White children, the goal should be to foster the full range of Black children’s academic skills, irrespective of how Black children perform relative to White children.

Problem 2: The Paradigm Elevates Eurocentric Standards

The achievement gap paradigm finds Black children lacking according to Eurocentric standards of achievement. Eurocentric standards are based on White or European American middle-class populations and are pervasive throughout the U.S. educational system (Ladson-Billings, 2006). These standards are manifested through the curricula children are taught, the standardized tests used as assessments of students’ skills (e.g., National Assessment of Educational Progress and SAT scores), and the ideologies that guide educational policies, decision-making, and practices. Focusing on the achievement gap further magnifies Eurocentric standards, as it elevates metrics and standards based on the experiences of White people while ignoring the contributions, funds of knowledge, and experiences of Black people. In doing so, the achievement gap paradigm marginalizes Black students while holding them to standards rooted in cultural and racial hegemony (Bailey, 2015).

Problem 3: The Paradigm Ignores Black Children’s Competencies

With its focus on Eurocentric standards, the achievement gap paradigm discounts the competencies that Black children bring to academic endeavors. Black students have competencies they express differently than measured on traditional standardized tests (e.g., Ford et al., 2001; Hale, 2016; Willis, 1989). These strengths are rarely incorporated into schooling and instruction and thus serve as missed opportunities to promote academic excellence among Black children. As García Coll and colleagues (1996) eloquently articulated in their seminal paper on the Integrative Model for the Study of Developmental Competencies in Minority Children, research needs to focus on the factors that facilitate the positive development of minority children and center their racialized social position (e.g., race/ethnicity, social class, and gender) and social stratification (e.g., racism, prejudice, discrimination, oppression, and segregation) in our society to understand minority children’s developmental competencies. This conceptual model identifies culturally unique constructs as central to understanding minority children’s development. These culturally unique constructs are conditions that White Americans do not experience; however, these cultural constructs shape and define the developmental experiences and competencies of racial/ethnic minority children (García Coll et al., 1996). As the discourse on the achievement gap often overlooks the competencies of Black children, we provide examples of Black children’s competencies (see section “Black Children’s Overlooked Competencies”) and the implications of these competencies for academic achievement.

Problem 4: The Paradigm Relies on Flawed Assessments

The achievement gap paradigm is based on the assumption that standardized test scores and other “objective” assessments of academic performance are valid and unbiased indicators of human ability. This assumption is built on a fallacy, as it does not consider contexts of race/ethnicity, social position, socioeconomic status, gender, or culture (Au, 2016). Scholars have documented the inherent problems with these standardized indicators (e.g., Ford & Helms, 2012).

Today’s tests used to assess children’s academic achievement have roots in the eugenics movement of the early 1900s, a movement by leading psychologists, educators, and geneticists to promote Whites as superior to others. As a result, standardized testing emerged to provide “scientific proof” of the superiority of Whites over Blacks and other races. Today, standardized testing is criticized for its cultural bias (Ford & Helms, 2012) and reinforcement of stereotype threat (Wasserberg, 2014). Rather than measure performance or ability, these tests assess children’s exposure to different academic constructs. Standardized test scores, therefore, reflect educational inequities. Furthermore, simply modifying standardized assessments without acknowledging the social and historical forces that have negatively impacted the performance of Black and other racial/ethnic minority children does not make an assessment culturally competent (Skiba et al., 2002). Thus, the practice of standardized testing puts Black children at a disadvantage and reifies the paradigm about Black children’s academic deficiencies relative to White children.

Instead of traditional standardized testing, a more holistic approach to assessing Black children’s competencies across domains, including those uniquely experienced by Black children (see García Coll et al., 1996), should be utilized. Therefore, assessments of Black children must be framed from a cultural-ecological context that considers the specific background of the children (García Coll et al., 1996). This includes assessing a broader range of adaptive behaviors that include both culturally specific and bicultural competence abilities (García Coll et al., 1996). Thus, we advocate more holistic approaches to assessing Black children’s competencies across domains as well as the use of system-level indicators of student achievement (see section “Moving toward Systemic Change for Black Students”).

Problem 5: The Paradigm Numbs Us to Black Children’s Educational Underperformance

The use of the term “achievement gap” has inured educators and others to pervasive underperformance by Black children. A recent study by Quinn and colleagues (2019) found that when teachers were presented with the words “racial achievement gap” in a survey question, they were less likely to prioritize reducing educational disparities between Black and White students than when they were presented with the term “racial inequality in educational outcomes.” The authors suggest that cumulative exposure to discourse on achievement gaps could lead teachers to focus on cultural or biological explanations of disparities, rather than systemic factors such as discrimination or school quality (Quinn et al., 2019). Thus, even using the phrase “achievement gap” can be problematic in building teachers’ support for addressing educational disparities and highlighting the contributing role of structural factors.

A Note on Alternative Terms

Although the issues of the achievement gap paradigm go beyond terminology, scholars have coined various alternative terms in recognition of the problems inherent in the achievement gap paradigm. These terms include the “opportunity gap” (e.g., Carter & Welner, 2013; Flores, 2007), the “expectation gap” (e.g., Ford & Moore, 2013), the “quality of service gap” (e.g., Hilliard, 2003), and the “teacher quality gap” (e.g., Goldhaber et al., 2015). Other gaps include “challenging curriculum gap,” “school funding gap,” “digital divide gap,” “income gap,” “quality child care gap,” “education debt” (Ladson-Billings, 2006), and so forth.

These terms refer to differences in various aspects of educational disparities, yet they all refer to comparisons between the resources, opportunities, experiences, outcomes, and performance of Black and White children. Thus, these terms are subject to the same problems inherent with the achievement gap paradigm involving the continual comparison of Black children to White children based on Eurocentric standards, flawed assessments, and obliviousness to Black children’s competencies. In doing so, continuing to use the achievement gap paradigm and its alternative terms in educational discourse ignores the root cause of Black children’s educational underperformance: structural racism.

Structural Racism as the Root Cause of Black Children’s Educational Outcomes

Previous strategies aimed at addressing educational disparities have in large part failed because these efforts have ignored the systemic nature of Black children’s educational underperformance as driven by structural racism (e.g., Merolla & Jackson, 2019; Weissglass, 2001). Structural racism is a social system in which race serves as a primary organizing feature bestowing privileges on Whites and disadvantages on Blacks and other people of color (Merolla & Jackson, 2019). Structural racism privileges whiteness while subjecting Black students to lower expectations, harsh treatment, and biased experiences (see Merolla & Jackson, 2019 for a review).

Iruka (2020) implores the use of the structural determinants of learning, adapted from the model of structural determinants of health, to acknowledge and address the historical legacies of racism in the school system. These legacies manifest through inequitable funding, segregation, and the school-to-prison pipeline. The structural determinants of learning posit that there are structural and intermediary determinants that contribute to academic underperformance, such as socioeconomic and political contexts that keep federal funding for early learning and education generally flat and limit families’ access to high-quality and affordable schools, especially for Black families (Iruka, 2020). Furthermore, housing policies to ensure racial segregation coupled with public school funding relegate Black children to schools with fewer resources for learning materials and support, less qualified teachers, and unsafe learning conditions, among other things. These conditions then create a culture of poverty in schools that leads to stress and limited learning opportunities. Other intermediary practices that lead to disparities in access, experiences, and outcomes include zero tolerance, implicit bias, and low expectations. Although these mechanisms all play a role in Black children’s educational achievement and experiences, given space limitations, we expand upon how structural racism impairs the educational experiences and outcomes of Black children through structural inequities in allocating school funding and bias and discrimination by schools and teachers.

Structural racism has created residential racial segregation that has led to segregated schools, limiting Black children’s access to high-quality educational experiences due to structural inequities in public school funding. Given that school funding depends primarily on state and local financing, there is wide variability in school funding and resource distribution (Baker et al., 2016). This variability manifests with racially minoritized children attending schools with limited resources. An EdBuild (2019) report found that non-White school districts receive US$23 billion less than White school districts, despite serving a similar number of children. With less funding, schools in non-White districts have less revenue to attract highly qualified and experienced teachers and maintain small class sizes with low student–teacher ratios. As a result, less school funding affects the quality of instruction students receive and subsequent student outcomes (Baker et al., 2016). Thus, because Black children are more likely, regardless of income, to attend low-wealth schools (Reardon et al., 2019), they are less likely to experience access to high-quality experiences that support learning and higher achievement outcomes.

In addition to impacting school funding distribution, structural racism also affects teachers’ racial beliefs and attitudes about Black children. This effect occurs as the social structure created by structural racism shapes the beliefs and attitudes that people develop about others in different racial groups (Merolla & Jackson, 2019). Throughout the U.S. educational system, there is a pervasive anti-Black sentiment that manifests from daily microaggressions to physical assaults against Black children (Caldera, 2020). A recent study confirms that teachers hold anti-Black implicit and explicit biases at levels comparable to the general U.S. population (Starck et al., 2020). Anti-Black bias creates inhospitable learning environments for Black students and has implications for how teachers see and interact with Black students. Compared with White children, teachers are more likely to perceive Black children as having lower academic ability (e.g., Ferguson, 2003; Ready & Wright, 2011), engaging less in academics (e.g., McGrady & Reynolds, 2013), and having weaker literacy skills (e.g., Irizarry, 2015). These negative teacher perceptions have implications for the quality of teacher–student interactions and Black students’ performance (e.g., Ferguson, 2003; McKown & Weinstein, 2008). For example, in a study of high school students, teachers were more likely to believe that their class was too difficult for Black students, which in turn was predictive of lower academic achievement among Black students even after controlling for students’ prior achievement (Cherng, 2017). Thus, structural racism has far-reaching effects on the day-to-day interactions between teachers and children, with deleterious effects on Black children’s learning and achievement. Until structural racism is addressed as the root cause of Black children’s educational experiences, there will be little movement in improving their educational outcomes.

Black Children’s Overlooked Competencies

Focusing on the achievement gap paradigm has not only ignored structural racism as the cause of Black children’s educational outcomes, but has also overlooked Black children’s competencies. These competencies are valuable for supporting children’s learning and academic success. In this section, we provide examples of two commonly overlooked competencies among Black children: oral language skills and social-emotional skills. In doing so, we lead with a culturally responsive, strengths-based perspective that identifies Black children’s assets. We highlight the ways schools and teachers could capitalize upon these competencies for improved instruction and learning opportunities.

Oral Language Skills

Although Black children’s language skills have been typically seen as linguistic deficits that interfere with their academic learning (e.g., Craig et al., 2009), their skill in developing oral narratives or stories has the potential to support better literacy outcomes (see Gardner-Neblett et al., 2012 for a review), and thus better academic achievement. Scholars suggest that oral narrative skills facilitate the transition to the written text, given the similarities between the decontextualized language used in oral narratives and found in written text (e.g., Curenton, 2004; Curenton et al., 2008). This connection may be especially salient for Black children. A study of preschool children found that Black children’s oral narrative skills at age 3 predicted their emergent literacy skills in kindergarten, but the same was not found of children from other racial/ethnic groups, suggesting that oral narrative skills may be a key mechanism for early literacy development in Black children (Gardner-Neblett & Iruka, 2015). Furthermore, for Black children, these early storytelling skills have enduring associations with reading achievement in later elementary school (Gardner-Neblett & Sideris, 2018).

The oral narrative skills of Black children, however, are rarely capitalized upon for supporting literacy development. Research finds that White teachers are less effective in scaffolding Black children to produce oral narratives using the kind of literate language that supports literacy development than when scaffolding White children’s oral narratives (Gee, 1985; Michaels, 2006). Scholars suggest this differential treatment is due to cultural mismatches in discourse practices between White teachers and Black children, with Black children presenting discourse in ways that differ from the Eurocentric approaches teachers expect (e.g., Gardner-Neblett et al., 2012; Vernon-Feagans, 1996). However, this differential treatment can result in Black children having fewer opportunities for effective instructional support, which disadvantages their literacy development.

Yet Black children’s oral narrative skills present opportunities for schools and teachers to capitalize upon a developmental competency for improved literacy and, subsequently, greater academic achievement. Storytelling in the classroom happens informally and formally throughout the day as children share their understanding of the curriculum content and as they recount personal experiences to teachers and classmates (Schick & Melzi, 2010). Through structured activities, teachers can also harness Black children’s competency in oral narratives to promote achievement. For example, in young children, oral storytelling opportunities can give children practice in using literate language, which is more abstract and complex than conversational language, and prepares children for a better understanding of the written text (Michaels, 2006). For older children, oral storytelling can be a prewriting activity that helps children organize their thoughts and get feedback from others (Miller & Pennycuff, 2008). In these ways, by integrating formal and informal storytelling opportunities into classroom activities, teachers can capitalize on Black children’s competency in oral narrative skills to support greater academic achievement.

Socioemotional Skills

Another area of competency is Black children’s socioemotional skills. Although there is a general lack of recognition of social and emotional skills as a critical part of academic achievement within K–12, research illustrates that strengthening children’s socioemotional skills is positively associated with their academic achievement (Becker & Luthar, 2002; Schonfeld et al., 2015). Furthermore, there is evidence that many Black children are faring well in developing social and emotional skills (Humphries & Iruka, 2017). For example, in a study examining competence among young boys of color, a majority of whom were Black, the boys were rated as having high psychosocial competence levels, specifically self-regulation of emotions and attention (Barbarin et al., 2013). Similarly, young (3–5 years old) Black children were observed engaging in moderate to high levels of emotional competence abilities, specifically positive coping strategies, in their classrooms (Humphries et al., 2012).

However, Black children’s social and emotional competencies in the classroom are often ignored (Garner, 2006). For instance, teachers often miss positive behaviors because there is an overfocus on (or the perception of) the negative or problematic behaviors of Black children, especially those from urban and economically stressed environments (Humphries et al., 2012). When teachers overlook Black children’s positive behaviors, there are missed opportunities to support children’s growth and development in constructive ways. Conversely, when teachers perceive Black children as having positive social skills and exhibiting fewer problem behaviors, Black children are more likely to experience greater academic gains over time (Williams et al., 2018). Thus, acknowledging Black children’s social and emotional strengths can be a critical step in supporting their academic success.

Teachers can support and maximize Black children’s social and emotional competencies by engaging in culturally relevant practices that align to a Black cultural orientation (see section “Using Culturally Relevant Pedagogy to Promote Academic Achievement”). For example, affect is a highly regarded cultural variable within Black culture that values complex emotional expression (Boykin et al., 2005). As such, teachers should support Black children’s full expression of emotions, both positive and uncomfortable emotions, and emotion intensity. Along with encouraging emotional expression, teachers should provide children with emotional vocabulary to facilitate their emotional competence. To capitalize on Black children’s social competence strengths, teachers should promote positive social relationships and connect those to educational practice by setting up communal learning environments (e.g., Boykin et al., 2004; Ellison et al., 2005). Providing opportunities for children to learn in authentic cooperative learning contexts, not simply engaging in group work, aligns to an Afrocultural communal orientation of social interdependence (Boykin, 1986). Given that teacher bias has led to the punitive discipline of Black children’s emotional expression and behavior, it is imperative that teachers first engage in self-reflection about their racial/ethnic identity, their beliefs, and values about emotions, the intersection of race and emotionality and how that intersects with their identity as a teacher before they implement these suggested strategies.

Using Culturally Relevant Pedagogy to Promote Academic Achievement

Acknowledging the pervasive effects of structural racism and identifying Black children and families’ assets are the first steps in improving the educational outcomes of Black children. These initial steps are valuable in raising awareness of the systemic factors that impinge upon the educational well-being of Black children and go beyond merely comparing them to White children. Furthermore, as Black children and families’ assets are brought to the forefront, we move toward eliminating the deficit lens and prism that typically frames Black children and families’ discourse to highlighting strengths that support improved educational outcomes.

To best support the growth and development of Black children’s strengths and success, we need to apply a culturally relevant lens to their learning environments and experiences. As noted by Brown-Jeffy and Cooper (2011), there is a need to examine Black children through a framework that integrates critical race theory and culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2011)—critical culturally relevant pedagogy (CCRP). It builds on the three tenets from Ladson-Billings (1995): academic achievement, cultural competence, and sociopolitical consciousness. Educators (and other professionals and adults) have to believe in the ability of all students with high expectations and agency, know how the culture influences children’s lived experiences, especially race and racism, and must be catalysts of change for historically marginalized groups of children. Educators must also understand cultural differences between them and their students and their own potential stereotypes about their students to adequately meet the needs of their students.

These principles of CCRP can lead to creating learning practices that align with Black children’s cultural strengths by providing effective and culturally appropriate learning environments. Research has found that many Black children are exposed to a cultural home environment that includes high visual, audible, and behavioral stimulation, movement, emotional expressiveness, a spiritual orientation, and communal interactions (Boykin, 1986). Utilizing the cultural experiences of Black children in education provides an opportunity to bring their strengths, such as oral narrative skills and socioemotional skills, into the classroom, thereby enhancing their learning experiences. As schools move toward incorporating culturally relevant pedagogy into the daily learning experiences of Black children, Black children will be more likely to inhabit academic spaces that show respect, value, and nurturance for who they are and the strengths they bring to learning, which together will provide the foundation for higher levels of achievement.

Moving Toward Systemic Change for Black Children

Given that the major source of Black children’s educational underperformance is rooted in systemic disadvantages, creating systemic change is necessary for improving Black children’s educational experiences and outcomes. One of the steps in moving toward systemic change for Black children involves providing antibias, antiracist, and culturally grounded professional development for preservice and in-service teachers. Through effective professional development for teachers, we build their capacity to provide more effective, culturally consistent learning opportunities for Black children. Research has noted the importance of connecting instruction to Black students’ daily lives, including valuing and incorporating rituals and traditions; use of similar mannerisms, interactions, or communication styles; and the display of respect toward adults from home and community environments similar to their own (Howard, 2001). The need for instruction to be active, lively, and connected to their daily lives—especially through the mechanism of oral storytelling—is even more pressing for Black students (Gardner-Neblett & Iruka, 2015). Black students are likely to experience more incongruities between their home-school learning environments than are White students because school culture is White, middle class, and much less reflective of the home culture of Black students. Teachers who encourage students’ understanding of their own and others’ cultures by including content from students’ homes and communities and use students’ families and communities as assets in the classroom are better able to promote positive student outcomes (Ware, 2006).

Another critical step involves minimizing the bias Black students are likely to experience (Durden et al., 2015; Reese et al., 2014). Research documents that classrooms can be plagued by microaggressions—brief, yet routine, verbal, behavioral, or environmental racial slights (Sue et al., 2009). These slights could be assumptions about lack of intelligence, being unwarrantedly fearful of people of color, assuming that Black athletes are not interested in their grades, and so on. Such microaggressions are often unintentional and the result of implicit biases. Studies of Black youth indicate the negative impact of microaggressions on student learning, positive identity, and psychological coping skills (Kim & Hargrove, 2013; Legette, 2018). To ensure that students experience equitable sociocultural interactions, teachers must create a nonjudgmental classroom environment where students are free to express their knowledge using the language skills, cognitive problem-solving processes, and social behaviors that they have learned and practiced within their homes and communities.

Education systems must also provide supports for teachers to promote critical consciousness for all students. Critical consciousness focuses on increasing students’ knowledge on racial inequities by addressing issues of social justice and racial inequality in the classroom, encouraging students to identify problems in their communities and to seek ways to address them, and encourage students to notice societal oppression and how those dynamics are evident in their everyday lives. To raise critical consciousness, teachers may need implicit bias training. Evidence is emerging on the impact of implicit bias training, mainly from the public health and nursing sectors, with scholars cautioning that implicit bias without antiracist training will limit the impact (The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019). It is critically important for professionals, including educators, to ensure that they can “challenge discrimination experienced by minority cultural groups, such as ethnocentrism, cultural biases, and overt and covert discrimination due to racial differences” (The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019, p. 437) in the classroom and all learning environments.

In addition to these systemic changes, there is also a need to shift the focus from standardized testing to using more system-level indicators of academic performance. System-level indicators are more appropriate for ensuring that the systems responsible for children’s educational experiences implement effective practices that support Black children’s learning. Scholars have identified district-level characteristics associated with improved academic performance among Black children in high-performing districts (Leithwood, 2010; Leithwood et al., 2019). These include district approaches to curriculum and instruction and evidence of planning, organizational learning, and accountability, among other indicators (Leithwood, 2010). By holding the system accountable for implementing effective approaches, educators and policymakers can make greater progress in the systemic changes needed to improve Black children’s learning experiences and, ultimately, their academic performance.

For far too long, efforts focused on the achievement gap have been misplaced and misguided. The time has come to shift the focus from children to adults and the educational system and inequitable policies and practices that discount Black children’s culture, traditions, and ways of being. This shift means recognizing structural racism inherent in the educational system and the White privilege and deficit lens that do not capitalize on Black children’s strengths. As we shift the focus, we anchor children’s achievement through a holistic lens that goes beyond reading and math to encompass socioemotional development (i.e., bidialectal and coping with racism), competencies necessary for school and life success (Cunha & Heckman, 2008). Through a culturally relevant strengths-based research, practice, and policy approach, we have identified structures and processes that need to be reimagined and transformed to create systemic change and ensure Black children’s equitable access to experiences and opportunities that lead to school success. After more than six decades of failed attempts, the time has come for new thinking and action.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

We thank Brian Boyd, Renee Boynton-Jarrett, Stephanie Curenton, and Tonia Durden for excellent feedback on an early version of this manuscript.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Nicole Gardner-Neblett

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