Broaching as an Equitable Approach to Counseling Black Students in Advanced Academic Courses and Programs

ABSTRACT Broaching is a cognitive willingness or directedness to initiate a conversation on a topic that may be difficult or uneasy to discuss with all parties involved. Within the counseling context, broaching refers to the school counselor's or helping professional's effort to initiate or respond to issues related to race, ethnicity, and culture in the counseling process. Further, within the broaching framework, the counseling context is interpreted broadly, but it includes strong awareness and understanding of the dynamic interplay of race, ethnicity, gender, social class status, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, immigration status, ability/disability, and so forth, and how they individually and collectively shape beliefs, practices, value orientations, sociopolitical realities, and positionalities. Given the symbiotic relationship among race, ethnicity, and culture, this article emphasizes the social construction of race and class and how they work together to influence counseling/educational and non‐counseling/educational dynamics. Because Black students are disproportionately underrepresented in Gifted and Talented Education (GATE), Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, we highlight the effects of race and class in such programs, contributing to Blacks’ underrepresentation. We also include Boykin's Afro‐centric cultural styles framework and Cross’ racial identity theory to illustrate the additional layers to the broaching process.