No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
The Strengths of High-Achieving Black High School Students in a Racially Diverse Setting
Abstract
Robert Hill (1972) identified strengths of Black families: strong kinship bonds, strong work orientation, adaptability of family roles, high achievement orientation, and religious orientation. Some suggest these strengths sustain the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of Blacks. This study used narratives and survey data from a cohort of high-achieving Black students in a highly selective honors high school and integrated every element of Hill's Black family strengths-perspective to social/structural inequality and diversity rationale ideologies. Results revealed, upon entering the racially diverse school-setting, Black students demonstrated resilience by working through initial feelings of apprehension and establishing racial and gender solidarity through social clubs. Implications for promoting racial integration, development of resiliency, and the academic success of Black students are provided.
... Já os estudos qualitativos foram a categoria mais utilizada pelos autores, com 64,2%. A maioria dos estudos qualitativos foram os estudos de casos, com 7 artigos (Carter, 2008;Fries-Britt, 1998;Grant et al., 1999;Griffin & Allen, 2006;Maree et al., 2001;Marsh et al., 2012;McPherson, 2017); seguido por pesquisas narrativas com 5 artigos (Anderson, 2020;Evans-Winters, 2016;Marsh, 2013;O'Connor, 1997;Sewell & Goings, 2019); e estudos etnográficos com 4 artigos (Fordham, 1988;Hubbard, 2005;Kramer, 1998;O'Connor et al., 2011). A entrevista foi o instrumento de coleta de dados mais utilizado, seguida da aplicação de questionários e observação do ambiente. ...
... Constatamos que 14 (45%) dos estudos foram realizados com alunos do ensino médio, com idade entre 15 e 18 anos. O interesse por essa faixa etária está relacionado com os temas de construção da identidade e escolha da carreira (Archer-Banks e Behar-Horenstein, 2012; Campbell, 2012;Carter, 2008;Cunningham et al., 2009;Fordham, 1988;Fries-Britt, 1998;Griffin & Allen, 2006;Hubbard, 2005;Kokot e Kokot-Louw, 1998;Marsh, 2013;Marsh et al., 2012;O'Connor et al., 2011;O'Connor, 1997;Steele, 1997). ...
As meninas superdotadas e talentosas historicamente enfrentam desafios e desigualdades no sistema educacional. As meninas negras estão sujeitas a sofrer uma dupla marginalização. Investigamos a produção científica sobre a inclusão de meninas negras em programas para alunos superdotados, através de uma revisão sistemática de literatura. Objetivamos conhecer: (a) os tipos de estudos que publicam conteúdos sobre educação de meninas negras superdotadas; (b) os objetivos e os modelos teóricos que os sustentam; (c) as metodologias e os sujeitos de pesquisa. A revisão sistemática foi realizada em três idiomas: inglês, português e espanhol. Utilizamos cinco bases de dados: Scopus, Web of Science, Eric, CAPES e Dialnet. Selecionamos um total de 42 artigos científicos, dos quais 11 foram encontrados na revisão sistemática de literatura, 26 na abordagem bola de neve, e acrescentamos outros 5 que faziam parte de um banco de dados pessoais da autora que atendeu as especificações propostas para a revisão sistemática. Os resultados mais relevantes encontrados foram: (1) a falta de publicações nas línguas portuguesa e espanhola sobre o assunto; (2) os significados sobre a educação de meninas negras superdotadas são socialmente construídos; (3) a teoria crítica racial apoia o discurso científico não hegemônico.
... Youth who have friends and feel supported and cared for by their friends are predisposed to have a positive attitude toward school and school-related activities. Specific to African American youth, Marsh et al. (2012) examined the process by which highachieving Black youth enact and sustain a resilient attitude, which they defined as the ability to accept challenge and keep an open mind in the face of adversity-in a racially diverse mathematics and science academy. Their findings suggested that the connection and supportive climate that participants experienced from their peers in student clubs contributed to their strong work and achievement orientation, while reducing their psychological apprehensions. ...
... Regarding our second aim, the findings reveal that when examined simultaneously, mother, father, and peer's emotional support have independent positive association with students' school bonding controlling for the effect of teacher discrimination and the covariates. These findings support prior work indicating that the quality of emotional support that characterizes mother-child (Dotterer et al., 2009;Smalls, 2010), father-child (Cooper et al., 2015;Suh et al., 2016), and peer relationships (Marsh et al., 2012;Steinberg, 2014) provides youth with some form of emotional security. Thus, feelings of being cared for, respected, being heard and understood in student-teacher (Chhuon & Wallace, 2012;Davis et al., 2014;Wallace & Chhuon, 2014), parent-child (Zhu, 2018) and peer interactions engender and sustain students' connection to school. ...
Drawing on research about the positive benefits of school bonding on youth mental health, academic and overall well-being, and the inequities African American youth face in education, this study examined the associations among teacher discrimination, parents’ and peer emotional support, and African American youth school bonding. Using data from the National Survey of American Life Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A), findings suggest that teacher discrimination negatively affects African American youth’s school bonding. In addition, while parents’ and peer emotional supports are positively associated with youth’s school bonding, and offset some of the negative effects of teacher discrimination on African American youth’s school bonding, these supports may not be enough to help youth realize the maximum benefits of school bonding, especially in the context of teacher discrimination. Implications for social work practice with African American youth and families are discussed.
... Teenage parenthood all but guaranteed a timely enrollment would not happen [OR: 0.02, p < 0.001]. 20 Conversely, scoring in the middle and upper parts of (Fletcher & Tienda, 2010;Marsh et al., 2012;Stearns et al., 2013). Clues to the ascriptive racial and gendered complexity of timely enrollment lie in the statistically significant interactions in the full model. ...
Although the positive relationship between social determinants and college attainment is well established, less is known about how social class specifically relates to the linear and timely completion of postsecondary degrees. In this paper, we empirically examine on-time completion of bachelor’s degrees using social class proxies for a national sample of U.S. high school graduates, using the life course perspective and social selection hypothesis to contextualize social effects on the two key transitions—timely full-time enrollment and timely degree completion—that bound the traditional 4-year college pathway. We find strongly positive associations between several social indicators and attainment of both transition events, although effects are larger and more numerous for the initial transition, indicating social selection may be more influential in launching the 4-year college pathway than in completing it. Gradients of social advantage also appear more complexly gendered and racialized at the start of the college pathway than at the end. Finally, we confirm that parenthood is highly incompatible with a 4-year path to a degree regardless of social class and conspicuously more likely to interfere with the timely completion of a bachelor’s degree than other major life transitions.
... In the Black community, after-school programs and social clubs have long provided support for youth and families. Marsh et al. (2012) note that social clubs promote social networks, balance socioeconomic opportunities, and honor Black excellence. Many after-school programs provide the same opportunities as social clubs, though many also provide academic support, peer mentoring, and opportunities to work with and learn from professionals within their communities. ...
Civic engagement research suggests that youths’ involvement in their communities results in a number of positive personal and social attributes. However, among urban populations, there is still a dearth of research on their involvement and the impact of civic participation on their development. More importantly within these populations, there is limited understanding of how Black male youth engage within civic participatory spaces. Increasing but limited research on young Black male youth usually focuses on identity, participation in programs, and socioeconomic levels. Further understanding is needed as to the factors which influence and impact Black male youths’ interests and actual participation in community and extracurricular activities. This paper explores data from urban African American high school male youth that include their perceptions and knowledge and attitudes toward being involved in their community through 4-H youth programs. The authors find that opportunities to learn a new skill and building professional portfolios assist these young Black males in their perception of being effective in their communities and making a difference for themselves.
... The focus on high-achieving Black students (Griffin & Perez, 2013;Freeman, 1999;Fries-Britt, 2002;Marsh et al., 2012;McGee & Pearman, 2015) is important as the literature often implies that Black students who achieve success from within predominantly white communities are rarities or have had to ascribe to certain oppositional identities (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986;Ogbu, 1987;Ogbu, 2004). Though the literature addressing the characteristics of high-achieving Black students is growing (Fries-Britt, 2017), more scholarship on such students is needed (McGee & Pearman, 2015;Strayhorn, 2009). ...
Though previous literature has explored the importance of parents in education, scholarship has failed to empirically demonstrate the influence voluntary parent groups have on the educational trajectory of Black students. Using institutional agency and community cultural wealth frameworks, the author qualitatively evaluates a Black parent group’s self-initiated efforts to influence the academic outcomes of high-achieving students. The author illustrates how one parent organization negotiates an environment in which their racial group comprises less than 5% of the population to effectively guide and support families as their students navigate academic success. Findings show that at least three critical components— accountability, alliances and networks, and legitimacy—are vital in the provision of collaborative support and agency on behalf of high-achieving students.
... Other researchers (Carter, 2008a(Carter, , 2008b(Carter, , 2012Wright, 2011) have also shown that negative racial climate, which indicates low public regard, in association with high racial centrality and high private regard also seem to increase self-efficacy beliefs and performance. These studies suggest that African American youth with a strong and healthy REI, even negative racial climate maybe particularly important in activating agency to demonstrate their internalized sense of self as a way to provide a counter narrative to the deficit characterization of these youth because of their race (Martin, 2006;Marsh et al., 2012). ...
Although the dimensions that constitute racial-ethnic identity (REI) interrelate to affect psychosocial and academic outcomes, few studies have explored the nature (e.g., directionality) of these interrelations in understanding a strong and healthy REI among African American youth in relation to psychosocial and academic outcomes. In the current study, we applied path analysis to investigate the potential mediation effects of private regard in translating the effects of racial centrality and public regard to affect African American youth's academic performance through self-efficacy. Using a nationally representative sample of African American youth, findings suggest that racial centrality and public regard correlate to affect private regard, controlling for neighborhood safety and sociodemographic backgrounds. Private regard in turn, associated with self-efficacy to affect academic performance measured by GPA. These results indicate the need to investigate the potential mediation effects among REI dimensions to understand the nuanced pathways REI dimensions configure to form a strong and healthy REI to affect psychosocial and academic outcomes among African American youth.
... Today African-Americans continue to do less well academically than their White and Asian peers (Barbarin et al., 2104 (Green, 2011). Also, the church has often served to provide families with a purpose and a strong identity (Marsh, Chaney, & Jones, 2012). That being said, religious institutions have proven to be a strength for the African-American community, often leading to positive outcomes, the question that arises is whether Catholic elementary school will lead to higher academic achievement for African-American boys? ...
... The 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress, for example, supports the idea that all children, regardless of socioeconomics, see academic gains along with other, harder-to-measure results as a result of integration-including increased expressive language, leadership skills, college attendance, self-confidence, and critical and creative thinking abilities (Kurlaender & Yun, 2007;Loewenberg, 2017;Marsh, Chaney & Jones, 2012;Mickelson, 2016;NAEP, 2015;Phillips, 2014;Quick, 2017). ...
Researchers examined the relationship between superintendent longevity and district variables on standardized test scores for students in North Carolina. The authors used hierarchical multiple regression to understand if superintendent-specific variables explained variance in student performance over and above district-based variables documented in the research literature. The continuous predictors were the percentage of students who receive free or reduced lunch (FRL), school size, and superintendents’ levels of experience. This study illustrates that the issue of whether superintendents affect student achievement is not an all or nothing proposition. While superintendents can influence student achievement, particularly as their in-state experience increases, there are district predictors that must be considered.
... However, several qualitative narratives do provide rich reports of how African American adolescents enact resilience by using their racial beliefs and attitudes to help them navigate racially challenging contexts (Ani, 2013;Archer-Banks & Behar-Horenstein, 2012;Carter, 2008;Marsh, Chaney, & Jones, 2012;O'Connor, 1997). Thus, perhaps quantitative survey data can be aided by qualitative methods to better capture the conditions and contexts under which racial identity can be protective for adolescents daily. ...
African American adolescents are likely to encounter the risk factor of racial discrimination in their daily contexts. They also possess cultural resources such as parental racial socialization messages that help adolescents develop positive and affirmed self-concepts and prepare for racial discrimination they may encounter (Hughes et al., 2006). Additionally, adolescents??? racial identity beliefs may promote positive adjustment and buffer negative impacts of discrimination (Spencer et al., 1997). Although scholars conceptualize racial discrimination and racial socialization as normative experiences in adolescents??? daily contexts, little research examines these experiences at the daily level. The current dissertation aims to fill this void in the literature by using a daily diary methodology to examine adolescents??? daily racial discrimination and racial socialization, along with their racial identity beliefs, as predictors of daily classroom engagement and psychological adjustment (positive and negative affect).
The dissertation???s sample included 164 self-identified African American adolescents (56% girls; Mage=15 years old, SD =1.60) from the Midwestern United States, a random subsample of participants in a larger, multi-method longitudinal study. The sample completed a large annual survey and short daily surveys over 21 days. Due to the repeated measures data, Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to examine direct relationships of daily discrimination and socialization with daily academic and psychological outcomes and to test whether parental racial socialization and racial identity moderated relationships between discrimination and outcomes. Finally, the study examined whether daily racial socialization and adolescents??? racial identity beliefs functioned interactively to influence academic and psychological outcomes. Key findings highlight the promotive nature of parental racial socialization messages that emphasize adolescents??? worth as individuals and racial pride. For instance, when adolescents reported receiving self-worth messages from parents they reported more engagement, more positive affect, and less negative affect on the same day. Furthermore, the daily impact of racial discrimination varied when youth received racial socialization messages. For instance, among youth reporting a racial discrimination experience, those who received a racial pride message reported more school engagement than those with no pride message. Implications for adolescents, their parents, and researchers are discussed.
... Mathematics and science-related abilities often include skill sets that are in high demand, such as the ability to analyze, investigate, and problem solve, which are gaining more currency in both the STEM and the non-STEM marketplace. Analysis of key themes suggest high-achieving Black male students make use of powerful family and peer networks as well as various features of the school and classroom environment in the course of maintaining consistent mathematics achievement (Marsh et al. 2012;Maton et al. 1998;Reis et al. 2004;Terry and McGee 2012). ...
The gendered and racialized narrative of Black male adolescents in urban spaces is one often fraught with deficit-based assumptions and presupposi- tions about their abilities, competencies, and proclivities with regard to schooling in general and mathematics in particular. Yet despite these conventional beliefs, compounded by the dearth of Black male representation in many STEM-related careers, there remain Black male adolescents who, during their high school years, nevertheless achieve a high degree of mathematical success. This study endeavors to unpack the internal, interrelated processes and strategies through which a cohort of 13 high-achieving, Black male high school students develop positive mathe- matical, social, racial, and gendered identities. Drawing on narrative analysis, we utilized semi-structured interviews to identify and explore how internal protective and risk factors operated in their lives. Results identify not only several coping strategies, beliefs, practices, and habits that foster positive mathematical identity trajectories for our respondents, but also several internal challenges that Black male adolescents must successfully negotiate both in- and out-of-school throughout the attainment process. We also discuss how these findings relate to in-school practices that might promote and sustain Black male achievement in high school mathematics.
Given the inherent challenges and substantial effort required in education, learners' levels of enjoyment have a fundamental value in the language acquisition process, especially in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context. This research aimed to validate a model of foreign language enjoyment (FLE) incorporating both the external factors such as classroom climate and the internal factors like trait emotional intelligence (EI) among Chinese EFL students. As a result, the study employed convenient sampling, selecting 346 Chinese EFL learners who participated by responding to valid scales for the three constructs, namely FLE, trait EI, and classroom climate. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized for the data analysis, enlightening that both classroom climate and trait EI exerted a significant positive impact on FLE. Notably, trait EI exhibited a stronger influence than classroom climate. These findings underscore the significance of promoting a constructive classroom climate and cultivating trait EI to enhance EFL students' enjoyment in the process of learning.
Recent studies have provided insight into the schooling experiences and lives of Black girls. These studies highlight the challenges that Black girls face in the school environment including underachievement, disproportionality in school discipline, deficit ideologies, and educator and counselor bias. The current study centers the voices on high achieving Black girls in an effort to center their unique and nuanced experiences in high school. Data was collected using in-depth individual interviews and analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. We found that high achieving Black girls must navigate deficit thinking and negative stereotypes similar to their peers while they also pull strength and resilience from their intersecting identities. Further, high achieving Black girls were tenacious in their pursuits and found familial and teacher relationships to be paramount in their success. These findings support the importance of developing intentional and systemic supports to counter intersectional oppression to meet the needs of high achieving Black girls.
Drawing from stratification economics, intersectionality, and respectability politics, The Love Jones Cohort centers on the voices and lifestyles of members of the Black middle class who are single and living alone (SALA). While much has been written about both the Black middle class and the rise of singlehood, this book represents a first foray into bridging these two concepts. In studying these intersections, The Love Jones Cohort provides a more nuanced understanding of how race, gender, and class, coupled with social structures, shape five central lifestyle factors of Black middle-class adults who are SALA. The book explores how these Black adults define family and friends and decide on whether and how to pursue romantic relationships, articulate the ebbs and flows of being Black and middle class, select where to live and why, accumulate and disseminate wealth, and maintain overall health, well-being, and coping mechanisms.
This timely volume presents powerful stories told by Black families and students who have successfully negotiated a racially fraught, affluent, and diverse suburban school district in America, to illustrate how they have successfully overcome and strategically contested sanctioned racist practices in order to forge a path for students to achieve a high-quality education.
Drawing on rich qualitative data collected through interviews and interactions with parents and kin, students, community activists, and educators, Family Engagement in Black Students’ Academic Success chronicles how pride in Black American family history and values, students’ personal capabilities, and their often collective, pro-active challenges to systemic and personal racism shape students’ academic engagement. Familial and collective cultural wealth of the Black community emerges as a central driver in students’ successful achievement. Finally, the text puts forward key recommendations to demonstrate how incorporating the knowledge and voices of Black families in school decision making, remaining critically conscious of race and racial history in every-day actions and longer term policy, and pursuing collective strategies for social justice in education, will eliminate current opportunity gaps, and counteract the master-narrative of underachievement ever-present in America.
This volume will be of interest to students, scholars, and academics with an interest in matters of social justice, equity, and equality of opportunity in education for Black Americans. In addition, the text offers key insights for school authorities in building effective working relationships with Black American families to support the high achievement of Black students in K-12 education.
https://www.routledge.com/Family-Engagement-in-Black-Students-Academic-Success-Achievement-and/Seeberg/p/book/9780367721770
Reviews:
Returning to the research site of Shaker Heights High School and District, Vilma Seeberg inverts John Ogbu’s questions about Black underperformance to inquire into Black resilience despite formidable challenges. Armed with Critical Race Theory as their chosen lens, Seeberg and the Shaker Research and Parent Team draw our attention to Black folks’ discourses of defiance against despair and deficit orientations. Educational success for their children is precisely a form of acting Black while navigating a social system, including its schools, that does not have their best interests at heart. Family Engagement is a counter-story about education as an arc of hope for everyday people who refuse the long shadow of injustice. One can’t help rooting for them after reading the book.
Zeus Leonardo
Professor and Associate Dean of Education
University of California, Berkeley
Author of Edward Said and Education
This volume offers powerful counter narratives to prevailing deficit assumptions about Black students’ school achievement and levels of parental engagement, with nuanced stories of ways Black families used cultural funds of knowledge and demonstrated agency in actively challenging systemic racism while supporting students’ academic success. Seeberg and collaborators provide rich examples of ways Black students contested racist practices in an affluent and diverse suburban district and how community organizing for educational justice was persistent and in part successful over the long term. Blending sociology and anthropology of education in accessible and compelling ways, this book is a must read for all who are committed to building strong school-community relations with families of color and addressing persistent opportunity gaps in US educational contexts.
- Beth Blue Swadener, Professor, Justice & Social Inquiry and Social & Cultural Pedagogy, Arizona State University
This study aimed to identify factors that contributed to adaptive coping young people of color engage and rely on to navigate racial stressors in the public education system and to persist into college. The study included 20 undergraduate college students between 18 and 22 years who participated in retrospective interviews documenting critical incidents of racial stressors and coping. Participants self-identified as majority Black/African American (68%) and other nationalities including Honduran, Mexican, and Sudanese. A socioecological systems framework guided in-depth coding of interviews and identified college-going cultural ethos, relational ties, sense of agency, and emotional acuity themes. Findings suggest participants existed in an interdependent system of affirmation and validation that geared them toward college aspirations amid racial stressors encountered in the U.S. public education system. Discussion centers on the value of building the capacities of youths’ social ecologies to affirm their identities and validate their presence in the U.S. education system.
Much of the research on African American students tend to focus on the causes and consequences of academic failure. This fixation on negative outcomes continues to perpetuate deficit views of African American student achievement. As a consequence, far less is known about the successful academic outcomes of African American students, generally, and those from single-mother homes, specifically. Social workers can learn a lot about how to support and celebrate African American student achievement by allowing them and their families to give voice to their own lived experiences. Centering and honoring the unique taken-for-granted knowledges of African American students and their families offers social workers a more authentic understanding of students and families, insights that can inform both micro and macro level practice approaches. The purpose of this study was to explore academic success as perceived and experienced by African American high school students and their single mothers. This qualitative study utilized a narrative inquiry approach that used in-depth, semistructured interviews for data collection. The sample of seven African American high school seniors (four girls, three boys) and their single mothers were selected using purposeful sampling methods. Data analysis revealed that students’ inherent drive toward success, a deeply invested mother, and assistance from social-relational supports were key factors to academic success. Implications for social work practice are included.
Sixty years after Brown v. Board of Education, retention trends indicate that there is a Black teacher shortage. Research shows that Black teachers’ retention rates are often lower than the retention rates of White teachers. Black teachers report low salaries, lack of administrative support, and other school variables as reasons for leaving the teaching profession. Seeking to alter the predominantly White, middle class teaching force and potentially impact students’ educational experiences, this qualitative study examines twelve Black female teachers’ intentions to remain in the K-12 classroom. Utilizing conventional content analysis, three themes emerged regarding the retention of Black female teachers. Conclusions, recommendations, and implications are offered for school administrators and educational policymakers.
Background/Context
In light of the June 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Louisville and Seattle voluntary school desegregation cases, making it more difficult for district officials to racially balance their schools, this article presents an analysis of prior research on the long-term effects of attending racially diverse schools on their adult graduates as well as new data from interviews with graduates of desegregated schools in Louisville and Seattle. Although the bulk of research on school desegregation examines what is happening to students while they are still in school and their immediate academic outcomes, the growing body of research on the long-term effects of attending racially diverse schools on adult graduates is powerful and significant and, thus, should play a central role in public debates about the future of racial integration in American schools following the Court's ruling in these cases, referred to as Parents Involved. Taken together, findings from this research on the long-term effects of school desegregation speak to both of the central themes to emerge from the larger body of research on racial integration within public schools or universities: 1. the “legacies of structural inequality” theme, which addresses the need for race-conscious policies to overcome decades of perpetuated racial inequality and 2 the “diversity rationale,” which focuses on preparing young people for a diverse society. The new interview data from Louisville and Seattle confirm these prior findings and add new insights.
Purpose
Knowing that prior research on the long-term effects of school desegregation spoke to the central legal issue in the cases before the Supreme Court in the Parents Involved cases, we wanted to explore the two prominent themes from that literature — “structural inequality” and the “diversity rationale” — as they related to the life experiences of Louisville and Seattle graduates of racially diverse schools.
Participants
We interviewed 42 graduates—classes of 1985 and 1986—of six high schools: Central, Fern Creek, and Louisville Male high schools in Louisville, and Franklin, Garfield, and Ingraham high schools in Seattle. These six schools were selected because in each city, they represented a wide range of student experiences given their different geographic locations within their districts, their curricular programs, and the social class and racial make-up of their student bodies by the mid-1980s. Still, in each of these schools, no one ethnic group made up more than 75% of the student body at the time these graduates attended them.
Research Design
Qualitative, in-depth interviews with a random sample of adult graduates (graduating classes of 1985 and 86) from six racially diverse high schools, which were purposively sampled to reflect the different experiences of student who went to public high schools in Louisville and Seattle at that time.
Data Collection and Analysis
Using a semi-structured, open-ended interview protocol, the authors interviewed a total of 19 graduates from the three Louisville high schools and 23 graduates from the Seattle high schools. In terms of the racial/ethnic identities of these 42 graduates from the six high schools across the two cities, 22 identified themselves as White, 14 as African Americans, 4 as Asian/Pacific Islanders, and 2 as mixed race, including one who was half Latino and half White. Each interview lasted approximately 45 minutes—although they varied in length from 20 minutes to more than an hour—and was tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were coded for themes that emerged from the interviewees’ responses across schools and context, and the following findings emerged as the most salient experiences of graduates across the six schools.
Findings/Results
1. Graduates of racially mixed schools in Louisville and Seattle said they learned to be more accepting of and comfortable with people of other racial backgrounds. Like their counterparts in the six cities of the Wells et al. (in press) study, the Louisville and Seattle graduates we interviewed said they believe that their day-to-day experiences attending diverse public schools as children and adolescents did indeed change them, making them more open-minded and thus more accepting of people who differ from them racially and in terms of their background and culture. 2. Louisville and Seattle graduates and the diversity rationale: Desegregated public schools prepared them for a global economy and society. Preparation for working in a diverse setting—the “diversity rationale”—was, for these graduates, by far the most obvious and pragmatic outcome of their experiences in desegregated public schools. The vast majority of graduates we interviewed in Louisville and Seattle said that at work in particular, they draw on the skills they learned in their desegregated public schools, skills of getting along and feeling comfortable with people of divergent backgrounds and cultures. 3. Overcoming structural inequality: Without diverse public schools, most graduates would have grown up in race isolation. In a society in which housing patterns, places of worship, and social circles are often segregated by race, diverse public schools have been, for many students, the only institutions in which cross-racial interaction and understanding can occur. They have also too often been historically the only institutions in our society in which students of color can gain access to predominantly White and prestigious institutions—in K–12 schooling or higher education.
Conclusions/Recommendations
We argue, based on our research and that of many others, that in an era when technology and free trade are breaking down physical and economic barriers across cultures and traditions, to not prepare our children to embrace and accept differences to the extent possible—the diversity rationale—is shortsighted and irresponsible. But even more important, we need to question how we can maintain a healthy democracy in a society so strongly divided by race, social class, and ideology now that the Supreme Court's decision has made it increasingly difficult to challenge such structural inequality, in spite of a compelling rationale for greater school-level diversity.
Signithia Fordham’s theory of “racelessness” purports that while interacting with teachers, administrators, and peers in the school setting, academically successful Blacks must suppress the racial identities of their home worlds to secure and maintain the label of high achiever. My objectives were to examine how young Black women navigate between racially homogenous public schools in their neighborhoods to a racially integrated setting, and to highlight their involvement in work groups and social clubs as a way of expressing their racial identity and burgeoning womanhood. This study used interviews and questionnaire data gathered from a cohort of high-achieving young Black women in a highly selective honors high school to dispute Fordham’s theory, and to examine the various strategies that these women use to become and remain academically successful. This study revealed that through social club participation these female students are not raceless, and consciously identify as Black, and develop and demonstrate versions of Black womanhood that allow them to negotiate diversity. Implications for promoting racial integration, the development of Black identity, and the academic success of Black female students are provided.
In this article, Dorinda Carter examines the embodiment of a critical race achievement ideology in high-achieving black students. She conducted a yearlong qualitative investigation of the adaptive behaviors that nine high-achieving black students developed and employed to navigate the process of schooling at an upper-class, predominantly white, suburban public high school while maintaining school success and a positive racial self-definition. Based on an analysis of interview data, participant observations, and field notes, Carter argues that these students’ conceptions of race and how race operates in their daily lives informs their constructions of achievement beliefs, attitudes, and self-definitions and informs their racialization and deracialization of the task of achieving at various times in the school context. Findings from this study indicate that students with strong racial and achievement identities may develop a critical race achievement ideology and enact resilient, adaptive behaviors in racially challenging contexts.
This qualitative study explores how 21 African Americans, regular and active members in an African American Baptist church organization in the Midwest, define the terms religiosity and spirituality. The qualitative data were analyzed using a grounded theory methodology to determine the themes that were provided by the participants. This article will explore five recurring themes, including: (a) religiosity as external behaviors; (b) religiosity as internalized beliefs; (c) spirituality as acknowledging a “spiritual reality”; (d) spirituality as connectedness to God; and (e) interconnectedness of religiosity and spirituality. Narratives will be offered to support and illustrate each of these themes.
The authors of the present study have extended research by D. Marryshow that investigated African American students' attitudes toward 4 high achievers who differed in their approach to high achievement. D. Marryshow (1992) assessed students' social attitudes and perceptions of 4 high achievers with culturally distinct achievement orientations. In the present research, the authors assessed students' academic attitudes and perceptions of the same 4 high achievers. In addition, the present study includes Black children's predictions of their parents' and peers' attitudes toward these high achieving students. The results generally supported the authors' hypothesis that African American children would report a preference for students who achieve via attitudes and behaviors congruent with African American cultural values. The children also predicted that their parents and their Black peers would prefer these same African American culturally oriented high achievers. The findings suggest that Black children who prefer African American cultural modes of achievement may find themselves at odds with classroom demands geared toward learning in the mainstream cultural mode and thus may be at increased risk of academic failure.
This study examined Ogbu's widely accepted thesis that African American students reject high academic achievement because they perceive its limited utility in a world where their upward mobility is constrained by racial discrimination. Boykin's psychosocial integrity model contends that Black students value high achievement but that discrepancies between their formative cultural experiences and those imposed in school lead them to reject the modes of achievement available in classrooms. Ninety Black children completed a measure of attitudes toward students who achieve via mainstream or African American cultural values. Participants rejected the mainstream achievers and embraced the African American cultural achievers. Moreover, they expected their teachers to embrace the mainstream achievers and reject those who achieved through high-verve behavior. Results suggest that Boykin's thesis is a needed refinement to Ogbu's ideas. They indicate that Black children may reject not high achievement but some of the mainstream cultural values and behaviors on which success in mainstream classrooms is made contingent.
This landmark collection of newly commissioned essays explores how diverse women of African descent have practiced religion as part of the work of their ordinary and sometimes extraordinary lives. By examining women from North America, the Caribbean, Brazil, and Africa, the contributors identify the patterns that emerge as women, religion, and diaspora intersect, mapping fresh approaches to this emergent field of inquiry. The volume focuses on issues of history, tradition, and the authenticity of African-derived spiritual practices in a variety of contexts, including those where memories of suffering remain fresh and powerful. The contributors discuss matters of power and leadership and of religious expressions outside of institutional settings. The essays study women of Christian denominations, African and Afro-Caribbean traditions, and Islam, addressing their roles as spiritual leaders, artists and musicians, preachers, and participants in bible-study groups. This volume's transnational mixture, along with its use of creative analytical approaches, challenges existing paradigms and summons new models for studying women, religions, and diasporic shiftings across time and space. © 2006 by The The Johns Hopkins University Press. All rights reserved.
Using theories and concepts relating to the social construction of Black masculinity and male gender role conflict, the authors explored contextualized meanings of masculinities and corresponding behavioral expressions among 22 Black men enrolled at a private research university. The concepts of toughness, aggressiveness, material wealth, restrictive emotionality, and responsibility underscored the meanings the participants ascribed to masculinities. Participants expressed these concepts behaviorally through their pursuit of leadership and academic success, homophobia, and the fear of femininity, and through the sexist and constrained relationships they experienced with women. Based on the findings, practical implications for supporting the gender identity development and success of Black men during their undergraduate years are offered as are recommendations for future research on the gender-related experiences of Black male undergraduates.
The problems of underachievement or poor achievement among Black students has received much attention in the scholarly and professional literature. Many theories and explanations have been proposed to explain the achievement problems of Black students in general, and high-achieving Black students in particular. In this article we present an overview of that literature, giving special attention to research on peer pressure and its impact on achievement. Specifically, the phenomenon of "acting white" or "raceless" is discussed in an attempt to understand such poor achievement. Recommendations are offered for educators, parents, community leaders, and others who seek to reverse the problem of underachievement among Black students, thus ensuring their educational success.
In 1986 Fordham and Ogbu introduced the idea that black students continue to underperform in school because of their cultural opposition to "acting white." This notion of the burden of acting white and Ogbu's cultural ecological theory more broadly have provided one of the dominant theories used to explain the black-white achievement gap. The research presented here offers a reassessment of the burden of acting white and directs researchers to examine the variation to be found in students' peer groups. This article highlights the ability of students to sustain an authentic black identity and to achieve academically by effectively managing their academic success among their peers.
After Brown v. Board of Education was decided, Professor Herbert Wechsler questioned whether the Supreme Court's decision could be justified on the basis of "neutral" principles. To him Brown arbitrarily traded the rights of whites not to associate with blacks in favor of the rights of blacks to associate with whites. In this Comment, Prof. Derrick Bell suggests that no conflict of interest actually existed; for a brief period, the interests of the races converged to make the Brown decision inevitable. More recent Supreme Court decisions, however, suggest to Professor Bell a growing divergence of interests that makes integration less feasible. He suggests the interest of blacks in quality education might now be better served by concentration on improving the quality of existing schools, whether desegregated or all-black.
Socio-demographic and religious factors were examined as predictors of the receipt of support from church members among a national sample of black Americans (n= 2,107). Among the religious variables, church attendance, church membership, subjective religiosity, and religious affiliation were all significantly related to the receipt of support. Demographic differences were apparent with men and younger respondents being more likely, while divorced respondents were less likely to receive support. Having a higher income and residency in rural areas were associated with never needing assistance from church members versus simply never receiving aid. The discussion focused on further areas of investigation for church-based support networks and their interface with family and friend networks.
This study attempted to understand how a group of black youth in South Africa who experienced poverty achieved academic success and demonstrated a resilient trajectory. Through a qualitative research design that included ethnographic interviewing, case studies and observation, an insider's perspective was gained. This method was chosen for its ability to generate rich descriptive accounts and use multiple data sources. The results of this study indicated that this group of black students who achieved academic success in South Africa was high achieving, had strong initiative and motivation, was goal orientated and experienced the self as having agency. The atmosphere in the family, usually characterised by strong support also influenced a resilient response. Relationships with teachers, role models and supportive community members were viewed as protective factors. The findings of this research are helpful for educators; in the formulation of child and family policy, and for future comparative studies.
Many high ability students from culturally diverse populations exist in large economically deprived urban environments and they are often included in the statistical reports of high school dropouts. A 3-year investigation of the culture of highability, high-achieving students in an urban high school was undertaken by researchers from the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. Through ethnographic interviews and case study methods, descriptions emerged of culturally diverse teenagers who achieved in an urban high school. Specific factors that enabled these students to succeed included: the development of a belief in self, supportive adults, interaction with a network of high-achieving peers, extracurricular activities, challenging classes such as honors classes, personal characteristics such as motivation and resilience, and family support. The findings of the study offer educators useful suggestions and strategies for addressing the academic needs of talented youth in an urban setting.
Ethnographic case studies of three African American student achievers attending desegregated urban high schools are analyzed in terms of theories in the new cultural pluralism in educational anthropology. The achievers are described as they sought to transform their “multiple selves” as Black persons, as women and men, and as members of social classes in transition between the “multiple worlds” of their families, schooling, and peers. They accomplished their self-transformations through the use of contrasting strategies of self-negation, self-fragmentation, and self-synthesis that were adapted in response to conflicting cultural expectations. This investigation offers crucial insights into the nature and consequences of the identity work of African American youths in urban educational contexts.
A path model examining the direct and indirect effects of demographic, individual, and contextual variables on the academic achievement of 174 African American adolescents was assessed. Results indicated that participant sex indirectly impacted participants' sense of self-worth through their perceptions of themselves as possessing leadership or independence qualities. Whether adolescents felt good about themselves (global self-worth) was a direct outcome of their perceptions of their leadership or independence qualities. In turn, participants with higher levels of self-worth were more likely to be bonded to their school, and those who felt more bonded to their schools reported higher school grades. Study findings are discussed within the context of helping educators to better meet these students' educational needs.
This study focuses on the relationships between the religious involvement of black Americans and two important dimensions
of self-perception: self-esteem, or one's sense of personal worth, and personal mastery, or feelings of control over one's
affairs. This article argues that participation in church communities may foster positive self-perception through the interpersonal
supportiveness and positive reflected appraisals of coreligionists. Private devotional activities may also be linked with
positive self-regard via processes of religious role taking. Analyses of data from the 1979–80 National Survey of Black Americans
support these arguments with regard to self-esteem, but not personal mastery. In addition, the findings suggest that public
religious participation buffers the negative influence of physical unattractiveness on self-esteem, while private religious
devotion buffers the negative impact of chronic illness on self-esteem. The results shed new light on the contemporary psychosocial
role of religious life among black Americans.
Recent research suggests that oppositional culture and a burden of acting White are likely to emerge for Black students in desegregated schools in which Whites are perceived as having greater educational opportunities. Using interviews with Black and White students in one desegregated secondary school, this ‘school structures’ argument is assessed. While Black students perceive race‐based limitations to their opportunities for getting ahead and are cognizant of racial patterns of track placement within the local school context, the authors found no evidence that Black students oppose school achievement. These findings are important because they shed light on some of the educational dilemmas that Black students encounter, which have received limited attention in prior work on oppositional culture. These dilemmas include cross‐race peer pressure from Whites among high‐achieving Black students and dilemmas of low achievement among Black students who struggle academically. Based on the findings, future lines of research are suggested that might help researchers better understand racial achievement disparities in such contexts.
An Introduction to the Psychology of Religion and Coping. Part I: A Perspective on Religion. The Sacred and the Search for Significance. Religious Pathways and Religious Destinations. Part II: A Perspective on Coping. An Introduction to the Concept of Coping. The Flow of Coping. Part III: The Religion and Coping Connection. When People Turn to Religion. When They Turn Away. The Many Faces of Religion in Coping. Religion and the Mechanisms of Coping - The Transformation of Significance. Part IV: Evaluative and Practical Implications. Does it Work? Religion and the Outcomes of Coping. When Religion Fails - Problems of Integration in the Process of Coping. Putting Religion into Practice.
For more than 20 years, researchers have shown that the recognition of a limited opportunity structure on the part of marginal youth circumscribes their optimism toward the future and hence increases their likelihood of disengaging from school. This article, however, focuses on six, low-income, African-American adolescents who expected to realize their ambitions and were high achieving, all the while articulating an acute recognition of how race and class (and, in two cases, gender) operated to constrain the life chances of people like themselves. These students' familiarity with struggle, including collective struggle, was the only biographical factor which distinguished them from the other respondents in the larger project of which they were a part. Thus, in contrast to the findings of some, their knowledge of struggle did not curtail their academic success but may have contributed to their sense of human agency and facilitated their academic motivation. Because this knowledge derived from their interaction with significant others, this article also maintains that the meanings that arise from immediate experiences and discourses are essential for understanding the diverse ways by which marginal people interpret and respond to their subjugation.
This study examined relationships among same-ethnicity friendships, perceptions of ethnic discrimination, and social and academic adjustment in college using a large longitudinal sample of White, Asian, Latino, and African American students. Results demonstrated that Latino students who had more in-group friends during college exhibited reduced belonging and academic performance at the end of college. Perceived discrimination also had negative effects on Latino students' sense of belonging. For African American students, having more in-group friends during college was related to enhanced academic commitment and motivation at the end of college. Perceiving more discrimination was also associated with enhanced academic motivation for African American students. Explanations for the divergent experiences of the two minority groups on campus are discussed.
The historical and current importance of religion and spirituality in African American communities is much noted in the social sciences. Study of religious institutions and those community members who belong to religious institutions, however, is only the beginning of understanding the role of religion in communities. This qualitative study explores the role, impact, and mechanisms of religious beliefs for 10 resilient, African-American, single mothers who are raising families in risky, urban neighborhoods. Half of the participants are church-affiliated, while the other half are not. Participants' discussions of the role of religion and religious thought in their lives is explored in terms of four mechanisms through which religion impacts their lives—religious settings and people; internal and individual values; behavior, and protection and blessing. Implications of the findings, for community psychology and for the design of prevention and ameliorative interventions, are discussed. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Using data generated from participant observation and semistructured interviews, I consider the ways in which nightlife, or what might be imagined as the nightly round-a process encompassing the social interactions, behaviors, and actions involved in going to, being in, and leaving the club-is used to mitigate the effects of social and spatial isolation, complementing the accomplishment of the daily round. Through an analysis of the social world of The Spot, I argue that understanding the ways in which urban blacks use space in the nightclub to mediate racial segregation, sexual segregation, and limited social capital expands our current understanding of the spatial mobility of urban blacks as well as the important role of extra-neighborhood spaces in such processes. Further, I highlight the ways that urban blacks use space in the nightclub to leverage socioeconomic opportunities and enhance social networks. While I found that black heterosexual and lesbian and gay patrons used space in similar ways at The Spot, black lesbians and gays were more likely to use the club as a space to develop ties of social support.
Content analysis of 56 African American high school students'' descriptions of the meaning of acting Black revealed five underlying content dimensions: (1) academic/scholastic, (2) aesthetic/stylistic, (3) behavioral, (4) dispositional, and (5) impressionistic. With the exception of the qualities in the aesthetic/stylistic category, the respondents attributed primarily negative qualities to acting Black. Although Black youths'' perspectives on acting White has been a topic of great interest among those concerned about the academic achievement gap between Black and White youths, results of the present study suggest that the quest to improve academic and social achievement among African American youths will need to focus on altering youths'' definitions of acting Black.
Examined the stress-buffering potential of community settings in three studies. The first study focused on economic stress among 162 members of three churches, the second on bereavement stress among 80 members of eight mutual help groups for bereaved parents, and the third on bereavement stress among 85 members of six senior centers. In each study, high and low support settings were defined by aggregate measures. For churches and mutual help groups, high life stress individuals reported greater well-being in high support than low support settings while low life stress individuals did not differ across settings. Tangible aid receipt (churches) and friendship development (mutual help groups) contributed to the stress-buffering findings. For senior centers, aggregate setting support was related to well-being in main effect fashion. The implications for inquiry and action at the community setting level of analysis are discussed. Shinn (1987) recently challenged community psychologists to expand their domains of inquiry and action through increased focus on community settings such as religious congregations, voluntary associations, work sites, government, and schools. Such community settings are important as sites of research and intervention in part because they present psychologists the opportunity to focus on the organizational level of analysis (Keys & Frank, 1987). Traditionally, community-based work by psychologists has been limited to the individual or small-group level, including most of the recent research
Influential research on African American students has examined their school failure in terms of students’ opposition to school
achievement. Only a few studies have explored school engagement and success among these students, and even fewer have examined
the experiences of high achieving black students. This study illustrates the school context and school processes that high
achieving African American students identify as contributing to their academic success. The findings reveal three main school
effects impacting the students’ performance: 1) teacher practices, engaging pedagogy versus disengaging pedagogy; 2) participation
in extracurricular activities and; 3) the state scholarship as performance incentive. According to the students, teacher practices
were the most instrumental school effect benefiting their outcomes. Recognizing the processes that promote high achievement
among African American students can help to improve our understanding of student performance, while promoting success among
these students.
In this study of a large randomly selected cohort of Wisconsin high school seniors, who were followed for a seven-year period, multivariate cross-tabular and regression analyses showed that father's education has a slightly stronger effect than mother's education on perceived parental encouragement, college plans, college attendance, and college graduation for males, but that both father's and mother's education have almost equal effect for females. Mother's education has a modest effect independent of father's education, but the independent effect of mother's education is stronger for females than for males. When parents have discrepant levels of educational achievement, the answer to the question of which parent's education has more effect on educational aspiration and achievement depends on the child's sex and intelligence level as well as on each parent's level of educational achievement. In terms of the additional amount of variance explained, the interaction effect is negligible for all of the dependent variables. Discrepancy in parents' educational achievements is far less important in motivating children to high-level aspiration and achievement than is consistently high educational achievement of both parents.
The benefits of church involvement for African Americans-The perspectives of congregants, church staff and the church pastor
- C Chaney
Chaney, C. (2008a). The benefits of church involvement for African Americans-The
perspectives of congregants, church staff and the church pastor. Religion and Society, 10, 1-23.
Black women's clubs: Mitigating the effects of inequality
- S Edmonds Crewe
- J Reynolds
Edmonds Crewe, S., & Reynolds, J. (2006, September). Black women's clubs: Mitigating the
effects of inequality. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study
of African American Life and History, Atlanta, GA.
Content analysis for the social sciences and humanities
- O R Holsti
Holsti, O. R. (1969). Content analysis for the social sciences and humanities. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley.
Faith communities and African American families: A qualitative look at why the Black church matters
- L D Marks
- C Chaney
Marks, L. D., & Chaney, C. (2006). Faith communities and African American families: A
qualitative look at why the Black church matters. In S. D. Ambrose (Ed.), Religion and
psychology: New research (pp. 277-294). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science.
Becoming less separate? School desegregation, Justice Department enforcement, and the pursuit of unitary status
- A Melendez
- M Yaki
Melendez, A., & Yaki, M. (2007). Becoming less separate? School desegregation, Justice
Department enforcement, and the pursuit of unitary status. Retrieved from
http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/092707_BecomingLessSeparateReport.pdf.
Black social clubs: A long tradition of friendship
- Y Mitchell
Mitchell, Y. (2010). Black social clubs: A long tradition of friendship. New York Amsterdam
News, 101, 6-34.
Forging links, Black children clinical developmental perspectives
- A M Neal-Barnett
Neal-Barnett, A. M. (2001). Being Black, A new conceptualization of acting White. In A. M.
Neal-Barnett, J. Contreras, & K. Kerns (Eds.), Forging links, Black children clinical
developmental perspectives (pp. 75-87). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
The benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in elementary and secondary education: A briefing report before the United States Commission on Civil Rights
- G Reynolds
Reynolds, G. (2006). The benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in elementary and secondary
education: A briefing report before the United States Commission on Civil Rights,
Washington, DC: USCCR.
The place of the congregation in the contemporary American religious configuration
- R S Warner
Warner, R. S. (1994). The place of the congregation in the contemporary American religious
configuration. In Wind, J. Lewis, J. (Eds.), American congregations: Volume 2: New
perspectives in the study of congregation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
From opposition to engagement: Lessons from high achieving African American students
- G Wiggins
Wiggins, G. (2008). From opposition to engagement: Lessons from high achieving African
American students. Urban Review, 40, 317-349. doi:10.1007/s11256-007-0067-5