The purpose of this study is to investigate the emerging school culture of Excel Academy for Boys [Pseudonym] located in the Southwestern region of the United States, and how it contributes to the social and academic development of urban African American male students. This case study was based on interviews and focus groups with parents, teachers, students, and the school administrator. Additionally, the researcher conducted participant observations of school meetings, new parent orientations, new teacher interviews, and reviewed student academic and behavioral records. This exploratory analysis consisted of two separate; but interrelated, qualitative studies relevant to educating urban African American males. The first inquiry featured a case study of Excel Academy for Boys, a singlegender middle school serving urban African American males. This detailed examination of Excel Academy’s organizational habitus yielded the Building African American Males Model. This organizational process was characterized by four essential factors that included: (1) educational justice; (2) expectations monitoring; (3) expectations casting; and (4) a culture of Effort. Particular attention was given to how each factor promoted community-school synergy or organizational synergy. These processes were essential for creating a school culture and climate that promoted the emotional, social, and academic maturation of students. Implications for protecting and strengthening the organizational habitus of Excel Academy were offered and broader implications for the emerging African American males’ school movement were discussed. The second study of Excel Academy uncovered four complexities that teachers, parents, and the school leader encountered as they sought to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of urban African American males. These four critical complexities emerged through observations of the educational processes at Excel Academy, and were labeled: 1) expectations dissonance; 2) disguised engagement; 3) differential engagement, and 4) expectations overload. The emergence of each factor was detailed, and recommendations were offered to address each complexity.

The educational disenfranchisement of many urban, African American male adolescents aggravates the complex social and economic issues which America must reconcile. Two significant behaviors resulting from young Black men's disaffection are school failure and violence against the community. The sense of futility in these youth can nullify the possibility of their positive contributions to society. Many of the social structures that were once in place to provide support for the African American community were weakened during the sixties; and the need for structure and support is as critical today among young Black men as it has ever been. This study sought to understand the perspectives of these young African Americans when they modified their at-risk behaviors to become academically successful in high school. It was based on one school's example of supportive systems and behaviors designed to intervene and encourage their transformation. A qualitative case study research design was selected because it allowed the researcher to examine and holistically interpret the complexities of achievement-related issues at school, at home and in the community, during the process of their transformation. Based on the recommendations of administrators and teachers, a sample pool of 10 young men was developed; each was interviewed. Two young men were selected for in-depth interview, observation, and document analysis. The study found that the young men became successful by (a) responding to the school's specialized organic and institutional care systems; (b) responding to the reconfiguration of the anti-academic fictive kinship culture; (c) bonding with culturally synchronous sensitive role models; (d) benefiting from the school's staff development initiative; (e) responding to their parents' school involvement; and (f) experiencing these accentuated dynamics in a smaller annex building. Data analysis was based on the tenets of grounded theory developed by Glaser and Strauss. This research fills part of the gap in the literature which explores the dynamics of transformation in anti-academic, African American male adolescents, as they become academically successful. Insights evolving from this study will also help to fill the vacuum that exists in developing high school programs that effectively change their attitudes towards learning and promote their success. / Ph. D.