Factors which influence low-income African-American middle school students in Mathematics were examined in this study. Likewise, this study examined the extent to which student achievement in mathematics at the middle school level in a metropolitan Atlanta school district may be explained by certain school and teacher related variables such as instructional strategies, classroom management, teacher expectations, site-based professional learning, and teacher satisfaction with resources and how these factors might impact or cause a difference in student achievement in math as measured by the 2007 Criteria Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores. The research presented in this dissertation provides a starting point for developing school plans to improve mathematics instruction. The practices identified reflect a mixture of emerging strategies and practices in long-term use. This study was based on the assumption that instructional strategies, classroom management, teacher expectations, site-based professional learning, and teacher satisfaction with resources would have a significant impact in middle school students’ math achievement. It is presumed that this study would assist leaders in providing quality instruction that would benefit teachers and low income, minority children. This study is expected to further assist principals and/or leaders in providing quality leadership that will benefit middle school teachers in low-income School Wide Title I middle schools and meet the needs of their students. The significance of this study is in assistance that it can give administrators in structuring site-based professional learning and development programs along with arranging for monitoring and communication methods that will meet the needs of teachers and students. Additionally, this research will add to a body of scholarship and may cause individuals to examine and put into place, or remove certain policies and practices in middle school math classes. As a final point, this research will determine the need for additional research. The methodology employed a quantitative, quasi-experimental, ex-post facto design to review possible variables that may affect student achievement in mathematics grades six through eight. The researcher found that there was no relationship between student achievement in mathematics and the independent variables. The only significant relationship found in this study was that there was a relationship between student achievement in mathematics as measured by the CRCT and teacher preparation. Teachers with college or university based preparation had students with higher student achievement performance levels.

Thesis (D. Ed.)--Ball State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Nov. 12, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-288).

This study investigated the learning experiences of White pre-service teachers who were dispatched to serve as tutors at an urban Afterschool Program in which all of the enrolled students were Black/African American. The sophomore level pre-service teachers served as tutors to fulfill a required experiential learning component for an introductory multicultural course. This study examined the contents of the reflective journals they kept for twelve weeks. Based on the contents of the journals, this study addressed the following research questions: 1. What do White pre-service teachers focus on in the critical reflective process? 2. What are the White pre-service teachers’ personal assumptions about teaching, learning and interacting with African American students? 3. How do White pre-service teachers express their understanding of the impact of race on the teaching and learning process? 4. What do White pre-service teachers learn in afterschool tutoring programs in urban settings in which all students are Black/African American? This qualitative study is a narrative inquiry that used archived data from the written reflections of nine White pre-service teachers. The narrative reflections were crafted in ’ response to a series of prompts based on Brookfield’s (1995) approach to assisting teachers in the process of reflection. The findings from this study revealed that the White pre-service teachers had a spectrum of learning experiences. The focus of their reflections were on teaching techniques, behavior/discipline issues and the importance of relationships. While many appeared to learn that their initial deficit model assumptions about the Black/African American students were unfounded, they did not fully recognize the cultural wealth within the students’ community. They learned that creative teaching methods that were culturally responsive fostered better learning experiences for both the White pre-service teachers and the Black/African American students. Also, engagement in meaningful learning activities diminished behavior and discipline problems. While the White pre-service teachers made inroads in the dispelling of their preconceptions, they appeared color-blind by their lack of reflection on race. Also, they appeared to support Critical Race Theory’s definition of the master narrative in their failure to recognize and critique schooling as a racial stratification system. / Department of Educational Studies

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009. / Additional advisors: Aaron Kuntz, Aaron Moyana, Andrew McKnight, William Boyd Rogan. Description based on contents viewed June 5, 2009; title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 212-228).

This study was designed to investigate the correlational relationship between four school elements listed on the Texas Academic Progress Report (TAPR) and the academic achievement of 8th grade African American male students. Data for this study was provided from the Texas Education Agency's (TEA) Office for Public Information Requests. The study included four independent variables: percent of socioeconomically disadvantaged students, average years of teachers' experience, attendance rate and average class size in mathematics. The dependent variable was the 8th grade African American males' performance on the mathematics STAAR exam. The study examined scores from the mathematics STAAR exam for the years 2012-2014. The sample population included 1,540 schools and 47,169 individual test results. The results of the correlational analysis indicate that none of the independent variables were correlated to each other, but each of the independent variables had a statistically significant correlation with the dependent variable at the p < .05 level. The study also sought to explore the variance in academic achievement that could be explained by the four independent variables when used as a model. The results of the simple multiple regression suggest that not only were the results statistically significant at the p < .01 level, but the model explained 32.4% of the variance in 8th grade African American males' performance on the STAAR mathematics exam in the years 2012-2014.