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In 2003, the Virginia Department of Education authorized a committee of 11 teachers to write a report detailing Virginia's public education history. The committee drafted a document that provided a chronological account of the major developments in public education in Virginia from 1607 to 2003. The document provided minimal coverage of the history of Virginia's African American population, specifically during the Antebellum (1830s-1860s) and Reconstruction (1865-1871) eras. The history of public education for Virginia's African American population, 1865-1870, was completely omitted from the document. The post-Civil-War era was a critical time period in both United States and Virginia educational history because it witnessed the development of the first public grammar, secondary, and higher education institutions for southern African Americans through the efforts of the federal government and Northern religious and secular organizations.;This dissertation researches the actions of the federal government, specifically the Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands, the work of benevolent and freedmen aid societies of the North, the actions of African Americans, and the legislative work of the Virginia General Assembly to establish a public education system for African Americans in Virginia following the American Civil War. This manuscript uses governmental reports from the commissioners and officials of the Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands, the minutes and records from benevolent aid societies, minutes from the Virginia Constitution Convention of 1867-1868, and a variety of primary and secondary sources to provide an account of how Virginia's African American population gained access to publicly funded education.

The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, impact families have on the academic achievement of African American gifted learners from low income environments. This grounded theory study was designed to explore family and student perceptions of a complex set of variables related to families and home environments. The variables explored were based on a conceptual framework developed from previous research related to social capital and its uses within families with limited economic resources. Study participants were junior and senior level high school students and their parents.;Instruments included a demographic questionnaire with open-ended questions, a researcher-developed interview protocol and the Moos Family Environment Scale. Based on the findings, certain 'social capital' resources were revealed: family cohesion; strong relationships with mothers; family to student discussions related to education and positive achievement; the role of the extended family (particularly aunts and cousins); emphasis on religious identity development; and the role of fathers are noted as having impact on school achievement. Another notable source of capital revealed was the intrinsic motivation and resilience of each of the students based on parent and student responses to interview questions.;The most pronounced findings were the role of the mother as nurturer and encourager; the flexible role of extended family members who provide additional support; the emphasis within the households on positive achievement orientation, and certain family traditions which taken together form a cohesive, supportive family environment, even in the midst of challenging life circumstances. In addition to the social capital provided by families, this study also revealed other sources of positive impact including special school-based programs and internal traits. Implications for future research include the design of a controlled study of African American families of gifted students utilizing the Moos & Moos Family Environment Scale (FES), a study of the support structure provided by mothers of gifted learners across a variety of cultural contexts, and study of the intrinsic motivation and resilience of at-risk African American gifted learners. Implications for educational practice include improving professional development for educators, family and parent education programs, and enhancing guidance and counseling programs for African American and other culturally diverse gifted learners.

Much of the literature dedicated to the academic achievement of African American males focuses on failure, obstacles, negative influences and explanations of factors that negatively impact their academic success. This qualitative research study provided an opportunity for African American male students at the high school level to articulate their experiences and speak to the factors that they perceived as contributing to their academic success. The constructs of identity and cultural capital were offered by this researcher as a conceptual framework into the insight of factors that impacted the academic achievement of this student group.;Through interviews, a classroom observation and document review, the perceptions of six African American male seniors from two public high schools located in southeastern Virginia were collected and analyzed. The themes derived from the data showed that these young men were successful due to the support they received from their teachers, parents and peers, their approach to challenging and difficult situations, and the opportunities that they were afforded that led to their use of the educational process to reach their goals and dreams.

Increasing the graduation rates of student athletes is one of the more visible NCAA academic goals. Overall student-athlete graduation rates have improved significantly among many institutional members. However, Historically Black College and University (HBCU) student-athlete graduation rates lag considerably behind. Although the NCAA claims that a causal relationship exists between lack of economic resources and lower student-athlete graduation rate for HBCUs, analysis within Division I HBCUs indicates no relationship between per student academic spending and the student-athlete graduation rates. Seeking an additional explanation for graduation rates, this case study examined the organizational culture of an HBCU athletic department with an exceptionally high student-athlete graduation rate. Framework for the study is based on historical research connecting performance to culture and understanding how culture is transmitted through socialization. A modified model based on Wiedman's (1989) undergraduate model of socialization was utilized as a conceptual framework.;Results indicate that a congruent culture emphasizing academics exists in the organization studied. Administrators, coaches, and student-athletes express a strong belief in the necessity to excel in academics and in athletics. They embrace and enact four core organizational values that serve as impetus for a positive academic culture: commitment, competition, compassion, and citizenship development. The culture originates with and is sustained by visionary leaders who ensure with purposeful design that like-minded staff socialize student-athletes into the culture. Implications for practice and future research are explored.

The purpose of this correlational study was to quantify the degree to which teachers believe their school adheres to professional learning community (PLC) practices and determine to what extent PLC practices are related to student achievement. The study also attempted to determine to what extent PLCs were related to African American students' achievement and closing the achievement gap.;Schools were the unit of analysis and participants were elementary school teachers from 25 schools in a large diverse school district located in the mid-Atlantic region. They were administered Hord's School Professional Staff as Learning Community survey to compute their school's "PLCness" (e.g. the degree to which the school engages in PLC practices). Students' average scale scores from the 2008--2009 Virginia Standards of Learning examination for grades 3--5 in Math and Reading were the measure of student achievement. Other variables included in the models were socio-economic status (SES) and attendance.;In this study, PLC practices were moderately correlated with all students' Reading achievement on the Standards of Learning examination. Shared Vision/Decision Making was moderately correlated with all students' and African-American students' Math and Reading achievement on the Standards of Learning examination. PLC accounted for 21% of the variance in all students' Reading achievement. PLC, SES, and attendance accounted for 54% of all students' variance in Math achievement in 59% of the variance in Reading achievement. SES was the only variable that made an independent contribution to explaining variance.

"Real Talk: Blackness and Whiteness in the Works of Jefferson Pinder, Dave Chappelle, and Aaron McGruder" will examine twenty-first century constructions of race by African Americans. I am interested in how visual artist Jefferson Pinder, comedian Dave Chappelle, and comic artist Aaron McGruder interrogate and incorporate race, particularly whiteness, into their respective works. Each artist challenges hegemonic constructions of race, utilizing technology and taking full advantage of our visualized culture to present their examinations of race. I selected the artists because of their intimate knowledge of their respective crafts, their use of popular culture, and their diverse perspectives on race in America. Additionally, the artists share a regional background in that they came of age while living in the Washington, DC metro area, which I believe heavily informs their racial views.;Inside their world of the visual arts, comic strips, and television, I argue that the artists are examining blackness while re-defining what it means and inserting, visually, whiteness into the discourse. These black constructions of race have always existed; however, I suggest that the post-soul generation is expanding concepts of race by taking the constructions from the shadows of African American culture and situating them in mainstream culture. In this attempt to challenge homogenous notions of race, the artists cull from several disciplines, which call for an interdisciplinary approach. Employing an interdisciplinary method, I will use theories of race and theories of representation. Additionally, theoretical approaches from art history, visual culture, studies of television, and film studies help frame and ground my research. This twenty-first century discourse from African American cultural workers makes my dissertation timely because it captures an important transition in American culture carried out through the combination of art, media, and racial discourse.

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