There is a nationwide decline in enrollment, retention and degree completion for African American students in predominantly White institutions (PWIs) in the United States. Colleges and Universities establish diversity initiatives to address these concerns, yet educational disparities persist. Institutions of higher learning also address ways to enhance the educational development of undergraduate students. One such initiative involves a paradigm shift to extend the curriculum into residential learning communities (RLCs). Therefore, this study addresses the following research question: How do African American undergraduate students in RLCs perceive the role of these communities, particularly the kinds of contacts they afford with faculty, staff, and peers, in shaping their educational development? I used qualitative methods - open-ended semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and a questionnaire - to explore students' experiences in six academically-tied residential learning communities. Thirty-two current and former members participated in individual interviews. Sixteen full-time male and sixteen female students include twenty-two freshmen, four sophomores, four juniors and two seniors. Consistent with Astin's (1985, 1993b, 1996) work, this dissertation suggests that student involvement with faculty, peers and academics is necessary for retention. However, this study argues that a critical race theory (CRT) perspective is needed to make sense of the way peer interactions create racial barriers and lead some students to develop what I charaterize as "racial-cope-ability" skills to deal with racial challenges. High school background plays a role in how students fare in RLCs. High school leadership experiences support positive self-efficacy and help students connect with faculty, peers and activities at the onset of the collegiate experience. A number of RLC components help create positive affective and cognitive developmental experiences: A sense of belonging and a sense of community significantly impact psychosocial wellbeing, success and retention; Built-in support systems, educational advantages for retention and personalized experiences at a large PWI are reasons to recommend RLCs to other students; and Residential learning communities at PWIs can contribute to existing outreach efforts into untapped in-state and out-of-state communities, school systems and outreach efforts on campus. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Instructional Systems, Leadership, and Workforce Development. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Kansas State University, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-82).

The educational plans of black high-school seniors over the past decade were examined and compared to the plans of white students by analyzing selected base-year data from The National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 and High School and Beyond: A National Longitudinal Study for the 1980s. Chi-square was used to detect significant changes between survey years. Expectations to participate in post-secondary education were essentially the same for all black and white seniors between 1972 and 1980 though black expectations were greater. Among whites, women exceeded men in 1980. When levels of educational expectation were examined, significant differences were apparent for both races. Large declines occurred in the four-year college category though they were partially offset by increases in the graduate school category. Small increases also occurred among both blacks and whites in the community college category. No clear trends were seen in the vocational school category. Black expectations were greater than those of whites in the combined upper two categories with the most striking difference seen among low-aptitude and low-SES students. Immediate plans for two- or four-year college attendance changed significantly for both blacks and whites with more students indicating four-year preference in 1980. Overall, more blacks than whites planned four-year attendance in both survey years and the largest differences between races were found on the low- and middle-aptitude levels. Preferences for planned field of study also changed for both blacks and whites between survey years. The largest increase for both races occurred in the business category, with the next largest expansion appearing in engineering. The largest decreases occurred in education and the social sciences, with the downturn being greater among blacks than whites. Black and white seniors in the middle and upper-aptitude levels were more likely to select the biological and physical sciences, engineering, and social sciences while low-aptitude seniors were more likely to choose vocational studies, health-related studies, and education.

Chinese language is the only ideographic language remaining in the world (Osaka, 1976). It conveys affluent Chinese culture and has great influences on the East Asian countries (Miyake, 2013). In the economic globalization of the world, China's economy and international influence are expanding. For these reasons and many more the Chinese language is widely accepted as one of the major world languages. It makes sense then Chinese language classes are experiencing popularity and growth with United States undergraduates. Despite this growth, however, the enrollment of African American students is constantly low in college Chinese language classrooms (Li, Wen, & Xie, 2014). This call to action argues that this low representation of African American students lies on a course promotion system that denies African American students a preliminary learning opportunity that systematically limits their representation in Chinese language classrooms from the beginning.<br> This call for action examines systematic avenues for creating early opportunities. First the study explores the utility of offering African American students an informational workshop introducing the features of the language and the potential benefits of learning it. Next the study examines the leverage that could be gained by providing direct feedback and assessing student interest to explore whether students are more inclined to enroll in Chinese language courses following the information workshop. Such a process could lead to suggested policy changes that might close the enrollment gap between the African American students and their peers. This call for action considers the reality that even a well-designed action plan may not always produce positive consequences. Therefore, an impact evaluation is explored along with suggested instruments and uses. Finally possible outcomes of an impact evaluation are described.<br> To ground this call for action, a set of foundational theories are employed that mainly include networked improvement communities, leadership and teamwork, and critical theories. The call for action strongly suggests the iterative cycle of Plan, Design, Study, and Act (PDSA) of the NIC improvement science (Bryk, Gomez, & Grunow, 2011) in the change process beginning with the examination of a local four-year university Chinese Studies Program. / School of Education; / Professional Doctorate in Educational Leadership (ProDEL) / EdD; / Dissertation;

This study examines the relationships between students' perception of the supportiveness of the campus and students' level of satisfaction by analyzing and comparing National Survey of Student Engagement data related to the social and cultural experience of black and white undergraduate students who attend Virginia Commonwealth University, a large, urban, Southern, predominately white research oriented university located in Richmond, Virginia. Conclusively, the low levels of black undergraduate student engagement predicted by the literature were not found to be true of the Virginia Commonwealth University undergraduate sample reviewed. Black male students displayed the highest instances of high perceptions of a supportive campus environment, as well as the highest instances of high satisfaction scores. Few statistically significant differences were found between the scores of black and white students, regardless of the sex of the student.

The purpose of this study was to investigate student participation in collegiate student governance, the impact of that involvement and its influence on career choice for African-American participants, and to enlighten educators about role and value of collegiate student government participation. If participation in student government and involvement in leadership activities is important in the overall development of a student, then the benefits and characteristics of that development may appear after the student graduates and enters society and the workforce (Cress, Astin, Zimmerman- Oster, & Burkhardt, 2001). Studies conducted over the last twenty years have attempted to measure the impact of involvement and leadership development on college students after graduation (Cress, et. all, 2001; Sommers, 1991) but not much has been written about the subject specifically tied to student government (Downey, Bosco and Silver, 1984; Kuh and Lund, 1994; Schuh and Laverty, 1983; Sermersheim, 1996). A qualitative case study/cross case analysis of multiple participants was utilized for this project. Following the collection of data through the use of a written participant profile and oral interviews with each of the survey participants, case studies were constructed and presented in a narrative form to allow the individual personalities of the participants to emerge. The use of cross case analysis allowed the researcher to group the data into themes and highlight patterns that cut across each case, more narrowly defining what related factors were significant to the impact of student government participation and the selection of a particular career choice. x The findings from this study indicate that while the impact of student government participation has an overall positive effect on students who participate, including greater career competency and self confidence, students attribute their choice of career to their chosen undergraduate major or other factors. Study findings revealed evidence that the impact of student government involvement was limited in its direct influence on career choice.

The role of school culture in facilitating underrepresented students' access to and success in college is examined in this ethnographic study. The purpose of this study is to examine an urban, public high school's culture in the southeast region of the United States with a high population of African Americans and students living in poverty. The college-­ going culture theory proposed by McClafferty, McDonough and Nunez (2002) and later refined by McDonough (2006) is used as a framework for this study and an ethnographic research design is employed using interviews, observations, open-­ended surveys, and document review as data collection methods. The objective of the study is to describe the culture of an urban high school by examining its artifacts, values and beliefs and underlying assumptions, specifically as it relates to preparation of students for postsecondary education. Findings from this study will help inform strategies on reforming school culture to support college access and success for urban high school students, and will support the use of the college-­going culture theory as a useful lens through which to understand college access issues. Additionally, this study helps to describe some of the common characteristics of urban education in the heart of education reform and describes the core challenges associated with developing college-­going culture in urban communities with high poverty and low college attendance rates.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the Student Success Skills (SSS) classroom intervention on grade 5 African American students’ self-regulation, test anxiety and school attendance. This study analyzed pre-existing, non-identifiable student data collected by school counselors at 30 elementary schools in South Florida. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used to determine differences in self-regulation, test anxiety, and school attendance between the students who participated in the SSS classroom intervention compared to those students who did not participate. Statistically significant differences were found between groups in all three factors and support the use of SSS classroom school counseling intervention with grade 5 African American students. Effect size estimates were reported for each of the measures. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection