High-achieving African American students are not immune to the issues that underlie racial inequalities in school achievement. There is much to learn from these students in terms of how they navigate schools and achieve according to conventional standards. Further, serious questions remain about the social and racial costs to being constructed as high-achieving against broader narratives of African American students as deficient. This qualitative inquiry uses participant interviews and document analysis to explore the Discourses on achievement and leadership produced by minority recruitment programs and the students who participate in them. Specifically, the research uses critical discourse tools to look at the narratives produced both by African American students and by (and through) program documents. It seeks to understanding where these narratives converge and where there might be tension. This research is conducted by incorporating a socio-cultural literacy and critical race theory framework. This dissertation study is at the intersection of equity and access; it problematizes progressive arguments against a segregated curriculum for high-achieving students by invoking a social justice argument in favor of leveling the playing field for traditionally marginalized students, specifically African Americans. Much of the existing literature on high achievement and African Americans takes place in traditional classrooms. Glaringly absent from the literature on achievement are the ways in which some high-performing students of color are positioned to succeed in competitive, non-school environments. Specifically, I look at minority recruitment programs because these programs teach a particular type of literacy. The study explores the degree to which students’ home literacies are being honored. Findings indicate that students’ perspectives on achievement were much more critical than those of the programs with students overtly challenging meritocracy. Students were less critical of leadership, and both programs and students offered views that privileged particular literacies of leadership. The researcher offers recommendations for MRPs that calls for programs to involve students in more critical inquiries through the use of a Critical Race English education lens.

This study addressed the academic, cultural, and social expectations and experiences of 20 African American juniors and seniors at two predominantly White universities in the Southern Appalachian region of the United States. The participants’ described experiences revealed how institutional practices promoted or obstructed their persistence to graduation. Findings indicated a dissonance between the students’ academic, cultural, and social expectations and experiences primarily caused by unanticipated racist experiences in the classrooms, on the campuses, and in the campus communities-at-large. Positive relationships with administrators, faculty members, and staff emerged as the most significant contributors to the students’ capability to safely and successfully navigate academic, social, and cultural pathways leading to graduation. Recommendations based on the results of the study are provided for university administrators, faculty, and staff who are committed to improving the college experience and persistence to graduation rates for students of color matriculating at predominantly White universities

Abstract is available to download.

African American students' severe underachievement in mathematics in comparison to their peers has been framed as an achievement gap that continues to widen despite the efforts of many education scholars and leaders. Throughout history in the United States, mathematics education has been designed, developed, and delivered within a Eurocentric philosophy. Consequently, African American students have been at a systemic disadvantage in terms of perceiving the cultural relevance of mathematics; which has served as a detriment to their academic success. By merging ethnomathematics and culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) into a theoretical framework, this study investigates these issues and proposes a shift in mathematics education toward a more culturally aware approach. In this study, it is argued that implementing a multicultural education approach such as ethnomathematics into the mathematics curriculum coupled with employing culturally relevant pedagogical practices will increase relevance in the mathematics education for African American students. The purpose of this study was to gain African American high school students’ perception of mathematics, as well as their cultural awareness and its relation to mathematics education. To gain students’ perceptions about mathematics education from a cultural respect, 375 students in grades 9-12 completed three online surveys which were (1) a four-item demographic questionnaire (age, gender, grade, ethnicity), (2) the 40-item Attitude Towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI), and (3) the 12-item Students Perception about Cultural Awareness (SPCA) survey. This study incorporated a quantitative, correlational research design. To address research questions one and two, Pearson correlations were conducted to examine the associations between the variables of interest which were (1) Value, (2) Enjoyment, (3) Sense of Security, (4) Motivation, and (5) Cultural Awareness. Variables (1), (2), (3), (4) were derived from the ATMI survey through factor analysis while variable (5) was constructed from the SPCA survey. To address research question three, a MANOVA was conducted to assess for differences in attitudes toward mathematics and perceptions of cultural awareness by ethnicity. For research questions one and two, it was found that there was a statistically significant correlation between the variables of interest. For research question three, it was found that there was not a statistically significant difference in the variables of interest by ethnicity. In further analysis of the data, it was found that many African American students have a substandard attitude of value, enjoyment, sense of security, and motivation toward mathematics. Nonetheless, these students had a high sense of cultural awareness and cultural pride. Generally, the students felt that the incorporation of culture into mathematics would assist in raising their achievement to some degree. This study highlights recommendations to educational leaders to learn about the culture of their students, allow that data to inform policy decisions, and lead a shift to the approach of mathematics education toward the theories of ethnomathematics and CRP.

The purpose of this study was to explore some of the factors White educators need to teach Black students effectively. It examined what role the race of the teachers may play in Black students' academic success and whether White teachers are able and willing to meet the educational needs of Black students. Eight White teachers were interviewed. In this study, race is defined as a grouping of individuals who display the same phenotypic skin color by which people in the United States identify themselves and are identified by others. Today's reality is that more and more Black students are being taught by White teachers in public schools even where Black students are a majority. There are still marked disparities in the academic achievement between Black and White students. The gap between the academic achievement of White and Black students in public secondary schools is increasing. White teachers have not been properly prepared by their pre-service education programs and in-service training to teach Black students effectively. White teachers recognized that their preparation and training for teaching came out of their own cultural background for the traditional students, either White students or students who conform to mainstream Eurocentric standards, and that they are not being held responsible and accountable for the productive academic achievement of the Black students they teach. White teachers did not identify with their Black students, and they dealt with Black students from their "White privilege" perspective. This study revealed the presence of racism in the public school and that the race of the teacher did affect the achievement of Black students. It pointed out that White teachers fear the Black students they teach. White teachers need to be antiracist educators. They must understand racism and how different forms of racism affect their belief systems and their philosophies of teaching. Also they should know and understand how these forms of racism affect the academic achievement of the Black students they teach. The concept of "customer" being applied to teaching Black students might encourage White teachers to be more responsive, accountable and productive in teaching Black students. / Graduation date: 1997

Forty-seven gifted and non-gifted African American and Caucasian students in grades third through fifth were rated by their teachers on the Universal Academic, Cognitive, Creativity, and Emotion Screening Scale (UACCESS) (McCallum & Bracken, in press). Internal consistency was high with Chronbach’s alphas ranging from .97 to .99 and correlation coefficients for the six scales ranged from .42 to .92. Factorial MANOVA’s for each composite scale showed no significant score differences between African American and Caucasian students. There was a significant difference in scores based on placement, with higher scores in favor of gifted students on both the General Aptitude Composite (Wilk’s Lambda=. 70, F(3,41) = 5.87, p <. 01 and the Specific Academic Aptitude Composite (Wilk’s Lambda=. 73, F(3,41) = 5.03, p <. 01. There were no interaction effects for placement x race. A discriminant analysis using the six UACCESS scales resulted in 76.6% of participants being correctly classified as gifted or non-gifted. There were no score differences across gender. Based on the results of this study, the UACCESS shows some promise as an effective gifted screening instrument to supplement the referral/nomination process.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 145-162).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Education, August 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Ulrich Reitzug; submitted to the School of Education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 184-194).

ABSTRACT INVESTIGATING NOVICE WHITE TEACHERS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN CLASSROOMS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS by Debra J. Barrineau This study deconstructed the degree to which novice White teachers in an elementary school in a rural middleGeorgiadistrict were aware of and prepared for the challenges inherent in teaching in a predominantly African American classroom. Four novice, White teachers participated in the study. The student population of the school was 72% African American, nearly 10% White, and more than 17% Hispanic. Using a phenomenological approach, data were collected using an open-ended questionnaire in order to determine the teachers’ perceived academic and non-academic needs of their students and to explore how their awareness of the needs of their students influenced the educational experiences the teachers provided in their classrooms. Classroom observations were utilized in order to determine how the teachers related to their students and the manner in which they demonstrated responsiveness to the students’ academic needs, through the activities they provided. The teachers demonstrated only a limited ability to understand the academic and non-academic needs of their students, due mainly to a lack of understanding of the cultural dynamics of the African American students residing in this rural community. Through a lack of ability to build necessary bridges within the school community, the teachers failed to establish a trusting relationship with parents, which would have helped mitigate the disconnect between the environment of the school and the environment of the students’ homes. In addition, the teachers’ efforts to support their students through multicultural activities were merely superficial. Some of the teachers were more focused on the perceived needs of the students than on using the rich heritage of students in order to build a community of learners that would foster greater levels of academic success. The findings of this study will benefit those interested in cultural responsiveness by suggesting the need for teacher preparation programs to increase the academic and experiential focus on cross-cultural teaching. It will also benefit school districts by suggesting the need for ongoing professional development and focused induction programs for teachers who are teaching cross-culturally.