The purpose of this study is to examine through a phenomenological approach the impact of the instructional practices of three African-American female teachers on the learning outcomes in mathematics of third- to fifth-grade African-American males. The research design of this study utilized a qualitative and quantitative phenomenological model to examine a particular group of teachers and their students at a suburban metro Atlanta school district. The researcher conducted data analysis using a variety of statistical testing to examine the relationships between student learning outcomes and gender, race, teacher perceptions and beliefs, teacher expectations, teacher-student interactions, student behavior, differentiated learning, and parental influences for each grade level. The findings from this research show how both internal and external factors can contribute to student learning outcomes as well as how common themes emerged related to pedagogical practices. Moreover, the results of the study indicate that educators must come to terms with the reality of their teaching practices. The study shows how three African-American teachers successfully promoted effective teaching practices that provided an equitable learning environment that impacted both the quality and quantity of teaching and learning for African-American students in their learning outcomes.

An abundance of research has been conducted about the importance of including books and literature as part of a young child's developmental process. Much of this research suggests that picture books are vital to a young child's healthy development and "are important influences that shape us by reflecting the politics and values of our society" (Fox, 1993, p. 656). This study was completed to analyze character roles and gender representation of male and female characters exclusively in children's picture books. The entire population of Caldecott Award and Honor Medal books published between 2001 and 2011 was utilized for a frequency analysis. Each Caldecott Award and Honor Medal book meeting this study's criteria was examined, read and analyzed. Books included only works of fiction and were delimited to exclude biographies, autobiographies, informational books, concept books and poetry. A total of 24 books were used in the data analysis. This research attempted to answer the following question: Are males and females equitably represented in recently published children's literature? From a content-analysis approach, within a historical perspective, this research aimed at examining if gender bias still dominates the literature, and if so, to what extent. The intellectual interest of this project is in discovering male and female presence and imagery in children's picture books.