African-American student achievement is a pervasive problem for school communities. This qualitative research explores the Black Church’s role in the bicultural development of six African-American male students. Using the critical theory of biculturalism this study seeks to determine what aspects of the Black Church experience influence the African-American male’s ability to navigate the school environment and participate in school. This dissertation study utilized to complementary methodologies, testimonies, and witnessing, to document the students experiences in the school and church communities. Data analysis included holistic-content analysis. Findings indicate the Black Church was an effective vehicle for the empowering process of biculturation. Thought its critical teachings, cultural responsive care, and engaged pedagogy, the Black Church affirms the bicultural students and helps them contend with their personal experiences with oppressive individuals and structures. The findings support the need for the Black church to participate in the education reform efforts affecting African-American students. The findings also support a renewed focus on engaging teachers in the utilization of culturally responsive care in their interactions with African-American students.

The educational plight of the urban student athlete is often associated with academic underachievement. This study researched the effects of minimum academic standards on athletes to increase their academic success, attendance rates, reduce discipline infractions and subsequently, increase graduation rates. Vidal- Fernandez (2011) conducted a study on the effect minimum academic requirements to participate in sports had on high school graduation. Students who were involved in a sport had significantly higher grade point averages during their sport season compared to their grade point averages when the students were not in season. Schools invest large amounts of resources into sports activities under the well-supported assumption that these activities increase levels of student outcomes. If engagement in athletics significantly improves the likelihood of academic success, then school leaders should choose to target resources and efforts at increasing participation, especially for at-risk and failing students (Vidal-Fernandez, 2011). In this quantitative study to determine what impact athletics have on the student's academic performance, the researcher collected existing data on the high school football teams for two semesters prior to a system wide 2.0 GPA policy to play and two semesters after the implementation of the 2.0 GPA play policy. Independent variables (attendance, discipline and GPA) and dependent variables (participation in football, academic coach or no academic coach, and athletic coach) were collected, and these variables were then measured and analyzed using relevant statistical procedures. Many of the student athletes in this study increased their accountability for their academic achievement in order to achieve higher GPAs in order to participate in athletics. Although not statistically significant, the data showed there was an increase in the overall district GPA for football players in the division after the implementation of the 2.0 GPA rule. Another important finding, student mobility (transiency) was notable at each high school during the three-year span of the study. While the present study only analyzed a district sample of athletes, the results could assist parents, coaches, and school administrators in monitoring the academic success of the school system's athletes. / Ed. D.

African American males face an uphill battle to success as a result of the negative narratives and images of them portrayed over the years (Appling & Robinson, 2021; Barnett & Flynn, 2014; Fultz& Brown, 2008; Jenkins 2006; Noguera, 2003; Orrock & Clark, 2015; Wyatt, 2009). Mentoring has been one form of intervention put in place to combat the struggles of achievement by these young men. This mixed methods research offers mentoring as a preventive measure with additional components added to the vast research on improving efforts for mentoring youths, specifically, the mentoring of African American males. A purposeful and snowball sampling produced 20 African American males, all from an urban high school who participated in mentoring during their youth. A Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and demographic surveys were administered to all 20 participants and follow-up interviews were conducted with 11 of these young men. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and coding of the qualitative data in which themes emerged to address the research questions posed. The results considered mentees' experiences and determined that RSES scores were indicative of the characteristics participants displayed in connection with their self-perception. The participants who engaged in an interview formulated components of mentoring that promote their positive self-perceptions. Guidance during structured weekly meetings that encouraged open discussions in a safe environment was a prominent mentoring component among the interviewees. Additional elements of mentoring that the participants referenced to support the development of positive self-perceptions were opportunities offered for leadership roles, the encouragement of a cultural Brotherhood among the members, and support from each other and adult role models. Both the participants from school-based mentoring programs and those who received mentorship naturally engaged in conversations about how being recognized for their achievements made them feel celebrated, optimistic, and driven. The template offered by participants for mentoring African American adolescent males consists of utilizing the components compiled to promote their self-perception in a safe place where they can lead, and the mentor facilitates. Implications for practice would include consistency in meeting, promoting individuality and Brotherhood, and celebrating culture and achievements. / Educational Leadership

Across the United States, African American males face barriers to securing a quality education. Barriers such as educational gatekeeping, and low identification, have caused African American males' enrollment in advanced placement courses to be at a rate lower than all other ethnicity and gender populations. A qualitative approach to research was used to explore how and in what ways district and school leaders created or hindered equitable advanced academic program opportunities for African American males. Through the lens of critical social theory, individual face-to-face interviews with district/campus educators and a focus group interview with African American male students, the lived experiences of participants within the advanced placement program were brought to the fore. Three questions guided the study: 1) How do district and school policies and practices create equitable advanced academic program opportunities for African American males; 2) How and in what ways do district and school leaders create or hinder equitable advanced academic program opportunities for African American males; and 3) What conditions have supported or hindered African American males in their ability to enroll and succeed in advanced academic courses. Findings revealed four themes to creating equity for African American males within the advanced placement program which included, the need to cultivate the advanced placement program, identify academic shortcomings, support the needs of students, and address invisible African American males. The research demonstrated that African American males can, and will, thrive in the most challenging of academic settings when provided with proper supports.

A quantitative, causal-comparative study between single gender and traditional mixed gender schools was conducted to examine how single gender schooling affected the academic achievement of African American males in a high-poverty urban community. This study examined the differences in TSI and EOC scores between African American males who attended a single gender male high school and a traditionally mixed gender high school serving students in the same community in Fort Worth, Texas. A two sample t-test was used to compare the STAAR and TSI scores of the two groups of African American males. Microsoft Excel was used to collect the descriptive statistical data and analysis was conducted in SPSS version 25.0 for Windows. A detailed description of the participants, the research design that was used in the study, a description of instruments that was used to analyze the data, research problem, research questions on which the study was based, and a description of data analysis methods that was used. This quantitative research compared the STAAR and TSI scores in language arts, math, and reading. The findings of study indicate the single-gender school model impacts the academic achievement of African American males in a particular community in Fort Worth, Texas. The single-gender school had 100% of the African American males in its first graduating class during the 2017-2018 school year were accepted into college.

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The problem of this study is to determine the stability of interest of male and female students at the various age levels in the School of Education of North Texas State Collage, Denton, Texas. To be more specific, the problem is to determine the relationship of age, sex, or both upon stability of interest.

The problem of not enough African American males enrolling in masters level teaching programs was addressed in this study. This phenomenological study examined the experiences of African American males in master of arts teaching (MAT) programs to understand why they enrolled and what factors led to persistence throughout their program enrollment. Six African American males currently enrolled in MAT programs in the southern, southwestern, and western regions of the United States participated. Data gathered for each participant included an individual, semi-structured interview and a demographic survey. Audio-recordings were used to capture the fullness of the interviews, and transcription software was used to code, analyze, and sort the data to help identify themes. This study looked through the lens of Strayhorn’s graduate student persistence and Albert Bandura’s self-efficacy theories. Factors that influenced African American males to enroll into a program were (a) education as a necessary credential, (b) desire to give back to society, (c) minority scholarship support, (d) making a connection to passion, and (e) desire to enhance teaching skills. External and internal factors were identified as assisting the males to persist within their programs. Academic institutions and policy makers may find the results useful for understanding the unseen educational barriers likely to limit African American males from enrolling in MAT programs, the issues likely to occur during the process of obtaining the degree, and the factors likely to be assistive to them for achieving program completion.

In higher education, the field of student affairs, as demonstrated in previous research, suffers from high turnover, and often, the choice to leave the student affairs field seems to coincide with starting a family and simultaneously taking care of elder family members. Previous research has demonstrated that care-giving commitments hinder women in the advancement of their career and given the changing culture of shared care-giving responsibilities, the previous findings may now be true for men as well. This study focused on Caucasian male middle managers’ perceptions of the student affairs work environment in relation to their families and workplace supportiveness and advancement. I interviewed eight Caucasian, male student affairs middle managers about their perceptions about workplace supportiveness of family obligations in the student affairs field. The participants placed high importance on family and were no longer willing to risk family life for career success. All eight men talked fondly of their family obligations and were willing to change career paths to demonstrate how much they valued their families. In addition, these men frequently commented on the desire to represent cultural change. Therefore, student affairs divisions should implement supportive informal benefits across the board to all professional full time employees for increasing long term stability in the field of student affairs.