The purpose of this study is to investigate the emerging school culture of Excel Academy for Boys [Pseudonym] located in the Southwestern region of the United States, and how it contributes to the social and academic development of urban African American male students. This case study was based on interviews and focus groups with parents, teachers, students, and the school administrator. Additionally, the researcher conducted participant observations of school meetings, new parent orientations, new teacher interviews, and reviewed student academic and behavioral records. This exploratory analysis consisted of two separate; but interrelated, qualitative studies relevant to educating urban African American males. The first inquiry featured a case study of Excel Academy for Boys, a singlegender middle school serving urban African American males. This detailed examination of Excel Academy’s organizational habitus yielded the Building African American Males Model. This organizational process was characterized by four essential factors that included: (1) educational justice; (2) expectations monitoring; (3) expectations casting; and (4) a culture of Effort. Particular attention was given to how each factor promoted community-school synergy or organizational synergy. These processes were essential for creating a school culture and climate that promoted the emotional, social, and academic maturation of students. Implications for protecting and strengthening the organizational habitus of Excel Academy were offered and broader implications for the emerging African American males’ school movement were discussed. The second study of Excel Academy uncovered four complexities that teachers, parents, and the school leader encountered as they sought to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of urban African American males. These four critical complexities emerged through observations of the educational processes at Excel Academy, and were labeled: 1) expectations dissonance; 2) disguised engagement; 3) differential engagement, and 4) expectations overload. The emergence of each factor was detailed, and recommendations were offered to address each complexity.

African American Baptist churches are not known as bastions of sexual equality. The dominance of males in the pulpit and the conservative and literal interpretation of the Bible often support this idea. African American women, however, were influential in building and expanding the role of the African American church as well as their role within the church, and they remain the greatest percentage of the congregation. African American women, particularly those with a high level of religious commitment, utilize their religious beliefs to construct their ideas of womanhood and those religious beliefs may be shaped by an underlying womanist ideology. This dissertation offers insight into understanding the tension between the perceived sexism in the African American church and women’s continued work in their congregations and utilization of their religious beliefs. Twenty women between the ages of 25 and 55 were encouraged to tell their stories about their experiences with religion in interviews. Each woman’s interview focused on her religious beliefs and church involvement past and present, how her beliefs and activities affected how she felt about herself, and her opinion of women’s influence in the church. Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed for perceptions of self, inequality, power and a connection with womanism. In speaking to each woman could be found the tenets of womanism wrestling with conservative religious beliefs. Despite their church’s conservative environment, the participants attributed their positive self-regard to their faith. Strength, independence, leadership, independent thinking and being community minded were attributes these women sought to emulate and pass on to others. While the participants understood themselves to be equal to men and capable of wielding the power of influence, at the same time there is contentment with or tolerance for the current male dominant structure of their church. This is due to a belief in a hierarchical system of control at home and church, referred to as the ‘God-head hierarchy’. God controls all, man answers to God and woman answers to man. The complexity of womanhood shows as they try to negotiate and interpret their religious ideas with their personal experiences.

This research study was conducted as a qualitative case study of six middle class African American mothers living in a suburban community. Their children attended a predominantly White suburban junior high school in their community. The study was designed to hear the voices of the six mothers and their perceptions of their children’s experiences in suburban schools. The intent of this study was to broaden the limited research base relating to the academic achievement of African American students from the mothers’ perspective. Specifically, this study investigated the African American mothers’ perception of their children’s interactions with their White teachers and the difficulties their children faced in advanced placement courses. This study used the specific words of the mothers to share their narratives. Data were collected through open-ended, semi-structured individual interviews followed by focus group sessions. Data collection and analysis occurred simultaneously from the interviews, focus group sessions, and field notes. From the analysis, themes emerged and were formulated into categories. The results revealed that mothers perceived: (a) teachers as holding a lack of cultural appreciation for their children’s culture, (b) low expectations held by the teachers (students constantly had to prove their ability), (c) a lack of communication from the teacher to the mother, (d) the teachers’ lack of understanding of the mothers’ preparation of the success of their children, (e) the need to maintain a role of advocacy, (f) the need to maintain a role of visibility, and (g) the need to maintain a role of proactive parenting.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between five factors: teacher efficacy, teacher beliefs, cultural responsive classroom management, cultural awareness, and cultural sensitivity among African American, European American and Hispanic American elementary school teachers. The five factors were part of eight factors originating from the Cultural Awareness and Belief Inventory (CABI) given to Pre-kindergarten through Grade 12 teachers in an urban public school district in Houston, Texas during the 2005-2006 school year. A MANOVA using SPSS was conducted for the sample of 208 teachers from grades kindergarten through fourth to assess whether differences exist between the ethnic groups. The five factors served as the dependent variables and the ethnicities of the teachers were the independent variables. A further analysis was conducted of the elementary schools which participated in the CABI for two purposes. The first purpose was to ascertain the number of teachers with strong efficacy beliefs, and the second purpose was to identify common and distinctive characteristics among those schools. Results were analyzed using standardized test scores from the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) as well as Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS). The results of the MANOVA revealed a significant difference among the teacher ethnic groups only with Cultural Sensitivity. Further tests revealed the difference in Cultural Sensitivity, which could be explained by ethnicity, was relatively small. While African American teachers obtained slightly higher mean scores on some of the items related to the factors, the three teacher ethic groups had similar mean scores in the majority of the items. Each of the teacher groups demonstrated an overall optimism for the five factors, reflecting positive beliefs about African American students and their capabilities to achieve in school. Each of the five urban schools had similar but also distinctive characteristics. The analysis of the schools with high teacher efficacy revealed them to have a high number of economically disadvantaged students. The only other commonality was very high retention rates among the schools. The high retention rates were inconsistent with practices of effective schools.

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the beliefs of teachers about their African American students. The Cultural Awareness and Beliefs Inventory (CABI) was used to measure the perceptions and attitudes of urban teachers‘ cultural awareness and beliefs for the purpose of designing professional development. The themes which emerged from the first study include: (a) teachers devalue students‘ home and family environment; (b) teachers‘ beliefs about their ability to teach all children; (c) teachers have negative perceptions of the school environment; (d) teachers and student have cultural mismatch; and (e) . The themes which emerged from the second study include: (a) teachers find the behaviors of students to be challenging and (b) teachers do not feel supported. In the third study, a constant comparative method was used to analyze the teachers‘ written responses.

This research study was conducted as a qualitative case study of five resilient single African-American mothers of successful young sons who attended an elementary school in a large urban school district. The study was designed to hear the voices of these mothers and their lived experiences using racial socialization to influence school readiness and academic achievement in their young sons. The intent of this case study was to broaden the limited qualitative research base on this population and inform administrators, educators, and other single parents about factors that may contribute to more positive academic outcomes for African-American males. This qualitative study used the actual words of the participants to tell their stories, as it provided rich descriptions of their lives. Data was collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and the mothers' responses shaped the phenomena under study. Analysis occurred immediately after each interview, and analytic conclusions were formulated by coding and categorizing ideas or statements of experiences from the data to ensure that important constructs, themes, and patterns were noted. The results of this study yielded the following as it related to the voices of these resilient single African-American mothers: (1) these single mothers believe that their ability to overcome adversity positively influences their son's academic success; (2) these mothers also believe their upbringing has influenced their parenting style; (3) family, church members, and friends play an important role in supporting these mothers and sons; (4) church attendance and faith in God help these mothers to persevere in difficult times; and (5) racial socialization is a tool these mothers used to help their sons to be successful in school.

The purpose of this study was to examine four variables that impact African American male students’ perceptions of their transition from elementary school to middle school. This study determined what role social, emotional, physical, and academic variables have in the transition process from elementary school to middle school for African American males. The two guiding questions for this mixed methods study were: 1. What are African American male students’ perceptions of personal development variables on their transition from elementary school to middle school? 2. How do African American male students describe their transitional experience from elementary school to middle school? Participants in this study were 149 African American male students from five middle schools in southeast Texas. Findings of the study were derived from the use of a self-developed 52-item questionnaire (Student Transition Perception Survey) with one free-response question and interviews of ten students (two from each school). The major findings in this study were: 1. Social variable –African American male students felt that schools did not provide a positive school climate, teachers did not treat them with respect, and their parents were supportive of their education. 2. Emotional variable –African American male students felt that schools did not make them feel successful, and they did not feel equal to their peers. 3. Physical variable –African American male students were equally divided in the acceptance of their physical appearance and when they compared themselves to others. 4. Academic variable –African American male students felt that teachers did not give them valuable attention in class. 5. When looking at the trend of student responses among the five schools, African American male students shared similar feelings about the social, emotional, physical, and academic variables. 6. African American male students expressed their feelings about being unsafe, experiencing differentiated teacher treatment, declining grades, and difficulty in their middle school transition.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 397-416). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in History." Includes bibliographical references (p. 192-201).