<p> Starting in the mid-1800s, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were created for the purpose of educating Black students. Since their inception, HBCUs have transformed from institutions of higher learning with a core curriculum of teaching and ministerial education serving the Black community to progressive colleges and universities that provide bachelor, master, and doctorate degrees in specialized areas of study which serve and benefit communities of all races around the world. As advanced as HBCUs have become, they still have the stigma of being less than adequate producing underachieving students. An increase in publicity of their accomplishments would help to change public perceptions, but so far they have not received a lot of positive media attention. The question that continues to be asked and is the main question of this study is whether Historically Black Colleges and Universities are still relevant. </p><p> The research design for this investigation into HBCUs is a qualitative, multi-case study using purposive sampling in the selection of 4 universities or units. HBCU alumni and associates were interviewed to discuss their views on the relevance of HBCUs and how they plan to change public perceptions. The data gathering instruments used were documents, archived records, interviews, and researcher observations, and through the examination of four unique universities, questions about their missions, demographics, academic programs, graduation rates, accreditation, and accomplishments were researched with data collection and analysis occurring simultaneously. </p><p> The findings collected showed that the 4 HBCUs are still relevant because they serve a racially and economically diverse student body focusing on nurturing students and giving them the chance to excel in a comfortable learning environment with rigorous and challenging academic programs that are geared to prepare them to enter the workforce and succeed. They must be proactive and disseminate positive information to the public, including alumni, which could encourage them to support their alma maters. The 4 HBCUs still have some work to do to stay progressive and provide for their students, but the need for all HBCUs to educate is still apparent, not just for African-American students, but for all students.</p>

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Laurence J. Parker. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 309-328) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Education is one of the fundamental rights of children. Parents have the perennial responsibility to see to it that education, as a basic right for children, is met. However, experience and studies show that most children‘s schooling is under threat. Various factors such as family background, the dangerous neighbourhood and communities from which learners come are central in the disturbance of children‘s schooling. These contextual factors correlate with one another and sometimes result in children forfeiting schooling opportunities. Bronfenbrenner‘s (1989) ecosystem theory, among other perspectives, facilitates our understanding of the fact that a learner does not exist in isolation, but in interdependence with a number of other systems in their environment. This is because the functioning of any learner is dependent on the interaction between the various systems within the contexts they find themselves. If the child‘s immediate environmental system, the family, for instance, is faced with hardships, the child‘s development is most likely to be hampered. Young‘s (1990) theory of oppression maintains that the children‘s immediate environmental systems are said to be oppressed by the situations that are beyond their control. This study examines the vulnerable state of children and explores ways in which these vulnerabilities affect their schooling. The strategies employed to gather data involve the adoption of the research methods that are arts-based and are combined with different types of interviewing techniques. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, 2008.

Thesis (M.Ed.) --University of the North, 1989 / Refer to the document / University of the North Research Council

Research on the current condition of education within the black community suggests that there are significant obstacles to the academic success of black children. Disparities between black student’s performance, when compared to others show that blacks fall behind other students on standardized test scores, rate of those college attendance and completing high school educations. An exploration of contemporary issues in black education and black student academic achievement will help clarify the scope of these problems and possible underlying causes. It is hypothesized that the challenges facing today’s black student’s academic achievement have their roots in the events that occurred during the desegregation process of the mid to late 1960’s. The educational history of the Sam Schwarz School in Hempstead, Texas will serve as a case study of how the desegregation process represented a collective trauma experienced by Hempstead’s black community. / text

<p> The purpose of this research was to study the link between the Black Power Movement and changes that occurred in higher education between 1960 and 1980. The main research question study was, "What effect did the Black Power Movement have on changes in higher education from 1960 - 1980?" The intent of this historical research is to reconstruct knowledge on the complexity of the African American freedom struggle through the voices of thirteen Black Power activists, who were leaders of Black Power organizations, faculty in Black Studies programs, and students. </p><p> The study used an interview process to conduct the study. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and a document analysis. The document analysis included primary documents, books, scholarly journals, and organizational websites. The sampling strategy was purposive because of the special knowledge of the participants. The findings were presented within organizations and across organizations. Lewins model of change was used to analyse the catalysts for change and the response of higher educational institutions. </p><p> There was a consensus among the participants interviewed and the literature reviewed that the Black Power Movement was a student-driven movement that was responsible for the formation of Black student organizations on campuses, particularly Black student unions, establishment of Black studies departments, an increase in African American faculty, and changes in curricula. The researcher discerned five major themes that describe the era, 1) the challenges of first-generation African American students on predominately White campuses, 2) the role of Black student unions in the success of African American students, 3) the lack of representation of Africans and African Americans in college courses, 4) the role of Black studies departments in providing information on Africans and African Americans, and 5) confusion between the accomplishments of the Civil Right Movement and the Black Power Movement. </p><p> The major findings of the study have implications for higher education institutions in 1) student affairs, 2) adragogy, 3) curricula, and 4) diversity education. Based on the findings, it is recommended that higher education institutions maintain and build on changes made in the past based on the lessons learned from the Black Power Movement.</p>

<p>Most scholars now believe that Black students in schools will only succeed if they exhibit certain character traits, such as grit, resilience, and optimism. However, Black students are punished during school at a higher rate due to the belief that Black students need to be “fixed.” There is much literature that measures the so-called helpful traits that successful Black students have. For example, there are hundreds of studies that look at “resilient” Black students, and those researchers disseminate evidence that calls for Black students to change their being. The understanding that well-behaved students do better in schools than “bad” Black students is a dominant idea that my study challenges. As a result of my study Black students’ knowledge and behaviors are viewed with a humanizing lens that appreciates how Black students engage with the social structure of school. It is emphasized that the process of school discipline reinforced through discourses limits inclusion of Black student’s identities in education; however, I assert that the process of school discipline is reinforced through discursive limits that restrict Blackness in real-life school settings. In addition, as schools reflect larger society, this dissertation also interrogates how Black people navigate systemic racism despite the inundation of social norms that favor whiteness. Using qualitative methodologies and critical theoretical approaches, I examine 1) racializing surveillance in education, 2) Black student resistance at a high school, and 3) racism’s larger effects on societal responses to anti-blackness. First, I use critical autoethnography to tell my story as a Black girl in school navigating racializing surveillance and my understandings of how to be a good person/student. Second, I reframe Black student resistance by engaging five Black high schoolers in congregation meetings, exploring their creative and necessary work confront racialized discipline at their school. Third, I use psychoanalytic theory to describe how a pedagogy of anti-blackness penetrates not just in schools, but also larger society. Furthermore, how a society (and schools as an organization within society) disciplines individuals is not neutral, and school discipline is unjust. </p>

The influence of systematic information interventions on black high school students in Virginia was examined in this study. The State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) sponsored a series of information intervention activities since 1982 to influence black high school student aspirations for college. This study was designed to examine influences on college aspirations attributable to the SCHEV activities. A survey originally designed by SCHEV and the Department of Education was modified to collect data from 1151 black graduating seniors from representative high school districts in Virginia. The data were analyzed by cross-tabulation and chi square procedures. Results of the analyses suggested that one information intervention—Better Information Workshops—had more influence on college aspirations than other interventions, including published brochures, videotapes/cassettes, and public service announcements. Respondents indicated that their aspirations were influenced significantly by parents, other adults, guidance counselors, peers, and teachers. Almost 70% of the respondents would be first generation college students. In addition, fewer males than females were found to aspire to college attendance. / Ed. D.

No description available.