archives@tulane.edu / Black boys and girls are disproportionately excluded from classrooms, leading to worse school and justice system outcomes than children of other races. Minimal qualitative research has been conducted on gender specific analysis of disciplinary data, though there has be an increased interest in conducting both qualitative and quantitative research taking gender into account. This study seeks to identify gender specific patterns in office discipline referrals by teachers to better understand how teachers describe discipline worthy behaviors by student gender. A phenomenological qualitative analysis was conducted using one year of office discipline referral data from a U.S. southern urban K-4 public charter elementary school. The data were analyzed separately by gender, using both deductive and inductive coding. Findings suggest teachers perceive male and female students as intentionally behaving in ways which teachers have difficulty managing and which are perceived as disruptive to the classroom environment or disrespectful to the teacher. Girls were found to be referred more for disrespect and boys more for disrupting the class and leaving class without permission. Recommendations include more detailed reporting on all types of exclusionary discipline, including in-school suspensions, operationalization of discipline worthy behaviors and consequences and gaining student perspective on discipline practices. / 1 / Haley Peele

The Black experience throughout the history sport has engendered significant transformations to the landscape and culture of both sport and society. However, in the present sociocultural climate of intercollegiate athletics, the disproportion of Black male student athletes in the revenue generating high profile sports have a unique experience in sport unlike their athlete and non-athlete counterparts. The uniqueness of these student athletes’ experiences exists in the ways in which they figure to negotiate their Blackness and their roles as an athlete and student contextualized within the current racial climate of sport culture. There remains a gap in existing literature and research of the conditions and lived experiences of Black student athletes concerning the developmental process of racial identity and its relationship with their athletic identities and academic self-concepts. The present research addresses this gap of knowledge about these stakeholders (i.e. the Black male student athlete) in sport by conducting a mix-methods study exploring the issues of identities, academic self-concept, and developing a deeper understanding based on the experiential knowledge of participants. The relationships between racial and athletic identity and academic self-concept were examined with a participant sample of Black male college football players at Division 1-A universities (N=255). Additionally, a qualitative instrumental case study grounded by Critical Race Theory explored the experiences and perceptions of eleven Black male student athletes participating in high profile athletic programs at predominately White institutions. The research findings indicate at least partial evidence of a relationship between pre-encounter assimilationist and miseducation attitudes with academic self-concept mediated by an elevated athletic identity of participants. There were five themes that emerged from the empirical materials. The themes are presented as: Lane Assignments, Allegiance to the Game versus Classroom, Race Matters??, Conformity, and Still at Work. This research illustrates that the identity, academic self-concepts and experiences of the Black male student athlete in college sport is vastly impacted by complex sociocultural systems. Findings suggest intercollegiate athletic support staff should purposefully accommodate the needs and experiences of student athletes with culturally relevant systems of practice to enhance student athlete development. / text

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The purpose of this research was to examine Black STEM students’ sense of belonging. The researcher also sought to understand what factors most contributed to students’ sense of belonging and whether the involvement in a living learning community or summer bridge program had an effect. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used. Participants (N = 89) were administered a revised Psychological Sense of School Membership survey, then were purposively selected to participate in follow-up interviews (N = 8). A principal component analysis, an independent t-test, and a multiple regression analysis were conducted. Results of the principal component analysis identified a two-component model containing 15 items. Survey results indicated that students in a cohort did not differ significantly on their sense of belonging. Sense of belonging was not a significant indicator of academic success. Seven themes emerged during the qualitative phase of the study: (a) student perception of the university; (b) student perception of STEM; (c) individual attributes; (d) family; (e) faculty interaction and support; (f) peer interaction and support; and (g) recommendations. The quantitative and qualitative data provided details regarding students’ perceptions of belongingness. Students highlighted the importance of relationships with others, specifically with faculty and peers, to their belonging and success in the university. This study provided researchers, university administrators, professors, and even students insight into the world of Black STEM students and highlighted the nuances associated with their attendance at a predominately White institution and studying in a White, male dominated field.

There are two main portions to this study. In the first portion (Chapters I-III) we identify policies, procedures, programs, and pedagogical practices in public school districts in Texas that increase levels of college preparation among black and Hispanic students across a range of educational settings (rural, suburban, and urban). We identify these practices by interviewing school administrators at twenty-two school districts throughout the state. The school districts were selected by using education production function models to identify the highest and lowest performing school districts on a variety of college preparation measures. The first portion of the study is largely descriptive and qualitative in orientation. In the second portion of the study we identify high college preparation levels among minority students as a positive externality. Because college attendance benefits students as individuals, regardless of the beneficial aspects of college attendance for society at large, students, parents, and others will request that school districts increase college preparation levels to some degree. However, given the nature of positive externalities, we explore the possibility that the reason why some school districts have higher college preparation levels among minority students than others is that they are led by an official policy-maker (the superintendent) who is committed to acting in the long-term interests of society (in other words, whose representational style is to act as a trustee). The second portion attempts to extend the causal chain back one link by exploring the possibility that superintendent representational style affects the types of policies, procedures, programs and pedagogical practices adopted and the district’s commitment to implementing them, which in turn affects college preparation levels among minority students. The relationship between superintendent representational style and minority student preparation for college is tested using two data sources: a survey of public school superintendents throughout Texas gathered by the Texas Educational Excellence Project and college preparation measures gathered by the Texas Education Agency for all public schools in Texas.

Black/African American alumni from Ohio State University in Columbus, OH are collective subjects in this research. The study has sought to discern and explicate the behaviors, experiences and attitudes of former Black students, now alumni, to effectively privilege their voices and viewpoints, which were previously not included in the scholarship and literature of African American Studies or Higher Education about the historic 1960s and 1970s. Determining how alumni experienced the Black Student Movement at Ohio State during the 1960s and 1970s has been the principal objective. Black students’ experiences and motivations were very different than popular Black Student Movement discourse suggests. Findings indicate Black students’ organized social activist behavior persisted effectively and sufficiently to be considered an example of modern social movements, worthy of respect like other social movements which have helped improve human conditions not only for themselves, but also for others including non-Black students at traditionally white institutions.

There are two main portions to this study. In the first portion (Chapters I-III) we identify policies, procedures, programs, and pedagogical practices in public school districts in Texas that increase levels of college preparation among black and Hispanic students across a range of educational settings (rural, suburban, and urban). We identify these practices by interviewing school administrators at twenty-two school districts throughout the state. The school districts were selected by using education production function models to identify the highest and lowest performing school districts on a variety of college preparation measures. The first portion of the study is largely descriptive and qualitative in orientation. In the second portion of the study we identify high college preparation levels among minority students as a positive externality. Because college attendance benefits students as individuals, regardless of the beneficial aspects of college attendance for society at large, students, parents, and others will request that school districts increase college preparation levels to some degree. However, given the nature of positive externalities, we explore the possibility that the reason why some school districts have higher college preparation levels among minority students than others is that they are led by an official policy-maker (the superintendent) who is committed to acting in the long-term interests of society (in other words, whose representational style is to act as a trustee). The second portion attempts to extend the causal chain back one link by exploring the possibility that superintendent representational style affects the types of policies, procedures, programs and pedagogical practices adopted and the district’s commitment to implementing them, which in turn affects college preparation levels among minority students. The relationship between superintendent representational style and minority student preparation for college is tested using two data sources: a survey of public school superintendents throughout Texas gathered by the Texas Educational Excellence Project and college preparation measures gathered by the Texas Education Agency for all public schools in Texas.

Post-1994 welcomed political transformation in South Africa which also brought about change in the educational sector since Black students had access to former White universities. Contrary to the growing number of Black students, the impetus for this study was found in the short supply of Black student teachers in ECE. Moreover, this study attempted to investigate how ecosystemic factors influenced the low enrolment of Black student teachers as well as their perceptions and experiences of the ECE programme at a former White university. The study was conducted from a qualitative, case study approach. The various data collection techniques, such as photo voice, narratives, semi-structured interviews and a focus group interview with five final year student teachers yielded the following results: Various ecosystemic factors influenced Black student teachers’ perceptions and experiences of ECE. First, the history of education in South Africa has had a detrimental effect on the experiences and perceptions of Black students in ECE, as well as a negative influence on the status of ECE. Second, Black students are under-prepared for their studies at tertiary level which results in negative academic experiences for the students, as well as a high dropout rate. Third, and most recurrently, it was evident that economic circumstances affect Black student teachers in terms of academic status, support offered by the HEI and enrolment into ECE teacher training. Fourth, societal factors such as the communities’ perception of, and the low regard that they hold for ECE, influenced Black students’ decisions to consider this phase of teaching as a career. Finally, personal factors, unique to each individual Black student teacher, influenced their perceptions and experiences of ECE. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Early Childhood Education / available

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