Thesis (Ph.D.)--Andrews University, School of Education, 2008. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves 209-234.

This project concerns instructors' perceived communicator style in the college classroom with African American and European American students.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Janette Howard, for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION, presented on APRIL 9, 2014 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: HOW DOES RACIAL IDENTITY EFFECT AFRICAN AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS ABILITY TO ASSIMILATE In A PREDOMINANTLY WHITE COLLEGE CAMPUSES AND ITS IMPACT ON RETENTION: A MIXED METHOD STUDY MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. John McIntyre, Examination Committee Chair The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to determine how racial identity of African American college students can impact their ability to assimilate on predominately White college campuses to the point of hindering their retention. This study was a sequential explanatory mixed method study. Phase one of the study was a quantitative survey consisting of 25 questions that was completed by N=125 African American students attending a Predominately White University in the Mid-West. Phase two of the study was a convenience sample of thirteen African American students living on and off campus. The following research questions were addressed to explore the research topic. (1) How does racial identity impact African American college students' ability to assimilate at a predominately White university with a high enrollment of African American college students? (2) How do African American college students perceive their college/university's commitment to them? (3) How do African American college students perceive their racial identity impacting their lives? The findings of the study showed that the complexities of racism and stereotypical perceptions made the process of assimilating into the college environment holistic, including social, academic, internal and external variables that impacted their ability to assimilate and form relationships needed to have a well-rounded college experience. However, many of the students interviewed felt some of the stereotypical perceptions are sometimes perpetuated by the actions of their Black peers. During a few of the interviews, students (N=7) described their dismay with the behavior that some of their peers exhibited. The participants that were interviewed felt that the students' success should be a shared responsibility. It should be up to the students to be accountable; one participant stated "too often people want to blame others for things that happen to them." Furthermore, he explained that he takes full responsibility for the 2.0 grade point he had at the end of the last semester, but he is now looking at a 3.2 for this semester. Many of the students expressed that they did feel the faculty and staff ratio could be more representative of the African American population. The students also felt the administration could do more to bring the students together as a whole, the students of color and the White students. The consensus of the interviews was that Black people as a whole, in the eyes of the boarder society, are not respected nor looked at as assets. Many of the students interviewed felt that if the Black students and the White students had more opportunities to engage outside of the classroom, they may see Blacks beyond the stereotypical perceptions.

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Purpose: This article explores the expressed thoughts and feelings of 24 research participants who processed and articulated their lived experiences. They each attended the same private, religious, historically, and predominantly White institution and participated in a three-credit course that covered the history of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and '60s, which culminated in an experience in Georgia and Alabama (Civil Rights experience). Methods: In this phenomenological study, the research participants all participated in a semi-structured interview with the same bank of questions. The questions were designed to examine their lived experiences, within the context of participating in the Civil Rights experience and attending the private, religious, historically and predominantly White institution. A phenomenological narrative inquiry employed a specific content analysis approach in conjunction with a constant comparative method to conduct open, axial, and selective coding. Findings: Research participants discussed their reactions to and perceptions of experiences with racial differences, and researchers identified themes that provided perspective on the broader category of racial differences: white spaces, assimilation, stereotypes, microaggressions, and racism. Implications: High-impact programming, such as the Civil Rights experience, may encourage the implementation of measures to foster institutional cultural humility, such as initiating important dialogue and accountability measures between the institution and the students. Racial Battle Fatigue can help both students and institutional personnel identify and interpret racialized experiences. A high-impact "critical experience" may also provide students with the knowledge, experiences, and vocabulary to reckon with racial realities and process their private, religious, predominantly white institution experience.

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are presented as a mechanism for improving the persistence of Black engineering students. However, because most engineering UREs are led by faculty and staff in Colleges of Engineering, it is reasonable to assume they are not immune to the systemic racial issues that plague engineering education. Existing scholarship on epistemic exclusion theorizes that individual biases and institutional practices contribute to faculty of color's scholarship being devalued and deemed illegitimate, but this topic is underexplored in UREs. LSAMP is an NSF-funded program that provides funding for institutions to create UREs for racially minoritized students in STEM, providing a ripe context for exploring the phenomenon of epistemic exclusion in UREs. This explanatory mixed methods study examines facets of epistemic exclusion prevalent in the undergraduate research experiences of Black engineering LSAMP scholars and the practices undergirding it. The findings of this study are based on survey and interview data collected from current and former LSAMP scholars. The survey results reveal perceptions of low levels of epistemic exclusion via scholarly devaluation; and there were no significant differences in survey responses based on race, gender, or whether in an engineering discipline or not. However, the qualitative phase helped explain the quantitative results. Black engineering students, specifically, experienced epistemic exclusion in ways that differ from literature on underrepresented faculty; and they perceived UREs as an opportunity for learning knowledge – not producing it. While positive peer interactions and a welcoming lab enabled epistemic inclusion, a toxic lab culture and inadequate URE program structures enabled epistemic exclusion. These findings have implications for faculty mentors, URE program administrators, policymakers, and education researchers. They are valuable for advancing our understanding of Black engineering students participating in UREs, contributing to national efforts to broaden participation of racially minoritized students in engineering education, and diversifying the research enterprise and the engineering workforce. / Doctor of Philosophy / Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are presented as a means of improving Black engineering students' persistence. However, since most engineering UREs are led by faculty and staff in Colleges of Engineering, it is reasonable to assume they are not immune to the systemic racial problems occurring in engineering education. Existing scholarship on epistemic exclusion suggests that individual biases and institutional practices contribute to faculty of color's scholarship being devalued and considered illegitimate, yet this issue is underexplored in UREs. LSAMP is an NSF-funded program that provides funding for institutions to create UREs for racially minoritized students in STEM, offering an opportunity to explore the phenomenon of epistemic exclusion in UREs. This explanatory mixed methods study examines forms of epistemic exclusion prevalent in the undergraduate research experiences of Black engineering LSAMP scholars and the practices undergirding it. The findings of this study are based on survey and interview data collected from current and former LSAMP scholars. The survey results reveal feelings of low levels of epistemic exclusion through scholarly devaluation; and there were no significant differences in survey responses based on race, gender, or whether in an engineering field or not. However, the qualitative phase helped explain the quantitative results. Black engineering students, particularly, experienced epistemic exclusion in ways that differ from literature on underrepresented faculty; and they observed UREs as an opportunity for learning knowledge – not producing it. While positive peer interactions and a welcome lab enabled epistemic inclusion, a toxic lab culture and inadequate URE program structures allowed epistemic exclusion. These findings may be beneficial for faculty mentors, URE program administrators, policymakers, and education researchers. They are valuable for advancing our understanding of Black engineering students taking part in UREs, contributing to national efforts to broaden participation of racially minoritized students in engineering education, and diversifying the research enterprise and the engineering workforce.

The issues regarding the lack of academic progress of African American boys prompted Garibaldi (2007) to declare that the African American male continues to fall behind all racial groups, even his female counterpart, on educational performance measures or assessments and in graduation rates. Davis (2009) stated that the literature regarding the academic experiences of elementary aged African American boys in an urban school setting is rather sparse. With the knowledge that the African American male is falling behind his female counterpart, what can we do to ensure that we begin to look at the factors that contribute to the success of those finding academic success, especially those at the elementary level? This qualitative study used an exploratory study approach to explore the school factors that contribute to the academic success of African American boys in urban elementary schools. The researcher employed two face-to-face interviews with each of the 11 fifth grade African American boys identified as academically successful. Data collection included a review of students' archival, academic, and attendance records to establish a framework of each child's overall academic performance beyond the sample summative Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments administered in grades three, four, and five at the elementary level. The results of this study indicated that the success of African American boys in an urban elementary school is impacted by peer influence, teacher attitudes, environmental suitability within the school, and personal accountability of the participants themselves. / Ed. D.

The literature on minority student achievement indicates that Black students are underrepresented in advanced mathematics courses. Advanced mathematics courses offer students the opportunity to engage with challenging curricula, experience rigorous instruction, and interact with quality teachers. The middle school years are particularly significant for mathematics education since the courses students pursue during those years affect later access to rigorous mathematics coursework at the high school level as well as college and career readiness. This case study examined factors that affected Black student achievement in advanced mathematics classes at one middle school. Data included interviews of school personnel, on-site observations, and school-related document analysis. Six major themes that affected student achievement in advanced mathematics classes emerged from the data: (a) mathematics placement innovations, (b) cultural shift towards increased rigor, (c) culture of high expectations, (d) culture of continuous learning, (e) data sharing, and (f) perceived barriers to enrollment. The conceptual framework of Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, and Easton (2010) was used to identify and explain the relationships among these categories. This case study highlighted key district and school individuals who initiated and implemented the wave of changes regarding mathematics placement and teaching that occurred over a four-year period. The study also identified barriers that seemed to impede Black student enrollment in such classes. The findings illustrated how concerted efforts provided students with a challenging curriculum, thus, increasing access to advanced mathematics classes for all students. Policies and practices that lifted all students had a positive effect for Black students. / Ed. D.

In this thesis, I consider the ways in which classroom teachers develop critical consciousness and implement it within their pedagogy in the context of effectively teaching Black students to achieve academic success. The process of critical consciousness is complex and is mainly studied outside of teacher education. The findings of this thesis fall into three main themes: self-awareness; analysis of power; and inquiry of assumptions. The research also demonstrates that the spirituality of the teacher is an important contributing factor in one’s transformation. With this work, the hope is that teacher education programs dialogue about the importance of critical consciousness, and integrate it into the recipe that makes up “quality teaching” so that all students can have the opportunity to succeed in an equitable schooling environment.

The dissertation examines the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR), a Black Power attempt to build a black boycott of the 1968 US Olympic team that ultimately culminated in the infamous Black Power fists protest at the 1968 Olympics. The work challenges the historiography, which concludes that the OPHR was a failure because most black Olympic-caliber athletes participated in the 1968 games, by demonstrating that the foremost purpose of the OPHR was to raise public awareness of “institutionalized racism,” the accumulation of poverty and structural and cultural racism that continued to denigrate black life following landmark 1960s civil rights legislation. Additionally, the dissertation demonstrates that activist black athletes of the era were also protesting the lack of agency and discrimination traditionally forced upon blacks in integrated, yet white-controlled sports institutions. The dissertation argues that such movements for “dignity and humanity,” as progressive black activists of the 1960s termed it, were a significant component of the Black Power movement. The dissertation also examines the proliferation of the social belief that the accomplishments of blacks in white-controlled sports fostered black advancement and argues that the belief has origins in post-Reconstruction traditional black uplift ideology, which suggested that blacks who demonstrated “character” and “manliness” improved whites’ images of blacks, thus advancing the race. OPHR activists argued that the belief, axiomatic by 1968, was the foremost obstacle to attracting support for a black Olympic boycott. The manuscript concludes with a discussion of the competing meaning and representations of Smith and Carlos’s protest at the Olympics.