In the available research on Afrocentric K-12 education, one area of primary concern is measuring Afrocentric education’s effectiveness at enhancing the performance and achievement of African American children relative to what they would achieve in traditional schools. A significant part of determining the level of success of the Afrocentric educational model involves ascertaining the efficacy of Afrocentric teachers. However, the existing research on various specific Afrocentric schools, both past and present, suggests that acquiring teachers sufficiently qualified to teach an Afrocentric curriculum is an area of concern. This raises a number of important questions including whether this suggested problem actually exists in the current Afrocentric school community, what constitutes “sufficient qualification,” how important Afrocentric qualification is relative to a particular school’s mission, and what is being done by actual schools to ensure that its teachers are properly qualified. In an effort to address these questions, this study investigated Afrocentric school administrators’ attitudes toward Afrocentric teaching competence. It also explored their assessments of the proficiency of their own teachers, and their opinions about what constitutes effective teacher preparation programming. This primarily qualitative exploratory study was conducted by surveying principal administrators of Afrocentric and African-centered schools. The participants in the study worked at private and public charter schools located in various states. Qualitative analysis was used to analyze the responses to a participant-administered online questionnaire. The results of the survey indicate that there is significant variation in the ways that the participants define and implement the Afrocentric education model as well as in the ways that they both conceive of and measure Afrocentric teaching competence. The findings imply a need for further, more intense exploration of what it means to be a competent teacher within an Afrocentric school as well as extensive research into potentially establishing standards for the demonstration of competence in the classroom. Doing so should provide a starting point for fully engaging the Afrocentric education community’s beliefs about the successes and failures of its teachers, which should in turn open up space for exploring how best to proceed with future teacher development. / African American Studies
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TEMPLE/oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/3311 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Moses, Raven M |
| Contributors | Mazama, Ama, 1961- |
| Publisher | Temple University. Libraries |
| Source Sets | Temple University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 109 pages |
| Rights | IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/3293, Theses and Dissertations |
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