The purpose of this study was to examine four variables that impact African
American male studentsâ 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 studentsâ 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 âÂÂAfrican 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 âÂÂAfrican American male students felt that schools did
not make them feel successful, and they did not feel equal to their peers.
3. Physical variable âÂÂAfrican American male students were equally divided in
the acceptance of their physical appearance and when they compared
themselves to others.
4. Academic variable âÂÂAfrican 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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/4170 |
| Date | 30 October 2006 |
| Creators | Grigsby, Bettye Lois |
| Contributors | Larke, Patricia J. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 1432710 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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