African-American Academics
African-American Students and Success and Failure in the School Setting
Do African-American students use different strategies to achieve academic success than other groups?
The strategies suggested by African-American students themselves have a lot of merit, in the matter of their own academic achievement. In a research study published by Child Study Journal (Tucker, et al., 2000), 22 elementary and 21 high school students completed an open-ended questionnaire delving into the question of how to enhance the academic success of African-American youth.
The questionnaire was given to the 43 students because, as the authors of the article suggest, "there exists a persistent and substantial gap between the school performance of African-American and European-American students." And the questions to be addressed for this paper: what are the explanations for this gap, and what strategies and programs need to be instituted to bridge the gap, prepare more African-American students for a success college experience and hence, give economic power to those young people.
The authors also mentioned that "the views of African-American students, whom are, perhaps, the real experts regarding problems that occur among themselves, are often excluded from this theorizing and intervention planning." The results of another survey conducted from interviews with "thousands of parents, teachers, and 10,000 students," also reported by Tucker, et al., showed that on the whole, students reported "high levels of school satisfaction." However, there was "general displeasure" reported by the 10,000 students with the lack of effectiveness from school counselors and administrators and "the limited encouragement given by teachers."
The results from the survey of the 22 African-American elementary students [13 females 9 males] in one important category ("Why do African-American students drop out of school more often than European-American students?") went like this: 28% of elementary students said Black students "have to work" or "girls get pregnant"; 21% said it was "disinterest in school"; 17% said "peer pressure"; 14% said "badness" was the cause; and 10% blamed "racism." Thirty-one percent of high school students surveyed believe that their Black classmates "just give up"; 21% said "personal...
PSYCHOSOCIAL ISSUES AFFECTING African-American STUDENTS PSYCHOSOCIAL ISSUES AFFECTING African-American STUDENTS "They never want to hear what I have to say…it doesn't matter who started a fight, or what a teacher said to you that made you mad. You might have something heavy going on at home but no one asks. They're not interested. They just want you out of the school." 17-year-old 11th grade African-American female student, NYC (Sullivan, 2007, p. iii). In New York City, one of
In grade four white males performing "At or Above Basic" math skills is stated at 90% while black males were performing at only 59% "At or Above Basic" skill levels. White males in the "At or Above Proficient" skills level is stated at 49% with black males in this category stated at a mere 13%. The following labeled Figure 2 shows the statistical report of NAEP (2005) in relation to
This model views literacy as woven into the person's identity, based in turn from his acculturation and participation in his socio-cultural community. Spoken or written communication is understood and appreciated according to who is reading or writing and the context and purpose of the communication. Learners come to the educational setting with individual experiences, perspectives, values and beliefs. They perform tasks subjectively. Their cultural background is, therefore, an essential
Causative Analysis There are several causes to why the students did not pass the state standardized test in mathematics and in language arts. It is strongly believe that the students were not adequately prepared for the test because they had not been completing the required assignments and attending the online classes offered by their teachers. Their lack of School Improvement 7 participation in the class, has lead them to a failing
The shift toward standardized testing has failed to result in a meaningful reduction of high school dropout rates, and students with disabilities continue to be marginalized by the culture of testing in public education (Dynarski et al., 2008). With that said, the needs of students with specific educational challenges are diverse and complex, and the solutions to their needs are not revealed in the results of standardized testing (Crawford &
This is discussed at length by Fusick and Bordeau (2004) "...school-based counselors need to be aware of the disturbing inequities that exist in predominantly Afro-American urban school districts, where nearly 40% of Afro-American students attend school in the United States" (Fusick and Bordeau, 2004) This again places emphasis on the need for mental health programs in these areas of concern. This is also related to findings from a study
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