Achievement Gap: Cultural Identities and Its’ Influence Upon
ACHIEVEMENT GAP: CULTURAL IDENTITIES AND ITS’ INFLUENCE UPON
AFRICAN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OF
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO
THE DWIGHT SCHAR COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
ASHLAND UNIVERSITY
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
The Degree
Doctor of Education in Leadership Studies
Stephen Michael Lewis Sr. BA, MBA
ASHLAND UNIVERSITY
ASHLAND, OH
2020
© Copyright
Stephen Michael Lewis Sr.
All Rights Reserved
2020
A Dissertation
Entitled
Achievement Gap: Cultural Identities and Its’ Influence Upon
African American Students Perceptions of Academic Performance
By
Stephen Michael Lewis Sr.
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
The Degree
Doctor of Education in Leadership Studies
Judy A. Alston, Ph. D., Committee Chair Date
James Olive, Ph. D., Committee Member Date
Cathryn Chappell, Ph. D., Committee Member Date
Judy A. Alston, Ph. D., Director, Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies Date
Donna Breault, Ph. D., Dean, Schar College of Education Date
Ashland University
February 2020
iii
ACHIEVEMENT GAP: CULTURAL IDENTITIES AND ITS’ INFLUENCE UPON
AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OF ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE
By
Stephen Michael Lewis Sr.
ASHLAND UNIVERSITY, 2020
Judy A. Alston, Ph. D., Committee Chair
Abstract
This study examined the achievement gap phenomena through a theoretical framework of
Critical Race Theory, specifically investigating the cultural concepts of Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theory. An instrumental, qualitative case study of Black students at a predominately white, affluent, suburban high school shaped the foundation of the research. The participants were 11th and 12th grade students, who identified as African,
Ghanaian, Eritrean, or Haitian Americans. The basic findings of the study revealed that
Black students experienced various stereotypes that influenced students’ perceptions of belonging and academic expectations. In addition, the study provided findings related to concepts of voluntary and involuntary immigrant acceptance of the social expectations of a settler society as defined by the principles of Cultural Ecological Theory.
iv
Dedication
The journey I have traveled that has brought me to this point in my life could not have happened without the support and encouragement from members of my family, associated friends, acquaintances, and most importantly, our Lord and Savior. To Pamela, my precious wife, soulmate, and friend of 31 years, thank you so very much, I could not have done this without you. To my mom, Marsha, thank you for your wisdom and encouragement to finish this journey when at times I felt discouraged. To my sister, Aida, who provided the financial support to begin my journey and to my Uncle, Dr. Gerald
Thompkins, who kept me on track. Finally, I dedicate this study to our Lord and Savior, as the gifts, skills, wisdom, and knowledge I have so diligently worked to develop, could not happen without his love and patience for me.
v
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere thanks to the members of my dissertation committee who worked patiently to help me complete this study. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Kathy McFarland who provided insights into the realities of the doctoral journey and the focus required to turn a dream into reality. Lastly, thank you to
Deputy Martin, who seemed to have the perfect timing when he encouragingly asked,
“Can I call you Dr. Lewis now?”
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION
Identification of the Problem………………………………… 4
Purpose of the Study………………………………………….. 4
Methodological Overview
Research Question…………………………………….. 5
Significance of the Study……………………………… 5
Conceptual Framework………………………………… 8
Critical Race Theory…………………………… 8
Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theory 10
Researchers Lens………………………………………. 11
Definition of Terms……………………………………………. 14
Limitations of the Study……………………………………….. 15
Organization of the Study……………………………….…….. 15
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction…………………………………………………….. 16
History of National Efforts to Close the Achievement Gap….... 16
Critical Race Theory…………………………………………… 18
Racism is Normal……………………………………… 19
Narrative……………………………………………….. 20
Historical Context……………………………………… 20
Interest Convergence…………………………………… 21
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Racism is Permanent…………………………………… 21
Stereotype Threat…….………………………………………… 22
Cultural Ecological Theory…………………………………….. 24
Cultural Frame of Reference………………….……….. 26
Summary……………………………………………………….. 28
III. METHODOLOGY
Methodology………………………………………………….. 30
Research Question…………………………………….. 31
Setting…………………………………………………. 32
Sample…………………………………………………. 33
Data Collection………………………………………… 33
Procedural Design …………………………………….. 35
Data Analysis………………………………………….. 37
Trustworthiness……………………………………………….. 38
Credibility…………………………………………….. 38
Confirmability………………………………………… 39
Dependability…………………………………………. 39
Transferability………………………………………… 40
Summary……………………………………………………… 40
IV. DATA ANALYSIS
Focus Group Session………………….………………………. 41
Interview Sessions…………………………………………….. 58
Summary……………………………………………………… 69
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V. CONCLUSIONS, DISCUSSION, AND SUGGESTONS FOR FUTURE
RESEARCH
Introduction…………………………………………………….. 71
Summary of Findings………………………………………….. 71
Stereotype Threat………………………………………. 71
Fitting In……………………………………….. 72
Academic Performance………………………… 73
Connection to Existing Research……………….. 73
Cultural Ecological Theory…………………………….. 74
Cultural Frame of Reference…………………… 75
Connection to the Existing Research…………… 77
Conclusion……………………………………………………… 78
Leadership Implications………………………………………… 81
Recommendations for Future Research………………………… 85
Summary……………………………………………………….. 86
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………. 87
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List of Tables
Table 3.1 Demographics of Participants in the Study………………………….. 34
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1
CHAPTER I
Introduction
Globalization, outsourcing, and immigration, are just some of the changes in our society that are influencing the focus of academic preparations of today’s students for tomorrow’s jobs. Questions have arisen as to the effectiveness of our public school system’s curriculums concerning rigor and meeting standards of proficiency. What should students know? What should students be able to do? Should students learn soft skills, such as problem solving, collaboration, communication, and teamwork in addition to complex thinking skills such as math, science, technology and engineering?
Unfortunately, there is not a clear formula as to what students need to know to be successful for what awaits them upon completion of high school. However, an achievement gap exists in the United States educational system between student academic preparation and readiness for life after high school. Closing the achievement gap has been a goal for years; however, how best to achieve it requires a better understanding of what “caused, perpetuated, and sustained it in the first place” (Taylor,
2006, p. 72).
In 2001, the U.S. government passed legislation entitled “No Child Left Behind”
(NCLB), which was marked as a dramatic win for standards-based reform, but at the price of removing the focus on national standards. NCLB required states to adopt standards in reading and math and to administer standardized tests to access student growth or adequate yearly progress (AYP) towards those standards (Hess, 2014). In
2008, a non-partisan consortium comprised of members of the Council of Chief State
School Officers, the National Governors Association, and Achieve, Inc. issued a report
2 entitled, “Benchmarking for Success” (Hess, 2014). The report urged states to develop and adopt common standards, called for federal incentives to promote that effort, and advocated aligning textbooks, curricula, and tests to those standards; thus the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (Hess, 2014). Teachers, school administrators, and experts collaboratively developed the Common Core Curriculum or Common Core State
Standards (CCSS) to provide a consistent framework for preparing students for further studies and the workplace (Branyon, 2012). The CCSS provides students and families with a concise set of standards in English Language Arts and Math from state to state, thereby enhancing the learning experiences of all students. The standards include fewer niceties, are more explicit about what students should learn, and set demanding expectations (Hess, 2014). The authors identified the functional skills students would need for grades K-12 around four guiding principles. The standards were internationally benchmarked, evidence based, college and career-ready, and rigorous (Hess, 2014). The adoption of the common core aims to bridge the gap between high school and college.
College readiness is the level of preparation a student needs to enroll and succeed in a college program without requiring remediation (Venezia & Jaeger, 2013). Unfortunately, far too many students, especially students of color, first generation students, and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, fail to attend college let alone succeed in their first year without remediation (Venezia & Jaeger, 2013).
The achievement gap is more prevalent among African American and Latino
American students. Statistically, the U.S. public school system enrolls more than 49 million students. 60% of Asian/Pacific Islanders and just over 50% of White high school freshman are attending schools with a primary goal of preparing students for college. In
3 contrast, only 44% of Black freshman, 41% of Hispanic freshman and 29% of American
Indian/Alaskan native freshmen attend such schools (Venezia & Jaeger, 2013, p. 119).
More alarming is that due to our nation’s decentralized education system, there is a significant disparity between low and high-impoverished school systems. Generally, low impoverished school systems are comprised of communities that are predominately
White and middle class, whereas high-impoverished communities are comprised primarily of minorities and families below the poverty line (Venezia & Jaeger, 2013).
However, even with this disparity in school systems, the reasons vary as to why more students appear to lack the appropriate preparation for college and life after high school.
There are non-academic factors such as parental influence, family situation, and peer influences. There are also academic factors which lean more towards a disconnect between what high school teachers teach and what college instructors expect in regards to the knowledge needed to successfully pass first year college credit courses (Venezia &
Jaeger, 2013).
This study examined the achievement gap phenomena through a theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT), specifically examining the cultural concepts of Stereotype Threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) and Cultural Ecological Theory (Ogbu &
Simons, 1998). An instrumental, qualitative case study of minority students at a predominately White, affluent, suburban high school served as the foundation for the research. The population of students ranged from grades 9-12 and was of various ethnic origins, including African American, Asian American, Latino American, and European
American. Through this process, the intent was to add to the existing literature that
4 attempts to explain the influence of cultural identities upon the achievement gap phenomena of African American students at the high school level.
Identification of the Problem
It is important to understand the factors influencing students’ academic performance. Research suggests that students’ academic performance improves when they are in a nurturing school environment that provides safety, encouragement, family involvement, structure, and discipline with teachers and administrators who implement the common core standards (Venezia & Jaeger, 2013). Research further has theorized that students from low poverty communities will achieve greater academic success when compared to students from high poverty communities because of positive school climates, higher levels of parental involvement, and stronger intrinsic motivation
(Venezia & Jaeger, 2013). Although previous research theorized the relevance of the impact of these various factors upon student academic achievement, the achievement gap remains an issue for African American students in low and high poverty schools.
Examining the theoretical concepts of Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theory, through the lens of Critical Race Theory may provide greater insight into the phenomena of the achievement disparities of African American students, as a sub-group, who attend a low poverty, affluent, predominately White suburban high school.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this qualitative, instrumental, case study was to consider the experiences of minority students at a suburban, affluent, high socio-economic, predominately White high school and to investigate the effects of Stereotype Threat and students’ Cultural Frame of Reference on their preparation for life after high school. I
5 attempted to analyze the influence of these tenets upon students’ lived experiences, as viewed through a Critical Race Theory lens, so as to advance an understanding of why
African American student’s academic performances may lag behind their European
American counterparts and hence the affect upon their college and career readiness.
Research Question
Previous research, Bradshaw, Waasdorp, Debnam, and Johnson (2014); Milner
(2005); Taylor (2006); Venezia and Jaeger (2013), theorized various factors influencing the college and career readiness of minority students compared to White students.
However, the achievement gap remains. Factors such as parental involvement, school climate and culture, intrinsic motivation, and socio-economic status, may assist to explain the achievement gap of African American students at schools where these issues are present. However, when these factors are theoretically not an issue as in an affluent, suburban school, with abundant resources, omnipresent parental support, and a safe and nurturing school climate, there must be another explanation. Therefore, the research question for this study is, “How do cultural factors as identified by Stereotype Threat and
Cultural Ecological Theories impact African American students’ perceptions towards academic performance and their readiness for college and a career upon completion of high school?”
Significance of the Study
Public education, as opposed to private or parochial education is the educational system of instruction parents often rely upon to teach, nurture, safeguard, develop, and prepare their offspring for the real world. A strong motivating factor in the decision- making process of parents in moving to suburban communities is the perceived value of
6 the educational experience their children will receive. In general, as suburban communities demographically continue to grow due to the influx of families seeking safer housing options, improved educational opportunities, and higher standards of living, suburban school systems will incur a larger responsibility for educating students of color
(Evans, 2007). Although efforts at the national and state levels of government have attempted to mitigate the achievement gap of minority students compared to White students in the readiness for college, the problem remains.
In 2012, only 25% of all ACT-tested high school graduates met the College
Readiness Benchmarks in all four subjects: reading (52%), math (46%), English (67%), and science (31%). As for the SAT, only 43% of high school graduates met the SAT
College & Career Readiness Benchmark (Venezia & Jaeger, 2013, p. 119). When schools fail to meet state mandated AYP targets, they are subject to various sanctions, resulting in fear and pressures placed upon school districts to improve performance (Taylor, 2006).
However, turning around low performing schools requires resources, trained and motivated teachers, and effective strategies to help close the achievement gap (Taylor,
2006). As meaningful as the Common Core Standards are, they alone will not determine student academic success. School climate, safety, engagement and the environment, as well as family encouragement, and student motivation are important factors as well;
“School climate is profoundly important to the social, emotional, and academic success of students and staff” (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, Debnam, & Johnson, 2014, p. 593). School climate reflects the need of students to feel safe and not bullied and to attend schools where there is structure and discipline and positive teacher student relationships
(Bradshaw et. el).
7
Directly related to school climate is school culture. Culture refers to the “values and symbols that affect organizational climate or in this case teachers and students’ perceptions of the school environment” (Wren, 1999, p. 593). School culture has a powerful impact upon students because it influences school activities, traditions, rites, rituals, communication, and the reputation of the school and the community.
Due to the increasing number of minority students entering mainstream suburban schools, school leaders must step forward and challenge those who believe multicultural education is irrelevant. They must create environments that promote cultural pluralism and provide every student with the opportunity to succeed (McCray, Wright, & Beachum,
2004). Multicultural education allows students to foster respect for each other and the values, beliefs, customs, and norms of other cultures. In turn, a student’s intrinsic motivation may change when the student feels included in the learning environment. A student’s intrinsic motivation to learn has an impact upon their long-term achievement, conceptual understanding, giftedness, anxiety towards homework and school, mastery of goals, voluntary persistence in educational tasks, lower rates of skipping school, lower high school dropout rates and various aspects of academic success (Froiland & Worrell,
2016).
Conversely, despite the increasing ethnic diversity within the United States over the last century, the curriculums of schools remain organized around concepts and events that reflect the experiences of Anglo Saxon Protestant men (Jay, 2003, p. 3). Educators must take the demographic changes in our society seriously and take the necessary steps to transform schools so all students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to function in an ethically and racially diverse nation (Jay, 2003).
8
The significance of this study is to offer a perspective that may help to identify practical interventions to minimize the achievement gap between African American and
European American students within a low impoverished school system. It is my desire that this research will lead to a broader discussion that helps educators and administrators, both inside and outside my circle of influence, to gain a better understanding as to the needs of African American students to dispel the stereotypes that harm the academic performance of this sub-group of students. The stories of students and their experiences may provide insights into the effects of stereotypes and cultural influences on African American student’s academic achievement. If such factors are identified and practices are implemented that lead to reduced stereotype threat, perhaps this case study may influence further research of high school students to increase awareness of racial stereotypes and cultural influences on the achievement gap of minority students.
Conceptual Framework
This study used Critical Race Theory, Cultural Ecological Theory, and Stereotype
Threat as the research framework. The following section provides an overview of this framing.
Critical Race Theory
This study examined the achievement gap phenomena through a theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT). CRT has been a transformative conceptual, methodological, and theoretical construct that has assisted researchers in problematizing race in education (Howard & Navarro, 2016, p. 253). Given the disparity between students of color and their White counterparts, CRT must be given consideration as an
9 influencer in student academic performance, especially when traditional explanations for poor performance are not present (Howard & Navarro, 2016). Historically, race and education are associated with the means by which marginalized groups of people could elevate themselves into prominence in mainstream America. Yet the opportunity gaps and learning outcomes between these subgroups and White students has not improved.
Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995) have contended that race continues to be significant in explaining inequity in the U.S., that U.S. society is based on property rights and that the intersection of race and property creates an analytical tool through which we can understand social and school inequity (Howard & Navarro, 2016). CRT provides a significant lens to spotlight the relationship between race, school, and educational outcomes, as racially diverse students enter schools with their experiences, histories, and perspectives excluded from school curriculum and learning opportunities (Howard &
Navarro, 2016).
Understanding issues of race within education, from a lens of CRT, begins to acknowledge the impact of culture in the schoolhouse and the consideration on a wider scale of the social and cultural factors that affect teacher and student performance. As a theoretical lens, CRT provides a historical filter for explaining and analyzing past and present contexts that create learning environments that create and sustain barriers to students’ current and future academic success (Chapman, 2013). In this study, the specific tenets explored of CRT were first, racism is normal; therefore, stereotypes exist within the school environment. Second, the historical context of racism as it pertains to students perceptions of past inequities and their influences upon African American student’s current perceptions of academic relevancy. Third, interest convergence and its
10 impact upon the school environment in supporting or hindering racial stereotypes. Lastly, to gain a better understanding of the effects of CRT, Narrative which involved discussions with African American students via a focus group session and individual interviews with Black students. The final tenet of CRT, racism is permanent was not explored in this study as it requires a longitudinal study that is beyond the scope of this research.
Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theory
This study attempted to investigate the effect on reducing the achievement gap through the concepts of Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theory, with a specific orientation towards Cultural Frame of Reference.
Stereotype Threat reflects the change in behavior of individuals who experience negative stereotypes by other members of a society. “Few people enjoy being reduced to a stereotype, especially when the stereotype has negative associations, so we often change our behavior to avoid being viewed and treated as though the stereotype were true” (Aronson, 2004, p. 14). To this end, cultural differences do not affect the educational learning process for all minorities in the same way. Cultural Ecological
Theory as identified by Ogbu and Simons (1998) looks at broad societal and school factors, as well as the dynamics within the minority community. The theory is comprised of two major parts, (a) the mistreatment of minority students because of academic policies, pedagogy, and the return on investment of the students’ educational credentials, and (b) the perception and response by minorities towards their schooling resulting from their treatment, as well as how and why a group became a minority. Understanding how the school system affects minority academic performance requires an examination of the
11 overall treatment of minorities by the majority European American Community. A
Cultural Frame of Reference refers to the correct or ideal way to behave within the culture. Ogbu (1995) contended that when two populations come into continuous interaction they bring with them their respective cultural frames of reference that may be similar, different, or oppositional. Cultural frames of reference that are different, yet not oppositional have usually existed before two populations have co-mingled. This occurs with minorities who voluntarily migrate to the United States. Their cultures are different; however, in order to assimilate into the new culture, these minorities are willing to add new cultural norms, traditions, and language, while maintaining their own connection to their country of origin (Ogbu, 1995). Cultural differences involving opposition usually occur after two populations have involuntarily come together. In this situation, the subordinate group forms an oppositional frame of reference to avoid systemic problems such as colonization, conquest, exile, slavery, persecution, and all other forms of subordination (Ogbu, 1995). Students who have an oppositional frame of reference tend to distrust schools and school practices. Their cultural frame of reference may have an impact upon their intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is what drives students to perform. According to Self-Determination Theory, intrinsic motivation is the highest form of autonomous motivation (Froiland & Worrell, 2016).
Researcher’s Lens
As an African American male, I have a great appreciation for education. My mother and grandmother were both educators and fervently believed in the benefits a good education provided, especially for Black people. Their belief and mine is that a good education can overcome the barriers of poverty and can prepare a person for higher
12 skilled employment, a better standard of living, and the opportunity to be a positive contributor to our society. Over the years as I have lived by this belief, it has guided my decisions in terms of where I live, the schools my children attend, my career choices, and my efforts to help my community.
Prior to becoming an educator, I worked for approximately 25 years in senior management in the financial services and retail industries. My family and I moved several times and with each move, the priority for our children was their education. For my wife and me, the academic reputation and report card results of the school districts within the community significantly influenced our decision of where we would live.
Unfortunately, the public school systems in urban, metropolitan communities were not as safe and academically proficient as school systems in the suburban communities. As such, my family and I have always lived in low poverty, affluent, predominately White neighborhoods with an excellent public school system.
However, my childhood was not the same. I grew up in Detroit, Michigan and attended Detroit City Public Schools. My neighborhood was predominately Black; therefore, the schools I attended were initially primarily comprised of African American students. This changed when I was “bused” to an all-White middle school, followed by my attendance at a predominately-White Catholic high school, to then my attendance at
Morehouse College, a historically Black college and university (HBCU).
My experiences as an adult and as a child have molded much of my thinking.
Therefore, I bring to my research a bias that believes all students can achieve success when provided the right tools, in a learning environment that is safe, inclusive, and led by educators who care more about their students than they do about themselves. I also bring
13 into my research a bias towards European Americans in that I do believe that racism is
“normal” and it is an unfortunate, yet a very real reality for me, and others who look like me. Racial stereotypes are prevalent throughout our society and regardless of the level of achievement, i.e. first African American President of the United States, racism and negative stereotypes towards African Americans in our society is present in our daily lives. We live in the richest country in the world, yet we have stifling poverty, homelessness, deficient urban public school systems, police brutality and profiling of
African Americans and racial hatred throughout our society and this is 2020, approximately 150 years since the abolishment of slavery in the United States!
Currently, I am a business teacher and the diversity liaison at the school in this study. I have direct access to students and staff, including student academic records and have responsibilities for creating and implementing diversity related activities and events at the school. My interest in this case study lies in the experiences my family has had living as a minority in a majority school system. The implicit and explicit bias, lack of cultural understanding, minimal teacher cultural awareness, and lack of sensitivity towards social injustices towards Black people motivates me to explore the achievement gap phenomena. Exploring this case through the lens of Critical Race Theory, it is my desire to bring a different perspective in the analysis of the narrowing of the achievement gap. I do not anticipate that my relationships with students and staff will hinder the authenticity of participants’ involvement in the study. In fact, I believe my position as the
Diversity Liaison of the high school in this study and the relationships I have developed with staff and students over the course of five years will serve to provide greater authenticity by participants partaking in the study. Nor do I believe my perspective on the
14 past and current social injustices in the United States will have an impact upon my impartiality and analysis of the data collected in this study.
Definition of Terms
African American: African born immigrants mostly Ethiopians, Ghanaians, Nigerians,
South Africans and other African nations.
Asian American: Asian born immigrants mostly Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Philippine,
Indian, Pakistani and other Asian nations, as well as descendants of Asian origin, born in the United States.
Black: Descendants of Africans, born in the United States.
Caribbean Black Americans: Caribbean born immigrants mostly Grenadians, Haitians,
Jamaican, Trinidadian, and Tobagonian, as well as descendants, born in the United
States.
Latino American: Latin born immigrants mostly Mexican, Brazilian, Columbian, and other Central and South American countries of non-White Hispanic origin, as well as descendants of Latin and non-White Hispanic origin, born in the United States.
Minority: An ethnic, racial, religious, or other group having a distinctive presence within a society. A group having little power or representation relative to other groups within a society.
White: European born immigrants mostly English, French, German, Polish, Irish, Italian and other European nations, as well as descendants of Europeans, born in the United
States.
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Limitations of the Study
Due to FERPA, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the identification of the ethnicities of students eligible to participate in the research was not obtainable.
Therefore, the study was limited to students who identify as Black who attended one of four high schools, rather than a sampling of Black students from all four high schools.
Another limitation was the timing of the focus group and interview sessions, as they had to occur during the school year and not over the summer when students were not in attendance. A final limitation of the research was in the volunteer participation of students, in that the study only included one African American male and the participants were all primarily high academic achievers, rather than a sampling of high and low academic achievers.
Organization of the Study
Organization of the study continues with four chapters and a listing of references in the following manner: Chapter II presents a review of the related literature dealing with evolving research in Stereotype Threat, Cultural Ecological Theory and Critical
Race Theory and its applicability to education, and to reducing the achievement gap.
Chapter III delineates the research design and methodology of the study. The instruments used to gather the data, along with the procedures and the determination of the sample selected for the study. An analysis of the data and a discussion of the findings follows in
Chapter IV. Chapter V contains the summary of findings, conclusions, leadership implications and the recommendations of the study. The study concludes with a listing of references.
16
CHAPTER II
Review of Literature
Introduction
The purpose of this literature review was to examine the research concerning the achievement gap between African American students compared to their majority counterparts, European American students, in the process of becoming college and career ready upon graduation from high school. Analyzing the achievement gap, I began with a historical perspective of national efforts to reduce the achievement gap with the implementation of No Child Left Behind and Common Core Standards. Followed by an analysis of the research findings supporting the assessment of the achievement gap through the theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory. Lastly, I posit the concept of cultural identity as it relates to the tenets of Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological
Theory as influencing factors in the achievement gap phenomena.
History of National Efforts to Close the Achievement Gap
A central theme throughout the U.S. educational system over the past thirty years has been the preparation of students for life after high school. Questions have arisen as to the effectiveness of our public school systems concerning rigor and meeting standards of proficiency. In 1983, a blue-ribbon commission report entitled “A Nation at Risk” urged schools, colleges and universities to adopt more rigorous and measurable standards
(Hess, 2014). In the late 1980’s, President George H. W. Bush hosted a national governors summit that embraced and adopted a series of goals including national standards for education. In 1996, the National Governors Association, along with several prominent business leaders established Achieve, Inc., a nonprofit devoted to promoting
17 higher state standards (Hess, 2014). In 2001, the U.S. government passed the legislative act, “No child left behind” (NCLB), which was marked as a dramatic win for standards based reform, but at the price of removing the focus on national standards. NCLB required states to adopt standards in reading and math and to administer standardized tests to access student growth or adequate yearly progress (AYP) towards those standards
(Taylor, 2006). In 2008, a non-partisan consortium comprised of members of the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Governors Association, and Achieve, Inc. issued a report entitled, “Benchmarking for Success.” The report urged states to develop and adopt common standards, called for federal incentives to promote that effort; and advocated aligning textbooks, curricula, and tests to those standards, thus the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (Hess, 2014). The development of The Common Core
Curriculum or Common Core State Standards (CCSS) was a collaborative effort with teachers, school administrators, and experts to provide a consistent framework for preparing students for further studies and the workplace (Branyon, 2012). The CCSS provides students and families with a concise set of standards in English Language Arts and Math from state to state, thereby enhancing the learning experiences of all students.
The standards included fewer niceties, more explicit about what students should learn, and set demanding expectations (Hess, 2014). The authors identified the functional skills students would need for grades K-12 around four guiding principles. The standards were internationally benchmarked, evidence-based, college and career-ready, and rigorous
(Hess, 2014). The adoption of the common core sought to bridge the gap between high school and college. College readiness refers to the level of preparation a student needs to enroll and succeed in a college program without requiring remediation (Venezia &
18
Jaeger, 2013). Far too many students, especially students of color, first generation students, and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds fail to attend college, let alone succeed in their first years without remediation (Venezia & Jaeger, 2013). The most common assessments for determining student readiness for college are the
ACT/SAT standardized tests, as well as state reading and math tests used to determine a schools adequate yearly progress (AYP). When schools fail to meet state mandated AYP targets they are subject to various sanctions, resulting in fear and pressures placed upon school districts, to improve performance (Taylor, 2006).
Closing the achievement gap has been a goal for years but how best to do this requires a better understanding of what “caused, perpetuated, and sustained it in the first place” (Taylor, 2006, p. 72). Turning around low performing schools requires resources, trained and motivated teachers, and effective strategies to help close the achievement gap
(Taylor, 2006). However, when the achievement gap still exists when resources are abundantly available, teachers are motivated and highly qualified, and school wide strategies are in place to provide academic support, consideration must give to other potential obstacles.
Critical Race Theory (CRT)
For the past 20 years, Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been a transformative conceptual, methodological, and theoretical construct that has assisted researchers in problematizing race in education (Howard & Navarro, 2016, p. 253). Given the disparity between students of color and their White counterparts, CRT must be given consideration as an influencer in student academic performance, especially when traditional explanations for poor performance are not present (Howard & Navarro, 2016). Race and
19 education serve as the means by which marginalized groups of people could elevate themselves into prominence in mainstream America. “Marginalized groups, be they
African American, Asian American, Native American, Latina, the poor, or women, have sought education as a pathway for economic mobility, economic empowerment, political voice, and social transformation” (p.254). Yet the opportunity gaps and learning outcomes between these subgroups and White students has improved very little. Ladson-
Billings and Tate (1995) have contended that race continues to be significant in explaining inequity in the U.S., that U.S. society is based on property rights and that the intersection of race and property creates an analytical tool through which we can understand social and school inequity (Howard & Navarro, 2016). Devine (1989) has contended that there is strong evidence supporting the notion that stereotypes are well established in children’s memories before they develop the cognitive ability and flexibility to question or critically evaluate the stereotypes accuracy or validity.
CRT is comprised of five tenets: racism is normal, narrative, historical context, interest convergence and racism is permanent.
Racism is Normal
The first tenet, racism is normal, underlines the reality that racism is a daily unpleasant fact in our society and that assumptions of White superiority are so omnipresent in our political, legal, and educational structures that they are unrecognizable (Taylor, 2006). As such, racism is invisible to Whites and many may find it difficult to comprehend the non-White experience and perspective. On the other hand, non-Whites have an extensive understanding of racism and they carry this with them in their day-to-day existence.
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Narrative
The second tenet, narrative, emphasizes that Whites have a worldview that is skewed therefore they need a means by which to increase awareness to the racial realities that exist in our society (Taylor, 2006). The realities of non-Whites in America merit a voice and narrative is a method to bring transparency to this dilemma. CRT uses
“narrative or racial reality to make visible the distinctive experiences of people of color through the use of storytelling, autobiographies and parables as a way to expose and challenge social constructions of race” (p. 75).
Historical Context
The next tenet, historical context, refers to the difficulty in understanding current inequities in our educational system due to a lack of understanding of the historical context in which racism exists within our society. Taylor (2006) has stated,
A common occurrence in discussions about race is a tendency not only to render
the complex simply, but to disregard the historic conflict in which it was
spawned… Little is discussed among current gap-closing strategies about the
historic reasons that Whites and people of color have had separate and unequal
educations; which in turn inhibit the formulation of effective policies and
practices (p. 75).
“Badges of Inferiority” continue to affect Black students where achievement is concerned, because the implicit and explicit salience of White superiority has hindered efforts to close the achievement gap due to a refusal to accept the historical evidence that explains the inequalities that exists within public schools (Howard & Navarro, 2016).
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Interest Convergence
The next tenet, interest convergence, stresses that the interest of Blacks in gaining racial equality has been accommodated only when they have converged with the interests of powerful Whites. Bell (1980) who identified the principle of interest convergence has stated,
Whites may agree in the abstract that Blacks are citizens and are entitled to
constitutional protection against racial discrimination, but few are willing to
recognize that racial segregation is much more than a series of quaint customs that
can be remedied [sic] effectively without altering the status of Whites (p. 3).
Bell specifically contends, “…the interest of Blacks in achieving racial equality will be accommodated only when it converges with the interests of Whites” (Bell, 1980, p. 3).
Desegregation in the United States occurred because of Plessy v. Ferguson, which standardized and legitimized the era of “separate but equal,” although history shows us that in the South it was more separate but unequal (Taylor, 2006). Further research argues that the educational system is a primary means through which the system of White supremacy regenerates and renews itself with each generation of students. Schools serve to subordinate the culture, language, social, economic, and political positions of non-
Whites (Lynn, 2006). Eurocentric schools perpetuate European values and morals while acculturating non-Whites into ignoring their own culture and history and to accept Euro-
American culture as their own (Lynn, 2006).
Racism is Permanent
CRT asserts that racism is likely permanent, with periods of progress followed by periods of resistance and backlash as majority forces reassert their dominance (Taylor,
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2006). The reality is that being Black in America is a constant struggle for acceptance and for CRT to be more effective in dismantling racism in schools, scholars and practitioners have to be willing to push beyond the limits of how marginalized populations are seen, heard, and understood (Howard & Navarro, 2016).
CRT provides a significant lens to spotlight the relationship between race, school and educational outcomes as racially diverse students enter schools with their own experiences, histories, and perspectives that are not included in school curriculums and learning opportunities (Howard & Navarro, 2016). CRT also provides a lens by which to examine the effects stereotypes and cultural biases have towards African Americans in our society.
Stereotype Threat
Understanding the problems of education through the lens of color begins to acknowledge and expose the impact of culture in the schoolhouse and the consideration on a wider scale of the social and cultural factors that affect teacher and student performance. In an effort to reduce the achievement gap, researchers have examined the effects of cultural relevancy on the academic performance of students from varying racial and ethnic backgrounds (Worrell, 2014). Steel and Aronson (1995) have identified a social-psychological predicament that can occur based upon widely held negative stereotypes about one’s group. A concept referred to as Stereotype Threat. In essence, when stereotypes exist about one’s group, anything someone from the group does or any of one’s features that abides by the stereotype, makes the stereotype a true self- characterization in the eyes of others, and perhaps even in one’s own eyes. If the stereotype is negative, it may appear as a threat to the individual within the group the
23 stereotype targets. A threat not experienced by individuals who are not within the targeted group (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Unfortunately, we live in a world where prejudice and stereotypes exist. Ethnic attitudes and stereotypes are a part of the social heritage of a society and no one is immune from the learning and hearing and in some cases experiencing the prevailing attitudes and stereotypes assigned to the major ethnic groups (Devine, 1989). Research has shown that stereotype threat can have negative consequences for any individual for whom the situation invokes a stereotype-based expectation of poor performance. Such as women’s math performance (Spencer, Steele,
& Quinn, 1999), African American student’s performance on scholastic or intellectual tasks (Steele & Aronson, 1995), Latino’s on verbal tests, and elderly individuals who face the stereotype of poor memory (Aronson, 2004).
So how does stereotype threat occur? People cope with stereotypes in various ways, mainly in an effort to mitigate the adversity or to eliminate it all together.
Sometimes individuals may attempt to change their behavior to avoid a perceived stigma and the associated treatment that follows as though the stereotype were true (Aronson,
2004). Steele and Aronson (1995) have further contended that the additional threat may interfere with a person’s performance by causing arousal that reduces the range of cues test takers are able to use, or by diverting attention onto task-irrelevant worries, or by causing an interfering self-consciousness or over cautiousness or to simply withdraw effort. This research suggests individuals may suffer negative performance outcomes
(lower standardized test scores or less engagement with academics) because they are hampered by the prospect of confirming cultural stereotypes negating their intellectual and academic abilities (Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003). Research has also suggested
24 that an individual’s underperformance may in part also be a result of pejorative interpretations of failure, which the stereotype reinforces (Good et al., 2003). These pejorative interpretations, which suggests low ability, adds stress and self-doubt to students’ educational experiences and minimizes their sense of belonging to the academic environment. The notion of low ability is associated with racial stereotypes towards
African Americans that demeans their intellectual ability and competence (Steele &
Aronson, 1995). Students who believe the idea that intelligence is a fixed trait and something that cannot be developed are at greater risk of the influences of stereotype threat such as decreased confidence, loss of enjoyment, and negative academic outcomes
(Good et al., 2003). A final consideration of this study is the concept of Cultural
Ecological Theory.
Cultural Ecological Theory
Education that promotes better intergroup relations, better self-esteem, and preserves or incorporates minority cultures and languages into the curriculum, but does not provide minority students with the academic credentials, professional skills, and appropriate language to participate in a technologically driven world, is not enough
(Ogbu, 1995). To this end, cultural differences do not affect the educational learning process for all minorities in the same way. Culture is the way a people sees the world around them, interprets events in their world, behaves according to acceptable standards, and reacts to their perceived reality (Ogbu, 1995).
In their research, Ogbu and Simons (1998) have identified a phenomenon called
Cultural Ecological Theory. The theory examined the broad societal and school factors as well as the dynamics of culture within the minority community. The theory was
25 comprised of two major parts. The first part centers on the way minorities are treated or mistreated in education in regards to educational policies, pedagogy, and the return on investment for their school credentials. Ogbu has referred to this as the system. The second part focused on the way minorities perceive and respond to schooling as a consequence of their treatment, as well as how and why a group became a minority, referred to as community forces (Ogbu & Simons, 1998). Understanding how the school system affects minority school performance requires an examination of the overall treatment of minorities by the majority European American community. In other words, the collective problems that enforce instrumental discrimination in employment and wages and symbolic discrimination in marginalizing minority culture and language requires a collective response solution. However, as mentioned earlier, not all minorities are impacted by community forces the same, nor do they react the same. Further development of CET led Ogbu to classify minorities into three groups, subsequently delineated by the concept of settler society. A settler society is where the ruling or dominant group is made up of immigrants from other societies who have come to settle in a new country because they want to improve their economic, political, and social status, etc. (Ogbu & Simons, 1998). Countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada,
New Zealand, and Singapore are examples of settler societies. The dominant group in these societies have certain beliefs and expectations in common, such as the belief in individual responsibility for self-improvement; new comers to the society should more or less conform or assimilate, especially in language and culture. Newcomers to the society are those who have come for the same reasons as the dominant group and those made to integrate into society against their will.
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Cultural Frame of Reference
A Cultural Frame of Reference refers to the correct or ideal way to behave within the culture. Ogbu (1995) has stated, when two populations come into continuous interaction they bring with them their respective cultural frames of reference that may be similar, different, or oppositional. Classifying groups into autonomous, voluntary immigrant and involuntary nonimmigrant minorities further defines a cultural frame of reference. Autonomous minorities are people who belong to groups that are small in number and may be comprised of people of different races, ethnicity, religion or language. Some examples in the US are the Amish, Jews, and Mormons. Although these groups may experience the pains of discrimination, they do not experience long periods of oppression, and their academic performance is generally no different from the dominant group (Ogbu & Simons, 1998). Determination of voluntary and involuntary immigrants occurs as a result of the nature of White American involvement with their becoming minorities and the reasons they came or were brought to the United States.
Voluntary minorities have more or less willingly moved to the United States seeking better opportunities, religious freedom, and political safety compared to their homelands or places of origin. Therefore, people in this group may be different from the majority in race, ethnicity, religion, or language and they do not interpret their presence in the United States as forced upon them by the U.S. government or by White Americans.
Voluntary immigrants experience similar difficulties in school, especially when they first arrive, due to language and cultural differences. However, they generally do not experience long-term school performance problems. Examples of voluntary minorities in the U.S. are immigrants from Africa, Cuba, China, India, Japan, Korea, Central and
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South America, Jamaica, Trinidad, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Refugees who come to the U.S. are considered neither voluntary or involuntary immigrants as they are escaping civil war or other crises in their place of origin and did not freely choose or plan to settle in the U.S. Examples of refugees in the U.S. are Cambodians, Ethiopians,
Haitians, Hmong, and Vietnamese. They share some of the traits of voluntary minorities in that, they initially experience cultural and language challenges, but see themselves as willing to adopt the culture and language of White Americans without fear of losing their cultural and language identity.
Involuntary or nonimmigrant minorities are people who have been conquered, colonized, or enslaved. They did not freely choose to become a part of the United States and they interpret their presence in the U.S. as forced on them by White people.
Examples of involuntary minorities are Alaska Natives, early Mexican Americans in the
Southwest, Native Hawaiians, Puerto Ricans, and Black Americans who came to the
United States as slaves. Ogbu and Simons (1998) also have distinguished the classification of voluntary and involuntary minorities as not based solely upon race or ethnicity, but upon a careful comparative study of ethnic and racial minorities and the effect of economic progress and academic performance on their lives. In essence, a group’s history of how and why the group became a minority and the role of the dominant group in society, determines its voluntary or involuntary status rather than race or ethnicity.
Cultural frames of reference that are different, yet not oppositional have usually existed before two populations have co-mingled. This occurs with minorities who voluntarily migrate to the United States. Their cultures are different; however, in order to
28 assimilate into the new culture, these minorities are willing to add new cultural norms, traditions, and language, while maintaining their own connection to their country of origin (Ogbu, 1995). Cultural differences involving opposition usually occur after two populations have involuntarily come together. In this situation, the subordinate group forms an oppositional frame of reference to avoid systemic problems such as colonization, conquest, exile, slavery, persecution, and all other forms of subordination
(Ogbu, 1995).
The cultural frame of reference for the members of the subordinate group that opposes the dominant group propels them to have two opposing frames of reference. One frame of reference is appropriate to the dominant group or the enemy, while the other is only appropriate for the subordinate group. These two frames of reference lead to group members of the subordinate group to behave in ways that either attempt to “fit in” or “act
White” which may lead to anxiety and opposition from peers (Ogbu, 2004). Students who have an oppositional frame of reference tend to distrust schools and school practices.
Although they believe that hard work and education are necessary to succeed, they also know too well of the barriers and discrimination that exists making hard work, individual effort, and education insufficient to overcome these obstacles (Ogbu, 2004).
Summary
The literature reviewed in this study examined the historical efforts at the national level to reduce the academic achievement gap between minority and White students in the United States. The study used Critical Race Theory as the theoretical framework.
Research evidence suggests race does have an impact upon student academic success as it naturally exists throughout our society; advances in cultural relations and systemic
29 inadequacies only occur if they benefit the White majority, and through narrative, an acknowledgement of the true voice of African Americans. Furthermore, cultural identities as found in the concepts of CET and ST, suggest an influence upon academic performance. Both CET and ST propose that the past and present effects of these concepts have negative implications for the educational achievement of some groups.
CET suggests that educators should consider a student’s cultural frame of reference to identify oppositional behavior and ways to minimize its impact upon student performance. ST suggests that negative stereotypes and the present day legacy of racism
(CRT) creates dissonance for negatively stereotyped groups that is sometimes resolved through student disengagement from academic achievement outcomes. This study built upon the existing research and sought to understand the dynamics of race and culture on minority students and the achievement gap.
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CHAPTER III
Methodology
This study examined the achievement gap phenomena through the live experiences of minority students at a suburban, high socio-economic, predominately
White high school in Ohio. A qualitative, instrumental case study served as the means of inquiry to examine the phenomena. A case study provides a “holistic understanding of a problem, issue, or phenomenon within its social context” (Heese-Biber & Leavy, 2011).
Case studies can further be defined as Intrinsic (to understand a problem, etc. holistically), Instrumental (to generalize or provide insight into a larger topic), Single or
Multiple (using one or several cases studied together to investigate a larger phenomenon or population from which the cases are drawn) (Heese-Biber & Leavy, 2011). I have chosen to examine the achievement gap through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT) as the theoretical framework to describe the experiences of minority students and investigate the effects of stereotype threat and student’s cultural frame of reference on their academic performance. By conducting the study, it was my desire to add to the existing body of research on the phenomena of the achievement gap in the United States educational system by focusing on the live experiences of minority students at a predominately-White, middle class high school.
In this chapter, I present the primary research question, a description of the case study, as analyzed through the lens of CRT. I further describe the population and sample selection, as well as the site selection and data collection methods and sources. The chapter continues with a description of the data collection procedures and recording of
31 data, the analysis of the data, along with an explanation of the trustworthiness of the study.
Research Question
Previous research has theorized various factors affecting the academic performance of minority students compared to White students, such as parental involvement, school climate and culture, intrinsic motivation, and socioeconomic status.
However, the academic achievement gap remains. These factors might help to explain the achievement gap of minority students at schools where these issues are present; however, when these factors are theoretically not an issue as in an affluent, predominately White suburban school, with abundant resources, omnipresent parental support, a safe and nurturing school climate, and students who are intrinsically motivated to graduate and attend college. There must be another explanation! The research conducted in this study explored this phenomenon in our society through the lens of critical race theory, with a focus on two theories of thought, stereotype threat and cultural ecological theory.
Therefore, the primary research question for this study was, how do cultural factors as identified by Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theory impact African American students’ perceptions towards academic performance and their readiness for college and a career upon completion of high school?
The analysis of the research question occurred by examining participant responses to questions during focus group and personal interview sessions. The analysis sought to understand factors in a high school that influence African American student academic performance and situations in the school environment that may trigger the effects of stereotype threat and the identification of mechanisms students use to overcome those
32 effects. As well as questions during the sessions to identify, the effects of a schools’ culture in reinforcing or negating stereotype threat among African American students and the value African American students, regardless of ethnicity, place upon their cultural heritage.
Setting
For the purpose of this study, participants attended one of four high schools in a large, suburban school district, located in central Ohio. Three of the four high schools have student populations of approximately 2000 students, with the newest high school opened for the 2018-2019 school term with approximately 1000 students. All four high schools have predominately-White majority student populations with the most diverse school with a minority population of approximately 24%. Within the minority population
9% are Asian, 7% are African American, 4% are multi-racial, and 4% are Latino/a. The remaining three high schools are 14% and 16% minority students respectively with diversity statistics unavailable for the newest school. The administration of all four high schools are comprised of White males and/or White females, some with several years of experience and others who are new to their positions.
Based upon an analysis of Gap Closing data available through the “Ohio
Department of Education State Report Cards (2015-2016, 2016-2017)” of the high schools in the district, the justification and selection of African American students to participate in the study was determined. The minority population of students attending the high schools in this study continued to grow each year. One of the high school’s minority population was growing at a higher rate than the other schools. The report cards also provided reporting on the academic performance of students in relation to Annual
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Measurable Objectives (AMO’s). Although the high schools in this study have consistently received excellent ratings, the Gap Closing indicators have failed to receive similar recognition. The Gap Closing component indicates how well schools are meeting the academic performance expectations for districts’ most vulnerable (minority) population of students in English language arts, math, and graduation. African American students continue to underperform their European American counterparts as indicated by the Gap Closing Report Card Indicator. The most common assessment for determining student readiness for college are the ACT/SAT standardized tests, as well as state reading and math tests, which are used to determine a schools adequate yearly progress (AYP)
(Venezia & Jaeger, 2013).
Sample
Once the Ashland University Human Subjects Review Committee granted approval to proceed, students from the school recognized to have the greatest number of minority students and who were members of the school’s Face2Face and Black
Empowerment Diversity Clubs received a “Request for Participation” invitation to participate in the study. Five students responded to the request and were involved in the focus group session. As shown in Table 3.1, participants were of various ethnicities, gender, and grades of which all participants, except for one, participated in both the focus group and individual interview sessions.
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Table 3.1
Demographics of Participants in the study
Ethnicity Gender Grade Focus Group Interview
African American Male 11 Yes Yes
African American Female 12 Yes No
Eritrean American Female 11 Yes Yes
Ghanaian American Female 12 Yes Yes
Haitian American Female 12 Yes Yes
Data Collection
In an effort to understand the live experiences of participants in the study, I conducted the study using Gap Closing data from the Ohio State Report Card for school terms 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-2018, as well as Grade Point Averages (GPA’s) and
State of Ohio Graduation Rate and College Readiness data from the same periods of time.
The data served to identify the academic performance of African American students reflected in the Gap Closing Indicator. The next step upon the completion of the identification of participants was to conduct a focus group session. The session was video and audio recorded, then transcribed into Microsoft Word, stored accordingly and initially coded line-by-line. Sessions occurred on site at the researchers’ high school and conducted in a classroom space that students had a level of familiarity. Throughout the focus group session, I also documented my observations via memos. I used the memos and the most significant line-by-line coding to conduct focused coding that helped to identify the salient categories used for the interview process of the study. Four African
American students from the focus group session comprised the interview portion of the
35 study. The interviews occurred at the same high school. Sessions were video and audio recorded, then transcribed into Microsoft Word, coded line-by-line and analyzed accordingly.
I used a phenomenological qualitative approach to this case study.
Phenomenology focuses on the human experience, seeks to understand how consciousness operates, and influences our social behaviors (Hesse-Biber & Leavy,
2011). Inquiry begins with broad, general questions about the area under investigation, and continues to seek a holistic picture of the phenomena (Roberts, 2010). The following focus group questions served as the basis for discussion:
1. How important is your cultural heritage to you and why?
2. What factors at school do you believe impede your academic performance?
3. How does the schools’ culture influence your college/career readiness?
4. What was your experience with other students during the school year, as
multicultural events and activities occurred? Do you think your experiences were
racially influenced and how so?
5. What various activities the school’s leadership might implement to help recognize
and support students of different ethnic, cultural, or racial backgrounds?
6. Do you feel your academic performance is positively or negatively influenced
because of your ethnic, cultural, or racial background and why or why not?
Procedural Design
Upon approval by the Ashland University Dissertation Committee and Human
Subjects Review Committee, I implemented the following:
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Identification of African American students who were included in the African
American demographic on the Ohio State Report Card Gap Closing, Graduation
Rate, and College Readiness indicators.
Comparison of data between White students and African American students to
identify achievement gap disparities from school terms 2015-16, 2016-17, and
2017-18.
Sent participation request letters to the identified African American students
requesting participation in the study.
Established dates for a focus group session to occur at the high school during the
2nd semester of the 2018-19 academic school year.
Conducted a focus group session to include video and audio recording. During
and upon conclusion of the session documented my observations via memos to
capture the language and content of participants’ responses and actions.
Transcribe and conduct line-by-line initial coding of the focus group session.
Synthesized the line-by-line coded data into focused coding to identify categories
of data for further discussion during personal student interviews.
Developed questions based upon the identified categories for use during the
student personal interviews. Provided copies of the interview questions to four
pre-identified students prior to the interviews, then conducted individual 40-60
minute interviews with each student.
Audio and video recorded the interview sessions, transcribed the data into
Microsoft Word, conducted line-by-line coding followed by subsequent focus
coding.
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Created a finalized coding list and an analysis of all focus group and interview
sessions.
Reviewed all transcripts and video-recorded data for a final time to ascertain that
the findings, main themes, and patterns were consistent with the data collected.
Final analysis of the findings compared to the literature occurred, to determine
which findings were in support or not of the literature.
Data Analysis
Upon collection of the data, an initial analysis of the information through the process of memo writing and line-by-line coding occurred. Line by line coding means naming each line of the participant statements during the focus group and interview sessions. Line by line coding works with detailed data about problems or processes; whether the data consists of interviews, observations, documents, or ethnographies
(Charmaz, 2006). This type of coding helped to identify implicit as well as explicit concerns and statements conveyed by participants. Line by line coding is also useful in refocusing future interviews and helps in breaking the data into their component parts and eventual categories. Memo writing on the other hand is ongoing. According to Charmaz
(2006), memo writing causes researchers to stop and analyze their ideas about the codes in any and every way that occurs during the research process. Memos catch the researcher’s thoughts, helps to make comparisons and connections and serves to clarify questions and the direction for the researcher to pursue. Memos also serve to make the work manageable and can lead to focused coding, the next step in the analysis process.
Focused coding looks at the line-by-line coding and seeks to identify the most relevant data collected. Focused coding requires decisions about which initial codes make
38 the most sense to categorize and pursue in future data collection efforts (Charmaz, 2006).
I then categorized the focused coded responses according to the research question and looked for frequency of responses for themes and patterns. To ascertain the validity of my observations, a transcription service transcribed the focus group and interview video- recorded sessions into Microsoft Word. I subsequently confirmed the accuracy of the transcripts to the video-recorded sessions and then shared the data with available participants.
Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness is a function of validity and pertains to the reader’s belief of the research methodology, findings, results, and conclusion of the researcher (Heese-Biber &
Leavy, 2011). To improve the trustworthiness of this study, I followed criteria that ensured credibility, conformability, dependability and transferability. The strategies implemented to ensure the practices of trustworthiness for each criterion are as follows:
Credibility
I created guided questions that were similar for all participants, which allowed for consistency in the analysis of common or opposing themes. The sampling of participants was similar in age and demographics. Participants had the option to participate in the study, to ensure only those willing to offer data freely were involved. I employed the triangulation method, which was to compare and analyze all findings between interviews, focus groups and official documents. Official documents served as background to help explain the attitudes and behavior of those in the group under scrutiny (Shenton, 2004).
In addition, I involved participants from various ethnicities to compare viewpoints and experiences, providing a rich picture of the attitudes of those under scrutiny. I also sought
39 out colleagues with expertise in qualitative research to read and analyze the data to confirm themes, offer different perspectives, and ensure compliance to ethical procedures. Member checking to receive “real-time” feedback from the participants to confirm or amend the accuracy of the content of the interview and focus group discussions also occurred (Shenton, 2004).
Confirmability
To significantly reduce researcher bias and ensure accurate reporting and objectivity, I attempted to ensure the study’s findings were the result of the experiences and ideas of the participants, rather than the characteristics and preferences of the researcher (Shenton, 2004). Throughout the project, implementation of an audit trail occurred, designed to allow any observer to trace the systematic course of the research via the decisions made and the procedures prescribed. Professionals, who were knowledgeable of the research topic, as recommended from the dissertation chairperson, assisted in the analysis of the collected data to confirm, deny, or add themes and concepts.
Dependability
Similar to the credibility criteria, dependability methods ensure that the research strategies employed in a study are internally and externally consistent (Heese-Biber &
Leavy, 2011). Full transparency occurred between my relationship with the participants and the setting of the study. A thorough effort to document all focus group observations and personal interviews using multiple methods (written and audio recordings), as well as following ethical guidelines of receiving informed consent from participants and approval
40 to conduct the research from the Ashland University Institutional Review Board (IRB) were followed.
Transferability
This case study attempted to add to the existing literature on the achievement gap.
In an effort to achieve a level of transferability, my objective was to capture thick descriptions of the aspects of the live experiences of the participants in the study.
Although the participants were unique to this study, there are factors which once considered may provide transference. They include, the number of sites used in the study, the inclusion of a specific demographic of students, and the number of participants used in the fieldwork. They also include the data collection methods of documents, focus group observations and personal interviews; the number and length of the data collection sessions; and the time-period over which the data was collected (2nd semester of a typical school year). Therefore, this study’s intent was to provide an in-depth, thick, and vivid description of the findings that may provide an opportunity to understand other cases.
The degree of transferability is a direct function of the similarity or fittingness between cases (Heese-Biber & Leavy, 2011).
Summary
Using Critical Race Theory as the theoretical framework, this study sought to examine the influence of culture on the achievement gap of African American students at an affluent, predominately White, suburban high school. I used a qualitative, instrumental case study research design using state report card and school student data, interviews and focus group sessions, to identify specific themes that reflect student’s perceptions of cultural identities and academic success.
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CHAPTER IV
Data Analysis
As stated in Chapter I, the purpose of this study was to consider the experiences of African American (Black) students at a suburban, high socio-economic, predominately-White high school and to investigate the effects of Stereotype Threat and
Cultural Ecological Theory on student preparation for post high school employment or higher education. Organization of the chapter begins in terms of the research question posed in Chapter I, “How do cultural factors, as identified by Stereotype Threat and
Cultural Ecological Theories, impact African American students’ perceptions towards academic performance and their readiness for college and a career upon completion of high school?” The chapter presents participant responses to six discussion questions posed during a focus group session. Followed by the results derived from personal interviews with each participant with questions categorized from the focus group session.
There were five participants, one male (M) and four females (F). To protect the identity of the participants, each received a pseudonym. Their names were Kevin,
Angela, Erica, Gayle, and Helen. Participants ranged in ages 16 to 18. Two were African
American (AA); the remaining three were Ghanaian American (GA), Eritrean American
(EA) and Haitian American (HA), from the same high school and were in either the 11th or the 12th grade. The high school was located within a predominantly White, affluent suburban community of Central Ohio.
Focus Group Session
Focusing on the human experience, inquiry began with broad, general questions about the area under investigation. The setting was a classroom at the researchers’ school
42 and conducted in a focus group format. The first discussion question was “How important is your cultural heritage to you and why?” All participants responded that their cultural heritage was either very important to him or her or important to him or her. Responses were, “my cultural heritage has always been important to me”, another response was “I can’t really part with it.” Participants went further to explain why it was important to them and the specific elements of their culture that were important to them. Erica indicated she grew up in a traditional Eritrean cultural setting, their primary language was
Tigrinya, “a language from what I ate, to how I see, how the songs that I learned, the way
I read, how I spoke was basically like based off of my parents.” Erica further stated they
“closely identified with and I identify to it.” Helen indicated that family is important to
Haitians; they like to congregate with other Haitians and surrounded by their culture.
However, this was not necessarily true for the participants’ father who has been
“Americanized.” This has resulted in “some family members who don’t really get along with my dad because he married an American and isn’t as much into the Haitian culture.”
As the discussion continued, Helen indicated that their cultural heritage was important to them “because I want to feel a part of the family and I do feel that familial connection…but it’s not quite there because they do see me as only an English speaker and half American half Haitian.” When I asked if they thought their family dynamics influenced their school experience, the response was yes. “I met one other Haitian here in school and while we’re not close we do know of each other and we like keep tabs on each other because like we do feel that connection. But it’s not a very strong connection.” “I feel like that person sees me differently because both their parents are Haitian, she has
43 been to Haiti and whereas I have not. And I don’t know as much about the culture.”
Helen further stated they felt pressure from family members:
I am seeing I wish I knew. I know a little bit, I’m only scratching the surface what
I could learn whereas they already know most things and they are like what are
you doing, like why do we know this, how could you not understand it’s this way.
The second question used for discussion really opened the dialog during the focus session and encompassed multiple discussions in response to questions two and six. The question posed to the group was, “what factors at school do you believe impede your academic performance” and “do you feel your cultural heritage, your background, the perception people have of your cultural heritage or background has any impact at all upon your academic performance positive or negative?” Several of the students shook their head no and explained their experiences in the classroom and the school and the Double
Standards they knew were occurring within the school. Helen stated,
Everyone in the room will look at you and they’ll feel like what would you think
about this or if the teacher asks how do you think they felt about this or that or
like the Civil Rights movement. They will immediately look to you for some sort
of answer because they see you as the representative of the people that they are
learning. Yet if they are learning about say George Washington we will not look
at the nearest White person and say what do you think about what he did or like
what he did not do how do you think he felt [sic]? So [sic], there is this double
standard.
Kevin indicated they had a similar experience however, they felt as though it was an opportunity to educate others.
44
Well, to say I’ve [sic] had the same experience but for me that’s an opportunity. I
take the advantage to let somebody know about certain things that they want to
know about because sometimes I will go into speaking about that as well.
The discussion came back around to academic performance and the impact of their cultural heritage upon their learning. Kevin indicated he did not see cultural factors impeding his performance; however, he felt the various extra-curricular activities he participated in might have an impact upon his academic performance. He noted:
Now in terms of academic performance and I say the only thing that would affect
how I perform in school, the quality of my performance would be the amount of
extra-curricula’s I’m in right now. Other than that, I do not see any factors
relatively culturally.
Erica indicated their cultural heritage does not impede them in school; instead, it motivates them to do better. By doing better they open themselves up to opportunities. “I said last time about how it doesn’t necessarily impede you it like kind of pushes you to do better and to want more and to open yourself up to more opportunities.” The responses by the participants were consistent in that they did not believe their cultural heritage had a negative impact upon their educational experience, as they were more representative of the students who are encouraged and supported by their families. Erica stated,
So I feel like this specific group we’re a bunch of strong willed people who are
doing exceptional well…And so sorry, I would say this is really it doesn’t
necessarily represent those who are doing what you said like you wanted to figure
out why or how African Americans are doing as well as the majority. And so I
guess most from what I hear from my friends from those who I know they
45
struggle with that connection, they struggle with that like what they don’t have
that push at home or like they don’t think that they can do better. And [sic] it kind
of sucks because you kind of just, you cannot really motivate them like it does not
matter how much you’re not enough, you’re only one person that can like there is
a million people around that’s one person you have to go out.
Participants continued to express strongly their perspectives that there were students who felt unmotivated, who did not have that push at home, who did not think they could do better and who were difficult to motivate to do better. Moreover, due to their situation their focus was not at school. School became a no choice situation. Erica stated,
But some of those don’t have that one person that’s like in their corner or like
they have home problems or financial issues that they can’t, that they can’t avoid.
So for them school is just like a place that they have to be and they are here
physically and mentally. They’re just not or like they have other things that they
need to worry about, which I can only speak of what I hear…They kind of have
that negative mindset that just sits there in the back of their mind regardless of
what people tell them or like what they see.
Another participant indicated they believed the reason why some students were not motivated was again due to the double standards at the school; especially the current political climate in the country and that school administration was inconsistent in their reactions to events within the school. They also felt the school environment did not impede a person. Instead, it was their mindset or self-motivation. Kevin stated, “I think the main problem facing people who we mean that their culture or their race and their heritage holds them back are people who have doubts about themselves in their own
46 minds.” Although Kevin felt the school environment did not have an influence upon his personal goals he could see where others might be. Kevin further stated,
I do know that I have felt disheartened and discouraged here when I see certain
things happen. I felt discouraged on Election Day 2016 the day after. I felt
discouraged on the Election Day 2018. I feel discouraged when I see, “Don’t
Thread on Me,” when I see that people want to defend the right to waive a
confederate flag. It was the first amendment. I don’t agree with it. But I do think it
is one of the things based in our community.
At this point in the focus group discussion, I felt it appropriate to continue with this line of discussion from the participants that their cultural heritage was not impeding their performance; instead, it was the lack of family support and the mindset of Black students. The next question asked of the group was in line with question three that sought to understand “How does the school’s culture influence your college/career readiness?”
My specific question to the group was, “So if you are kind of hearing this from other students, Black students who are here at the school who have this belief of, what’s the use, what’s the point? What is education going to do for me?” Before I could continue my question, Helen interrupted and said,
I feel like it’s less of that and more of what is expected of me, talking about like
who you have in your corner. If they don’t have that strong person saying yes,
you have goals, you can do them. It doesn’t matter what everyone else says, and
then this culture in this school, it’s not very conducive to you. As an African-
American can succeed just as well as someone who is White, someone who is
47
Asian. Someone who is whatever they - a lot people expect you to act a certain
way, to be quiet, not say much, keep to yourself.
The discussion continued and segued into what the participants felt was the primary cause of some Black student’s poor performance in school, which was due to the various stereotypes White students held toward Black students and Black culture. Erica stated, “I met a student who transferred from inner city schools and they expected that student to be ghetto.” I followed up and asked, “When you say they, who is ‘they’ expected that student to be? Helen responded by saying “a lot of the other students here at school, specifically people in that students classes and that student would, they, would, other students would encourage that student to skip classes and when they skip class they would feed into the stereotype.” Gayle stated, “Right, and so they would hold that student to this stereotype of Black people are just here and they’re not really, they can’t handle school basically is the stereotype.” Kevin stated,
I didn’t like the sound of proving yourself. But we are born with the burden of
representing our heritage in this stereotypical nation, in this stereotypical school
with stereotypical youth who has never dealt with this before. It’s troubling to see
yelling, dancing in the hallways, talking like you have never gone to a day of
primary school in your life. That’s not culture, that’s not culture, accents,
languages, that’s culture…skipping class, having your music turned up on high
during study hall so everybody could hear it. That, that feeds into this stereotype,
that’s why I don’t like, and that’s what I have seen too much of.
Helen mentioned they witnessed the beginning of a fight where one Black student was egging on another Black student saying, “You should go fight them because they said this
48 because they said that.” As soon as the fight started the person, who egged him on took out his phone, took a picture, and posted it on social media. “And that’s just feeding more into the stereotype that all we do is fight each other. Just we’re not cut out to be here with everyone else.” The participants further articulated the notion that stereotypes existed towards Black students from White students and even Black students towards Black students. Kevin stated,
When I speak to my fellow African American students about racism and
stereotypes, White people are the devil and they’re a problem…they are the root
of all of this…and it’s for them to change for anything to happen. I think right
now our focus is too divided. Sadly, most of the time is I have done all that I have
to do now, I just have to wait for them to do it.
The students seemed to place some of the stigma associated with the stereotypes of Black people on the rappers and musicians, their lyrics, their lifestyle, and the impression that to get ahead in life is to live up to the image portrayed by them. Their perspective was that White students attempt to emulate this image and appear in a positive image, whereas when Black students do the same, a much less favorable image of them occurred. Erica stated,
When you live in a generation that’s like you have rappers, all these musicians
gone back and forth on social media distracts. That’s what you kind of live up to.
I feel like being in a primarily White district, most of like a school, in order for
you to act Black, you have to be hood.
I wanted to explore this notion of “having to be hood to fit in” and asked a follow up question to the current discussion. “If the stereotype or image is one of living the thug
49 life, yet our school environment does not represent that thug life picture, where does the motivation or support come from to continue to do that then?” The student’s responses seemed to point to the idea that attempting to fit in and acting “hood” was a means to gain popularity. Especially popularity for Black students amongst their White friends which in turn supports the stereotype White students have of Black students and Black students have of themselves. Gayle stated,
When you look at popular Black students at this school and you see how they act
around like students and you think about why are they popular over me? You see
that it’s more of them feeding into that stereotype of a White person. Whether
they’re loud, they talk a lot though, like they’re outspoken but like not in a
necessarily good way…which isn’t a bad thing, but the way they speak their mind
is what White people expect us to speak our mind in that kind of way.
“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it” said Erica. Also responding Gayle said,
Yeah, how you say it…so it’s like that is where the thug life mentality is coming
from where they’re like White people think this is cool so I’m going to go ahead
and act this way. Not knowing that they are feeding into the stereotype of Black
people that these White people have grown up thinking that Black people are.
Furthering the discussion, Helen said,
When White students act like a lot of popular rappers and they curse and they
speak in a certain way, like they haven’t been to primary school…make all these
different gang signs, then they’re considered cool and they’re considered like the
height of popularity. And if a Black student does that, then they’re considered a
part of that thug life because that’s again fitting into that stereotype. A lot of
50
White students want to see more of that because that’s what they expect when
they see a Black person. That’s what they feel like that they’re getting into when
they become friends with a Black person.
Erica had a slightly different explanation regarding, why White students have the thug life stereotype. Their perception was that the behavior exhibited by rappers or musicians was not an expectation of how Black people are to behave; rather it was something they have not seen before. “It’s not necessarily what they expect, but it’s something that they’ve never seen before. So all of a sudden it’s like really cool.” Interestingly Erica indicated they once attended a school that was “straight up hood”:
I’ve been around students that the high school was straight up hood, you’d hear
gunshots on a normal day and that was normal. For me, it was a lot harder to
understand the concept that there, that’s the life. It’s not the life that they
necessarily chose, but it is still life that they live. It’s a reality. They can’t really
avoid that. Whether it’s because they’re financially tied or like, they have their
own things going on. But here you have a choice.
Erica further stated,
They consciously choose to live the lifestyle that they know will end up not
really, that they know won’t give them what they want. They want the cloud.
They want to chase that life, that’s so glamourous. The reality is that 99.9% of
those guys don’t make it.
Kevin said,
NBA Young Boy rap songs my sister listens to, heart sickening, they’re
sickening, I’m sick of it, I’m sick…I mean my Lord. I can tell you about all the
51
Gucci I’ve heard and the thousands of “kinkies” and then “Tanisha’s” that
we’ve had in bed every night and we don’t care who they are because we got
another one the next night after that and the videos and the sagging pants and the
tattoos and the crazy looking hair. All that seems to be something that people
actually believe happens because people are not living. They are not listening to
people who have been through stuff before. Yeah, maybe if I buy an AK 47 and
start selling crack, I’ll make it. I don’t get why this is…I do and I don’t because
our media is putting stuff out like that is the way to do it. This stuff isn’t being
censored like it used to, I mean…you see this kind of stuff, you hear this kind of
stuff, you turn on the television, that’s all you see, and it’s jacked up.
As a follow up to this line of discussion, I wanted to clarify the statements that the participants indicated that the behavior demonstrated by Black and White students, emulating the thug lifestyle, was a choice made by these students as a means of acceptance from their White peers. Kevin, Angela, Erica, and Gayle agreed with Helen indicating, “Sometimes it’s unconscious choice. I feel like some people don’t realize that they do have that choice”. Erica stated,
I feel like it’s to fit in with everybody else…doesn’t have to be just with White
people. There’s this group that I’ll like occasionally I’ll like kick it with. We’ll
hang out, chill, study at the library or whatever. If I hanged with them, let me tell
you, I’d go crazy. The things that I hear, the music that they listen to, the bars that
these so-called rappers have, this one guy talking about, I got more than Petco.
What in the world! That’s a bar to you? I feel like as the culture takes a turn for
the worst, so do our people.
52
Kevin provided a personal example and stated,
There is a group of people who I know, we have bonded, some are African
American males and you do whatever you want to do. There is a group who don’t
associate with me, I don’t talk to them, I don’t hang with them, I don’t chill with
them, I don’t talk like them, don’t listen to the same music, don’t walk the same
way they walk or talk the same way they talk. When I first got here, I wondered is
this the way? Is this how we do it? Is this what you’re supposed to do? You are
told to stick together. Do I start acting that way or doing things that way? Took
me back to my Columbus public school days and it doesn’t work that way at all.
It was interesting to hear the contrast some of the students had in regards to the school environment some of them came from compared to the school environment they were in now. They felt they were in a previous environment where the thug mentality existed due to the realities of the environment. There was very little they could control and they were there because they had to be, they did not have a choice. However, in the community in which they now live, there would be a different mindset. That there would be an expectation that a person should be able to go to school and not hear gunshots. That you should be able to go to school and not see drug usage or you should be able to go to school and not feel that you have to fit in, in a certain cultural image. To some degree, this might be true considering the perception that this is an affluent community, but that is not necessarily the situation as some students want to be like the popular artists of the time. Erica stated,
It kind of comes back to that whole thing of like you lose yourself trying to find
yourself. By looking up to people who you think are role models but aren’t really
53
role models…it took me a minute to understand that I had to look around, look at
my family and not necessarily idolize, but aspire to be half of what they are.
Because what they did growing up, I mean amazing. But you hear and you look
around you, you’re looking at that one person that really made it, but that’s two in
100. They’re looking at the small microscope, that small percentage. This is what
our generation has come to.
By this time in the focus group session, I moved onto question #5, which I summarized into two parts. “How do you see the school helping to change that mindset? Moreover, considering this group of students was doing well, but there were students who were not, who may have become caught up into the image world, trying to be something they are not, I then asked, “What can the school do differently?” Participants indicated a major concern they had was that the schools’ administration was inconsistent in their response to incidents at the school and appeared to either not care or know how to respond to such incidents; therefore, the school (administration) does not appear to do anything. No one from the office comes out to talk to the (Black) students or, there is no opportunity to confront those who use racial slurs against you. The administration and teachers in the school, although capable of making a difference, simply do not. Kevin stated,
“To answer the question, what is the school doing? Nothing, never anything, that’s why it starts with us…doesn’t matter, they don’t care. It takes one person to say this is wrong, but nobody does, no one cares! Kevin continued and said,
How many of you have been harassed when it comes to race here at this school?
How do you feel? Has this ever happened to you? Somebody’s called you
something or said something that they knew was offensive? And something was
54
said about it. Nothing happens. They’re in school the next day! We so [sic] much
as look at somebody the wrong way, you’re inciting conflict. You’re instigating.
You’re suspended. They don’t care. They never have. They never will. They don’t
and we can’t convince them to do it. We got to convince ourselves to make that
change. That’s how it starts.
While Kevin was making his point, the other participants, including Angela nodded their heads emphatically in agreement. I make note of Angela and her physical response, as up to this point in the focus group session, she had not said anything. The students continued to allude to the double standards that existed in the school and society in general. As well as how the political climate of division in society was filtering into the school. Kevin stated,
This school administration would not only not allow you to kneel for the national
anthem, if you did it; they are going to let your future know that is going down.
They’re just going to throw you a punishment, put that on your application now,
everywhere you go. But the right of the people to walk around wearing a Make
America Great Again hat or a shirt or a flag, that’s never touched, that’s never
talked about. It’s their right.
Helen indicated that they were homeschooled and her mother always “saw that political things going on in our world.” Understanding the politics of the time was very important to her mother, therefore it was a part of her home schooling, and the flag code was included in her teachings.
I sat there and I read the flag code and the Westerville Strong incident where they
have the black and blue flag. That is actually illegal; it’s against the flag code.
55
You are not allowed to do that and you can be fined and or go to jail for having
your flag like that. You can be fined or go to jail for having your flag tattered like
those people that you see have it on their trucks. Nowhere does it say that you
cannot stand or sit or kneel or even bow down to the flag. That would be the
government saying that you have to or shouldn’t do something with your own
personal body.
An explanation given by some of the participants indicated that the reason the administration does not do anything is that they do not know what the Black students go through. Kevin stated, “It’s not their fault because they were not born like this. They do not go through stuff like this. Administration and students, anybody who doesn’t wear I call this (pointing to himself), this is a suit of honor, does not know what we go through and that’s plain and simple.”
Although the participants did not have a specific suggestion as to what the school administration could do to help recognize and support students of different ethnic, cultural or racial backgrounds, it was apparent that the lack of support by the administration when responding to incidents of racial harassment could be handled better by doing something, rather than nothing. The consensus of the group reinforced the belief that the politics of America also filtered into the school, resulting in White students identifying with President Trump and that those in power are viewing race as a political issue. Kevin stated, “you are either neutral in our school, or there are those who are polarized by it or don’t give a crap.” Wanting to explore this line of discussion, I was curious as to why would we still have this problem of a lack of progress in certain areas, especially when we lose a large segment of students each year through graduation and
56 gain a new set of students as incoming freshmen. I posed the question, “How do we help those who are coming in new not fall into the same dilemma as those who did, who have left?” Once again, the participants pointed to the importance of role models and family values, support and culture. Role models were not limited to any particular student group, administrators, teachers, or parents, but everyone was a role model. Gayle stated,
I remember back in like seventh, eighth grade and I come here for like concerts.
In the National Merit Finalist (banners), I saw one Black girl up there and I like,
okay that’s going to be me one day. I came with a mindset where I wanted to
achieve what others are able too. And I should always excel higher than my peers
because they are entering a system that was built to benefit them. Whereas I am
entering a system that was never made for me in mind. So it was something that I
have always pushed myself to do and that I should, I shouldn’t let like popularity
or like the current trends help me like determine who I am. So it’s like why
should I change who I am to please people four years, whereas I have my entire
life to please like everyone that’s more important.
Seeking clarification on the statement made about “the system is not built for me,” I then asked, “Do you think that a seven or eight grader coming into the high school thinks that way?” Gayle stated,
I don’t know. But it’s something that was like been on my head from like home.
Like because my parents sacrificed so much. I know what they want me to
accomplish in my time here. Luckily, I have people who are going to be in my
corner, pushing me to do my best. There are some who do not. So those people
find other people in the schoolhouse who are more popular, or act a certain way.
57
They see they get these reactions with people, so they go back with them. I have
my family and parents and culture in my corner egging me on to do the best I
possibly can with what I have.
Returning to my original question concerning role models, and who students were emulating, Helen stated, “All of the above” referring to students, administrators, coaches, parents, and staff. Kevin stated,
All of the above and I also think who is like them but up until two years ago, the
staff were like guards to me. You are like you’re in the camp and these are the
dudes up on the tower with the rifle. Don’t do that or you’re going to pay for it,
you know. You’re Black, you come in and what do the other Black kids do. You
watch and learn what the other White kids do.
As the focus group session ended, it became apparent that several themes emerged from the discussion. The importance of role models, the effect of double standards, dual identities, the importance of cultural heritage, the lack of administrative oversight, the social impact to students from stereotypes, and the political climate of our society. I wanted to understand these themes further to determine how they related to the phenomena of Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theory. Especially as viewed through the lens of Critical Race Theory as it pertains to racism as a “normal” occurrence that leads to stereotypes within the high school setting; as well as the relevance of the historical context of racism and its influence upon Black students intrinsic motivation towards academic achievement. In addition, within CRT (Interest Convergence) the perception by Black students of the double standards the administration appeared to demonstrate when addressing racial incidents. To gain a deeper understanding and
58 following one last tenet of CRT (Narrative), personal interviews occurred with four of the five participants. Angela did not want to participate in the personal interview.
Interview Sessions
Each interview began with the students responding to two questions. The first,
“How does your family view the value of education and secondly, do you view education the same as your parents?” These questions served as a means of examining the concept of Ogbu’s Cultural Ecological Theory, specifically Cultural Frame of Reference, as it may exist within a predominately White, yet diverse student population. Each interviewee was adamant that education was important to their parents and to their families. Gayle stated, “It’s very valued in my household. Since my parents are immigrants (voluntary), like that was the one thing they saw as the only way for us to really prosper is being smart and benefiting from the education system.” Helen stated,
They definitely highly value it. Although my dad talks about how he did not
really take school seriously, but he got good grades…and how one of his biggest
regrets was that he feels he didn’t [sic] really apply himself. So he instills
education in me. Both of my parents really impressed that focus on education is
really important to get you where you want to be in life.
Erica stated, “God is first, education is second. If anything, education can get you further in whatever it is, further in life in general.” The power of knowledge and the motivation that inspires the pursuit of knowledge came forth when Erica indicated,
It’s what gets you the jobs that you want, it’s what gives you the knowledge that
you, that you’re chasing; and it’s what they fled from back home for…education
59
is valued there, but it’s not given in a way that they think is okay or it’s given in
moderation…most of it is withheld from society…so it’s a very big thing.
In regards to the other participants, they too viewed education as valuable and as a means to achieving their personal goals. Gayle stated,
…since I don’t come from a super wealthy family, like there’s no way for me to
really prosper like career-wise without having an education to back me up,
because that’s something that no one can ever take away from me.”
Helen stated, “So I would say that ours is pretty much the same because there is no difference to me.” Kevin emphatically indicated that education was also important to him,
I do, that has been engrained into my head. I want to one day grow up and be a
politician. I do not believe especially in such a red state as Ohio that I would be
able to even appeal to anybody, voters specifically, without any kind of education
or something just to back that up.
Participants also expressed it was a lack of personal goals and support from home that hindered some Black students from doing well in school. To explore this further I inquired of the students if they personally knew of Black students who may not value education in the same manner as they do. Perhaps an explanation for their apathy towards education may be due to a lack of support from home. In that, they do not have anyone who is motivating them, pushing them, or cheering them on. Gayle stated,
Yeah, I do. I have a couple of friends who are like that…who like their parents
never really pushed them to try their best in and schools like, oh yeah, do what
you can to pass. But like besides that, like they didn’t really care a whole lot.
60
In wanting to explore the rationale students may have that leads them to their lack of motivation, I then asked, “Do you think these students who may not have that support from home, how do they perhaps view employment? Gayle stated, “Oh, they know they can get a job regardless whatever they want to do.” She further stated,
And there’s other people where it’s like, they haven’t seen the example of
someone who is hardworking in the household and it’s just kind of like, to them
it’s like they can whatever job they can get, they’ll have, but it’s not going to be
like the best for them, plus it won’t be like in there, won’t be their dream job or
something.
Other participants expressed a similar view that students who may not have support from home or may lack the motivation to excel in school or even view education as not having value, do so because they do not see the connection between education and their future. Helen stated,
So I believe that people who don’t have that support from home, they don’t know
of all these situations, okay, this happened if I, when I did that. So they don’t have
these situations to say, oh if I don’t apply myself in school, then this’ll happen or
that’ll happen. So they don’t see how that might connect, education and their
goals or their future.
Erica stated,
Most of the kids that I grew up with were like, yeah, what’s school for anyways.
It’s not like I’m going to make it…you’re not going to remember the Pythagorean
Theorem by the time you’re having kids and you don’t even have, when you have
a job that doesn’t even revolve around the math world. It’s the mentality that I’m
61
not learning things that I will actually need to learn for real life. So they won’t,
they think that the whole idea of education is misguided in their opinion, let me
say that.”
Erica further stated, “So being educated in the states is for, it’s the states basically jamming things that they want you to know, not necessarily what you need to know. She followed with an example of a Black student who asked a question of the teacher, “What does life have in store for me?” She described the student as very aggressive and upset perhaps due to his not understanding the content or perhaps due to his dislike of the teacher. “He demonstrated the mentality that he was going to be stuck in Columbus, stuck in the same place, not necessarily going anywhere in life.”
Although Erica concurred, some students lack the vision to see the connection between education and life she stated, “So if you value yourself, you will make something out of yourself. If you don’t you’ll dig a hole and keep digging until you realize that you can do something with yourself or you dropped it.” She further stated,
I think some of it is missing that support that you need, having that motivation in
the background. But in my opinion, I feel like you can overcome that. I don’t
want to say you speak things into existence, but rather you kind of have to
envision yourself doing something big in order to be big, in order to do big versus
not dreaming or thinking at all.
As a follow-up to the above discussion, I inquired of the participants “would these be individuals as far as you know where maybe their folks are immigrant families that have come in or are they people who have been here forever?” Gayle indicated “People
62 who have been here forever.” Kevin stated, “Definitely the ones who have been here their whole lives.” Kevin further stated,
I believe that is because sometimes we can take this place for granted…People
from Venezuela are over there right now and they’re like, what, on the verge of
starting a war. I believe that when people come here from other nations, they have
a higher sense of appreciation for what it is that we represent even though we
have, in my opinion, the outrageous leaders and outrageous situations going on.
They know that they have more of an opportunity here than they ever did over
there. I believe when you have been here your whole life it is easy to forget, is not
to say that we have not had our own challenges.
Erica stated,
I feel like that’s a very big thing. Coming from another country, or like, you
know, having that parent from another country, your parents will make sure that
you know who you are and that you have those high standards, and it’s like you
won’t associate yourself with someone who doesn’t.
In an effort to reduce the achievement gap, researchers have examined the effects of cultural relevancy on the academic performance of students from varying racial and ethnic backgrounds (Worrell, 2014). Steel and Aronson (1995) have identified a social- psychological predicament that can occur based upon widely held negative stereotypes about one’s group. A concept referred to as Stereotype Threat. To explore this concept further, the discussions in the interviews shifted from questions regarding a Cultural
Frame of Reference to questions concerning Stereotype Threat. Spencer, Steel, and
Quinn, (1999), have found in their research that stereotype threat could have negative
63 consequences for any individual for whom the situation invokes a stereotype-based expectation of poor performance, such as women’s math performance and African
American student’s performance on scholastic or intellectual tasks (Steele & Aronson,
1995).
During the focus group session, participants elaborated on various stereotypes that were prevalent throughout the school regarding the behaviors of both Black and White students. A major theme that surfaced was the need for students to Fit In. Participants indicated that the perceptions of students, both Black and White to fit in was influenced by the music and culture of our society. Expectations by White students that Black people who “represent” the lyrics of rap music are cool and popular. The desire by some Black students to fit in by acting out the stereotypes of Black people that they are loud, aggressive, street smart but not book smart, lazy, poor language skills, or acting thug like.
A specific stereotype that participants identified was one of White students expecting
Black students to behave in a certain manner. Gayle stated,
When you see on media and movies and TV shows how like, in a predominantly
White TV show, how like the one Black person acts in there, it’s like they’re
super loud. They talk with slang all the time. They listen to hip hop, rap music
and stuff like that. And so that’s what most White students expect to see once they
come to school and when they see other Black students. And some Black students
like to kind of feed into that.
Helen stated,
I can think of a couple people who fit that description. One Black student, she I
won’t say, she talks, she’s like what he said, didn’t go to a primary school or
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doesn’t understand how to use correct English syntax…the way that she’ll walk,
hold like her hand movements. Like it’s in tune with the stereotype of a Black
person from the hood.
Helen also stated,
Acting Black, it’s not even the Black students. I’ve seen some Latinos or even
some White people who think, “Oh this is cool.” And so they will, I want to say
purposefully, but they don’t even try in their classes. Yes because they think,
“Oh it’s cool, I’m going to act like that Black rapper, or I’m going to act like that
Black comedian or whatever.
Helen provided further descriptions of “Acting Black” and stated,
Usually there’s like they don’t have a caring world or they couldn’t care what
other people think of them. It usually involves a lot of cursing and you’re not
going to let anyone insult you or your friends or see it usually goes with; you’re
more street smart than you are book smart and you’re not very book smart at all
and just generally acting, not really outgoing, but really loud and outspoken and
borderline violent, I would say.
Kevin stated,
The ones that are (following a stereotype) are doing so by emulating this image
that the media is portraying of African American people by, yes, sagging pants,
by yes, speaking with craziness in their voice. Why they do so is I believe…that
that’s what’s cool now. That’s what’s expected. That’s what’s good because, you
know, it’s not just African Americans doing that in the school at all. So [sic] I’s
say the main motivation behind it is of course you’re [sic] trying to fit in. I mean
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when you talk about stereotypes those are what really hit on what Black culture is
about. They’ll talk about your clothes. They’ll [sic] talk about your voice, they’ll
talk about your hair because they can’t get inside your head.
Erica stated,
Fitting in, I mean it’s always been a thing. So I don’t blame anyone for trying to
fit in because everybody wants to have a group that they belong to. So it’s not,
fitting in doesn’t have to be a bad thing until you start doing bad things. I feel like
in order to be that thug you have to talk a certain way, the way you wear your
pants or like you’’ sag and you’ll walk with your back all the way out here. It’s
like, it’s to chase, okay, what you see on social media, what you see on TV is
basically, I don’t want to be rude or anything, but the negative of that Black, of
the Black community. What you see on social media, what you see on reality TV
shows a whole other discussion. What you see on TV and what’s in real life are
completely different. So White people aren’t [sic] Black. So what they see on
social media is what they think is, that’s what they think, the Black community
kind of represents.
Erica further stated,
It’s okay White people and people find it’s entertaining, I’d rather be laughed at,
or laugh, or I’d rather laugh with them than be excluded kind of thing. They’d
rather fit in to that negative column and laugh with others rather than being, I
mean, you can be laughed at and still laugh with them, but they’d rather have
someone to laugh with than not.
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Gayle also indicated that Black students see the same programs and expect to behave in that manner as she said, “yeah or like to kind of feed into that.” Wanting to go a little deeper in understanding the characteristics of Fitting In behavior. I asked participants if there was a way to describe perhaps the students that you see that kind of try to Fit In.
“What do they look like?” Gayle stated,
Well like they’re Black and then yeah, they’re usually more popular than most.
Than I would say like myself, for example [sic]. Everyone’s a friend. Everyone
talks to them. But not necessarily always in the best light, and soon as I see a
school where like near the benches or library, like there’s that one Black person
who’s like laughing, being super loud and like all the White kids are like kind of
gathered around him just watching. And they’re like enjoying the scene and you
think that it’s just like, oh, friends just enjoying being around. But like deep down
you know it’s like you’re feeding into what they expect you to be doing right
now.
Gayle further stated,
Since yeah, since this is such a large school, you don’t want to get lost in most
something, so you always want to find like a group of people to always stick by
and do stuff with, and so fitting in it’s like, it’s hard to explain. It’s like you’ll do
what you can just have that one group of people. And so, where that’s be the most
popular kids in school, you were like, oh okay, let me do what I can to make them
want to be around me and then I’ll be part of the clique.
Further description of Black students attempting to Fit In to a stereotype of a “Black person from the hood”, came by the response of Helen to my question, “So do you see
67 the stereotype of a Black person from the hood as their means of trying to fit in?” Helen responded, “I believe so, yes. Either with the White students or with other Black students who are trying to please other White students…to please White student’s expectations of what they are.”
The discussion of fitting in also included participants stating that there were multiple definitions of fitting in. Some Black students with positive self-esteem, or strong family support, or personal goals, or positive role models, did not tend to fall into the
“thug-life” mentality. As they find others of whom to associate and establish social relationships. When asked if Gayle ever felt a need to Fit In she stated,
No, because like, I…like I do have my group of friends though, but then like
they’re so like in such different like cliques or whatever that like I’m chill with
everyone. Like I talk to everyone, there’s no one that I have like bad mouth with
or anything. And so it’s like I’ve never felt a need to try to fit in because I knew I
was strong in myself and who I was. So it wasn’t a need for me to find that in
someone else.
Helen stated, “They don’t act Black, they don’t know. People don’t know how to characterize people who act like us because we’re Black, but we don’t meet their expectations of how we should act.” Erica stated, “But like I said, it’s not everybody.
There’s some people who know what they’re doing, yeah.” Kevin stated, “…because I also knew that if I didn’t my mother would tan my hide more so than it is if I didn’t…I’ve seen what happens when you don’t act like the way you do, like the way you should.”
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Another stereotype identified in the interviews was the notion that Blacks are not smart. Gayle stated,
That was one thing that my parents let me know…basically telling me how like
you have to work twice as hard for half of what they have. And I was like, that’s
not fair because it’s like they don’t know who I am. They don’t know what I
know. But then it’s something that you can’t control what they already think of
you before even walk in the room. I don’t want to make the mistake of assuming
that, “Oh yeah, teacher like has my best interest in mind me as a Black student.”
And so I always had like proved myself to them that, “Oh, no, I’m not the Black
person that you think I am.
Gayle further stated,
I see those people in my classes like in previous years, and they just wouldn’t care
at all. I don’t know if they knew the same things I did was it’s like, why would
you give them the chance to see that in reality, when you could actually just put
your most effort in, and do your best instead of just like forgetting it and like
letting that stereotype get to your head.
Helen conveyed another stereotype when she stated,
I would say that there’s stereotype that they don’t really put in much effort into
what they’re doing. So like students who aren’t Black who are considered smart,
knowledgeable, like they can be popular as well as those who aren’t, I believe the
difference comes within socioeconomic status. So those who either don’t have as
much money or again, don’t have that support at home, like they’re less likely to
excel as much in school versus those who have both support and the money.
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They’re a lot more likely to be in sports, in choir, in drama and still keep up with
their schooling. And I believe both types of those people fit into the stereotype of
black students.
Summary
The purpose of this study was to consider the experiences of African American
(Black) students at a suburban, high socio-economic, predominately-White high school and to investigate the effects of Stereotype Threat and a student’s Cultural Frame of
Reference on their preparation for post high school employment or higher education. The chapter presented the findings from a focus group session followed by individual interviews with four of the students from the focus group. Participants experiences in school were expressed in response to the research question posed in Chapter I, “How do cultural factors, as identified by Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theories, impact African American students’ perceptions towards academic performance and their readiness for college and a career upon completion of high school?” The participants consistently expressed a perception of the importance of education by both themselves and their parents. In regards to a Cultural Frame of Reference, participants indicated that their cultural heritage was not an impedance to their academic performance. Although there seemed to be a lack of appreciation for the value of education from some Blacks who have been in America the longest verse those who immigrated to the country with their parents. The discussions with participants identified stereotypes that existed at the school, such as the concept of Fitting In, and the need to belong to a group. The choice of which group to belong too, was influenced by the expectations of White students who viewed Black culture as somehow reflective of the lyrics and images seen in social media
70 of Black people. In addition to Fitting In, the notion that Blacks are not smart, and lack motivation, are aggressive, loud, and uncaring also surfaced.
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CHAPTER V
Conclusions, Discussion, and Suggestions for Future Research
Introduction
The purpose of this study was to examine the achievement gap phenomena between African American and European American students within a low impoverished school system. The research attempted to answer the question, “How do cultural factors, as identified by Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theories impact African
American students’ perceptions towards academic performance and their readiness for college and a career upon completion of high school?” The final chapter presents a synopsis of the study as it relates to the research question and relevant observations drawn from the data presented in Chapter IV. Specific sections are devoted to the major findings of the study, connections to the existing research, and leadership implications.
The chapter closes with a conclusion, recommendations for future research and a summary.
Summary of Findings
Stereotype Threat
Steel and Aronson (1995) have identified a social-psychological predicament that can occur based upon widely held negative stereotypes about one’s group. A concept referred to as Stereotype Threat. Researchers Aronson (2004), Spencer, Steele, and Quinn
(1995), Steele and Aronson (1995) have in essence discovered that when stereotypes exist about one’s group, anything someone from the group does or any of one’s features that abides by the stereotype, makes the stereotype a true self-characterization in the eyes of others, and perhaps in one’s own eyes. Their research has shown that Stereotype
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Threat can have negative consequences for any individual for whom the situation invokes a stereotype-based expectation of poor performance. Such as women’s math performances, African American student performance on scholastic or intellectual tasks,
Latinos on verbal tests, and elderly individuals who face the stereotype of poor memory.
Realizing we live in a world where prejudice and stereotypes exist as a construct in the underlining fabric of our society, no one is immune from the learning and hearing and in some cases experiencing the prevailing attitudes and assumptions assigned to the major ethnic groups (Devine, 1989). As a result, in an effort to mitigate the adversity or to eliminate it all together, sometimes individuals may attempt to change their behavior to avoid being viewed and treated as though the stereotype were true (Aronson, 2004).
Fitting In. The focus group and interview discussions with participants appeared to lend credence and support towards tenets of Stereotype Threat. A consistent theme that surfaced was the need for students to Fit In at school. The need was satisfied differently based upon a student’s self-image, personal goals, and sense of popularity. Fitting In was acting Black, acting hood, being loud, aggressive, poor academic performance, and acting like a Black Rapper or entertainer.
Stereotypes associated with images of musicians whose lyrics often use profanity, degrade women, or romanticize illegal activity have a negative influence upon the beliefs and assumptions of Black people. Yet, not all Black people, “Act Black.” Black students with positive self-esteem, or strong family support, or personal goals, or positive role models, do not tend to fall into the “thug-life” stereotype. As they find others of whom to associate and establish social relationships.
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Academic Performance. Stereotype Threat can have negative consequences for any individual for whom the situation invokes a stereotype-based expectation of poor performance. It may interfere with a person’s performance by causing arousal that reduces the range of cues test takers, are able to use…or by causing an interfering self- consciousness or over cautiousness or to simply withdraw effort (Steel & Aronson,
1995). One participant was aware of a new student who they met who came from an inner city school and how other students expected that student to be “ghetto.” Apparently, other students at the school, specifically people in that student’s classes would encourage the student to skip classes and when the student would skip class, they would feed into the stereotype that Blacks do not care about education or are not smart enough or cannot handle school.
Connection to Existing Research. Stereotype Threat is a phenomenon that has implications upon the learning experiences of Black students in a predominantly White high school. Research from the current study points to the need for all students, specifically Black students to Fit In their school environment. Black students may attempt “Fitting In” by emulating popular figures they have seen in music or entertainment where the images are of stereotypes associated with Black culture. Images perceived by White students as “cool”, therefore leading some Black students to change their behavior to reduce the negative assumptions associated with Black culture, thereby behaving in a manner that is representative of the perceived positive elements of a stereotype. As in the Black students who are loud, or use profanity, or sag their pants, who appear to be “cool” in the eyes of their peers, both Black and White students. Then there are those students who do not emulate the negative stereotypes of Black people,
74 who have positive role models in their lives, who have strong family support and encouragement, and who have a vision for their future. Stereotype Threat is real for them as well as it leads to discouragement, disheartenment, and disillusionment in a society that appears to not care about the inequalities that exist. In the study students who appeared to perform academically well, were those students who did not conform to the stereotypical attitudes associated with popular Black American culture. Instead, they had an appreciation for the value of education and the opportunities an education could provide. Students had parental support and encouragement, and found solace in associating with various students of different ethnicities. Whereas, those students influenced by the stereotypes associated with Black popular culture appeared to gravitate towards other students, Black or White, who internalized the stereotype and attempted to demonstrate the behaviors associated with the stereotype in the way they dressed, spoke, and behaved in front of peers, teachers, and administrators. Successful academic performance may be perceived as a non-conforming behavior by these students; therefore, leading to poor performance in the classroom.
Cultural Ecological Theory
Another theory that explores the achievement gap phenomena is Cultural
Ecological Theory. According to Ogbu (1995), cultural differences do not affect the educational learning process for all minorities in the same way. Culture is the way a people sees the world around them, interprets events in the world, behaves according to acceptable standards, and reacts to their perceived reality. The theory is comprised of two major parts. The first focuses on the way minorities are treated or mistreated in education in regards to educational policies, pedagogy, and the return on investment for their school
75 credentials. Ogbu has referred to this as the system. The second part focused on the way minorities perceived and responded to schooling as a consequence of their treatment, as well as how and why a group became a minority, referred to as community forces (Ogbu
& Simons, 1998). Understanding that the school system and community forces affect students of color differently is a component of Cultural Ecological Theory. Ogbu has referred to the concept of settler society, where the ruling or dominant group was made up of immigrants from other societies who have come to settle in a new country because they want to improve their economic, political, and social status, etc. Countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Singapore are examples of settler societies. The dominant group in these societies have certain beliefs and expectations in common, such as the belief in individual responsibility for self-improvement; new comers to the society should more or less conform or assimilate, especially in language and culture. Newcomers to the society are those who have come for the same reasons as the dominant group and those who have become a part of the society against their will.
Cultural Frame of Reference. A cultural frame of reference refers to the correct or ideal way to behave within the culture. Ogbu (1995) has stated that when two populations come into continuous interaction they bring with them their respective, cultural frames of reference that may be similar, different, or oppositional. A cultural frame of reference also refers to the classification of groups into autonomous, voluntary immigrant and involuntary nonimmigrant minorities. Autonomous groups may experience the pains of discrimination; however, they do not experience oppression and their academic performance is generally no different from the dominant group. Examples of this group are Amish, Jews, and Mormons. Voluntary and Involuntary immigrants are
76 determined by the nature of White American involvement with their becoming minorities and the reasons they came or were brought to the United States.
Voluntary minorities have more or less willingly moved to the United States seeking better opportunities, religious freedom, and political safety compared to their homelands or places of origin. They do not interpret their presence in the United States as forced upon them by the U.S. government or by White Americans. Voluntary immigrants experience similar difficulties in school, especially when they first arrive, due to language and cultural differences. However, they generally do not experience long-term school performance problems. Examples of voluntary immigrants in the U.S. are immigrants from Africa, Cuba, China, India, Japan, Korea, Central and South America, Jamaica,
Trinidad, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Involuntary or nonimmigrant minorities are people who have been conquered, colonized, or enslaved. Their migration did not happen freely, instead through force and against their will they had to become a part of the United States and they interpret their presence in the U.S. as forced on them by White people. Examples of involuntary minorities in the U.S. are Alaska Natives, early Mexican
Americans in the Southwest, Native Hawaiians, Puerto Ricans, and Black Americans taken to the United States as slaves. Ogbu and Simons (1998) have distinguished these groups of immigrants based upon a group’s history of how and why the group became a minority and the role of the dominant group in society, determines its voluntary or involuntary status rather than race or ethnicity.
Cultural frames of reference that are different, yet not oppositional have usually existed before two populations co-mingled. Their cultures are different; however, in order to assimilate into the new culture, these minorities are willing to add new cultural norms,
77 traditions, and language, while maintaining their own connection to their country of origin (Ogbu, 1995). Cultural differences involving opposition usually occur after two populations have involuntary come together. The subordinate group forms an oppositional frame of reference to avoid systemic problems such as colonization, conquest, exile, slavery, persecution, and all other forms of subordination (Ogbu, 1995).
This results in members of the subordinate group to have two opposing frames of reference. One is appropriate to the dominant group, while the other is only appropriate for the subordinate group. This leads to members of the subordinate group to behave in ways that either attempt to “Fit In” or “Act White,” which may lead to anxiety and opposition from peers (Ogbu, 2004). Students who have an oppositional frame of reference tend to distrust schools and school practices. Although they believe that hard work and education are necessary to succeed, they also know too well of the barriers and discrimination that exists making hard work, individual effort, and education insufficient to overcome these obstacles (Ogbu, 1995).
In this study, participants appeared to have a very strong sense of cultural awareness. All participants responded that their cultural heritage was either very important or important to them. However, the participants also stated they knew of students at the school who were not motivated to do well and who viewed school as something they had to do rather than something they wanted or needed to do for their future.
Connection to Existing Research. Participants clearly indicated that education was an important function of their eventual success in life. They acknowledged that they were perhaps the exception to the rule, as they knew of Black students at the school who
78 were not motivated to perform academically at their best. In fact, the participants knew of students who had “checked out” or were only going through the motions of being at school. When directly asked if the individuals who were doing this were from families who immigrated to America, or were they people who have been here forever, they acknowledged, “definitely the ones who have been here their whole lives.” This is indicative of the Ogbu and Simon’s research that identified voluntary immigrant verse involuntary immigrant behaviors. Students, from voluntary immigrant families tend to assimilate into the culture, share the same values such as the importance of education.
They provide support and encouragement and set expectations of high academic performance. Whereas, involuntary immigrants tend to demonstrate behaviors that foster negative stereotypes, lack motivation to excel academically, and may have lost the connection between education and a professional employment future.
Conclusion
This study examined the effects cultural identities have on African American adolescent student’s perceptions towards academic performance and their readiness for college, as it related to the tenets of Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theory.
Conducting the study through the lens of CRT, the findings of the study seemingly supported the principles of ST and CET and appeared to provide greater awareness into the phenomena of the achievement disparities of African American students. Even at a young age, adolescents experience stereotypes through television, social media, news outlets, and various other sources and in some cases, they internalize the stereotypes and act out in a manner that either rejects or reflects the stereotype. I thought it interesting that some White students’ perceptions of Black culture as expressed by rap music and the
79 hip-hop culture appeared as a positive depiction of Black people rather than a negative.
Perhaps this was due to the stereotype that Black people are good entertainers, musicians, and artists. Imitation is often stated as the best flattery, however if White students are mimicking the behavior of rap artists, whose use of profanity, sexual discrimination, and violent behavior are considered “cool,” and have an expectation that Black people behave in that manner, they are completely missing the cultural “big picture” of the African
American community. Perhaps this is why racist behavior occurs throughout our society and influences the perception that racism is “normal” per CRT because we have White and Black adolescents accepting the negative stereotypes associated with Black Culture as though those stereotypes represented all Black people. When Black students portray this stereotypical behavior to Fit In, it lends itself to the importance of creating a culture of positive role models, positive academic expectations, and positive reinforcement of the connection between the benefits of education and future employment opportunities. This disconnect between Black students of voluntary immigrant families and Black students of involuntary immigrant families is very concerning. As one participant phrased it, “I feel like that’s a very big thing. Coming from another country, or like, you know, having that parent from another country, your parents will make sure that you know who you are and that you have those high standards, and it’s like you won’t associate yourself with someone who doesn’t.”
As an African American male, I am too painfully aware of the existence of stereotypes of Black people in America. I know first-hand the feeling one gets in their gut when approaching or passing a police car. I know first-hand the challenges of obtaining employment not based upon my knowledge instead based upon my color. I know first-
80 hand what it means to receive “permission” from your administrator to say or do something of cultural relevance so it will not offend White students or their parents. The systemic racism in our education systems, protective services systems, banking systems, housing systems, health system and the echo chambers many in our society embrace, leads me to believe we are doing future generations a great dis-service. It is not acceptable to behave in a negative manner to receive acknowledgement in a positive manner. As human beings, we all seek socialization and a belonging to a group. The preconceived notions or biases we may possess of others influences our associations with various groups of people. We must all come to realize that God wants us to serve him, not each other. We are on this Earth to love one another, and to reach our greatest potential. It is unacceptable for any child to fall short of their purpose because someone else does not believe they are worthy or capable. As an educator, and as a future administrator, it is my desire to ensure that every student under my charge learns in a safe, nurturing, respectful, caring, supportive, diverse school environment. There has been and continues to be evidence of systemic racism in our country. Our school systems are inherently and disproportionately unequal. Black students continue to lag behind their
White counterparts in academic preparations for life after high school. Critical Race
Theory espouses that racism is normal (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). I contend that racism is not normal. The creation of humankind was not in the image of hate. Hate is a sin. The blood of Jesus has washed our sins away. Instead, racism has become a normalized way of life. We live in a country where the dominant group, White
Americans, are either blind to the realities of racism, expect voluntary and involuntary immigrants to acculturate into White society and accept dominant norms, or are more
81 inclined to do something when there is a benefit to them, a concept referred to as Interest
Convergence (Bell, 1980). There is a benefit to our society when all students achieve the same academic success. When all students have access to a safe and nurturing learning environment. As educators, we should all care about racism in education. Simply, because we should all care about children.
Leadership Suggestions
School culture and climate are at the core of a school’s learning environment. As such, I believe as an effective educational leader, it is imperative that leaders are approachable, transparent, and genuinely interested in the lives of their students. This happens best when leaders build strong positive relationships with students, through direct interaction and communication. Therefore, I have several actionable steps educational leaders can take to reduce the achievement gap by creating learning environments that recognize and eliminate the stereotypes and cultural biases that students and staff may engage in.
First, administrators must personally ensure they and their entire staff receives and actively participates in implicit bias training while also making diversity training a consistent and expected component of professional development training throughout a school district. Training should begin with an understanding of one’s own ethnic identity, biases, and the identities of others, based not on assumed superiority or inferiority of one person over another. One may begin by taking the Harvard Implicit Bias test, which not only looks at a person’s implicit bias towards race, but also towards other social and behavioral assumptions, we have towards other people.
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Administrators must re-examine their methods of discipline to ensure their personal biases do not cloud their judgement. Therefore, building leadership, including staff and administrators might do well to ensure equal consideration for the ethnicity and cultural experiences of the student(s) involved in any situation that requires a disciplinary response. The use of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) that results in the student remaining in school to perform school related activities verse negative discipline where the student is out of the school may be a more appropriate response to changing unacceptable behavior. In this process, administrators should review student demographic data of incidents of behavior and the accompanying consequences to ensure all students are treated fairly and take the appropriate action to correct any inequities in student discipline.
Leadership must adopt a multicultural learning environment. Multicultural learning has the potential to transform a school’s culture in ways that can help prepare all students to live and function effectively in a future society in which one out of every three people will be a person of color (Milner, 2005). Administrators must acknowledge and expose the impact of culture in the classroom and the consideration on a wider scale of the social and cultural factors that affect teacher and student performance. In order for children of color to see themselves as being valued in the educational process, schools must acknowledge, embrace, and infuse cultural perspectives into the curriculum to increase educational equity for all students (Sampson & Garrison-Wade, 2011).
The process of developing a multicultural educational culture within a school is complex as administrators, teachers and students engage in various stages of transition.
Administrators must determine where there building is at in terms of diversity related
83 activities, curriculum, staffing, and facility use by addressing environmental cues to avoid stereotype-endorsing facilities including classrooms, hallways, and bulletin boards. They should also eliminate any notion of colorblind diversity policies. They should also help students manage feelings of stress by teaching students about stereotype threat so they may attribute their anxiety to the phenomena rather than to the risk of personal failure.
One strategy for developing a multicultural learning environment leadership can emulate is Banks (1989) Model of Curricular Integration, which recognizes four levels of
Multicultural Curriculum Integration. Level 1 is The Contribution Approach. At this level, the effort is on heroes, holidays, and isolated events of culturally and ethnically diverse groups and individuals. The primary focus is more on what diverse groups have done than who they are and fails to transform and integrate the curriculum to levels of meaning and depth. The Contribution Approach is one that uses isolated events of culturally and ethnically diverse groups as a means of recognizing diversity and the contributions of these groups and individuals to society. Level 2 is the Additive
Approach, which focuses on content, concepts, themes, and perspectives added to the curriculum without changing its structure (e.g., Black History Month or Native American
Awareness Week). The attempt is to be safe, politically correct, and less controversial.
The Additive Approach is one in which “cultural content, concepts, and themes, are added to the curriculum without changing its basic structure, purposes and characteristics” (Milner, 2005, p. 397). At this level, teachers may opt to add a lesson, a
YouTube video, a film, or a guest speaker to an already established curriculum that is representative of the norms and values of the dominant culture rather than those of the cultural communities. Level 3 is the Transformation Approach. At this level, there is
84 curriculum transformation. The structure of the curriculum changes to enable students to view concepts, issues, events, and themes from the perspectives of diverse racial and cultural groups. The focus is on how our common U.S. culture and society formed from a complex synthesis and interaction of the diverse cultural elements that originated within the various cultures, ethnicities, languages, etc. of diverse groups of people that made up
American society (Banks, 1989). Difficult discussions occur in a natural environment that encourages critical thinking and acceptance, as they are central to the entire curriculum, not just one week or unit. The Transformative Approach attempts to teach students to think critically and to develop the skills to justify and validate their thinking towards diversity. During this stage is when students have a “voice” and gain a sense of belonging because they feel empowered to speak out against their situation. Their narrative on their experiences in society, and in the schoolhouse, are articulated, discussed, and forms the basis for future inclusion and diversity related actionable steps. The highest, Level 4, is the Social Action Approach. At this level, students make decisions on important social issues and take action to help solve some of the social ills and injustices in their school, community, and society. The Social Approach level is an extension of the Transformation
Approach, in that teachers/administrators facilitate action-oriented projects and activities related to what students learn about multiple perspectives.
Multicultural education can provide the framework for developing culturally relevant lessons, improving teacher effectiveness through cultural professional development and improving student motivation, value student’s individuality, encourage cross group interactions and perhaps reduce stress and anxiety by allowing students to write, reflect on and perhaps discuss core personal values.
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A final consideration for leadership is the establishment of positive influencers in the school community. Staffing at all levels, district, building, department heads, teachers and support staff should include larger numbers of people of color. Leadership must convey that diversity is valued at all levels of the organization by increasing the visibility and representation of people from minority groups. Pro-active recruitment of positive role models from diverse groups helps to expose students to successful individuals from their ethnic group who refute negative stereotypes. Therefore, leadership must expand all candidate pools to include diverse candidates, new hires, and promotions to building and district leadership positions.
Recommendation for Future Research
Considering the restrictions of FERPA and the non-release of student demographic information, as well as the ages of the participants, it was very challenging to obtain the necessary diversity of adolescent students in conducting this form of research. A suggestion for future research is to broaden the population of participants to include Black students in suburban, predominately White high schools across multiple school districts of a major urban population. Another suggestion is to identify specifically those Black students who are not meeting academic standards and to include this sub- group of student’s in future qualitative research.
The diverse makeup of the demographics of our communities is changing. As more students of color enter into suburban school systems, where the vast majority of teachers are White females and administrators are White males, there is a need to acknowledge the cultural identities that voluntary immigrant and involuntary non- immigrant students bring with them to the schoolhouse. To accomplish this requires an
86 examination of the insights and experiences of minority students in these environments.
School districts that truly want to create learning environments that are supportive of all students, must allow access to demographic information on students in their populations.
The information when used to improve the academic culture of a school becomes a necessary, not optional, component of the educational process.
I am hopeful the research from this study will help educators, and administrators understand the potential positive influence for cultural change in their buildings that comes from understanding and responding to all forms of discrimination, and stereotypes, as seen through the lens of those who are negatively affected the most!
Summary
The final chapter of the study summarized the major findings from the focus group and interview sessions with participants. Connections to the research question occurred as related to the achievement gap phenomena and the cultural concepts of
Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theory. The research from the study appeared to support the tenets of CRT in that racism is normalized behavior in our society as evidenced by the stereotypes students’ experienced. Administrators tend to respond to diversity related issues with uncertainty due to a lack of cultural awareness, and minority student’s voices need recognition. The study further provided evidence of the existence and impact stereotypes have on students and the coping mechanisms students use to accept or reject those stereotypes. Additionally, the study provided insights into the perceptions voluntary verse involuntary non-immigrants have on the value of education.
The chapter concluded with closing thoughts, actionable steps for educational leaders, and recommendations for future research.
87
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