AFRICAN AND LATINO/A AMERICAN STUDENTS: RACIAL/ETHNIC IDENTITY, SELF-ESTEEM, AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS SCHOOL
A thesis submitted to the faculty of $■ San Francisco State University In partial fulfillment of "ZCIS the requirements for the Degree ' ^*7 y
Master of Arts
In
Ethnic Studies
by
Meredyth Wallace Floyd
San Francisco, California
May 2018 Copyright by Meredyth Wallace Floyd 2018 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL
I certify that I have read African and Latino/a American Students: Racial/Ethnic Identity,
Self-Esteem, and Attitudes Towards School by Meredyth Wallace Floyd, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree: Master of Arts in Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State
University.
Shawn Gmwiright Associate Prcyfessor of Africana Studies
Molly Shea Assistant Professor of Child & Adolescent Development
Perea Dean and Professor Emeritus Graduate College of Education AFRICAN AND LATINO/A AMERICAN STUDENTS: RACIAL/ETHNIC IDENTITY, SELF-ESTEEM AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS SCHOOL
Meredyth Wallace Floyd San Francisco, California 2018
This thesis attempts to illustrate how racial and ethnic identity can play a significant role
in the educational experiences of African American and Latino American students in
Oakland, California. Through in-depth interviews from 5 African and Latino American
students and 2 classroom observations at Oakland Unified School District: McClymonds
High School, this work analyzes the impact of racial and ethnic identity and how it plays
into self-esteem and attitudes towards school for African and Latino American students,
which overall can shape their educational experience in their school’s institutions. This
thesis argues that African American and Latino American students who display a healthy
consciousness of and comfort with their self-identified race and ethnicity also exhibit a
strong desire to learn and excel academically.
I certify that the Abstract:u is a correct representation of the content of this thesis.
I want to acknowledge my family, my friends, and past educators, which have made me into the person I am today, a leader. I want to thank my thesis committee: Dr. Shawn Ginwright, Dr. Molly Shea, and Dr. Jacob E. Perea, who helped me create and distinguish my research methods for my thesis. I want to thank my family, who have stuck by me through the hardest times in my life. I want to acknowledge my dyslexia who has always been the reason, I am perfectionist and being the best student in the classroom. And Lastly, I want to thank God, who has always shine light in my eyes, even though all I saw was darkness. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables...... viii List of Appendices...... ix Chapter One: Introduction...... 1 Background of Study...... 1 Statement of Problem...... 2 Purpose of Study...... 4 Significant of the Study...... 4 Research Questions...... 6 Limitations...... 6 Delimitations...... 7 Assumptions...... 8 Organization of Study...... 9 Chapter Two: Literature Review...... 10 Self-esteem and Racial/Ethnic Identity ...... 10 Racial/Ethnic Identity and Academic Achievement...... 13 The Importance of Cultural Relevance...... 16 Conclusion...... 22 Chapter Three: Methodology...... 23 Purpose and Approach...... 24 Rationale for interview Questions/Classroom Observations...... 25 Development of Qualitative Tools...... 29 Sample Criteria...... 30 Procedures Phases...... 32 Conclusion...... 38 Chapter Four: Results and Discussion...... 39 African American/Black High School Participants...... 40 Chris...... 40 Christina...... 43 Claire...... 52 Conclusion...... 62 Latino/a American High School Participants...... 63 Tucker...... 63 Kelly...... 67 Conclusion...... 73 Chapter Five: Conclusion...... 74 Summary...... 75 Discussion of Findings...... 77 Question #1 Results...... 77 Question #2 Results...... 78 Question #3 Results...... 80 Question #4 Results...... 82 Implications of Practice...... 85 Recommendations for Further Research...... 87 Bibliography...... 89 Appendices...... 94 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Table 1.1...... 33 2. Table 1.2...... 37 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Page 1. Key Terms...... 94 2. Interview Questions Form...... 96 3. Classroom Observation Form...... 98 4. Consent Forms...... 101 5. School Signature/Permission Form...... 110 6. Speech Script Form...... 111 1 CHAPTER ONE Introduction Background of Study The student demographics in the United States public schools are majority students of color (U.S. Department of Education, 2016, p. 1), while the majority of teachers are Caucasian and female (Moore Jr., Michael, Penick-Park, 2017, p. 2). With that, there is a drastic achievement gap between African and Latino American students and their White counterparts (Fergus, E., Noguera, P., & Martin, M, 2014, p. 1). Such as, Latino Americans have the highest dropout rates than any other racial group in the U.S (Fergus, E., Noguera, P., & Martin, M, 2014, p. 2). Morris (2016) noted that, “... Black students’ academic performance is more directly linked to their relationships with teachers, which may be problem white counterparts, resulting interactions with teachers are ‘characterized as by more criticism and less supportive” (p. 38). This leads to my question: How does African and Latino American high students, today, characterized their racial/ethnic identity and how does their racial/ethnic identity affect their self-esteem and attitudes towards school? Also, does race/ethnic identity and the racial/ethnic background of teacher’s play a role in African and Latino American high school students self-esteem and attitudes towards and overall their educational experience in school? If so, by embedding racial/ethnic identity into the classroom curriculum, it could close the achievement gap for African and Latino American high school students in the United States public schools. This thesis topic is 2 imperative because it can be one of many solutions in creating a positive learning environment for African and Latino American students, but for all high school students who are of color in the classroom. Statement of Problem: The aim of this study is to explore if race/ethnic identity and the racial/ethnic background of teacher’s play a role in African and Latino American attitudes towards school, more over does it have an impact on their self-esteem and overall their educational experience in school. For example, having a positive self-esteem can have a tremendous impact on student’s potential in school. Moreover, there is a strong correlation between racial/ethnic identity and self-esteem (will be discussed more in-depth in chapter 2). Research by John G. Nicholls, Michael Patashnick, and Susan B. Nolen (1985) did an empirical study questionnaire to investigate the associations between student’s views on the purpose of education, personal goals, and success. These authors described that most students saw the purpose of education was the acquisition to wealth/status, commitment to society, understanding the world, and achievement motivation. But, what about the consideration of African and Latino Americans high students racial/ethnic identity? There has been extensive research to how African and Latino students view their racial/ethnic identity. Beverly Daniel Tatum (2003) noted that "As children enter adolescence they begin to explore the question of identity, asking ‘Who am I? Who can I be? In what way's they 3 have not done before. For Black youth, asking ‘Who am I?' includes thinking about "Who am I ethnically and racially? What does it mean to be Black?'" (p. 52 - 53). Regarding Latino Americans students, she continues to note that ethnic identity and most importantly language are directly linked (Tatum, 2003, p. 139 -140). Many Latino Americans students feel ashamed of being bilingual, others forget their native language while learning English (Tatum, 2003, p. 139 - 141). My thesis explores to how African and Latino American think, feel, and view their educational experience while putting racial/ethnic topics in the forefront. It will also, examines whether racial/ethnic identity plays a role in their attitudes towards school, self-efficacy and self-esteem for African and Latino American high school students. However, there is little research that states that racial and ethnic identity does not have a direct input on African and Latino American student’s academic achievement in schools. But wait, what about teachers? Does the racial/ethnic background of teacher’s play into African and Latino student’s self-esteem and attitudes towards school for African and Latino students? Research by Gloria Ladson Billings (2009), Jacqueline Jordan Irvine (2002), Gilda L. Ochoa (2007) and Glenda M. Flores (2017) discusses how African and Latino American teacher’s and their effective cultural relevant teachings methods and strategies in the classroom for African American and Latino American students. These authors stressed how these methods and strategies can be taught by all teachers of different racial/ethnic groups. In these texts, they put a lot of emphasis on how African and Latino American teachers/faculty, administration, and adult figures in trying to build a positive learning 4 environment for African and Latino American students, but for all students of color in the classroom. Purpose of Study: The purpose of this study is to explore if African and Latino American adolescences racial/ethnic identity may have an impact on their self-esteem and attitudes towards school. If it does, this overall could positively influence their academic achievement/performance in school, could positively influence their relationships with their teachers, and the classroom environment. The second purpose is to figure out by placing racial/ethnic identity and cultural relevance in the classroom, could it one of many solutions in closing the achievement gap for African and Latino American high school students in the classroom. The third purpose is to figure if teacher’s racial and ethnic background affects African and Latino American high school students racial/ethnic identity, self-esteem and attitudes towards school. Lastly, the fourth purpose is to explore and get a glimpse to how African and Latino American high school students view their own education. Significance of Study: This study is paramount because it gives insight to how African and Latino adolescence in trying to make sense of their intemal/extemal issues, and experiences while 5 attending high school. Also, it gives a glimpse to how African American and Latino American high school students think, feel, and evaluate their own racial/ethnic identity and if it may or may not have an impact on their self-esteem, attitudes towards, and their self- efficacy in school. Teacher’s in California and U.S. public schools need to compute the importance of racial/ethnic identity or cultural relevance methods and strategies into curriculum, which could impact African and Latino American student’s academic achievement and overall their educational experience at their appropriate schools. Also, this particular action could close the achievement gap and the decrease the high numbers of dropout rates regarding African and Latino American students in California and schools across the United States. Such as, if racial and ethnic identity is spoken in the classroom, African and Latino American high school students are far less likely want to leave their classroom, let alone their school institution. The areas of discipline in my thesis is derived from Child and Adolescent Development, Behavioral Sciences, Educational Sociology, and Educational Psychology. All of these subjects could extend the knowledge to the Ethnic Studies field. The reason is because knowing one’s racial/ethnic identity translates into educational and academic success for all students. Also, knowing one’s racial/ethnic identity is essential for field of Ethnic Studies, because naturally, the role of ethnic studies imprints to how African and Latino American young adults feel and identify positively about themselves, through areas of subject, history, writing, psychology, etc. Students are far more likely see themselves in 6 academic setting, such as, their far likely to finish school, moreover get a bachelor’s degree and get master’s or doctoral degree. Research Questions: My overall research question is: How do African American and Latino American high school students view their race/ethnic identity? Does it play a role in their self-esteem and attitudes towards school? This study is guided by four research questions and they are 1) What factors contribute to African and Latino American students' racial awareness/ consciousness? 2) What factors contribute to African American and Latino-American students to have favorable attitudes to their specific skin color or racial/ethnic background and how does this affect their desire to learn? 3) How does race contribute to shaping the relationships between teachers of colors/white teachers and their African and Latino American high school students? And last 4) In what ways does the teacher's race contribute to African and Latino American high school students' self-esteem and attitudes towards school? Limitations: The limitations to this study are: (1) the research did not use White, Asian/Asian Pacific Islander Americans, and American Indians as participants in my study. (2) I used a qualitative approach to gather my data. And therefore, the disadvantages can open to 7 different degrees of detail, irrelevant answers, a comparison can be tricky, and can take up space in collecting data. (3) The study mainly focused on exploring African and Latino American high school student’s racial and ethnic identity, but they are more characteristics to one one’s identity and how it might affect their self-esteem, attitudes towards school and overall their educational experiences in school. (4) I obtain my data at McCylmonds high school. The student population was mostly African Americans and had very few Latino American high school students. (5) All the teacher I observed were African American (6) I completed my research study in less than six months. Delimitations: This study includes the following deliminations: (1) The sample was drawn from McClymonds High School in Oakland, CA. The results may not generalize to all school districts/region states in California and the United States. (2) I did not use elementary or middle school students as participants in the study. (3) Participants who are Latino American may feel more comfortable in speaking in their native language. I did not use Latino High School student's transcription in the Spanish because of the limited time of doing my study. (4) I completed my thesis research study less than six months. This is a self-imposed boundary because of the time-limit in completing my thesis. (5) The school institution I chose to do for my research was McClymonds High School, which heavily impact by African Americans students. African Americans hold 80 percent in the student 8 demographic population, while the student demographic population is only 10 percent regarding for Latinos Americans. Assumptions: The following assumptions are: (1) The selected participants responded to in-depth- interviews honestly and accurately based the four research questions. (2) The observations to these classrooms are a clear representation of how each school or school districted operates. (3) The sample in the study is a complete representation to how African and Latino/a American high school students view their racial/ethnic identity (4) The sample in the study shows a total representation of African and Latino American high school students issues in the United States. (5) Racial/ethnic identity has direct impact on African and Latino American high school student’s self-esteem and attitudes towards school in their school environment. (6) Teacher’s racial/ethnic background of teachers and/or teacher use of cultural relevance methods and strategies has direct impact on African and Latino American high school student’s self-esteem and attitudes towards school. And lastly, (7) racial/ethnic identity topics and cultural relevance is one of many solutions in closing the achievement gap between African and Latino American high school students. 9 Organization of Study Chapter two, “Literature Review” reviews the recent literature related to my thesis topic. This chapter is divided into three areas of discipline. The first section describes how racial and ethnic identity plays a significant role in self-esteem. The second section describes the relationship between racial/ethnic identity and academic achievement in schools. The third selection illustrates the importance to cultural relevant teaching methods in a classroom setting. Chapter three “Methods/Methodology” describes the research design I utilized to answer my four research questions in my study. Moreover, it discusses the recruitment of participants, the research tools I used to obtain the data, and the data analysis in my study. Chapter four “Results and Discussion,” presents the results and findings through my five in-depth-interviews and two classroom observations. Chapter five “Conclusion,” summary of my entire study, discusses the implications for future study, and how the data answered my four research questions. There are, 1) What factors contribute to African and Latino American students' racial awareness/ consciousness? 2) What factors contribute to African American and Latino-American students to have favorable attitudes to their specific skin color or racial/ethnic background and how does this affect their desire to learn? 3) How does race contribute to shaping the relationships between teachers of colors/white teachers and their African and Latino/a American high school students? 4) In what ways does the teacher's race contribute to African and Latino/a American high school students' self-esteem and attitudes towards school. 10 CHAPTER TWO Literature Review This work aims to illustrate how racial and ethnic identity plays a significant role in African and Latino American students attitudes towards school and self-esteem, therefore could play a role in the academic achievement and overall affect their educational experiences in school. This review of literature is derived and organized into three areas of discipline. The first area describes that there is a high correlation between racial/ethnic identity and self-esteem, which could play a role in the academic performance. The second section describes the relationship between racial/ethnic identity and academic achievement. The last section is the importance of cultural relevance teaching methods and strategies in classroom setting. The literature borrows from Educational Sociology, Educational Psychology, and Child and Adolescent Development fields, which helped me create the overall concept to my research study. Self-esteem and Racial/Ethnic Identity What is self-esteem? Self-esteem is noted to be “...an individual's attitude about him or herself, involving self-evaluation along with a positive-negative dimension (Baron & Byrne, 1991)” (Joshi and Srivastava, 2009, p. 33). It’s highly essential to have a positive 11 self-esteem, which can lead to higher academic achievement/performance (Aryana, 2010, p. 2474). Shobhna Joshi and Rekha Srivastava (2009) did a study to illuminate how are self-esteem and academic achievement and its correlation to urban and rural adolescents. The sample included 200 urban and 200 rural adolescents from Varanasi district. These authors exposed that self-esteem poises two aspects, such as competence and worth (Joshi and Srivastava p. 33). Joshi and Srivastava express that, “The competence dimension (efficacy-based self-esteem) refers to the degree to which people see themselves as capable and efficacious. The worth aspects (worth-based self-esteem) refers to the degree in which individuals feel they are the person to be valued (2009, p. 33). The study found that 1) female scored higher than a male student regards to academic achievement, 2) male students had higher self-esteem than female students, 3) urban student scored higher than rural students regarding academic achievement (Joshi and Srivastava, 2009, p. 36 - 37). Moving on, there is a strong statistical between self-esteem and ethnic identity (Phinney, 1991, pg. 193). Hernandez and Ouellette (1998) did a study to investigate the relationship between ethnic identity and self-esteem (p. 2007). This study had a total of 207 (34 males and 173 females) students who attended urban community college in the Bronx, New York. Also, the study incorporated Black and Hispanic neighborhoods from ages 17-59 (p. 2013). The study concluded that self-esteem and ethnic identity can positively be related in regards towards African American and Latino Americans (Dominican and Puerto Rican) high school students (p. 2019). 12 Another study, Goodstein, and Ponterotto (1997) described the relationship between racial/ethnic identity and self-esteem between 126 African American and 292 Caucasian students. The results supported that there is a strong relationship between racial/ethnic identity among African Americans students (p. 275). Another, Phinney, Cantu, Kurtz (1997) investigated racial/ethnic identity is a predictor of self-esteem in adolescents. The study involved surveying 372 Latino/a-Americans, 232 African American, and 65 white American high school students. The results revealed that was (1) a correlation between self-esteem and ethnic identity, which meant it was a critical predictor for African American, Latino/a American and White American adolescents (p. 178). (2) The American identity was a high predictor of self-esteem for White students than for African American and Latino/a-American students. Also, (3) the American identity was highly correlated with ethnicity for White American students in the study (p. 165). These studies indicated there is a strong and positive correlation between racial and ethnic identity, self-esteem and attitudes towards school, but does it have the same positive impact on the academic achievement/performance for African American and Latino/a- American students in high school. This section of literature is a crucial component to my study because it gives the rationale to African American and Latino/a-American students who display a healthy consciousness and comfort with their racial and ethnic background/identity exhibit a strong desire to learn and excel academically in their appropriate schools. My study is asking: what is the connection between racial and ethnic identity, self-esteem and attitudes towards school and the impact on academic 13 achievement? What role does self-esteem and racial and ethnic identity play in supporting academic achievement for African American and Latino/a-American high school students? Regarding the academic achievement/performance of African American and Latino/a- American students, what is the relationship between having/developing and maintaining positive self-esteem, healthy consciousness of one’s racial/ethnic identity? Also, does racial/ethnic identity have a direct impact on academic achievement for African and Latino Americans? This will be discussed more in the next section. Racial/Ethnic Identity and Academic Achievement Joshi and Banaras (2009) stated, “Academic achievement could be defined as self perception and self-evaluation of one’s objective academic success” (p. 34). This section of literature discusses the relationship between racial and ethnic identity to one’s academic achievement. Spencer, Noll, and Harpalani I (2001) wrote, “Schooling and the identity formation processes of African American children tend to be treated regarding one reductionism or another, with experiences of Whites and middle-income people serving as the norm from which non-majority children are seen as deviating" (p. 21). Spencer, Noll, and Harpalani I delved into Signham Fordham and John Ogbu (1986) ‘acting white’ trope, noting that, “the “.. .made highly visible by the national media, suggests that youth of color, and particularly African Americans, do not value education” (2001, p. 22). Spencer, Noll, and Harpalani I tested the ‘acting White’ hypothesis/theory. The promotion of academic competence (PAC) project study included 562 African American adolescents 394 boys and 14 168 girls, ranging from sixth, seventh and eighth-grade participants who attended four public middle schools in a metropolitan and southeastern American city. The participants ranged from ages 11 to 16 (p. 25). The study involved a revised version of the Coddington’s (1972) Life Events Record to measure student’s physical changes such as puberty, school suspension or/and expulsion (p. 26). Second, the study used Blythe (1982) and Hare’s (1977) Self-Esteem Scale to measure student’s self-concept, and a modified version of Racial Identity Attitude Scale was used for measuring the hierarchical stages or racial identity (Cross, 1971; Parham & Helms, 1985) (Spencer, Noll, and Harpalani I, 2001, p. 26). Lastly, the study employed the percentage scores of African American students on The Iowa Test of Basic Skills (p. 26). Findings revealed that African American students who scored high on the Eurocentric identity test to measure academic achievement demonstrated very low educational achievement than African Americans who scored high on the Afrocentric identity test (p. 27). Another study, Morillas, Crosby, and College (2007) investigated the relationship between ethnic identity and academic achievement among Latina Americans (p. 1) through a study conducted at a Liberal Arts for women college in the Southeast. Sample participants, all female, included 58 Caucasian American women, 45 African American women, 21 Latina American women, 5 Asian American women, and 2 participants who identified themselves as ‘other’ (p. 3). The evidence showed that there was a negative correlation between Latina American participants, who were fearful of being negatively stereotyped and their college GPA’s (p. 1). Latina American women students in the study 15 who intuited and experienced negative stereotypes through social and physical cues exhibited by their teachers, fellow students, and within their school environment earned low GPA’s (p. 1). In other words, Latina-American students read and interpreted these cues as indicating they were unqualified and did not belong to a majority white/Eurocentric college or institution whose culture and curriculum reflected white-American Eurocentrism (p. 2). The text suggests while attending all white American universities and institutions of learning environment contributes to the stress that many of the Latina American students experience endure in college. The results expressed that there is a negative relationship between the fear of being stereotyped and college grade point average. Next, Fuligni, Witkow, & Garcia, C. (2005), investigated the relationship between the ethnic identity of adolescents and their academic achievement. The sample involved 589 9th-grade Mexican-American, Chinese-American, and European-American students who attend three Los Angeles public high schools. The results showed that Mexican- American and Chinese-American students who demonstrated and held a positive ethnic identity also exhibited positive attitudes towards school and felt valued by their schools (p. 807). Keep in mind, that these two articles did not address that racial and ethnic identity and its’ impact on one’s academic achievement. This trend leaves the question: Does racial/ethnic identity have a direct impact academic achievement? There’s been very little academic research on racial/ethnic identity and its’ impact on academic achievement. Although, Altschul, Oyserman, and Bybee (2006) observed and 16 analyzed the three aspects of Racial Ethnic Identity (REI) and their relationship towards awareness if racism and embedded achievement. The participants, randomly selected from three low-income urban schools, included: 98 African American students and 41 Latino/a- American students. Although, the results demonstrated that “REI Embedded Achievement does not predict GPA across subsequent years” (Altschul, Oyserman, and Bybee, 2006, p. 1166). In other words, racial/ethnic identity does not have a direct impact on the academic achievement. This leads to my next question: how do the racial consciousness of the teacher/instructor and their comfort with their identified race/ethnic impact the academic achievement of African American and Latino/a-American [high school] students? The next section will talk about how African, Latino, and Caucasian teachers use cultural relevance teaching methods and strategies in their classroom setting. The Importance of Cultural Relevance This section emphasizes the importance of cultural relevance teaching methods and strategies in the classroom. Research by Gloria Ladson-Billings (2009) observed how culturally relevant teaching strategies assist African American students towards developing positive self-identity and achieving academic success (Ladson-Billings, Gloria, 2009, p. 13 -14). Billings writes, "This focus is important because it minimizes the tendency to reduce the research findings to individual idiosyncrasies and to suggest a ‘cult of personality,' explanation for effective teaching" (Billings, 2009, p. 14). Ladson-Billings looks at how teachers—African American and white American successfully engage 17 African Americans students and inspire them to learn and work towards academic success. Her research was funded in 1988 by a postdoctoral grant from National Academy of Education's Spencer Foundation. This allowed Ladson-Billings to conduct her research during the academic year of 1988 to 1989 followed by an in-depth study of classrooms during the 1990-1991 academic year (Ladson-Billings, 2009, p. 14). The participants in Billings text included: five African American teachers and three white-American female teachers (Ladson-Billings, 2009, p. 31). These teachers instructed African Americans and white students from urban, private, public, suburban integrated schools. Moving on, three teachers attended historically black colleges universities (HBCU’s). Three teachers attended state colleges who were predominantly white, and one white teacher participated at a Catholic University and a standard school (Billings, 2009, p. 31). Billings’ text explains the culturally relevant teachings are: (1) teachers with cultural relevant practice have high self-esteem and high regard for others. (2) Teacher’s with cultural relevant practices see themselves as part of the community, see teachings as giving back to community, and encourage their students to do the same. (3) teachers with cultural relevant practices see teaching as an art and themselves as artist (4) Teachers with cultural relevant practice believe that all students can succeed (5) Teacher’s with cultural relevant practices see teachings as “digging knowledge out” of students (Billings, 2009, p. 37- 56). Also, Billings (2009) writes about three classes; two English classes and one math class—and explains how the teacher's use of cultural knowledge and relevance to engage students effectively. 18 For example, Billings (2009) writes of Anne Lewis, an Italian-American in her mid forties. Lewis taught seventh grade during the fall of 1990. Her class did not hold to a predictable and boring schedule. Lewis’ class objective was to read Charlie Pippin written by Dandi Dawson-Boyd. The novel about an eleven-year-old African American girl, who is who trying to win the approval of her father, a Vietnam veteran who has internalized his traumatic experiences he about the war. Lewis presented the class of twenty-nine African American students, a wide range of activities to engage them on their reading of Charlie Pippin—research on Vietnam, origami such as the character Charlie Pippin made in the book, writing and speaking projects. The variety of activities increased the students’ levels of competence and confidence. Ladson-Billings observed Larry, a student with a troubling past, who through his experiences in this class was elected president of the sixth grade. The supportive activities that increased Larry’s self-esteem and confident inspired Larry to earn A's and B's in every subject. Billings (2009) describes how these teachers used cultural relevance to adjust their curriculum to meet the academic, social and cultural needs of students. The teachers’ care and value of these students fostered students to become intellectual leaders in the classroom and apprentices of learning in their community. Billings asserts that employing culturally relevancy in the classroom can assist African American students toward academic success. Next, research by Jacqueline Jordan Irvine (2002) suggests different ways for African American teachers nurture African American students. Also, Irvine stated that White teachers could be just as effective in teaching African American children (p. 53). 19 Irvine's methods incorporate ethics of care, beliefs, and strategies (p. 43). Irvine (2002) writes of Kay Toliver in Toliver's mathematical describing her, "... caring as (1) giving time to students outside of the classroom; (2) listening to her students' problems; (3) encouraging students to grow academically" (Irvine, 2002, p. 43). Irvine refers to Everett Dawson's work when relating the teacher's dedication to student's needs, noting that he connected masonry, carpentry, and computers to real-world applications" (Irvine, 2002, p. 35) Irvine also writes of ‘Other Mothers ’ when addressing the ethics o f caring, noting that, “ ... the Other Mothers were typically African American teachers who demonstrated caring by showing affection, being problem solvers, and listening to their students so they could be successful in a school climate that often did not support them” (Irvine, 2002, p. 37). African Americans teachers helped their students [matriculate] through the realities of racisms and [mitigated while explaining] how racism can and will affect their educational achievement” (Irvine, 2002, p. 37). Irvine gave special attention to the beliefs African American teachers entered the field of education in memory of the African American teachers who had taught and inspired them. Irvine writes, “As such, many of these teachers believed they were giving back to the community, fulfilling a valuable service, and caring on cultural tradition.” (Irvine, 2002, p. 37) Gilda L. Ochoa (2012) writes about Latino/a-American teachers, college students, high school students and various community activists and their teaching strategies that could be effective in the classroom (p. 191). She collected her data through survey questions and put forth through eighteen in-depth interviews with Latino/a-American teachers living 20 and teaching in Los Angeles County, who taught in the same district (p. 10). Ochoa (2012) addresses how family history, memories of school and educational supports influenced these Latino/a- Americans to become teachers. Ochoa highlights the strategies Latino/a- American teachers utilize to 1) expand the curriculum, 2) create an inclusive school environment 3) offer advice for Students 4) offer advice for families and 5) create schools that work for all parents with a multicultural/power-aware curriculum (p. 191 - 202). Ochoa (2012) writes about a middle school teacher, Maria Marquez who recalls her senior AP English teacher who awakened her love for reading. Marquez explained that her teacher, "She had us read a novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Up until that point, I had never read anything about Latinos. And it was like ‘oh my God!' This happened in La Palma, Mexico, where my parents are from.' And I thought, ‘well, this is cool. I like this,' and then I got into literature in college, and I enjoyed it" (Ochoa, 2012, p. 196). This is a clear example demonstrating that children learn best when schools affirm their racial background ..." (Ochoa, 2012, p. 197). Ochoa explains how the multicultural/power-aware curriculum excludes the experiences and literature of middle/upper European American heterosexual men. This assimilationist tactic is used to celebrates cultural differences and diversifies teaching. The multicultural/power-aware curriculum engages Latino/a- American students and inspires them to learn about Latino/a-American history. (Ochoa, 2012, p.196- 197). Next, Glenda M. Flores (2017) writes how Latina-American women are the fastest non-white group entering the teaching profession, while the student population in schools 21 is 20 percent Latino (p.7). Flores conducted in-depth interviews with Latina teachers who worked at two schools in two multicultural school districts in Los Angeles—Compton Elementary School in Compton Unified School District and Goodwill elementary school in the Garvey Unified School District (Flores, 2017, p. 24). Flores relied on ethnographic field notes addressing the intersections of race, gender, and immigration, which shaped many Latina-American teachers, and upon 50 in-depth interviews involving 25 Latina teachers and 25 non-Latina teachers (Flores, 2017, p. 24). Ethnographic data came from observations of all teachers, of different racial/ethnic backgrounds and their interactions with parents, students, and other teachers (Flores, 2017, p. 24). The interview instrument was derived from three terms: 1) pathways to job occupation, 2) application of Latino/a- American cultural resources in minority schools, and 3) interracial relationships/interactions (Flores, 2017, p. 26). Also, in the Flores text, Latina teachers are known as cultural guardians, who are active in educating co-ethnic children (student(s) who are from Cuba, Central America, Mexican, etc.) (Flores, 2017, p. 31). She writes, "... once they enter a profession, Latina teachers explain, they notice the scarcity of professional Latina role models who share the same immigrant and ethnic origins of the students they serve" (Flores, 2017, p. 65). Flores makes the point that cultural guardians are mutually exclusive to Latina women who grew up in working-class homes (with immigrant parents), Latina women who grew up in English speaking or middle-class households, and Latino/a-Americans who were multiracial (Mexican and White). 22 Conclusion The three areas I observed in the review of literature were (1) how racial and ethnic identity can play a significant role in African and Latino self-esteem and attitudes towards school. (2) The relationship between racial/ethnic identity and academic performance. It concludes that racial/ethnic identity does not have a direct impact on academic achievement. And (3) how teacher’s use of cultural relevance in their appropriate classrooms, could positively affect African American and Latino American student’s self esteem, attitudes towards school and moreover can amplify a positive learning environment in school. These three areas are pertinent to my study because how self-esteem and racial/ethnic identity could influence one’s attitude towards school, which could affect one’s academic performance and educational experience in schools, especially for African and Latino American high school students. 23 CHAPTER THREE Methodology This study aims to answer and explain: how does African and Latino American high school students racial/ethnic identity shaped or impact their self-esteem, moreover their attitudes towards school, and overall their views on their own education. Also, does racial/ethnic background of teacher’s affect or their teaching methods affect African and Latino American high school student’s self-esteem and their attitudes towards school. The research design and rationale were influenced by the following four research questions; 1) What factors contribute to African and Latino American students' racial awareness/ consciousness? 2) What factors contribute to African American and Latino-American students to have favorable attitudes to their specific skin color or racial/ethnic background and how does this affect their desire to learn? 3) How does race contribute to shaping the relationships between teachers of colors/white teachers and their African and Latino/a American high school students? 4) In what ways does the teacher's race contribute to African and Latino/a American high school students' self-esteem and attitudes towards school? This chapter has six sections; They are (1) purpose and approach, (2) rationale for interview questions/classroom observations, (3) development of qualitative tools, (4) sample criteria, (5) procedures phases, and last (6) the conclusion. 24 Purpose and Approach: The study’s approach was to get and give a glimpse to the affects to African and Latino American teachers teaching African and Latino American students, through the perspective of African and Latino students. Originally, the thesis was mainly about the importance of teachers of color. For example, the teacher’s workforce is filled with mostly Caucasian women. Although, the student population is mainly students of color. Also, Latino American are the highest demographic in United States public school system. Moreover, African and Latino American has the highest achievement gap in the U.S. Then, the study took the approach by exploring the connection between African and Latino American high school students learning experience, self-esteem, and attitudes towards school by having someone who may or may not look like them. Texts by Gloria Ladson-Billings (2009), Jacqueline Jordan Irvine (2002), Gloria Ochoa (2007) and Glenda M. Flores (2017) discussed mostly about teachers who mainly African and Latino American, but there teaching methods were surrounded by cultural relevance. The question relies on: does the teacher’s racial background impact their self esteem, attitudes towards school and moreover their leaning experience in school or is it their teaching methods? This question will answer more in-depth in chapter next chapter. Also, these texts written by Gloria Ladson-Billings (2009), Jacqueline Jordan Irvine (2002), Gloria Ochoa (2007) and Glenda M. Flores (2017) they chose the perspective of 25 teachers intertwining cultural relevance, but there was less dialogue on student’s perspectives and how cultural relevance affected them in a classroom setting. The study used qualitative methods approach to collect data and answer these the four research questions. I deployed by using sixteen [semi-structured and open ended] in-depth interviews questions and observing two classroom sessions at McClymonds High School. The Rationale for Interview Questions and Classroom Observations: Research Question #1: Research question #1 (What factors contribute to African and Latino American students' racial awareness/consciousness?) was deployed by seven in-depth interview questions. These interview questions were broken down into three factors. The three factors are: (1) African/Latino American students view their own racial/ethnic identity. For the first factor, I needed responses based on events or situations to how they knew or figured out how they knew they were African or Latino American. (2) African/Latino American students views on racism. For the second factor, I needed responses based on events or situations where they have experienced or observed racism. (3) African/Latino American students views on racial difference. For the third factor, I needed responses based on events or situations where participants figured out or knew they were racial/ethnically different from others. Also, I needed responses based on events or situations dealing or having a relationship with a person of different racial background, such as their friends in school, 26 teachers, or individuals from their neighborhood. These factors gave an explanation to research question #1 by the five participants in the study. The analysis will be discussed more in depth in chapter four. Research Question #2: Research question #2 (what factors contribute to African American and Latino American students to have favorable attitudes to their specific skin color or racial/ethnic background and how does this affect their desire to learn?) was deployed by five in-depth interview questions. These interview questions were broken down into two factors. The question is what factors contribute to African American and Latino American students to have favorable attitudes to their specific skin color or racial/ethnic background and how does this affect their desire to learn? The two factors are: (1) African and Latino American high school students perceive themselves. I needed responses that were based on events or situations to how African and Latino American high school attitudes towards themselves. For example, do they believe they are ugly or pretty? Why do they believe there are ugly or beautiful? Do they feel comfortable in their skin tone? Do they prefer to be lighter or darker skin? Which racial/ethnic group do they identify? Why? Next, factor (2) African and Latino American high school students feel distinguished by their school and teachers. I needed data that was based on events/situations where they felt they were perceived negatively or positively by their school and/or by their teachers. Have participants ever felt 27 negatively judge by their teachers? How does that make them feel? How does this affect their desire to learn? Did they ever felt discourage or don’t feel the need to learn or excel in school? These factors gave an explanation to research question #2 by the five participants in the study. The analysis will be discussed in chapter four. Research Question #3 Research question #3 (How does race contribute in shaping the relationships between teachers of colors/white teachers and their African and Latino/a American high school students?) was deployed by two in-depth interview questions and two classroom observations. These two interview questions were broken down into six categories. They were: (1) students in the classroom feel cared or not cared for; (2) student behavior is managed to enable learning; (3) students receive support and scaffolding; (4) students experience a challenging work environment; (5) students invested in classroom learning; (6) Students and feedback by their teachers. Overall, the study needed information from participants if (1) where they felt a teacher was on your side and (2) where they felt your time where you felt a teacher was not on your teacher was on your side? I broke this down by racial/background of the teacher, teacher’s management of the class, feeling of the classroom, rules enforcement, and if they regulations seem fair to them. The study wanted to detect if there was a connection between the teacher’s racial background or teaching strategies/methods to the high school students that were interviewed. 28 The two class observations were based on four factors. The factors are: (1) teacher's approach to the classroom. This factor asked questions, such as what is the teacher's approach to teaching their specific classroom? What does the teacher say or do to establish the "tone" of the classroom? What factors contribute in making the classroom an effective learning environment? What are the tones (warmth or strict/harsh) that the teacher's implement in the classroom? Factor (2) teacher's Discipline: this factor questions and tries to answer how does the teacher discipline the students; by sending them to the office, giving them many warnings in class, talking to them after class? Next, factor (3) teachers or students mentions race: which tries to answer how the teacher interacts with each student? How do the students interact with the teacher? Do teachers reflect on race in the classroom? Is race/racism even talked about in class? If so, how? When a student mentions race, what does the teacher do in the classroom? And lastly, factor (4) teacher helping students, which askes the questions and tries answers to does the teacher encourage or discourage their students? Does the teacher try to help every student in the classroom? Which student does she seem helping the most? Which student does the teacher seem to have the most trouble helping the most in the classroom? The answer to question #3 will answered in chapter five. Research Question #4: Research question #4 (In what ways does the teacher's race contribute to African and Latino/a American high school students' self-esteem and attitudes towards school?) which was deployed by one in-depth interviews question, which was based on three factors. 29 The three factors were broken down into (1) students view their academic selves. For factor (1) students view on their academic selves; I needed data that was based on African and Latino American high school students' responses to events or situations to when they feel smart or stupid in class. Factor (2) students' interests in school about classroom factors; For factor (2) I needed data that was based on African and Latino American high students’ responses to events or situations to when they felt bored or uninterested in the subject that taught in classroom, had fun activities, desire to leave the school activities early, unwillingness to come to school, and the necessity of knowledge obtained at school. Next, factor (3) discipline and punishment in schools, I needed responses from students on events or situations where the teacher may or may not have to discipline them. For example, were ever sent to school’s office, marked down for missing behaving, or had to sit down in another seat. The answer to question #4 will answered in chapter five. Development of Qualitative Tools (Discussion of Method and Process): Construction of my research questions was generated by items from the relevant literature (listed in chapter 2). The research tools the study used were qualitative semi structured and open-ended in-depth interviews questions, which I created and named “interview questions." The interview questions and observation forms are at the end of thesis (appendix II and appendix III). Overall, these interview questions accumulated information about African and Latino American student’s awareness of race/ethnicity, 30 perception of themselves and their teachers, and how does race contribute to their teacher’s relationships, self-esteem and their attitudes towards school and learning. These classroom observation form accumulated information about high school students and their learning and schooling environment. Dr. Serie McDougal III (2014) stated that “The semi-structured interviews method is used more with more specific topics. In the semi-structured interviews, each respondent is asked to answer a specific set of questions. However, the semi-structured interview maintains a conventional style in which the interviewer probes the respondent and is free to ask questions in a different order for all respondents. Although a semi-structured interview involves a standard of questions, it also allows for an interview to ask sub-questions and develop new questions based on interviewees responses.” (2014, p. 264 - 265). Regarding reliability, the strengths to qualitative semi-structured/open ended interviews questions is that it provides detailed answers to complex issues. The reason why in-depth interviews are best suited to answer the four research questions in this study because it gives the reader a glimpse from African and Latino American high student’s perspective to how they view their own education and to explore if racial/ethnic identity, self-esteem and attitudes towards school plays a role in their educational experience while attending high school at McClymonds. Sample Criteria The target population to this study was self-identified African and Latino American high school students, ages 14 to 19 years old who in grades 9th through 12th and who attended McClymond’s High school in West Oakland, California. I chose McClymond’s 31 High to be my school site to do my research, because due to limited time in finding a school and also it was the only school that would let me do my controversial research study. Participants who are younger than 13 years old and who were older than 19 years old did not participate in the study. Also, Caucasian and Asian American students/individuals did not participate in the study. High school students perceive situations and events very differently from adults (ages 18-30). I chose adolescents as my target age group because they are old enough to acknowledge and self-reflect on their past experiences. These past experiences touch on complex issues, like self-esteem, racial/ethnic identity, and views on school, which are significant themes that I am illustrating in my study. The study initially chose elementary school students to be my participant population but decided to change it to high school students. Although, children as young as three years old are racial awareness (Feagin and Ausdale, 2001, p. 2). Feagin and Ausdale (2001) stated that “According to previous research, before seven to eight years of age thoughtful use of racial categorization does not enter children’s social repertoires (Goodman 1964; Porter 1971)” (p. 5). In other words, during this age children do employ racial/ethnic concepts, but they have little awareness of social meanings to them (2001, p. 5). Furthermore, interviewing elementary students would be have been strenuous job and with the limited duration, it would take longer than a semester to complete my research study. 32 Procedures Phases Phase I: Recruit of Black and Latino High School Students The study obtained 5 participants through the use of purposive sampling (see table. 1.1). Purpose sampling is a selection of individuals that possess different perspectives that provide information on a particular issue(s) (McDougal, 2014, p. 157). The study recruited at least 15 self-identified African and Latino high school participants, through Keagan Mason, who is a caseworker at Black Male Achievement Program at McClymond’s High. Mason helped me find participants at the school. Then I interviewed them to see if there were qualified to participate in the research. The characteristics/factors that were taken in consideration in recruiting participants was their racial/ethnic background, levels of education, personal history and most importantly if they felt comfortable in doing the research. Before the recruitment process took place, the study gained access to participants through IRB approval, which led to obtaining the parental permission, informed consent, and assent consent forms (Appendix IV). Also, the study got permission and signature from the school principal at McClymonds High (Appendix V). Moreover, the recruitment materials were through speech script (Appendix VI). The speech script was strictly professional, and participants had the choice to voluntarily to participate research. The study did not plead for their help in completing my thesis and did not offer any incentive for participants to participate in the research study. 33 Table 1.1 n = 5 Race: 3:2 Gender: 2:3 Race/Gender Participant Participant Race/Gender Participant African Chris Latino Male Tucker American Grade 12 Grade: 12 Male Age: 18 Age: 19 Straight Straight African Christina Claire Latino Kelly American Grade: 11 Grade 12 Female Grade 9 Female Age: 16 Age: 18 Age: 15 Straight Straight Straight 34 Phase II: Consent Students who were older than 18 years old need only to sign informed and assent consent forms. Regarding students who are were under the age of eighteen years old, needed their parents/guardian to sign parental permission consent form. This form had all the information, which was the study procedures and their rights for their child to participate in research project. Parents who are willing to decide whether they want their children to participate in this study. In other words, parents and their child voluntarily wanted to be a part of my research. If parents did not return the consent form, the interview process did not take place and was rescheduled, with the appropriate documentation. The potential risks for all participant includes the potential loss of privacy, possible psychological risks such as anxiety, stress, depression, and uncomfortable emotions such as anger, fear, sadness or discomfort. I emphasized during the interview that participants have the option to share as little or as much as they feel comfortable. Also, all participants in the study, had the option to answer or move on to a different question. Phase III: Interview Process The interviews were face to face and occurred in a private room at McClymond’s High, along with the signed parental permission consent, informed consent, assent consent to participate in research. The duration of these interviews process took about 40 to 90 35 minutes. Some of the interviews were short as 30 minutes and others were long as 90 minutes. These interviews occurred between 8:30am and 3:00pm in a private room at McClymond’s High. Under the assumption that each interview would take about 60 to 75 minutes. While interviewing some student interviews were short as 20 minutes. The study took in consideration to give each participant enough time to answer each question and not feel rushed answering these complex issues. These issues vary from racial awareness, racial/ethnic identity, and self-esteem and many more. It was imperative to give each participant enough time answer each question honestly as possible; but be aware of the demanding schedule in completing research study. There were a series of sixteen open- ended interview questions in the study. Their voices recorded and transcribed by me, the researcher on my personal computer. During the interview process, the study took account their facial expressions and body language. Both the interview and transcribing process took a month each. Phase IV: Data Analysis Data/Create Themes: Once, the interview was over; the participants are free to leave the room and go back to class. The transcribing process took a lot patience and time, such as long hours on my personal computer, which helped me establish the themes in the study. Concerning the observation classroom process, the study used participants data/notes to determine where observations were going to take place. Many participants named two teachers. Their names 36 are Mr. Rogers and Mr. Wilson. I decided to observe their classes. (See table 1.2). The study chose classroom observations for the data collection to get a sense to how teachers at McClymonds High School approached their classroom. And what strategies did they use to create an effective learning environment in their classroom. Also, was race or racial topics discussed in class? 37 Table 1.2 Teacher’s Race Gender Subject Classroom Name Ratio Teacher #1 Black Male History 17:1 Mr. Rogers World Teacher #3 Black Female English 17:1 Mrs. Wilson 38 Conclusion The in-depth-interview questions and classroom observation answered my four research questions that I described earlier in the chapter. Chapter four will discuss the discussion and findings and chapter five will discuss the conclusion to my study. 39 CHAPTER FOUR Results and Discussion The data collected and presented in this chapter include five participants. The participants in the study were: 1 African American male, 2 African American females, and 1 Latino male, and 1 Latino female. For the protection and privacy, participants and teacher’s names have been changed. The participant’s names are Chris, Tucker, Christina, Kelly, and Claire (see table 1.1). The participants are divide by race. All of these participants live in the Bay Area, California and attend Oakland Unified School District: McClymonds High school in West Oakland. The data in the study was to analyze to provide information and themes to answer the four research questions. The following research questions are 1) What factors contribute to African and Latino American students' racial awareness/ consciousness? 2) What factors contribute to African American and Latino- American students to have favorable attitudes to their specific skin color or racial/ethnic background and how does this affect their desire to learn? 3) How does race contribute to shaping the relationships between teachers of colors/white teachers and their African and Latino/a American high school students? And last 4) In what ways does the teacher's race contribute to African and Latino/a American high school students' self-esteem and attitudes towards school? With each participant (that was a part of my study) I asked them warm up questions and questions related to their personal life. Like a lot people in the world, we 40 have fears, worries, and conflicts. As an interviewer, All I had to do was listen, empathize, and let them know there are not alone. African American High School Participants Chris Chris is an African American male, who is in the 12th grade. He is nineteen years old. He expresses himself as a video game geek, who likes to watch anime television shows. His favorite anime show is Fairytale, Naruto, and Dragon Ball Z. He is football player and expressed that he wants to play in the NFL league, mainly because his father. He describes that his father is the only person who got him into football. Also, he explains mother as, “My mom, she’s that my whole world...she is my role model...She is my best friend...” His also has two little brothers and an Auntie who is disabled. His parents are currently divorced. He used to live with his mother, but recently moved with father who, he has a tumultuous relationship. He expressed, “The reason why I don't want to live with my mom cause, I live with my mom because I been living with my mother my whole life, so I want to live with my dad, so I can just have a father-son connection...” His biggest goal in life is go to college and also stated the things that are most important to him is to finish school, get a high school diploma, go to college, and to live life. He expressed that he wanted to go to a two-year college, such as Laney community college and transfer to a four-year college. He expressed that “I just all these things happen to me because I'm in a special ed. 41 program. I got an IEP.” IEP stands for Individualized Education Program. The specific program is for students who have special needs. This specific program is created for every public-school system in the United States. He has an IEP because he has learning disability, called dyslexia. I asked, how do you view yourself? He quickly stated, “I see my self... I’m still standing...still alive. Cause I used to get I used to get bullied a lot.” Chris expressed that he has been bullied since the 7th grade to now. He continues, “People say I’m gay... Cause I like females and I also like guys at same time...” I wanted to know more, so I asked was there any other reason why he was bullied? He stated, “Um...I used to get bullied because off my lips because I have big lips and bottom lip always be hanging out...And it would be hella.. .extremely annoying.” I asked, how does the world view you? He stated, “A good person. It’s like I will be cool with people.. .if people are cool with me. I'm like a person I don't like I like I'm a person who hang out who be cool just like chill...” He stated that his attitudes towards school is, “I don't...I don't. I don't know. I really don't... Cause just like one day I don't want to be at school. The next day I do cause like while I'm in the summer...when I'm in the summer is like it's nothing to do is nothing to do. I'll be bored as hell. I'll be like I want to go back to school and then when I'm going to school I'll be like I don't want to go to school I don't like waking up early in the morning it’s just too much. I don't know I can't say like that because I don't I don't have I don't know I like school or not I don't know so is if I say I'm in the middle of it. I then asked what do you think or feel you are viewed by your teachers? He stated, “I got like 2 to 3 teacher’s, I really like. One is Mr. Cullen, one is Mr. Mac. The next one is Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers is like father / school teacher cause, I talk to 42 him about all my problems and everything like I told him about me doing suicide and he told me he was going to talk me whenever I like to see you have a problem or everything.” The data presented in Chris’s interview does not suggest that there are any factors that contribute to him having favorable attitudes to a specific skin color or racial/ethnic background. The data suggest what contributes his desire to learn is to have teacher to listen his personal problems, such as Mr. Rogers, who helps him with his reading and writing skills. He also, talked about a science middle school teacher, while he was attending Oakland High School. I asked why he liked her. He stated that, “she was the coolest teacher ever.” He mentioned to note she was the only person who help him with his reading. The racial background of the teacher was Caucasian. I continued and asked has there been any teacher whom he felt was not on his side. He described that he had conflict with a teacher assistant at McClymonds High. She was African American. When he was attending class, the teacher assistant spoke rudely to him. Chris’s data translated that he had negative and positive experiences with African American teachers at McClymonds High School. I asked, “if you had a teacher that looked exactly like you: as a black male. How would that make you feel? Would it make you more interested in school?” He stated, “To be honest with you I don't feel anything...Nothing...” And then he quickly gave an example of teacher, named Mr. Wallace. Chris stated, “...he like he's in his twenties and we all in our team's he graduate like a couple years ago like a couple years so heating off so basically like he related to us...” Chris interview explains that has had positive and 43 negative experiences with African and White American teachers. This simply means that the racial/ethnic background of teacher’s in school has no effect on Chris’s self-esteem and attitudes towards school. He simply wants a teacher who cares, who understands, and can help him overcome his educational obstacles and pursuits in life. Also, it could suggest that he not getting the properly taught, (regarding to his Dyslexia) by any teacher’s at McClymonds High School. Christina Christina is an African American female, who is in the 11th grade. She is sixteen years old. She racially defines herself as Black. Her greatest goal in life is to be successful and to provide for her family. The three things that are important to her is family, education and God. Even though, she is junior in high school, she expressed that she really wants to attend Historical Black College/Universities. The schools she liked to apply for are Alabama A&M University, Howard University, Xavier University, and Clark Atlanta University. The reason why she wants to apply to mainly HBCU’s is because she wants to be around a community who looks like her; it makes her feel comfortable. Also, she expresses she wants to go into the medical field. She either wants to be obstetrician or work in the sport medicine, mainly because of her mother. She defines race as “...like where you’re from, the color of your skin, your roots.” Realizing she was Black, she noted, “When I was probably little...” I asked to elaborate 44 about her experience. She quickly stated, “Like I said I was regular, when I was Black. I didn't find it like mad or anything.” When I moved forward to the next question and asked her the messages she got from race, she stated, “That everyone went through hardships. My ancestors went through hardships. Coming from Africa. Being taken from their land. That it wasn't easy for black people in America that we had to work twice as hard for everything that we have, and you still do that were still racially profiled. Even if laws being stated, there hasn’t been anything done. They set certain rule, but people tend to get away, like going around, with actually rules, and yeah I think that’s it.” She expressed that she has never experienced racism; but it observed online. “I would say not in person. I want to say no. But I’m not too sure. But I have seen it online. Or somebody showing me, and it made me feel bad because of people just treating the way based on their ignorance. Based on what there brought from. Cause you only get taught. Whatever you act is basically what you’ve been taught. So, if you were taught not to like Black people, you’re not going to like Black people. And it was pure ignorance to me for somebody to treat somebody if different way because of their skin. Or just because there not the same as them.” She gave an example and stated, “Like movie, Fruitvale station. When they tried to say it was just a when he was trying to reach for taser, but it was really, I don’t know. I have not seen that movie in long time. But I’m remember what happened, but basically, they let things go, cause they felt ‘oh it was an accident.’ It was really an accident, because they pushed things to certain measure. It was accident because probably he shot him, but still all the things there were doing taken people off the train. Treating them certain way. Talking to them and degrading him. That was all pushed and never think to brought that up. And it was all recorded so.” I then asked her “how did that make her feel?” She stated, It sad honestly because you would act a certain because someone skin color, because of who they are. Cause, we didn’t ask to come here. We were brought here. And we had to make out life here. So, it there is no reason to be disrespectful or just don’t like person because of how what you were taught. I feel what you were 45 taught. It you see different, then you should act different. You should not go off you were taught. Because if everyone did that, because you probably in worse situations.” I then asked, “what do you think disagreements would be?” She stated, “How should treat people. Who should be around. Who you should be around where you be around. What should you do what should you do really did everything, cause from their mindset.” She began notice she was racially different from others was in pre-school or elementary school; but expressed it didn’t make her feel any type of way. I then asked about any relationship involving a relationship with a person of different race than you. She stated she had godmother, who was Mexican American woman and illustrated she was of an Aunt to her. Christina expresses that she always knew she was Black or African American at very young age. She didn’t have event or situation where she figured out she was Black or African American. She described the meaning race “is like where your from, the color of your skin, your roots.” It could suggest that the contributors to her being racially aware was when racism was brought to her attention through online and media. I then moved to ask, “how does view yourself?” She stated, “I see an intelligent Black young lady. When she sets her mind up something, she would do it. She built her strength through high school. Someone who continues to build her strength. I see somebody who worships God. I see somebody who is very nice; but has hard exterior. She means on the outside, but soft inside.” I began to ask, “how do you imagine the world views you?” She stated, “Like when I walk around, I don’t smile I guess. I just have regular face on. And they think I’m mugging. But I’m just blank face. Some say I’m really funny. Some say I’m sensitive. When I was very little, I was always called sensitive. And some 46 say I’m regular person. I get along with everybody. If don’t get along with you. You probably did something wrong. But I probably be mean, it does not mean I like you, I’m just mean. Yeah.” She described she has never left felt uncomfortable in her skin tone. She continued that her attitude towards school is, “Umm. My attitude at school is like I have to be here. If want to be successful, if you have to get your education. And say at this school, you just get and get here, every day. You do what you have to do. If you don’t do that day, they have to do it as possible. Um at this school, I see myself as someone who wants to go to college, a lot. At this school, there a lot of resources here. There are people that can help me.” She expressed that she wished that McCylmonds High had classes that would go more into in-depth with Biology, Psychology, Sports Medicine, and Math. I then asked her does she sees her-self as smart? She stated, “I would say I more academically then I would say yes. I can be smarter, I just don’t push myself. Smart when it comes to common sense. Very much yes. I am very common person. I stick to my ways, when I feel something is right is right. When I feel something is wrong is wrong. But I always have a reason. And I was have fact for my reasoning. And I just feel like, I’m not easy to intimidate. I maybe naive, but I am always. I don’t know. I am naive, but I can figure around something. It would probably take me some time, but if I get it, I get it.” She also expressed how she thinks teacher perceive her. She described that: “Teachers tend to tell me I’m smart. That I am hard worker. That I can get somewhere. I have potential, never dumb myself down. I go the extra mile. Never dive myself down for anything. I always go to the extra mile. It’s for you at the end of the day. So, it never hurts to go the extra mile cause if it’s going to benefit you.” The data presented in Christina’s interview does not suggest that there are no factors that contribute to her to have favorable attitudes to a specific skin color or racial/ethnic 47 background. The data suggest that she views school as an obligation and states that she doesn’t push herself in doing her school work. Although, she discussed an interest or wanting her school to have courses that teach Biology, Psychology, Sports Medicine, and Math. What does that mean? It suggests that Christina’s wants to be push academically and want her teacher to believe in her. It could also suggest that she is not getting the education she deserves in order to graduate from high school. When I asked which teacher has been on her side? She stated, “Does it have to be teacher? Or does it have to be administrator?” This overall suggest that there not any teachers at McClymonds High has affected her self esteem and more over her attitudes towards school. She described both the teacher and the administrator. She expressed that Mr. Rogers, who is African American male teacher, whom she has known since the 9th grade and ever since, saw her potential and work ethic. For example, she described that Mr. Rogers was always helpful regarding her school work. Although, Christina noted Mrs. Katt is the one person she goes to consult her problems. Mrs. Katt and is an administrator at McClymonds High School. These teachers are both African American. “Mrs. Katt she's like a second mom here. Especially on campus. That someone I can run to whenever there is problem. Usually I run to the teacher or administrator. I end always going her. I always in her room. Me and my friends. She actually our coordinator for Fly Girls. She is someone we talk too, anytime we need something. Or we just want to do something. We talk to her, she makes sure it happens. She’s like helping hand here.” She continues “...We’re doing a CPI, which community impact project. And she helped us doing on homeless people. And we got a lot of people that were interested. She helped us do food drives, like we drive around and give people food. We do clothes drive. 48 We have another group set up by a group of women called Links. We meet with them everyone like every month. We get in site on what they do. They tell us they do. She opened up doors for our group and she open the doors for a lot of other people but if you don't talk to her you won't know about it.” And also, “So, you have interactive whatever she is bring to the table. So, if you need help. Something helped during school. When it's time for me to get my class, like she'll look at our grades. And she’ll be like De’lejiah ‘you want to talk your teacher,’ She made sure I talk to my English teacher. Cause I think I had a C, but I didn’t want the C. But I didn’t know what to do. She made go to her and talk to her. See what I had to do. And I scored an A on my Final. Cause she made me talk to her...” Regarding Mr. Rogers, At first, she was in his World History class, but moved to his AP class because she felt she was being dump down. She stated, “Cause I felt what were they doing it was basic work that is capable of everyone doing.” She continued to describe Mr. Roger’s atmosphere in the in his AP History class and stated, “At first, I was in his regular U.S. history, but now I am in AP. His regular history class, I did not like that class. I felt that I was going to be dumb down in that class. I felt that class was mature, when it’s time to be quiet, they know to be quiet. When it’s time to do work, there were on task. Every time, he would say something, we would do it because we would understand, we were mature. We know what we have to do. And yeah.” She then illuminated the environment in his class and stated, “Well U.S. history, I would not say chaotic, but it was quiet.” Then I asked, “how does the teacher mange the classroom for Mr. Rogers?” She said, “He manages it different ways. So, with his regular U.S. history, he most likely take his time. Make sure they understand that what is going on. He goes really slow. But with his AP history class, you are going pick up what he is saying. And if you don’t then just ask him quick question, just real quick. But he’ll get through it fast. Cause, 49 it’s not really going to take his time cause, he knows what were capable of what he telling us.” She continues to by stating the rules and regulations in the classroom. “Um you can have snakes. You can’t have hot foods. You can speak with other students, when needed. You can ask for help at any time. He almost in his classroom every day, unless its meeting for like a good hour or two. You can always email him, he’ll email you back. It never hurts to ask for help. He always opening helping hand. He always in his classroom.” In reference to a teacher whom she felt was not on her side. She stated an English teacher, named Mrs. Wilson. She is African American. Christina stated that she was unorganized and didn’t put much effort in the classroom. She stated that, “There’s not many students in the classroom. It’s just 20 or less. And some walk out of class. They leave when they want to...Or they just sit there and stay. The will be on their phone. Be on the phone. Right now, we just been reading a lot. Not really doing too much. But she’s manage by herself. If you are not in her class. You close the door. If you are not in her classroom, you can’t come in. But I would come out the classroom, just to go to the bathroom or something. It would be hard to come back in. Cause a lot people like to wonder in and out, because they like to be in hallway.” I observed Mr. Rogers. He is African American male teacher who mainly teaches World History and AP History and Government. The period I observed was his 7th period (from 12:30 - 1:55pm), World History. While observing Mr. Rogers, the data suggests his approached to the classroom was his organization and had a lesson plan. He was calm, direct, and did not raise his voice. For example, when a student didn’t understand or showed frustration in understanding what Mr. Rogers was teaching or asking, he empathized and pushed his students to not give up. For example, one African American male student knew the answer, but didn’t know how to articulate it. Mr. Rogers stop the classroom and 50 empathized and pushed him speak in that would make sense. He was interactive with the class and used real life scenarios to make students understand the subject, which was World War I. Regarding teacher’s discipline, he did not give stars, tallies, write their names on the board, or even warnings. Instead, he gave students participation points. Also, he didn’t feel the need to discipline his class. Mr. Rogers simply empathized with the students in his class. Although, the was the same African American male student who was frustrated. He became disruptive, such as he didn’t raise his hand and spoke out loud without permission. I could sense and observed that the students in the classroom grew tired of him. Close to the end of the class discussion, Mr. Rogers spoke to him outside in the hallway. Once they both came back inside the classroom, he calmed down. There police were at McClymonds High, but while observing, Mr. Rogers didn’t feel the need to call police and they were not inside the class. Throughout the class session, students were attentive. Such as, there were two African American females who raised their hands and seem to understand Mr. Rogers objective in the classroom. The classroom atmosphere was quiet and not chaotic. Likewise, the data seems to support to what Christina stated about Mr. Rogers in her interview. Cultural Relevance teaching methods and strategies was not exhibit in the classroom setting or curriculum. Race or racial topics were not even mention in the classroom discussion. Next, Mrs. Wilson (who Christina expressed that she doesn’t put much effort in the classroom) is an African American female teacher. She teaches English and AP English. 51 While observing Mrs. Wilson did not exhibit a clear and cohesive lesson plan in the classroom. In that, students often fell asleep and were playing around in the classroom. Often times, female students yelled out her name, singing, and taking selfies on their cellular phones. One male and female student was on their phones for the whole class session. Another female didn’t have shoes on her feet. The class session felt very disruptive and chaotic. Many times, students keep walking in and out of the classroom, and asked to go to the bathroom. Student often were cursing and talking with their fellow classmates. Mrs. Wilson displayed to be tired and seem to have trouble in getting the students attention. Likewise, this supports to what Christina stated in her interview about describing about Mrs. Wilson. Regarding Mrs. Wilson disciplining the students, she did not give people stars, tallies, or write names on the board, or no warning. Although, she did allow people to eat in her class. She kept constantly telling student what not to do, such as telling students not to curse, not to yell, and to get off their cellular phones in class. Police were at the school, but were never called to be in the classroom. Students were talking over Mrs. Wilson and students showed hostility towards her. For example, there was an African American female student, who yelled and screamed at Mrs. Wilson. She didn’t call school security. Also, Cultural Relevance teaching methods, race/ethnic topics were exhibited in the classroom setting. Towards the middle of class, while students were working on their chrome laptop books and went around the classroom. She helped each student with their assignment and even helped Sally, who was previously 52 showed yelled at her. Once the school bell rang, everyone left to go to their next class. So, what does that mean exactly? The data presented in Christina’s interview and classroom observation, that race does not contribute in shaping the relationships between her and her teachers. It also suggests that a teacher’s race does not contribute to her self-esteem and attitudes towards school. The teachers are she expressed are were on and not her side were African American. Although, when I asked her “has they’re any teacher that she felt was on her side.” She quickly and asked does it have to be a teacher? This overall implies that there may not be any teachers at McClymonds affects her self-esteem and her attitudes towards school. When I asked her, how do you feel when your teacher is the same as you? Christina stated, “I would say good,” I then asked, “Do you feel anything?” and she stated, “Not really I don’t think too much about it.” What seems to definite impact on Christina’s self-esteem and attitudes towards school is having someone to listens to her personal problems, but also shows encouragement and pushes her into a positive direction towards her school work. Claire Claire is a 12th grade who is African American female student. She is eighteen years old. She racially identifies herself as African American. Her favorite book is We Were Here written by Matt De la Pena. The superpower she would like to have is to be minder reader. Her explanation was that she wants to know how she is being portrayed. She states, “You know, what I should do differently whatever because I feel like I do have a lot of situations 53 where the things that I say could be misconstrued or anything. So being a mind reader will help me. Get jobs, get a scholarship.” She likes to write poetry and short stories, which are very important to her. She has been writing poetry since elementary school. She describes, “.. .1 started to write about you know my history as I learned more about my history I started writing about how I felt about it. You know just things that really inspired me to become a better person...” Her mother worked as an accountant at Ace Hardware for seventeen years and currently works at FedEx. She describes that her and her mother have a normal relationship. Claire not really sure where her father works, but thinks he works in construction. She states, “My father he just recently came in my back and I don't like him. Yeah, I feel like he just likes my mom and that's why that's like the only reason why he's back. But I don't feel like he's very supportive towards me or the things that I'm trying to accomplish in life.” She continues to say, “Whenever I ask him for something he always makes excuses, but he does have other kids and he helped them with whatever they want to.” She has three siblings including herself and six other siblings on her father side. Her definition of race is someone’s ethnic background and describes, “.... I feel like race is only broken down into four categories. And I could be wrong about this, but I think there's only four races that. Black, Hispanic/Latinos, white men Asian. That’s what I think race is.” I began to ask her to walk me through a time when you realize for the first time you were African American. She stated, “I feel like I've always known that I was black. But. I felt like I didn't realize why that made me different until I was in sixth grade. And I joined Model United Nations and on the trip, there.. .there were a lot of white kids there. And you know they look 54 at you differently, they expect you to act different, they expect you act a certain way and when you don't come off that way. They are completely confused because they grew up in towns that were predominantly white. And I grew up in towns that were predominately Black. I feel like we both had like. Stereotypes about each other but they had stereotypes which they wanted to be true you know and if they weren't true they were kind of disappointed. And when I ran for secretary general at the Model United Nations, I felt like I didn't win because of the fact that I was black and that they didn't support me as much as they seemed to because of the stereotypes that they had. Like they think that oh black people could dance, black people could sing, oh you can show me how to do whatever, but they don't see you as somebody that that is as intelligent as them.” This particular event made her feel disappointed in America and said “...when you're from towns that are like mainly, people of color you know, they... they make you think that there is hope that America is um.. .diverse that America is welcoming you know. But in actuality that's only some...parts of America.” On this trip, she expressed that they asked her to sing, dance for them and to teach them how to twerk. The messages that she got from this particular event was: “.. .1 really learned how to come off strong you know because I felt like I was being portrayed as a weak-minded person or as somebody that can't stand up for themselves somebody that is not educated. And I feel like I really bring that presence whenever I'm in a setting. Now. I feel like that shaped me to be a kind of person that always wants to be on top of her game. You know.” Claire stated she always knew she was African American/Black; but the factors that contributed to her becoming racially aware or conscious was when she was racially stereotyped by her White counterparts during study abroad trip in Thailand. Claire 55 explained that this particular event made her realized she was racially different from others, in which would set the president to be treated differently from others. Also, the data suggests the factors contributed to Claire’s to become racially conscious is when she observed racism. She stated, “There’s be a lot. Um...Let me see. I have a lot of Muslim friends and the girls really were hijabs a lot. And you know sometimes when I'm like out with them you know, which is not that often. But whenever I’m with them, I always get these like weird stares and one time I heard this man like when he was walking the other direction from me and my friend he said ‘oh we better hurry up and get past because something...something bomb, whatever,” I wasn't really listening to what he said but I really heard him say bomb for sure. And I'm like it was just it was just like a weird like I've never I never thought that people actually think that...You know I've seen more white terrorists than I see Muslim terrorists.” Claire stated to how she views herself and stated, “I see a black girl short with weird shape head. I don't know. I feel like I come off as a strong person. Educated maybe a little too arrogant.” I then asked, “how do you imagine the world views you?” She stated “I would hope that people see me as a compassionate person. Somebody that's really giving and someone that wants to change...that makes a change in the world.” She continues, “I feel people view me as a know it all um...or someone that talks too much. I think people think I'm a little annoying.” Claire voiced that she did feel uncomfortable in her skin tone. It was when she was in Thailand and also in the United States. “I think the most uncomfortable I’ve been in my skin was when I was in Thailand and people were like “Oh you've been out in the sun too much.” Oh, when someone tried to hand me a lotion that had skin bleaching in it. And I was just like 56 really confused. Not that I would ever change my skin color or want to but it was just really weird because I’ve never like racism in America. It’s not as straightforward you know. Its more systematic than that but in Thailand the darker you are you know the more I mean the dirtier you are.. .the less money you have the you know the less value you have. So, it was just.. .it wasn't anything that would make me want to change myself, but it was uncomfortable to see that like this is actually a reality. This was a theme you know.” In United States, she expressed “whenever I'm like in a group. That's predominately white I feel like I am a little uncomfortable because. I know that they view me differently. I see the way they interact with other people and the way they interact with me is differently. And that's a little uncomfortable but not as uncomfortable in Thailand.” She explained her attitudes towards school, she stated that she loved school when she was younger but has becomes less interested in school. She stated, “...I feel like school is very irrelevant. It doesn't. It's not helping me towards the goals that I want. There's a lot of classes and such that are...I don't feel like are helping me for the future. And even like in my school I know that a lot of kids are behind me, so the way that the classes are ran is behind me. You know, and I don't feel like our school or board supports us a lot. So, I feel like there's a lot of factors contributing to why I don't like school as much as I used to, but, overall, I think education is one of the most important things in life.” I then asked, “has there any class that you feel have been helpful to you? She stated, “Um let me think.. .The music class I don't think I need that. If I'm not going to go.. .It's just really think it's irrelevant to me. They have a drama class. Same thing...” and continues, “I don’t feel that math is as helpful cause they’re like oh you're going need math when you're adult, when you count your money. Blah.... Like that's basic math...already got that. The math that I'm doing right now. I don't feel like it's going to be helpful if I ever do you know like if you're not an accountant or 57 somebody that handles money or um numbers like you don't really need the kind of math that we're doing right now. I asked how she view herself as smart. She described, “most definitely. I feel that I'm very intelligent. I'm very articulate and um...I know how to learn. I feel like that's the most important thing to being smart you know how to learn not to teach yourself ...you know how to take information in...” She then stated how she thinks she is viewed by her teachers. She stated, “I feel like teachers think I'm very smart but they think I am lazy, which is true.” The data above suggests that these events, such as being racial stereotyped by Caucasian Americans and individuals from her Thailand study abroad trip, could be contribute to her to have favorable attitudes towards teachers who have the same racial background as her. It could also affect her desire to learn. Does that mean that racial background of particular teachers has an effect on her self-esteem and attitudes towards school? Claire expressed again, the administrator whom she felt was on her side, Mrs. Katt. She described that Ms. Kat helped with a walkout, which occurred at McClymonds High. The walkout was mostly led by seniors because they didn’t have AP Government and Economics teacher. Originally, they had an AP Government and Economics teacher named Mrs. Wood, but she left in the middle of the school year. Claire described Mrs. Wood as a Caucasian and female. Currently, seniors are trying to create a plan to get an actual grade rather an P for the class. She explained how Mrs. Katt helped with the walkout and stated that, 58 “...Mrs. Kat as she really stood up and she's like what you guys are doing here is correct. You got to need a teacher that is unfair that you don't have a teacher here and you deserve a teacher because you based off the fact that you are young students. This is the thing that we are supposed to supplied to you, but we are not doing our job. The school board is not doing their job. You know. And but you guys you need to stand up. You need to make sure that you are organized, or nobody will hear you. And I felt like that was very much on my side on our side.” Claire stated continued, “.. .she was definitely on our side because she's making sure that we were organized and that our voices will be heard. And we did actually make a change. So, we do have a plan for the classes. So, we're like the social studies teachers get together and they make the lesson plan for every week. So, I feel like she was really helpful in that and then she did actually sit down with us and help us after we created the plan we talked to her about it and she told us that what we did good or not. The endgame of the walkout was to get the school and the principal attention that they need teachers. She described a teacher that she felt was on her side was again, Mr. Rogers. She stated that he wrote her a letter of recommendation in applying to college. She described that the seniors don’t have Algebra II and that haven’t had teacher all year. She thinks that hired a teacher for the Algebra II, but she doesn’t like him. She expressed that he is very arrogant and doesn’t know how to talk to people. His name is Mr. Thomas Claire she stated that the teacher was Caucasian. She stated, “When I was in his Calculus class at the beginning of the school year, but I switched out because he. Like every time I would ask him for help with the.. .with the math or whatever. I feel like we are behind in math.. .but if I'm asking for help you should help me. But he would be like don't you already know this?” And continues to say, 59 “And then, I've talked to the administration about it a lot. And the problems still exist. So, I switched out. The problem still exists now which is why a lot of kids are having trouble in all of his classes because he just got the Algebra II class, I think, that they didn't have a teacher, so he just got that class.” Claire noted that there’s been many teachers that she felt were not her side. One of the teacher was Mrs. Wood. The same teacher who previous taught Algebra II. Although, she did express, she wants her back because they need a teacher to teach the class, but overall, she found the teacher annoying. The teacher who is Caucasian and female. She stated, “I felt like she’s out to get me. Yeah because a lot of the time when the class is talking or somebody in the class is talking she...she won't be trying to talk to me. But she would be like...Claire...Claire...get out or whatever. And I'm like What? What did I do? A lot of the time.” She continues to state that, “I felt discourage, when I'm at school and felt like a little worthless, you know.” I asked how did manage the classroom? She stated, “She didn’t,” and continued stated the feeling of the classroom. She stated, “Most definitely chaotic. A lot of the students would talk a lot in her class. We barely got through lessons. Even though she had good lessons. But, we barely through lessons.” She described that Mrs. Wood had good lessons, but could barely get through a lesson, because students didn’t listen or pay attention to her. I asked her how her rules enforced, she noted that “I mean she...she would call 217 that's what we would call it when they have problems, here. That's like they like bring security down or something, but I feel 60 like for the most part kids just didn’t listen unless. They don’t like kicking kids out of class here.. .1 think it’s good and bad, because I think its preventing people from learning which why it’s bad. But its good because its making sure that people, are, that your trying to get people get an education. I feel that get people to stand by the door. That usually quiet glass if the teacher doesn't know hot control the class.” She did feel the rules were fair to her. I asked why? She stated, “It depends on what it is. But for the most part no. If there is let's say a football player that got in trouble. They do push-ups. But if it's a girl that got into trouble, they would get suspended or get sent home.” She also made a point that these types of events occur a lot at McCylmonds High. I asked: how did that make her feel? She stated awkwardly, “That the school doesn’t value girls as much as they value boys. Like they think that the football team is more important than any other sport or club and this school.” And continues in stating that it has been addressed. The data suggest that gender and sexism seemingly to be a contributing factor in shaping the relationships between her and her teachers Such as, both Christina and Claire had hard trouble stating a teacher whom they felt was on her side, which could mean that they both don’t feel that any teacher at McClymonds High is on their side. For example, Claire stated that Mrs. Katt was on her side due to the walkout. Mrs. Katt is also Black and female. Gender could possibly be a favorable factor in both their desire to learn. Such as having positive female role model they can lean on for support in life and also in school. Christina stated that Mrs. Katt has been on her side due to talking her about her personal problems and encourage with her school work. Related to sexism, Claire expressed that 61 been favoritism regarding disciplinary treatment regarding the males at McClymonds High. Although, Claire and Christina stated that Mr. Rogers has helped them academically. Such as, Mr. Roger wrote college letter recommendation for Claire and pushed Christina to be in his AP History class. Claire has had negative experiences and events with Caucasian teachers. This could suggest that race does contribute in shaping the relationship between her teachers. I asked, does she feel comfortable with a teacher who has the same racial/ethnic identity as her. She stated, “I feel like I have a better connection with most of the teachers that identify as black. But, I feel like a learn either setting. But I do feel like the classes that we're in if it is a white teacher I feel like the other kids react differently towards a teacher that is white or Latino or anything. Then they react in the classes were the teachers black you know because I feel like they more black teachers know how to control class or even we had a lot of Yemeni teachers a couple Yemeni teachers a few years ago and they knew how to control the classes is really based off the teacher and how well they managed the classroom.” I moved forward and asked does it make you more interested in school. She said no and stated, “I feel like the classes where I where the classes are being managed properly. For instance, Mr. Rogers class he knows how to hold a space knows how to make sure that the class is quiet when it needs to be or the discussions are valuable to whatever we're doing. And I feel like that is what really drives the class and makes me want to come to his class because I feel like we're putting the input in. We're actually getting an education. But when it's not like that in the classroom we're just most classes here. It doesn't really make me want to.” 62 From what I gather from Claire’s interview, race seems to be unclear if race plays a role Claire’s her self-esteem and attitudes towards school. Even though, most of her teacher’s that stated she have been Caucasian. But seems to be clear, there is most seems that a definitely teacher’s management issues and seems to be a recurrence of teachers leaving McClymonds High School. Conclusion It is unclear if race or the racial background of teachers plays a role for Chris, Christina or even Claire. Both Christina and Claire both stated that Mrs. Katt whom they felt were on their side. Such as, Christina expressed Mrs. Katt is the person who she could talk about her problems. And Claire stated how she helped senior students with the walkout that occurred at the school. Chris expressed how Mr. Rogers was is like a teacher/father figure to him. Overall, what does seem clear is that gender could be positive contributor in all three African- American participants self-esteem and attitudes towards school at McClymonds High School, which could have a positive impact on their academic achievement. Although, when I asked about Chris’s GPA, he stated it was 2.6. Christina and Claire were GPA were both above a 3.0. 63 Latino/a American High School Participants Tucker Tucker is Salvadorian and Guatemalan, who is nineteen years old in the 12th grade. I asked him, what is your biggest goal in life? His response was to graduate high school and going college. Most of his family members haven’t graduate high school or never went to college. His mother dropped out of high school because she was pregnant with his older brother. His father had drop out of elementary. His also noted that his big brother is only person to graduate high school and college. Also, Tucker and his brother are next in graduating high school at McClymonds High. He deeply expressed that parents will be very happy because three out their family will go to high school. He used live in San Francisco, CA, currently lives in West Oakland, CA. He also expressed that he wants to play soccer professionally. He also stated if couldn’t play soccer professionally, he would be an engineer. Tucker described race as, “...is like people who are from different countries that has respect of their own. And how find their own with other people.. .And of course trying fit in with other people.” I asked does he racial define himself? He stated, “People think I am Mexican cause the way I speak... I am actually Salvadorian and Guatemalan and that's what I am. I do not like to be compared no Mexican. I just want to be compared to 64 Salvadorian and Guatemalan because that’s it where my parents are from.” I continued by asking when was first time you realized you racially different from others? “Um...Well the first time I felt different from others is when I was in elementary school. I didn’t really fit in with other people, because of their skin. I always thought, I am better off with people who are kinda like my race. We speak Spanish and having a better communication with sports, reading, language anything. I did make a lot of friends who are mostly spent like Hispanic...like Hispanics and Mexicans, Salvadorians, and Guatemalans, but at the other point of time I need to make myself a difference.” I began to ask, has there been a time where he observed or experienced racism. He noted that he was working at AT&T Park in San Francisco. His job was to sell tickets. He expressed that two Caucasian males were following and harassing him He stated that two Caucasian males were stating “this is where mostly Latino’s work. This is where your kind works at an endless job with no other future.” I moved forward in asking, when was the first time you realized someone was racially or ethnically different from you. Tucker described a situation where he had a friend from his church who had father who is white. Tucker expressed that his mother is either from Chile or Panama. “...I was like that's not your dad and he's was like that is my dad. I am half white. I was like ‘What?’ I have never seen a white person come to a Latino Church before ever in my life and this guy. And this guy has been, it's four months has been the leader of a group on Sunday school church. The guy learned Spanish within 3 months. That's like the first ever white person I've ever seen come to my church. He comes to church every day and he's like made a big difference in his life especially from us, cause I never seen I never seen a white person ever speak Spanish or I will come to our church before.” 65 The data suggests the factors that seem to contribute him be racially aware is the memories he had in elementary school and attending his Sunday school church. Such as noticing he was racially different from others at early age and also figuring out he befriend someone who half Latino and half White. Also, when he experienced racism. The data suggests is that he gravitates to individuals who speak Spanish, his native language, which overall can be a predictor in Chris’s desire to learn in school and attitudes towards school. Tucker views himself as “a kid, who trying to graduate high school, going to college, help his parents. And trying to play baseball when it's like play baseball in the majors one day. If I had the opportunity to do that that would be like the person I am...” Also, he stated, “I think people view me as this kid got something in his future. But not as baseball player or soccer player, basketball player or even engineer. I think, most people I’ll just be working at a restaurant probably washing dishes or something. Or making food that's what we will probably look at me as of right now.” The data suggest that he endure a lot of stereotypical perceptions of him. It also suggests how thinks he portrayed by his teachers in school. I asked, “how does that make him feel?” His stated, “I feel kind of disappointed and kind of angry, cause you know how cause you know how people always say like we like people always have to support you like no matter what no matter what your goal is how ridiculous your goal is they have to support you no matter what like if you want to be a baseball player alright you go play baseball at least see how it goes you don't keep people like talk behind your back like all. This kid wants to be a baseball player, he has no chance of making it.” I then asked his attitudes towards school, he stated, 66 “Um...it’s kinda half. Half I like and half I don’t like. The reason is because I can just get out the house and just walked out. I supposed to be here that I always like. Like learning history, doing science and course in like chemicals and other stuff. I also like that I am here cause of friends and other people. What I don't like is how students act up acting class. You know mess around with other students. Or disrupting the classroom, starting fights and stuff, that's like how I like school and how I don't have to go just don't like school.” I asked, “How do you think you are viewed by the teachers,” he stated, “Of course, the teachers always say that you have the potential to do something in life, but becoming an engineer or becoming an athlete, becoming a fashion model or designer and of course every teacher wants everyone to succeed in their classroom to become something in life.” The data suggests that he has been racially stereotyped specifically by people who don’t speak Spanish or people who don’t share the same Latino culture as him. The data also, suggests that he gravitates to individuals who speak Spanish, which could be a predictor in Tucker’s desire to learn. Such as, when I asked him when has ever had teacher who was or was not his side. He couldn’t recall. Since the school has mainly has African American teachers. It could suggest that this overall factor contributes to having favorable attitudes towards a teacher and desire to learn is having a teacher who speaks Spanish. It is unclear if race does not contribute in shaping the relationships between Tucker’s teachers. But what it is clear is that language seems to be an important factor in Tucker’s self-esteem and his attitudes towards school. For example, when I asked how does it feel when a teacher is the same race as you? He quickly started talking about his Spanish teacher. 67 “It makes me feel alright. Like if she has other students, if she trying to explain something. Like she fully understands. She can ask me and my brother to what she is trying to say. I mean she speaks English, but she wants the whole class to speak Spanish. Of course, my brother and I help’s out the teacher to say it in English. Then we help the students who want to say it in Spanish.” I then asked why he does he a takes Spanish class? Tucker noted, “Um...When I was kid...I used to talk Spanish a lot. Of course, I will be around my friends, my parents. They all speak Spanish but ever since I moved out here in Oakland, it made a little difference and that point. I just instantly stop talking in Spanish and now I like I start remembering less...less words about Spanish and talking into it like it takes me a minute to think about what I'm going to say before I say it.” I then moved forwards and asked, “how does you feel when teacher is not the same as you?” He said, “Umm. I don’t know. I just feel. Like how I be with the Spanish teacher I'm just like helpful and stuff and trying to help people and other stuff.” Overall, these quotes suggest that a teacher’s racial background does seem to contribute to be Tucker’s self-esteem and attitudes towards school at McClymonds High School. But, having a teacher where they both share the same language may be contributing factor in his self esteem and attitudes towards learning. Kelly Kelly is Mexican American female and in the 9th grade. She is fifteen years old. She also defines herself as Latino. She stated, “So, I think of myself as Latino because like 68 my parents are both from Mexico and I do speak the language. I do know some part of my culture. So, I feel like I'm really more till like Latino.” Kelly and her family currently live in West Oakland. She has 10-year old sister. Kelly expressed, “Me and my mom have a pretty strong relationship. I can tell her everything that happened in school...” Her mother is a housekeeper. Her mother tried to come to the United States two times. Once she came for the third time, she had to work at least three jobs to support family in the U.S. and in the Mexico. She expressed, “...she was like a janitor, a housekeeper and I think she was like fiying something or she was like cooking or something. She barely slept at all....” Her father works in construction. He currently lives in Texas. She describes, “My father was not like with me and my sister for like half our lives. So, he left when I was.. .seven or eight. He wants to get with us like in a good relationship but like it's hard because he lived lives like in Texas and we're here in Oakland. So, it's like really hard, he tries to come for the summer. Last year he was like here for a month in the summer with him to Texas and to see our grandmother and stuff.” Kelly and her sister seems to have positive relationship with her younger sister. She noted, “we really talk to each other and we get along. We argue and stuff, like we can get over it like really easily.” The super power she loved to have is mind-control. She stated, “One reason is like if I am a failing a class.. .1 can just like control the teacher to put me in A or something.” Her biggest goal in life is to become a lawyer and wants to work in criminal law. The reason is because they once came to McClymonds High and expressed that she was impressed at the work that they do. The things that are most important to her is her family, education and phone. Her favorite subjects are Ethnic Studies, Algebra, 69 Music and Computer Science. She noted that she has to take two English classes. She described “...I speak English and Spanish and then it gets complicated.” Kelly defines race as “people who are different than you. Like people who speak different languages or come from different places.” I asked, “Walk me through a time where you realize the first time you realize that you were Latino or Mexican?” She explained how she used to live East Oakland and her neighborhood would have a street fair on their block. She described, “.. .Like cause they're all like from like certain like parts of like Mexico so they really bring out there like traditions and stuff...” I then asked her, “what was the messages that she got from race?” She described that, “One message that I learned about race that some people like their race better than others.” She emphasized that about how she, herself, experienced racism. The event involved her and her mother ordering food. She continued to say, “So, me and my mom we were waiting in line to order food and because my mom doesn't like speak fully but English words, like my mom was taking her time and like looking at the menu and...like there was like a couple guys behind us and they're like ‘speak English if you don't know English go back to your country cause like you don't belong here.’” I asked, “how did that you feel?” “...I felt really angry because like we come here to like provided for our families we come here till I get away from things...I was really upset because nobody should like bring another person down even because we were like taking too long like my mother like she was ordering food like calm down it's just food it's like not you're not going to die from it.” 70 She noted that when she was attending an all speaking Spanish elementary school, there students who were Asian American. She expressed that this was the first time she met someone and notice that their racially/ethnically different from her. I asked to describe an event involving relationship with a person of a different race or ethnicity. Her response was, “My teachers, they're all different races by teachers my teachers. I have Black teachers, white teachers, that’s it ” I curiously asked, “what is your relationship with other teachers?” She empathized that she gets along with all her teachers except her English teacher and the reason is because she doesn’t teach well. She did not state the teacher’s racial background. I asked why the teacher does not teacher well? Kelly stated, “She's always late and then we always get into the different classrooms and then she likes get mad when were not at the door like we're not going to be standing there at the door for like the whole 30 minutes and not doing anything and then like she.. .she tries to explain it like she's like messes up when she's explaining it so it's not like we don't get all the information like the assignments are due like the next day when she just gave it to us but I can't really time in enough time to do it.” Kelly’s interview suggests the factors that contributed her being racial/consciousness was celebrating her Mexican culture with her family and friends. Also, it suggests that this event with her family and friends was the turning point that she self-acknowledged that she was Mexican American. When I asked about the food, Kelly stated, “So, my grandma cause my grandma will normally like she will bring out like this container fill of bonche. It’s like punch, but with all types of food in it and stuff like its hot. So, in those normally like in like December or like when it's like raining and 71 stuff like she bought it out because like a remind my Mom of her like home and like where they used to live. So, like my grandma brought it out and then my mom started like telling me stories about... like when she was in Mexico...” The other factor that contributed to her racial awareness is memories from elementary school and she befriended students who were Asian American. This incident occurred when she first realized or notice that she was racial from others. Kelly stated, “So, the thing is I used to go all speaking Spanish school. But the teacher spoke English, like things like they came into their class and they're like and they spoke a different language and I realize that oh so they're not they're not they don't speak Spanish so like all the kids...it was like couple new students. Like they came into our class and they spoke a different language. I realized that.. .oh.. .there not.. .they don’t speak Spanish. It’s different, it’s not different race...” Overall, these incidents suggest that she is racial aware because being surrounded by culture, such as friends and family, but also the memories she had from elementary school. Describing a teacher whom she felt was on her side. She stated was in the 8th grade. She described a substitute teacher, whom held a class for students, who mainly had students who had IEP’s who had to finish their homework or homework they may have missed. Kelly described, “...She was there...helped me like not to like be afraid of to ask the teachers were like missing assignments she had my back before the week is done...” Eventually she got the opportunity to finish the assignments. The teacher racial/ethnic background was White Hispanic. Kelly was only in her class three times. During time there, Kelly described that class atmosphere to be pretty quiet. She stated, “...It was pretty cool cause she helped on assignments that we need to get done...” I asked how the teacher managed the classroom, Kelly stated, “If we were talking, she would tell us to be quiet...” 72 She also explained if student misbehaved they would have sent out of class or sent to the school’s office. She noted that the rules enforcement seemed fair to her. Regarding a teacher whom she felt was not on her side was in middle school. Kelly had a project that was due, but she missed a couple days of school. Since she had IEP, she had extensions, but the issue was that her current another teacher didn’t grant her extension. The teacher didn’t believe, even though she had the IEP forms. Eventually she got the extension. Kelly didn’t state her name. Kelly stated that the racial background was Caucasian. She described the classroom was not loud, but not quiet either. She also noted that she tried to manage and enforce rules the classroom as best as she could, but students were being disruptive. Such as students were throwing pencils etc. The data above suggest that race is unclear if race plays a role in shaping the relationships, regarding Kelly interviews. Kelly stated that the reason why she IEP is because it’s hard to balance the English and Spanish language. I asked hypothetically if having a teacher same race as her, she explained that if that happened to her, she most likely can’t be playing around in class. Such as, Kelly described when she was ten years old, she got in trouble with mother because she was playing around in class. Her teacher spoke Spanish and told her mother. This could suggest that language could be predicator or contributor in Kelly’s self-esteem and attitudes towards school. 73 Conclusion It is unclear if race or the racial background of teachers seem to play a role in Tucker’s and Kelly’s interviews. Such as, if it plays role in their self-esteem and attitudes towards learning. Although, in Tucker’s and Kelly’s interview language seems to be a recurring factor. Tucker and Kelly didn’t not express where they felt was or was not their side at McClymonds. Tucker seemed adamant about student’s learning Spanish and he failed his English class. Also, Kelly expressed that she has get IEP because it hard for her juggle two languages at McClymonds High School. Tucker also expressed that he has trouble with his Spanish too. The data suggests that having a teacher who speaks Spanish could be a major contributor for Tucker’s and Kelly’s self-esteem and positively affect their attitudes towards, which furthermore could impact their academic achievement in school. 74 CHAPTER FIVE Conclusion This study has explored the various aspects to how African American and Latino American and its’ impact on their self-esteem, attitude towards school and overall how they view their own education. Although, racial/ethnic identity is dire, the personal issues and struggles has made an impact on participants in the study, but it did not restrain them from wanting to learning and academically succeed in school. This study has indicated that are several other factors that has impacted their identity and their self-efficacy in going and completing high school. Such as culture, language, gender, family/friends, media, interests/hobbies and the environment in school. Regarding their environment in school, one student, Claire expressed her frustration with the treatment with the faculty and administration at McClymonds High School. For example, teacher’s being absent, and along way student’s failing classes. It is unclear, that the racial/ethnic background of their teachers has any direct impact on African and Latino American high student’s self-esteem and attitudes towards school, more so their academic achievement. But what it is clear is that African and Latino American high school students just simply want to believe in their educational goals. They simply just want a teacher that believes in their abilities and skills in school, but most of all in life. This chapter serves as conclusion to my study. The chapter will do 1) summary of all chapters in study 2) discussion of findings 3) implications of practice 4) The recommendations for further research and 5) Conclusion. 75 Summary The previous chapters serve’s that racial and ethnic identity could play a role in the educational experiences of African and Latino American students at McClymonds High School. The student demographics in the United States public schools are majority students of color (U.S. Department of Education, 2016, p. 1). And Latino Americans students have the highest dropout rates than other racial group in the United States (Fergus, E., Noguera, P., & Martin, M, 2014, p. 2). Morris (2016) noted that, “... Black students’ academic performance is more directly linked to their relationships with teachers, which may be problem white counterparts, resulting interactions with teachers are ‘characterized as by more criticism and less supportive” (p. 38). By stating this, United States need qualified teachers who express compassion and fill the educational needs to African and Latino American students. But, to all students as well. Chapter two discusses the literature related to my study. The first section discusses there is a strong correlation between racial/ethnic identity and self-esteem. The second section notes that there been little studies to confirm that there is direct impact racial/ethnic identity to African and Latino Americans academic achievement. This third section emphases the importance of African American and Latino/a-American teachers using cultural relevance teaching methods and strategies into their curriculum. These methods 76 can be beneficial for teachers teaching in the classroom and students of color to have positive self-esteem and positively change their attitudes towards school. Chapter three discussed the research tools and the approach I used to obtain my data in my study. This chapter discusses the procedure phases, the sample criteria, illuminates the rationale for interview questions and classroom observations in the study. Chapter four discusses the results to the give in-depth interviews and classroom observations. Five high school students were interview. The high schoolers were: 1 African American male, 2 African American females, and 1 Latino male, and 1 Latino female. All the youth participants names have changed for the protection and privacy of the participants in this study. The participants names are Chris, Tucker, Christina, Kelly, and Hannah (see table 1.1). All participants in the study has shown that (1) education and/or graduating high school is deeply important to them. Men expressed going into sports as career path, as for women expressed helping or giving back to the community. (2) They have experienced and/or observed racism; but it has not stopped them from wanting to complete their high school education and onward. (3) All participants have shown that they don’t really care or give much thought about the teacher’s racial background. Overall, participants expressed that they want a teacher who is consistent, knows the proper ways of teaching, and emphasize and care for them in their personal lives, as well as their educational endeavors. I observed two classrooms. The racial background of these teachers was African American; one male and one female teacher. One major theme that was presented in my observation 77 data is that they did not directly tie cultural relevance into their curriculum and also never directed their topics about race or racial topics in their class session. Discussion of Findings All the research questions were answered appropriately from the participants interviews and with embeddedness with two classroom observations. The research questions are (1) What factors contribute to African and Latino American students' racial awareness/ consciousness? (2) What factors contribute to African American and Latino- American students to have favorable attitudes to their specific skin color or racial/ethnic background and how does this affect their desire to learn? (3) How does race contribute to shaping the relationships between teachers of colors/white teachers and their African and Latino American high school students? And last (4) In what ways does the teacher's race contribute to African and Latino American high school students' self-esteem and attitudes towards school? The results will be discussed in next paragraph. Research Question #1 Results Regarding research question one (What factors contribute to African and Latino American students' racial awareness/consciousness?). The factors, (1) African/Latino American students view their own racial/ethnic identity. (2) African/Latino American 78 students views on racism. (3) African/Latino American students views on racial difference. The three major themes that participants shown was (1) They always knew they were Black/African and/or Latino/Hispanic American or notice to learn was in elementary school. (2) They have experienced or observed racism in their lives. And (3) Participants knew that they were racially different from others was either in preschool/elementary school or couldn’t remember or recall. Also, many students had relations with teacher, friends, girlfriends of different races. The factor that seemed to contribute to African and Latino American high school students (at McClymonds High School) racial awareness/consciousness was when they observed or experienced racism. Although, the male participants have experienced/observed racism, they didn’t seem to bother them as much as for the female participants in the study. Overall, each youth participants had varied perceptions and definitions in defining race and/or ethnicity. Many participants define race as racial categories or different people who speak or look different than others. Participants (I interviewed) who were African American racially defined themselves as Black or African American and Participants who were Latino American ethnically identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino. Research Question #2 Results Regarding the second research question (“What factors contribute to African American and Latino-American students to have favorable attitudes to their specific skin 79 color or racial/ethnic background and how does this affect their desire to learn?”). The factors, (1) African and Latino American high school students perceive themselves. (2) African and Latino American high school students feel distinguished by their school and teachers. The four major themes that participants shown was (1) all participants in the study perceived themselves in a positive light and believed there were smart in interviews. For example, Most African American female adolescences view themselves as intelligent. Kelly view herself as proud Hispanic woman. Tucker expressed that kid just trying to graduate college. (2) Regarding being perceived by others, there are subtle nuances that have been judged by others. For example, many participants stated, “I hope people view me as...” Kelly stated, “I feel like the world use anybody different than them as someone who's not worth it so they're like not worth their time they're not worth anything.” There is an undertone in participants responses. (3) Female participants at one time felt uncomfortable in their skin tone while all male participants in the study did not. Such as, Claire spoke how she felt uncomfortable in skin tone, when she was in Thailand and she offered skin lightening cream. Also, she felt uncomfortable in skin tone when she surrounded around Caucasian peopled. Also, Kelly felt uncomfortable in skin tone while she was in elementary school and she noticed that she was darker than her classmates. (4) Participants both liked and disliked school, such as they expressed that school feels like obligation or choir. In other words, they weren’t eager to go to school. Overall, participants identify themselves, very positively, but when asking how they are view by others, there is an undertone response in participants interviews. The underdone is that maybe they have 80 been negatively judged, but overall it has not clouded there willing to learn and graduate high school and go to college. Research Question #3 Results The third research question, (how does race contribute to shape the relationships between teachers of colors and white teachers and their African and Latino American high school students?) This question was based on classroom observations and participants interviews. The class observation form was based on these four factors: (1) Teacher's approach to the classroom, (2) Teacher's Discipline, (3) Teachers or students mentions race: and (4) Teacher helping students. The four themes that was shown in the classroom observations, the two teachers: 1) had two different and distinct approaches to their classroom. For example, Mr. Rogers was empathetic, and Mr. Wilson was more laidback to their classrooms. (2) Regards to disciplining or having trouble disciplining their students, if there was any conflict, they would call 217 and police guards would come to the classroom and students would have talk to the principal. (3) Teachers and students did not bring up race or racial topics in the classroom. (4) The two teachers helped each student’s in the classroom. Also, teachers did not embed cultural relevance in their classroom sessions. More so, race and racial topics were not discussed in Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Wilson classrooms. 81 Concerning classroom observations, racial/ethnic topics, racial/ethnic identity and cultural relevance were not brought in the class at McClymonds. It is left to bring speculation to what if? Would students be more engaged or not? Would it change their attitudes towards school? Would they be eager to be in class? Often times, I would see students roam the classrooms, not wanting to be in class. Although, students in Mr. Roger class seem to be very engaged in his class rather than in Mr. Wilson class. In Mrs. Wilson class, the students seem to very chaotic and not eager or engaged to be in their classes. The six factors that factored into the research question was (1) students in the classroom feel cared or not cared for; (2) student behavior is managed to enable learning; (3) students receive support and scaffolding; (4) students experience a challenging work environment; (5) students invested in classroom learning; (6) students and feedback by their teachers. The themes that was shown in participants interview were: (1) Most of the participants (at McClymonds) that spoke highly of were one teacher, Mr. Rogers, but really felt more comfortable in talking about Katt, the school’s office assistant. Both Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Katt are African Americans. (2) Teachers that participants felt were uncomfortable were both African American and Caucasian. Participants spoke very well of Mr. Rogers, Chris noted Mr. Rogers helped with him with his depression, Claire noted that he wrote a recommendation for applying to college universities, and Christina noted that Mr. Rogers pushed her to AP History class. In Claire’s interview, she illuminated that there’s been series of teacher leaving and students are left empty classroom. Also, Claire expressed two Caucasian teachers who she felt uncomfortable. Although, the previous 82 middle school teacher that Chris spoke about was Caucasian and she helped him with reading. It is unclear if race is a contributor in shaping the relationships between teachers and students at McClymonds, more so their self-esteem and attitudes towards school, which could affect their academic achievement in school. Research Question #4 Results The fourth research question (in what ways does the teacher's race contribute to African and Latino American high school students' self-esteem and attitudes towards school?) The question was based on three factors and are broken down into (1) Students view their academic selves (2) Students' interests in school about classroom factors. (3) Discipline and Punishment in schools. Claire’s expressed that there is recurrence of teachers leaving the McClymonds High. Claire’s interview established that been series teacher’s leaving the school. All the teacher were Caucasian women. But, when I asked the question, would they feel comfortable if their teacher shared the same racially/ethnically identity. Christina noted that she doesn’t think about it, Kelly noted that couldn’t be messing around, and Claire said she probably be more comfortable. But she quickly noted that it wouldn’t make her want to learn. She just wants a teacher, who know how’s to teach, has compassion, but also believes her, regarding her personal and educational goals. Due the data in research, it is unclear if race contributes to African American high school self esteem or change African and Latino American attitudes towards school. But what is clear, 83 African and Latino students at McClymonds High School simply wants a teacher who knows how to teach. In other words, there is dire need of qualified teachers who won’t abandon them. Also, it seems participants in the study are not getting the emotional support from parents, which can explain to why Claire and Christina are so close to Mrs. Katt. Christina noted that, “Mrs. Katt has always been there. I can always go to her when I have a problem. And she would be the adult I need to consult I my problems.” This quote could suggest that she is not getting the emotional support from her parents. This overall could play into self-esteem and attitudes towards school. Also, while interviewing, there were some questions they did not understand. Such as 1) how do you see yourself racially/ethnically? 2)what was the first time you realize someone was racially/or ethnically different from you? 3) how do you view yourself? 4) tell me your first experience about race? Based on the data, all participants in the study talked more about their internal problems, conflicts and rather than how they view their racial/ethnic identity. For example, Chris felt very comfortable and relief just have someone to talk to about how he was bullied, his depression and his struggle with his sexuality and his dyslexia. Another, Claire felt comfortable to talk about this tumultuous relationship with her father. It seems what contributes to African and Latino American high school students' self-esteem and attitudes towards school is if they feel loved, supported, and if someone believes in their personal and educational upbringings. In chapter two “Literature Review” the three areas of discipline were, first the purpose of self-esteem plays a role in racial/ethnic identity. Second, the relationship 84 between racial and ethnic identity with academic achievement. And third cultural relevance can be used in the classroom setting. The results were somewhat similar, but also contradictory to the literature review in the thesis. Regarding towards the topic self-esteem; Shobhna Joshi and Rekha Srivastava (2009) study to illuminate that 1) female scored higher than a male student regarding academic achievement 2) male students had higher self-esteem than female students, 3) Urban student scored higher than rural students in regarding academic achievement (p. 36 - 37). These results were similar to the data of the participants in my study. For example, Claire and Kelly at one point in their life felt uncomfortable in their skin tone, (which relates to having low self-esteem). While male participants have never felt uncomfortable in their skin tone in the study. All female participants have at least 3.0 or above GPA, while Chris has 2.7 GPA. Also, Tucker expressed that he failed his English course and had to take APEX. Tucker noted “Apex is a classroom where students failed. Like other classes, either their freshman year or sophomore year. Like I failed English 1, my first year right now I'm in his classroom, I’m taking it and you know trying to complete the whole thing, so I can be like as soon as I finish it I can get out of that class room in just wait till second period.” Also, the results showed that participants do have positive racial/ethnic identity about themselves. For example, every time I asked the question, how do you see or view yourself. All participants inserted their racial or ethnic background with positive characteristics about themselves. Another, towards racial/ethnic identity and achievement, Altschul, Oyserman, and By bee (2006) studied showed that racial/ethnic identity does not have a direct impact on the academic achievement. In my study, I couldn’t find any results 85 that academic achievement is tied to racial/ethnic identity. The area of focus was only on racial/ethnic identity and its effects on self-esteem and attitudes towards school. But, the root of self-esteem is left to suggest that is more than just exploring at racial/ethnic identity only. In other words, the root of academic achievement could be affected by internal and external aspects depending on the individual. Such as, there are many aspects and affect to one’s academic achievement in school. It different from person to person. I could not compare or contrast regarding the topic over cultural relevance teachings in the classroom because none of the teachers at McClymonds High school did not exhibit any cultural relevance teachings in their classrooms. Implications of Practice Teachers at McClymonds High School did not display any cultural relevance in their teachings style or methods in their classrooms. I highly recommended teachers to use cultural relevance in their classroom curriculum. The student population in the United States public schools are becoming a majority of students of color. Racial/ethnic topics needs to be addressed in the classroom setting, which can be beneficial in helping African, and Latino American and other students of color view themselves, i.e., their self-esteem. There is a high correlation between self-esteem and racial/ethnic identity. Aryana, (2010) established that having a positive self-esteem, it can lead to higher academic achievement (p. 2474). Having students of color to feel good about their racial/ethnic identity, which could encourage and engage them to want to be in the classroom and most of all in school. 86 The way teacher’s exhibit their teaching to their students can make positive learning environment in the classroom. Billings (2009) writes, "This focus is important because it minimizes the tendency to reduce the research findings to individual idiosyncrasies and to suggest a ‘cult of personality,' explanation for effective teaching" (Ladson-Billings, Gloria, 2009, p. 14). Also, I suggest teachers to show care and warmth towards there students. The data showed that racial/ethnic identity is important, but there more to the picture. Such as, there are many factors that have contributed to participants identity, such as their issues related to their family background. From the interviews, participants expressed that they want a teacher who cares and believes in their education prospects. Chris mention how he spoke to him while dealing his depression. Also, Claire expressed that he wrote a recommendation letter for college. Regarding to classroom observations, Mr. Rogers did not exhibit any cultural relevance teaching methods, but exhibited real life scenarios to make students engaged in the classroom. Being a teacher is a demanding and stressful job occupation. This information is not meant to be negative criticism; but could be a useful method for all teachers to use cultural relevance teachings in the classroom. I stress that teacher’s workforce and all school institutions in the United States to put forth racial and ethnic identity topics into their classroom curriculum. It could positively impact African and Latino Americans educational future. 87 Recommendation for Further Research The goal of this study was to figure out how African and Latino American students view their racial/ethnic identity and how if it might affect self-esteem and attitudes towards school at McClymonds High School. Moreover, to figure out if racial and ethnic identity plays a role in the educational experiences of African and Latino American students. Data was assembled that particular question. The findings were significant, but there many limitations in the study, such as there are more characteristics to one one’s identity and how it might affect their educational experiences at school. Especially for African and Latino/a American students (ages 14-17) at McClymonds High School. The study did not expect how identity can vary from external and internal situations from school and outside of school. The study should have considered more aspects to one’s personal identity. Next, I obtain my data at McCymonds high school. The student population was mostly African Americans and had very few Latino American students. The reason I chose this particular school is because due to the limited amount of time, it was the only place that would allow me to do my research. The study should of focus on taking a school, where the school’s demographics were more proportionate or balanced. The study did not use White, Asian, and Asian Pacific Islander Americans, and American Indian as participants. Further research should be considered because it would be very enlightening and influential to know what these racial groups view their racial/ethnic identity or if they play their overall personal identity. If so, how does it play into their educational experiences in school, such as their self-esteem and attitudes towards school. 88 It is unclear that race is a contributor in shaping the relationships with their teachers at McClymonds High. 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New York University Press, Orders and Customer Service, 838 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY. Witherspoon, K. M., Speight, S. L., & Thomas, A. J. (1997). Racial identity attitudes, school achievement, and academic self-efficacy among African American high school students. Journal of black psychology, 23(4), 344-357. 94 Appendix I Definition of Key Terms: • Academic Achievement: Academic achievement of a student is the ability of the student to study and remember facts and being able to communicate his knowledge orally or in written form even in an examination condition. (Kpolovie, P. J., Joe, A. I., & Okoto, T, 2014, p. 73). • Academic Success: The term ‘academic success’ is only slightly narrower with the nuanced descriptor ‘academic’ intended to limit the term’s application to the attainment of outcomes specific to educational experiences (York, 2015, p.l). • African/Black American: a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa (Rastogi, S. Tallese D. Johnson, Elizabeth M. Hoeffel, and Malcolm P. Drewery, Jr., 2011, p. 2). • Attitudes towards school: students reactions to learning tasks, classroom instructions or overall educational experience at their appropriate schools. • Bilingual: When a person speaks two languages fluently. • Cultural Relevant/Cultural relevant teaching refers to teaching and using student culture to maintain it and to transcend the adverse effects of the dominant culture (Gloria Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 19). • Ethnicity: a person’s membership to a group, who has a joint ancestral heritage (Bernal, & Knight, 1993, p. 197) • Ethnic Identity: The term ethnic identity is the involvement in the cultural practices and activities, which tied to the ethnic group, positive or feeling of belonging to specific group (Belgrave and Allison, 2009, p. 207). • Latino/a/Hispanic: The terms Latino and Hispanic have been used interchangeably to describe a diverse group of people and individuals (Carter, 2005, p. 3). But there are stereotypical assumptions towards the use of the word Hispanic, such as Hispanic means someone who speaks Spanish or shares Spanish heritage 95 (Carter, 2005, p. 2). Johnson (1998) noted that although Latinos/as speak Spanish, that does not ascertain their ethnicity (p. 163) and can cause someone to make a false understanding that he/she is about to forge an identity alliance (Carter 2005, p, 2). This brings over to the topic of language and ethnicity (which are or not connected) can create an unfaithful identity alliance (Carter, 2005, p. 3). • Race: largely the sociopolitical accretion of past intergroup contracts and struggles, which establish the boundaries and thus the identities of victors and vanquished, of dominant and subordinate groups, o f‘us’ and ‘them,’ which their attendant conceits of superiority and inferiority and invidious taxonomies of social worth and stigma. (Cobas, J. A., Duany, J., & Feagin, J. R., 2015, p. 15-16.) • Racial Identity: "refers to a sense of group or collective identity based on one's perception that he or she shares a common heritage with a particular racial group," (Helms, 1993, p. 3). • Self-Esteem: A person’s evaluation of one's worth or self. 96 Appendix II Interview Questions: R#l: What factors contribute to African and Latino American students’ racial awareness/ consciousness? 1. How do you define race? 2. How do you define yourself racially? 3. Walk me through a time where you realized for the first time that you were (Fill in the Blank). 4. What messages did you learn from that first experience about race? 5. Walk me through an event or situation where you have experienced or observed racism. How did that make you feel? 6. When was the first time you met someone and realized they were racially different from you? How did that make you feel? What was their racial background? 7. Can you about an event/situation in dealing or having a relationship with any person of different race than you. It can be your friends in or outside school, teachers, people from their neighborhood. R#2: What factors contribute to African American and Latino-American students to have favorable attitudes to their specific skin color or racial/ethnic background and how does this affect their desire to learn? 8. How do you view yourself? / How do you feel about the way you are viewed in the world? 9. Walk me through a time where you felt uncomfortable with your skin tone. 10. What is your attitude towards school? Do you like school? Why or why not? 11. Do you see yourself as smart? Why or Why not? 12. How do you feel/think you are viewed by teacher? R#3: How does race contribute to shaping the relationships between teachers of colors/white teachers and their African and Latino/a American high school students? 97 13. Describe a time where you felt your time where you felt a teacher was on your side? a. What was the race of the teacher? b. How does your teacher manage the classroom? c. Describe the teacher and feeling of the classroom: It is chaotic/busy d. How are the rules enforced? e. Do the regulations/disciplinary rules seem fair you? 14. Describe a time where you felt your time where you felt a teacher was not on your teacher was on your side? a. What was the race of the teacher? b. How does your teacher manage the classroom? c. Describe the teacher and feeling of the classroom: It is chaotic/busy d. How are the rules enforced? e. Do the regulations/disciplinary rules seem fair you? R#4: In what ways does the teacher’s race contribute to African and Latino/a American high school students’ self-esteem and attitudes towards school? 15. Do you feel different in classroom where your racial/ethnic identity is the same as your teacher or different than you? How and Why? a. How does that make you feel? Does it have more interested in school? 98 Appendix III Classroom Observation Form Teacher’s name: Class Subject: Number of students: Number classes per week: Age/School year of students: Time/Date in the classroom: Factors: Notes 1. Teacher’s approach to the classroom: • How is the classroom set-up? • Group work between students? • What language do the teacher’s use to answer the student questions? • What are the instructions in the class? • What is on the walls? (Look at the culture, inclusiveness, and racial identities. 99 2. Teacher’s/ Administrative Discipline • How does the teacher’s discipline the students? o By giving them stars o Tallies o Write their name on the white board o Warnings? • How does the school Administrative/staff discipline the students? o Are their police at the school? o Metal detectors? 3. Teacher/Student mentions race: • Patterns to how the teacher interacts with each student. • Student’ interaction with teacher. • Teacher treatment of students. • Do teachers reflect on race in the classroom? • Is race/racism even talked about in class? If so, how? When the student mentions race, what does the teacher do? 100 4. Teacher Helping students: • How does the teacher encourage students? • How does the teacher support every student in the classroom? • Which student does she seem helping the most? • Which student does the teacher seem to have the most trouble helping the most in the classroom? 101 Appendix IV San Francisco State University Informed Consent to Participate in Research Study on the African and Latino/a American Students: Racial/Ethnic Identity, Self esteem and Attitudes towards School A. PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND The purpose of this research is to explain the relative influences of racial/ethnic identity, self-esteem, and attitudes towards school on the academic performances of African and Latino American high school students in the Bay Area, California. The researcher, Meredyth W. Floyd, is a graduate student at San Francisco State University conducting research for a master’s degree thesis at the college of Ethnic Studies. You are being asked to participate in this study because you are an African and/or Latino/a American ages from 14 to 17 years old. B. PROCEDURES a. Procedure for participants: i. The anticipation is January to May 2018 ii. Parents will receive informed consent/assent form with information on the study procedures and their rights for their child to participate. iii. Parents will have a chance to respond to the researcher with questions, have time to decide whether they want their children to participate, and then respond to the researcher with their decision. iv. Participant and researcher will meet between 3:00pm to 5:00pm at the school they currently attend. This will be in-person interview. If parents decide to participate, they will be asked to provide signed (Child’s) consent on their informed consent/assent form (Appendix A and Appendix C). Then bring the form and their child to the interview. b. Before the interview starts: children will do an in-depth interview, adults will have another chance to ask the researcher any questions, voice any concerns and look over any specific. Adults will be aware by now (through the email 102 and informed consent/assent form) that the interview will be audio-recorded on my phone. c. The researcher will begin the interview by starting audio recording and asking questions. The researcher and participant will talk through the questions for 60 - 75 minutes. d. At the end of the interview, the researcher will stop the audio recording. The researcher will remind the adults that all identifiers from the interview will be made anonymous, and the participant will have a chance to review the transcription before publication. i. The participant(s) are free to leave the room. C. RISKS Risks for participants (14-17 years old) include the potential loss of privacy, possible psychological risk such as anxiety, stress, depression, and uncomfortable emotions such as anger, fear, sadness or discomfort. I will lessen this risk by emphasizing during the interview that participants have the option to share as little or as much as they feel comfortable. When approaching potentially difficult questions, I will also emphasize the participant consent to move forward. They have the option to not answer or move on to a different question. If the discomfort risk is high, provide the subjects with a list of referrals for mental health resources and attach this resource sheet researcher’s file. Only the researcher will have access to the data. At the end of the study, data will be deleted after 5 to 6 years. D. CONFIDENTIALITY Confidentiality of the data will be protected. All research data will be stored in the researcher’s device with full disk encryption and password-protection. Audio recordings will be destroyed after transcripts are made. Data from transcriptions will be retained for further analysis, but all identifiers will be removed. I will use will use synonyms names for each participant. Participants will be assured in the informed consent that data will only be used for studies that are consistent with the original research process. Participants can review and edit the transcripts prior to publication. Data will be deleted after 5 to 6 years. E. DIRECT BENEFITS There will be no direct benefits to the participant. F. COSTS There will be no cost to you for participating in this research. 103 G. COMPENSATION There will be no compensation for participating in this research. H. ALTERNATIVES There is no alternative to participate. I. QUESTIONS If you have any further questions about the study, you may contact the researcher by email at [email protected], or you may contact committee chair Professor Dr. Shawn Ginwright, Phd by calling (415: 338-6236) or (510-282-7799) or [email protected]. J. CONSCENT You have been given a copy of this consent form to keep. PARTICIPATION IN THIS RESEARCH IS VOLUNTARY. You are free to decline to participate in this research, or to withdraw your participation at any point, without penalty. Your decision whether or not to participate in this research will have no influence on your present or future status at San Francisco State University. Signature______Date:_____ Research Participant Signature Date: 104 San Francisco State University Parental Permission for a Minor to Participate in Research Study on the African and Latino/a American Students: Racial/Ethnic Identity, Self esteem and Attitudes towards School A. PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND My name is Meredyth W. Floyd. I am a graduate student at San Francisco State University Ethnic Studies Department and I am conducting a research case study about how do African and Latino American high school students view their own education. In other words, the relative influences of racial/ethnic identity, self-esteem, and attitudes towards school on the academic performances of African and Latino American high school students in the Bay Area, California. I am inviting your child to take part in the research because he/she a student in high school. B. PROCEDURES 1. Procedure for interviews process: a. The anticipation: January 2018 to May 2018. 2. Before the interview process a. Parents will receive informed consent and assent forms (appendix A and Appendix C). These two forms have information about the research study, the research procedures and the rights of their child regarding their participation in the study. b. Parents will have a chance to respond to the researcher with questions, have time to decide whether they want their children to participate, and then respond to the researcher with their appropriate decision. c. Participant and researcher will set up location and time to interview. This will be in-person/face to face interview. d. Once the parents/students have voluntarily agreed to be a part of the research, they will have to sign two agreement forms. The forms are informed consent form and assent form (Appendix A and Appendix C). These forms are to protect the interviewer and the participants (and the participant parent/guardian) involved in the research. Then, the parent(s) and the interviewer will schedule their appropriate time to meet on the timesheet. The timesheet will specifically have the place and time to meet. The interview process will occur after school. 3. During the Interview process: 105 a. For each interview process, it will take about 60-75 minutes. Students/parents will arrive promptly to the time that the interviewer (me) both agreed upon. Participants (with their parents) will meet in private room (at the participant school). b. Parents will drop off their child and have choice to wait inside or outside the interviewer room. They can also leave and come back when the interview process is over. c. The interviewer and the participant will sit face to face. I will ask a series of sixteen (semi-structure/opened ended) interview in-depth questions. d. The participants will answer each question honestly and participant’s voices will be transcribed and recorded for research purposes. While the participants are telling their stories with the appropriate questions, I will write down notes on their facial expressions, body language on a note pad. Each participant will answer each question, (which is based on their own event/situations that they have experienced or witnessed in their lives). 4. After the Interview process: e. Once the interview is over/done, the participants are free to leave the room with their parent or guardian. f. After, the interview process takes place, on my personal computer; I will code their experiences into 2-3 major themes that I see fit in my transcribed notes. C. RISKS Risks for participants (14-17 years old) include the potential loss of privacy, possible psychological risk such as anxiety, stress, depression, and uncomfortable emotions such as anger, fear, sadness or discomfort. I will lessen this risk by emphasizing during the interview that participants have the option to share as little or as much as they feel comfortable. When approaching potentially difficult questions, I will also emphasize the participant consent to move forward. They have the option to not answer or move on to a different question. If the discomfort risk is high, provide the subjects with a list of referrals for mental health resources and attach this resource sheet researcher’s file. Only the researcher will have access to the data. At the end of the study, data will be deleted after 5 to 6 years. D. CONFIDENTIALITY 106 Confidentiality of the data will be protected. All research data will be stored in the researcher’s device with full disk encryption and password-protection. Audio recordings will be destroyed after transcripts are made. Data from transcriptions will be retained for further analysis, but all identifiers will be removed. I will use will use synonyms names for each participant. Participants will be assured in the informed consent that data will only be used for studies that are consistent with the original research process. Participants can review and edit the transcripts prior to publication. Data will be deleted after 5 to 6 years. E. DIRECT BENEFITS There are no direct benefits for your child’s participation in this project. F. COSTS There will be no costs for your child’s participation in this project. G. COMPENSATION There will be no compensation for participation in this project. H. ALTERNATIVES The alternative is not to participate. I. QUESTIONS If you have any further questions about the study, you may contact the researcher by email at [email protected], or you may contact Professor Shawn Ginwright, Phd by calling (415: 338-6236) (510-282-7799) or [email protected]. Questions about your child’s rights as a study participant, or comments or complaints about the study also may be addressed to Human and Animal Protections at San Francisco State University, at 415-338-1093 or [email protected]. J. CONSENT You have been given a copy of this consent form to keep. 107 PARTICIPATION IN THIS RESEARCH IS VOLUNTARY. You are free to decline to have your child participate in this research. You may withdraw your child’s participation at any point without penalty. Your decision whether or not to participate in this research will have no influence on your or your child’s present or future status at San Francisco State University. Child’s Name Signature Date _ Parent/Guardian Signature ______Date Researcher 108 San Francisco State University Assent to Participate in Research Purpose of Research My name is Meredyth Floyd. I am a graduate student at San Francisco State University and I am conducting a research study about the relative influences of racial/ethnic identity, self-esteem, and attitudes towards school on the academic performances of African and Latino American high school students in the Bay Area, California. I am inviting you to take part in this research because he/she a student in high school. Research Procedures If you agree to participate, I will interview you two appropriate times and they will occur between 3:00pm to 5:00pm at the school you currently attend. The interview will take about 60 - 75 minutes, and I will audiotape (on my own phone) the interview to make sure I understand what you have said. If I need to clarify your statements, I will contact you after the interview by your parent’s phone or email. Risks The only risk to you is a possible loss of privacy. To protect your privacy, I will keep the audiotapes and transcripts of the interviews in a locked cabinet in a secure location to ensure the confidentiality of the data. I will not use your name or any other identifying information in the research reports. After 5 to 6 years, I will destroy the audiotapes, and will remove all identifying information from transcripts of the tapes. Benefits There is no direct benefit to you for taking part in the research. However, we hope that what we And may inform educators and administrators about students’ perceptions of the exit exam. Costs and Compensation There will be no costs to you other than your time and any personal transportation costs. You will not be paid for participation. 109 You have been given a copy of this consent to keep. If you have any questions about the research you may contact the researcher at [email protected]. sfsu.edu. or you may contact my advisor, Professor Shawn Ginwright, at [email protected]. or Human and Animal Protections at [email protected] or 415-338-1093. Please note that participation in research is voluntary. You may answer only those questions you want to answer, and you may stop participating at any point in the process with no penalty. Participant’s Name___ Participants Signature Date Researcher’s Signature Date 110 Appendix V Monday, December 11th, 2017 Office of Human and Animal Protections (OHAP) San Francisco State University 471 Administration Building 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132 To the Office of Human and Animal Protections, Meredyth Floyd has the permission of Oakland Unified School District: McClymonds High School to recruit subjects and/or conduct research for her study on the African and Latino/a American Students: Racial/Ethnic Identity, Self-esteem and Attitudes towards School through San Francisco State University: College of Ethnic Studies. The details of this study have been explained to us and we support the research. Please contact me for any further questions by email [email protected] or by phone at 510-238-8607 Sincerely, Principal Jarod Scott I ll Appendix VI Recruiting Script Hello, my name is Meredyth Floyd. I am a graduate student at SFSU in the Ethnic Studies Department. I am conducting research on the relative influences of racial/ethnic identity, self-esteem, and attitudes towards school on the academic performances of African and Latino/a American high school students (14-17) in the Bay Area, California. Participation in this research includes taking an in-depth (open-ended) interview questions. This process will take about 60-75 minutes. The interview questions are followed by four sections. The first section: your racial awareness/consciousness. The second section: your attitudes and desire to learn. The third section: relationships and attitudes towards your teachers. And the last section: attitudes about/towards school. If you have any questions or would like to participate in the research, I can be reached at (510)666-7429 and [email protected].