Perceptions of Academic Achievement and Educational Opportunities Among Black and African American Youth
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Perceptions of Academic Achievement and Educational Opportunities Among Black and African American Youth Jason St. Mary1 · Molly Calhoun2 · Jacqueline Tejada1 · Jeffrey M. Jenson1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract Research focusing on disparities in academic achievement among Black, African American, and other youth has largely examined differences in quantitative risk and protective factors associated with levels of achievement. Few interpretive studies of academic achievement by race or ethnicity have considered how the context of young people’s lives impact their perceptions of academic performance. Furthermore, the lived experiences of Black and African American youth have rarely been considered. This study examined perceptions of academic achievement among a sample of Black and African American elementary and middle school students living in four public housing neighborhoods in a Western US city. Twenty-five Black and African American youth participated in the study. Fourteen youth were in grades 4 and 5, and 11 youth were in grades 6, 7, or 8. Sixty-four percent of participants (n = 16) were male and 36% (n = 9) were female. Four themes emerged regarding participants’ perceptions of academic achievement: (1) (in)equity and the internalization of messages; (2) teachers as gatekeepers; (3) family and community factors promoting and inhibiting academic success; and (4) cultural considerations—language, stereotypes, and difference. Implications for improving academic outcomes and reducing the achievement gap among Black, African American, and other students are noted. Keywords Academic achievement · Public housing · Qualitative methods · Children and youth · Black and African American students
Introduction Black and African American students have historically encountered significant barriers to receiving an equitable and high-quality education (Diemer, Marchand, McKellar, & Malanchuk, 2016; Wiggan, 2008), although there are considerable gaps in the research in understanding the mechanisms impacting success. Throughout the last several decades, Black and African American students are reported to underperform in academic settings, and research often focuses on racial disparities in education outcomes, rather than taking context, such as community and family, into consideration (O’Connor, Lewis, & Mueller, 2007). * Jacqueline Tejada [email protected] Jason St. Mary [email protected] 1
University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
2
Unfortunately, research targeting outcomes has failed to offer successful initiatives for improving academic progress for Black and African American students (O’Connor et al., 2007). These barriers include enrollment in underachieving schools, limited community resources, poverty, and the lack of prosocial and economic opportunities (Patton, Wooley, & Hong, 2012) Consequently, many Black and African American students have underperformed on standard measures of academic achievement, su
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