How Teachers and Schools Contribute to Racial Differences in the Realization of Academic Potential

2012 ◽  
Vol 114 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Wildhagen
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
White Students ◽  
African American Students ◽  
School Level ◽  
Racial Gap ◽  
American Students ◽  
Academic Potential

Background/Context The fulfillment of academic potential is an underdeveloped area of inquiry as it relates to explaining racial differences in academic outcomes. Examining this issue is important for addressing not only differences in the typical outcomes for African American and White students but also the severe underrepresentation of African American students among the highest achieving students. Whereas other studies have operationalized lost academic potential as unfulfilled expectations for educational attainment, this study takes a different approach, measuring whether students earn higher or lower grades than the grades predicted by earlier tests of academic skills. Students whose grades are equal to or exceed those predicted by their earlier test scores are said to have fulfilled their academic potential, whereas those whose grades are lower than predicted have not realized their potential. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study finds that African American high school students are less likely than their White peers to realize their academic potential. The analyses test several explanations for the racial gap in the realization of academic potential, focusing on the students themselves, their teachers, and their schools. Research Design This study uses hierarchical linear modeling to analyze data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002. Conclusions/Recommendations The results suggest that teachers perceive African American students as exerting less classroom effort than White students, which accounts for a substantial proportion of the racial gap in unrealized academic potential, even with several student characteristics held constant. At the school level, there are larger racial gaps in unrealized academic potential in segregated schools and schools with strict disciplinary climates. Strikingly, the negative effect of strict disciplinary climate exists net of students’ own receipt of disciplinary actions. That is, the negative association between strict disciplinary climate and the realization of academic potential for African American students applies to African American students regardless of whether they themselves have been in trouble at school. This study reveals that characteristics of schools that lack immediately obvious racial implications, such as a school's approach to student discipline, may be just as harmful as overtly racialized inequality within and between schools.

Social Distance Evaluations in White and African-American Students

1995 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 478-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lee Hoxter ◽  
David Lester
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
African American ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
White Students ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
African American Students ◽  
The Other ◽  
African American Adults ◽  
American Students

Among 241 college students, both white and African-American adults were less willing to be personal friends with people of the other ethnic group than with people of their own ethnic group. African-American students were also less willing to be friends with Asian Americans than were white students.

African-American Student Perceptions of Predominately White Campuses: The Importance of Institutional Characteristics Relating to Racial Climate

2003 ◽  
Vol os-20 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda T. King ◽  
Thomas E. Ford
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
White Students ◽  
African American Students ◽  
African American Student ◽  
Institutional Characteristics ◽  
Racial Climate ◽  
Campus Environment ◽  
Predominately White ◽  
American Students

The Campus Climate Survey was developed to identify the institutional characteristics of predominately white colleges or universities (PWCUs) that African-American students perceive as important predictors of the quality of the campus environment. We examined whether African-American and White students differentially consider institutional characteristics relating to racial climate to evaluate the campus environment. The survey was administered to 131 African-American and 247 White high school seniors and college students. Results suggest that African-Americans were especially attuned to racial climate characteristics. Furthermore, these racial climate characteristics are uniquely important for African-American students: they mattered to them but not to Whites. Indeed, the general institutional characteristics (non-racial climate related) were more important for determining social comfort for White students.

Segregation, Desegregation, and Resegregation in Cincinnati: The Perspective of an African American Principal

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lionel H. Brown ◽  
Gulbahar H. Beckett ◽  
Kelvin S. Beckett
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
African American ◽  
White Students ◽  
African American Students ◽  
School Funding ◽  
Board Of Education ◽  
Teacher Qualifications ◽  
Black Schools ◽  
American Students ◽  
Black School

Recent research on Brown v. Board of Education has emphasized continuing disparities in the education of White and African American students. This research has used the failure of desegregation to account for persisting gaps in White and Black school funding, teacher qualifications, and student achievement. But the current focus on the failure of desegregation has overshadowed an equally significant but underreported success in the area of improving education for African American students. According to the most recent findings on student achievement, for example, the gaps between African American and White students are again narrowing, in some cases approaching zero. The present article shows that the failure of desegregation is not the only, nor is it likely to prove to be the most enduring, legacy of Brown. At the same time that desegregation was being resisted and ultimately reversed in Cincinnati, as elsewhere, Brown was inspiring an emphasis on quality education that resulted in two of the city's worst-performing Black schools’ being transformed into schools of excellence.

Depression and Suicidal Ideation in African-American and Hispanic American High School Students

1992 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 618-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lester ◽  
Denise Anderson
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
African American ◽  
High School Students ◽  
New Jersey ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
African American Students ◽  
Hispanic American ◽  
Hispanic American Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
American Students

21 Hispanic American students in an urban New Jersey high school obtained higher depression and suicidal ideation scores than 42 African-American students.

scholarly journals Teachers' beliefs about ability to engage African-American students and identify for advanced placement through the lens of the Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Survey and the Rand Measure

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Eric C. Sr. Greely
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
African American ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Teacher Efficacy ◽  
Advanced Placement ◽  
African American Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
American Students ◽  
American Children ◽  
Advanced Placement Classes

A fundamental right of American children is to have equal opportunities to obtain a quality education regardless of race, class, or economic status. College graduates are less likely to live in poverty and more likely to have greater earning potential. High school students enrolling in rigorous coursework, like Advanced Placement classes, are better prepared for college. Using the instruments of the Ohio Teacher Efficacy Survey and the Rand Measure, this study found that having a rigorous curriculum and avoiding deficit thinking matters in recommending African-American students' to Advanced Placement classes. Race and ethnicity should not be used as a limitation. Educators must recognize the diversity that each student contributes to the classroom. Additionally, this research revealed that what high school teachers believe about their students' capabilities does influence the success of the students. Teachers who teach Advanced Placement courses have to believe all students can learn, regardless of condition, status, race or economic opportunities.

Closing the Gap: A Group Counseling Approach to Improve Test Performance of African-American Students

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2156759X0901200
Author(s):  
Angelia M. Bruce ◽  
Yvette Q. Getch ◽  
Jolie Ziomek-Daigle
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
White Students ◽  
Group Counseling ◽  
African American Students ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Pass Rate ◽  
Pass Rates ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
American Students ◽  
Passing Scores

This article evaluated the impact of a group counseling intervention on African-American students’ achievement rates during the spring administration of high-stakes testing at a rural high school in Georgia. Eighty percent ofeligible students who participated in the intervention received passing scores on the four sections tested during the spring administration of the Georgia High School Graduation Tests (GHSGT), and all participating students received passing scores on the English Language Arts and Math sections of the GHSGT. Additionally, the achievement gap between African-American students and White students on the Enhanced Math narrowed during the 2007-2008 testing period, with 63.2% of African-American students achieving pass rates as compared to 70.5% of White students. The pass rate increased from the 38.7% pass rate among African-American students from the previous school year, indicating that the intervention was successful in improving pass rates on high-stakes testing. Implications for professional school counselors include utilizing the practice of group counseling and disaggregating data to promote achievement among underachieving student subsets.

Disproportional representation of minorities in special education

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann S. Maydosz
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
African American ◽  
African American Students ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
School Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Identification Process ◽  
American Students ◽  
Special Education Identification ◽  
Disproportional Representation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a brief exploration of the disproportional representation of African American students in special education with a focus on addressing racial bias in the identification process at the school level. Design/methodology/approach – This inquiry was conducted through a literature search of data and extant literature on school-level remedies to disproportional representation, particularly bias in the process of special education identification. Findings – While racial bias in any process remains difficult to expose, it cannot be eliminated as a contributing factor in the disproportional representation of African American students in special education. This review will acquaint the reader with competing explanations and proposed remedies. Originality/value – Critics have proposed that the disproportional representation of African American students in special education and in discipline statistics has become a way to segregate minority students, therefore an exploration of this practice merits concern.

The Traits of “Good Teachers” as Identified by African-American and White Students with Emotional and/or Behavioral Disorders

1998 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Mcintyre ◽  
Juan Battle
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Behavioral Disorders ◽  
White Students ◽  
Behavior Management ◽  
African American Students ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Instructional Skills ◽  
American Students

The responses of 209 youngsters in 11 programs for students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (E/BD) were examined regarding their perceptions of four trait categories of so-called good teachers: Personality Traits, Respectful Treatment of Students, Behavior Management Practices, and Instructional Skills. Results demonstrated that African-American students perceived Personality Traits and Respectful Treatment of Students as being more important than their white counterparts; females felt that all four of the trait configurations were more important than their male counterparts felt they were; and as the age of students increased, each of the four trait configurations was viewed as being less important. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

A Review of Los Angeles Unified Data Following the OCR Compliance Investigation

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (8) ◽  
pp. 1051-1073 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Robert ◽  
Nathern S. A. Okilwa
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
White Students ◽  
African American Students ◽  
Performance Indicator ◽  
American Students ◽  
White Schools ◽  
American Schools

In 2011, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) conducted a compliance review of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to examine the district’s provision of resources and opportunities to schools with predominantly African American students as compared with schools with predominantly White students. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which LAUSD has responded to OCR findings. Research questions include the following: (a) How do LAUSD majority White and majority African American elementary schools compare on performance indicator variables? (b) What are the differences in teacher quality variables between majority African American and majority White schools? (c) How successful has the OCR review been to date in accomplishing the outcomes advocated for by the OCR? Findings indicate that majority African American schools continue to have significantly lower teacher and student attendance, student performance, and percentage of students identified as gifted and talented (GT). African American students also continue to experience higher rates of disciplinary incidents as compared with White students.

Ethnic Variations in Pet Attachment among Students at an American School of Veterinary Medicine

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue-Ellen Brown
Keyword(s):  
Veterinary Medicine ◽  
African American ◽  
White Students ◽  
African American Students ◽  
Background Information ◽  
American School ◽  
Pet Attachment ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
American Students ◽  
Ethnic Variations

AbstractThis study explores ethnic variations in animal companion ("pet") attachment among 133 students enrolled in a school of veterinary medicine. The 57 White and 76 African American participants completed surveys that included background information, several questions about their animal companions, and a pet attachment questionnaire (PAQ).White students had significantly higher PAQ scores than did African American students (p<.001). White students also had significantly more pets (M =4.05 vs. 2.18, p<.001) and more kinds of pets (M =2.30 vs. 1.57, p<.001) and were more likely to allow pets to sleep on their beds (70% vs. 53%, p<.05). Although keeping pets is a universal cultural phenomenon, how that attachment is expressed may vary from culture-to-culture. This study explores possible explanations and implications for these variations.

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