“I'm Trying to Beat a Stereotype”: Suburban African American Male Students’ Social Supports and Personal Resources for Success in AP English Coursework

Background African American male students attending U.S. suburban schools remain severely underrepresented in Advanced Placement (AP) programs. A number of structural barriers, including racialized tracking policies; limited referrals from educators and school counselors; conventional AP practices centered on Eurocentric curricula, literature, and pedagogies; and educators’ deficit mindsets toward Black masculinity, mitigate African American male students’ access to and success in suburban AP classrooms. Despite these sobering realities, African American male students have achieved success in AP English Language Arts coursework. Yet few researchers have investigated the multiple and complex forms of support to which African American male students attribute their successful performance in AP English coursework in suburban high schools. Purpose/Research Question In an effort to close opportunity gaps in AP English programs, the present study illuminates the social supports and personal resources that African American male students mobilized to earn exemplary grades (i.e., maintaining a grade of B- or higher, or 79.6% or higher out of 100%) in an AP English Language and Composition and/or an English Literature and Composition course, and earn a passing score on the formal AP exam (i.e., 3 or higher). Countering deficit-oriented research paradigms, we employed an anti-deficit achievement framework to (re)position young African American men as capable, motivated, and agentive learners who marshal complex supportive networks, as well as their own personal resources, to successfully learn academic literacies in AP English classrooms. Our inquiry was guided by the following research question: To what social supports and personal resources do young African American men who graduated from a suburban high school attribute their success in AP English coursework? Participants Eight young African American men who were enrolled in AP English coursework in a suburban Mid-Atlantic secondary school were the participants in this study. Participants were successful learners who received exemplary grades in an AP English class, were taught by the first author, and earned a passing score on an AP English exam. Participants’ ages ranged from 21 to 33 years, and all were attending or had graduated from a four-year college or university. Research Design The young men participated in one-on-one, in-depth interviews. Interviews probed the participants’ personal experiences in AP English, their perspectives in achieving success in the class and on the formal exam, and their recollections of the AP English curriculum, and were cross-analyzed for common sources of supports through multiple coding cycles. Findings The young men highlighted six sources of support that were integral to their AP English success. They described three sources of social supports—the wisdom, guidance, and caring that they received from family members, English teachers, and peers—that promoted their success in AP English. In addition, participants identified three types of personal resources—their own college aspirations, persistence in learning academic literacies, and racial consciousness—that inspired and motivated their high scholastic achievement in AP English. Conclusion By mobilizing the rich social supports and personal resources in their lives, African American male students have the resilience, courage, and the intelligence to enroll and succeed in AP English coursework. We suggest that suburban school administrators, school counselors, and teachers use open AP enrollment policies; work closely with and provide pertinent information to African American families; address students’ social emotional concerns; and ensure that AP English pedagogical practices are humanizing to improve the recruitment and retention of African American male students in AP English programs. Finally, we contend that educational scholars and practitioners must continue to engage in research and practice that nurture young African American male students’ social supports and personal resources for AP English success.

Promoting positive teacher-student relationships through creating a plan for Classroom Management On-boarding

Classroom management is cited as a frequent concern by many teachers. These concerns with classroom management are commonly rooted in a struggle to effectively engage students and a failure to form authentic relationships with students. Centering Culturally Relevant Pedagogy is crucial when effectively engaging and building authentic relationships with students – especially for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse students identified with Emotional Behavior Disorder (EBD). Mainly, teachers should hold a high self-efficacy of themselves and high expectations for their students, build and maintain authentic classroom communities, and demonstrate a passion for their work. Unfortunately, many teachers do not prioritize the need to be culturally responsive to their students’ families or the need to investigate their own cultural self-awareness. Additionally, these teachers often feel uninformed and ill-prepared to prioritize the aforementioned elements to successfully engage students in the classroom, as educator preparation programs often provide too little information, training, and reinforcement regarding the basics, as well as more specific strategies, of effective classroom management. Schools persistently fall short in providing an educational experience for students with EBD that leads to appropriate and desired educational outcomes due to a lack of teacher training in understanding the foundation and function of behavior, as well as how to appropriately address problematic behaviors. These shortcomings become particularly complex in classrooms with students with EBD, given the students’ multifaceted academic and social behavioral needs. Moreover, given the overrepresentation of African American males in the EBD disability category, the importance of specific cultural components cannot be ignored. Thus, when teachers do not structure their classroom culture in a manner that is Culturally Relevant, many students, especially African American male students with EBD, experience challenges meeting their goals to function properly in various environments—both in and out of the classroom. One strategy that teachers can use to improve their teaching of students with EBD is Classroom Management On-boarding (CMO-b). This paper identifies specific techniques that could guide the development of a plan for CMO-b that emphasizes the importance of the teacher-student relationship as the foundation for building a positive and effective classroom for teachers of students identified with EBD, and especially for African American male students.

I Can't Breathe

This chapter is a critical analysis using African American Male Theory (AAMT) to examine and critique the status of the African American male with an emotional disturbance in the American education complex. This chapter expands upon AAMT by applying a critical lens to various AAMT tenants. A vignette of Ahmad, a young African American male, shows the injustice endured by many African American male students. A review of literature on the mental health of African American students and equity in education provides for a rich discourse. This chapter also provides implications for further discussion and recommendations for practitioners.

Coping Power in the City: Promoting Coping in African American Male Students

This article describes efforts to adapt an adolescent version of the Coping Power program, called Coping Power in the City, for use with high school students attending an urban school district with high concentrations of students exposed to community violence and challenges related to elevated tensions between youth and police. The goal of this group-based preventive intervention is to provide a comprehensive, school-based approach to stem rates of violence, discipline problems, and related mental health concerns for adolescents. A novel feature is the integration of a school police component into the intervention model with concurrent supports for students, parents, and teachers to supplement school counseling efforts. We present an overview of the program and a rationale for its adaptation to meet the needs of African American males in urban high schools. We summarize baseline data for 514 ninth graders (46% African American males) across 10 urban high schools participating in a randomized controlled trial. We also address lessons learned and implications for school-based counseling practices for African American male students and engagement of school police officers in urban high schools.

The Promise for African American Male Students in Graduate Studies and Professional Development at Marygrove College

The recruitment of African American males into chosen professions in the United States of America is an increasing challenge at national, state, and local levels. Gender and racial disparities between teachers in this country and the students they teach are present in classrooms. This chapter examines the Marygrove College's Griot program as an initiative established to address the underrepresentation of African American males in additional designated occupations. The philosophy and heritage from which the Griot Program was developed, along with key events and decisions throughout its life span are discussed. Model African American initiatives that can help shape Griot's future as it tries to increase the recruitment, retention, and success of African American men in graduate school to assume leadership roles in human resource management, in social justice, as well as in education are also presented.