Understanding Effects of Race and Gender on Academic Achievement of Summer Scholars A34056400 August 4, 2011 TE 822

This purpose of this paper is to examine the connections between theories learned during TE 822 and real-world situations as described by high achieving, urban high school students. Specifically, I sought to gain an understanding of students perceptions about their race and how those formed racial identities influence their motivation and success in the classroom. Additionally, I wanted to compare the lived experiences of the students to class readings regarding gender implications for academic achievement.

In the first section of the paper, I explore the nature of students racial identities and compare them to covered class concepts, emphasizing the effects on motivation and achievement. In the second section, I examine ways in which the students gender may or may not present additional advantages or disadvantages to academic achievement. Throughout my discussions, I draw upon data obtained from students as well as works from D. Carter, Gayles, Sanders and others.

During this process, real-world insight was gained through in-person interviews with students participating in a Summer Scholars Program at Michigan State University. The students were divided by MSU faculty into small focus groups and assigned to Teaching Fellows. Summer Scholars are students that have been identified as high-achieving students from historically disadvantaged racial groups. The five students (three females, two males) who participated in the focus group all described themselves as African American. We met on the university campus on three separate occasions, with meetings lasting from 45 minutes to 1 hour. All students attended schools in Detroit and will enter either the 10th, 11th or 12th grade years in the fall of 2011. Pseudonyms are given in this paper for the Summer Scholars.

The Summer Scholars held very high career aspirations ranging from medical professionals to authors to computer engineers (2011, focus group interview 1). Clearly, these students held high opinions of themselves. I wanted to know what factors in their lives contributed to their sense of self-efficacy and self-confidence. When asked about their views on their race, the Scholars had no problem sharing their pride in their cultural heritage. Sharon, a particularly outgoing senior, demonstrated very strong positive racial socialization.

Im proud of my ethnicity. Looking back at so many things that we went through and things we overcame and how strong we were makes me very proud of my skin color to see that we did something like that (2011, focus group interview 3).

Many of the students in the focus group shared this view of their race. This positive racial identity resulted in increased classroom motivation of the Summer Scholars. Tamara, a junior, said, Sometimes when Im struggling on something, I think about what other people [African Americans] had to go through to make it possible for me to even be in school. It helps me (2011, focus group interview 3). By drawing on her heritage as a source of motivation, Tamara solidifies her view of African Americans as important role models that are fully capable of success. Rather than seeing achievement as acting white, the scholars saw it as a means for upward mobility, indicated by their career aspirations (Gayles, 2005).

Sanders suggests that in terms of academic achievement, students who possess both a positive racial identity and a high awareness of racial barriers are more likely to succeed (Sanders, 1997). To see if this was the case, I wanted to assess the students awareness of racial barriers.

Responding to a question about whether or not they have experienced racism in school specifically or the educational system at-large, Sharon launched into her perception of the unfairness of surrounding Detroit Public Schools.

They keep closing schools in DPS [Detroit Public Schools] and overcrowding the classes. I mean, I have had 40 kids in some of my classes. Theres no way for a teacher to get around to all those kids. They never closing schools in Troy [a suburb of Detroit] and I bet they dont have 40 kids in their classes The more African American and Latino students in an area, it seems theres a higher amount, things dont go the way they supposed to go. Like we get half educated teachers, we get lack of money, buildings that arent kept up properly. Certain areas they care more about and other areas they dont care about. [Interviewer: Whos they?] The government (2011, focus group interview 3).

These students had (at least vague) notions that structural and institutional racism was at work. Recognizing district inequities and understanding that a larger entity (government) is in control, knowledge that has been passed down from somewhere. When asked where the students learned about these issues, they responded unanimously that their families had discussed this with them. These young people had adults in their lives showing them not only that racial unfairness existed, but also how to navigate these racial barriers, which OConnor suggests is necessary for maintaining success in school and keeping a positive racial outlook (OConnor). This critical race achievement ideology (Carter, 2008) shared by the Summer Scholars, has had a positive impact on their achievement in school.

The students participating in the focus group were certainly resilient (defined as an outcome); that is, they have achieved academically in a context in which achievement is rare (Gayles, 2005). This is resiliency is particularly true regarding the young men of the focus group. Like Tariq in Carters Black Males in Middle School, the Summer Scholars described a climate in which black males are confronted head-on with the pressures of gaining social acceptance by peers and resisting the societal negative stereotypes that exist about adolescent black males (Carter, forthcoming, 2012). None of the females in the focus group indicated that peer pressure impacted them much (I imagine that if the discussion turned toward pressure to have sex, the females may have more to say). On the contrary, any comments from the females about gender related barriers to academic success were directed toward African American males specifically. For instance, Sharon saw societys stereotype of black males as non-achievers as a motivating force.

Our ethnicity is known for lowest graduation rates, so it should be on us to raise our graduation rates. As a black male, you should be like Im not gonna be one of the statistics, Im gonna graduate from high school, Im gonna graduate from college. Try to be better than what they say (2011, focus group interview 3).

Here, Sharon, like the other students in the focus group, demonstrates a prove-them-wrong mentality that she finds motivates her to do well in school (Sanders, 1997). Samson, the younger

of the two males in the focus group, had a different perspective. He said that its easier said than done for a lot of black males (2011, focus group interview 3). He had much to say about the pressures of a maladaptive (to educational success) lifestyle, People get pressured to do things they may or may not want to do. Once you push people so far, they might break and not take it anymore, so theyll do it [educationally maladaptive behavior] to get everyone off their back (2011, focus group interview 3). So while he recognizes that he has embraced a prove-themwrong attitude, social pressures targeting males in urban environments often prevent academic achievement. Another student, Tamara, shared that while she and her brother had nearly identical upbringings, he encountered far more social pressure to conform and act hard, something she said she never had to deal with; as a result, he struggled academically in ways that she did not (2011, focus group interview 1).

I saw many connections between the lived experiences of the Summer Scholars focus group and concepts discussed during TE 822. Based on their responses, the Scholars possessed not only a positive racial identity, but also a moderate to high degree of awareness of racial barriers. Research suggests that these factors can lead to higher rates of achievement, especially in situations where achievement is atypical and these students were examples of that. I was not surprised to learn that urban males face many pressures to participate in activities that are maladaptive to their educational success. This is evidenced by the fact that less than fifty percent of African American males do not complete high school right here in Michigan (Carter, forthcoming, 2012). I know that my experience with the Scholars, and this course in general, will help me to work to reverse these trends. Helping students foster a positive racial identity

and develop explicit tools to help them navigate this racist world we live in will be a primary goal of mine, one that will encourage educational achievement.

References

Carter, D. J. (2008). Achievement as resistance: The development of a critical race achievement ideology among Black achievers. Harvard Educational Review, 78(3), 466-497.

Carter Andrews, D. J. (forthcoming, 2012). Black males in middle school: Third class citizens in a first class society. In J. Luke Wood, T. Kenyatta Jones, and S. Harper (Eds.), African American males in education: Considerations throughout the P-20 pipeline. Information Age Press. Focus Group Interview 1. (2011). Michigan State University College of Education. High School Summer Scholars Program. Focus Group Interview 3. (2011). Michigan State University College of Education. High School Summer Scholars Program. Gayles, G. (2005). Playing the Game and Paying the Price: Academic Resilience among Three High-Achieving African American Males. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 250-264. OConnor, C. (1997). Dispositions toward (collective) struggle and educational resilience in the inner city: A case analysis of six African-American high school students. American Educational Research Journal, 34(4), 593-629. Sanders, M.G. (1997). Overcoming obstacles: Academic achievement as a response to racism and discrimination. The Journal of Negro Education. Winter 1997; 66, 1; Research Library Core