African American and African

Immigrant Students:
Examining the Education Gap

Kristina Alvarez, Caroline Engle, Hamedia Jemal, Hannah

Kim, JiEun Lee, Mingyang Qi
 Central Question
What aspects of a students ecological
context account for the achievement
difference between African Immigrant and
African-American Students in Seattle?
So what?
http://www.seattle.gov/DPD/cityplanning/populationdemographics/aboutseattle/raceethnicity/default.htm
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/272355/seattle-public-schools-disaggregated-student.pdf
The Problem: African
Americans & African
Immigrants Differences

The complex and sometimes tense

relationships

Lack of contact between African

Americans and African
Immigrants

Stereotypes, Fear, Misconceptions

Different beliefs http://www.seattleglobalist.com/2014/06/06/af

ricans-and-african-americans-struggle-to-rela
Whenever there was talk about the civil rights te-bound/26339
movement or slavery [in school] everyone would look
at me to see my reaction, recalls Solomon, And Id
be like I dont know, my parents are from
How is it Relevent/Worth Discussing RECAP.
Multiracial, Multiethnic
Equality and Equity & Benefit Our future
Benefitting the affected students
Decreases stigmas within and from other racial groups
Sparks conversation on improving teaching methods and
reaching a diverse group of students
 What does this look like in a comparative
context?
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/272355/seattle-public-schools-disaggregated-student.pdf
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/272355/seattle-public-schools-disaggregated-student.pdf
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/272355/seattle-public-schools-disaggregated-student.pdf
 Broken down student-achievement data by
specific home language or country of origin

Michael Tolley, an executive

director overseeing Southeast
Seattle schools, said at the
meeting that the data exposed a
new achievement gap that is
extremely, extremely
alarming (Rosenthal).

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/alarming-new-test-score-gap-discovered-in-seattle-
schools/
Our school system has not lived
up to its commitment to a
significant proportion of our
students, especially our African
American Males and other students
of color. We can do better. We must
do better (seattle public schools). http://seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/
School%20Board/Friday%20Memos/2015-16/August
%2014/20150814_FridayMemo_ClosingGapsActionPlan.pdf
Economic status
African Immigrants had the highest degree attainment among immigrants even
more than Asians (Otiko)

Black immigrants are doing better economically than Blacks born in the U.S.
Household incomes for foreign-born Blacks are, on average, $10,000 higher
than U.S.-born Blacks. And Black immigrants are less likely to live in poverty
(Otiko)

Bachelor's degree: 26 percent versus 19 percent (Otiko)

Poverty: 20 percent versus 28 percent (Otiko)

Similarities
Educational disparities due to cultural views of people of
color cause an achievement gap
Teacher quality knowledgeable professionals who
effectively meet the academic, cultural and social
needs of students
Teaching and learning structured, rigorous and culturally
responsive curriculum and instruction School and
district leadership a commitment to high
achievement for all students that intentionally guides
policies and practices
Disciplinary actions towards different ethnicity (Office of
Superintendent of Public Instruction)
African Americans are sent home more frequently
and miss more class time.
Identifiable framework : Failure
How the world sees these students affects
how students see themselves
Differences
Motivational study

Different levels of access

Language barriers

Values and beliefs

background/history

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/fyi-guy/2014/11/12/as-seattle-gets-richer-the-citys-black-households-get-poorer/
How do the different ecological systems
contribute to this achievement gap?
Microsystem
Student-Teacher relationships

African American: lack in African-Immigrant

diversity first-generation immigrant students report
having strong relationships with
National Bureau of Economic Research
teachers, but that relationship steadily
found that having a teacher of the same
deteriorates across immigrant
race increased student test scores by
generations.
about 3.5 percent (Rosenthal).Afram

Students outnumber afram teachers 3-to-1

(Rosenthal)

Rita Green, vice president of the Rainier

Beach PTSA, said teachers dont push
black students as hard as immigrant
students. (Rosenthal)
Mesosytem
Parent involvement in education
African American
The lack of parental involvement is
the biggest issue affecting black
students quality of education.
African-Immigrant
Opportunity Gap
parents are a key to closing the
opportunity gap but cultural
barriers often keep parents from
getting involved in their
childrens schools (Stuteville)
community desires to be included in
their childrens education (Stuteville)
Exosystem
cultural attitude of education
African American
African American students are
impacted by societal
perceptions far more than
africans.
Cultural values tend to be derived
from societies value of african-
american students
African Immigrant
Although some of these
immigrants have very little education,
they do what it takes to learn English,
get an education and achieve the
American dream. (Darboe)
Immigrant families from all
backgrounds tend to put a larger
emphasis on education than those
families that have been in the country
longer.(Rosenthal)
Many of those families, who often
were relatively wealthy and well-
educated in their home countries, have
strong social-support systems that
emphasize education.(Rosenthal)
Macrosystem
Assumptions & motivations

African American African Immigrant

Schools and general societal
structures have imposed a Motivation is different, When
culture of low expectations on you leave your country, you
them dating back to the days of come here to do something.
slavery. (Rosenthal) You dont come here just to
sit around and do nothing
Significant relationship between
students perception of
(Rosenthal)
performance character and
their motivation. (Robin)
 Comparability
Immigration

Societal views of students of color

May share the same color, but different cultures

Bound by history, Africans and African Americans struggle to relate

(Cowan 86)

Different language skills

Different levels of access

Differences in socioeconomic status (Bailey)

 What is Seattle doing now?
2008 - HB 2722 created an advisory committee created to address African
American students achievement gap (Washington)
its website hasnt been updated in more than a year (District News)
hope to create Multi-tiered Systems of Support that can support and challenge
every student
seeking to hire more diverse employees (Seattle)
What next?
 The biggest shifts will not come from
changing our students; rather, they must
evolve from the transformation of our
teaching practices, leadership practices and
organizational practices.
(The Case for Urgent Action.)
Works Cited Pt 1
About Seattle/ Race & Ethnicity. Department of Planning and Development. 2010. Web. 22 November 2015.

Bailey, Mona Humphries et al. A Plan to Close the Achievement Gap for African American Students. Office of Superintendent of
Public Instruction. Olympia, WA. Dec. 2008.

Brown, Frank. "Quality Education For African Americans After Parents Involved." Education & Urban Society 41.5 (2009): 519-528.
Web. 25 Nov. 2015.

Cowan, Tom and Jack Maguire. History's Milestones of African-American Higher Education. The Journal of Blacks in Higher
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Darboe, Foday. Africans and African Americans: Stereotypes and Grudges. PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal. 2.1 (2006): 48-80.

Disaggregated Students Data for 2010-2011 Important Technical Note. Seattle Public Schools. 2011. Web. 23 November 2015.

District News. Seattle Public Schools. 25 August 2014. Web. 7 December 2015.
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Estimated Graduation Rates By Race/Ethnicity, Public Schools. Kids Count Data Center. April 2015. Web. 24 November 2015.
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Mcneal, Laura R. The Re-Segregation of Public Education Now and after the End of "Brown v. Board of Education. Education and
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McNee, Allison. Challenges and Opportunities for Reducing Exclusionary Discipline in SE Seattle Public Schools. MA Thesis.
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Otiko, Manny. Survey Shows Black Immigrants Are More Educated, Make More Money than African Americans. 26 June 2015. Web.
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Works Cited Pt 3
Rivers, Natasha M. Seattle Public Schools Enrollment and Immigration. University of Washington. 2014. Web. 23 November 2015.

Robin, Stewart. "An examination of the perceptions and motivations of African American high school students regarding performance
character qualities for future success." Proquest Dissertations and Theses (2012). Web. 23 November 2015.

Rosenthal, Brian M. Alarming new test-score gap discovered in Seattle schools. 18 December 2011. Web. 25 November 2015.

Rosenthal, Brian M. Wanted in Seattle Classrooms: More Teachers of Color. The Seattle Times, 10 Feb. 2012. Web. 25 November
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Rowe, Claudia. States new data reveal school discipline rates by districts, race. The Seattle Times, 20 May 2015. Web. 24 November
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Ryan J. Davis et al. The Impact of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program on College Choice for High-achieving, Low-income
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