African American student achievement and the historically Black University: the role of student engagement

Abstract

Student engagement is associated with a variety of positive outcomes, including student achievement, satisfaction, and persistence to degree completion. While previous research has demonstrated a positive relationship between student engagement and learning outcomes within individual courses, the literature has yet to investigate this relationship at a historically Black college or university (HBCU). The theory of intercultural effort suggests that minority students must put forth additional effort in to their studies in order to succeed in an academic environment that favors students from the majority race or culture, such as what is commonly observed at predominantly white universities. In contrast, African American students who attend HBCUs may benefit from a campus climate that is sensitive to their needs and culture of origin. Thus, the present study examined the role of student engagement for predicting student achievement among an African American undergraduate sample from a HBCU (N = 241). Using each student’s final grade in a psychology course, a regression model predicted student achievement (R2 = .265, p < .001), and student engagement remained significant over-and-above the effect of student demographic variables. These findings highlight the importance of improving African American students’ perceptions about their ability to succeed academically, suggesting that African American students who consistently put effort in to their course and believed that they could succeed did indeed perform higher than their peers. Other significant predictors of student achievement included student age, gender, and the number of years that they had attended college. Limitations and future directions are discussed.