African American Middle School Research Articles

Sometimes I still do not see myself as a computer scientist: Negotiating a computer science identity as a Latina undergraduate and youth mentor

AbstractThis study puts forth the counternarrative of the first author Gislaine, a first-generation undergraduate student, Latina, and computer science major. Gislaine participated in a research internship and STEM mentorship program led by the second author, Meredith. Through this program, Gislaine designed and taught CS lessons to predominantly low-income, African-American middle school students over an 8-day urban summer school program. By analyzing Gislaine’s written account of her journey to CS, as well as planning documents and written reflections on her daily experiences mentoring youth, we explore how Gislaine’s intersecting social identities shape her experiences both as a CS learner and as a mentor to youth. Gislaine’s counternarrative illuminates the systems of oppression present in schools and the CS field, while also highlighting Gislaine’s transformative approaches to mentoring students in CS. Gislaine’s narratives emphasize the importance of humanizing CS and leveraging students’ strengths to promote equitable access to CS education. Through her experiences, she underscores the significance of recognizing and addressing systemic barriers, while also advocating for inclusive and empowering educational practices.

Comparison of motivational latent profiles using the PALS and AGQ-R

Given inconsistencies in the extant literature, achievement goal theory and research remain at an important crossroads, with ongoing questions about the conceptualization of achievement goals, measurement of achievement goals, and inferences made regarding achievement goal related findings. Using latent profile analysis, we explored how achievement goals vary across measures (PALS; Midgley et al., 2000 and AGQ-R; Elliot & Murayama, 2008) and domain (math vs. language arts) across a sample of primarily African American middle and high school students in the South. Main findings showed that the PALS and AGQ-R distinguish different profile goal-patterns, and that this is true across both the math and language arts domains. Not surprisingly, generally, students adopting more adaptive goal profiles (e.g., mastery or multiple) reported higher endorsement of cognitive engagement and social and academic future selves. Current findings support previous research observing disparate AGQ-R and PALS outcomes, adding evidence with domain-specific latent profiles. Given differences in profile patterns, findings suggest the instruments may be differentially tapping into goal perceptions.

Plessy’s Tracks: African American students confronting academic placement in a racially diverse school and African American community

ABSTRACT Why are most African American students in lower-track classes in racially diverse schools? How does the nexus of home, school, and community impact African Americans’ academic placement in a racially and economically diverse school district? This research used ethnographic methods to explore 38 African American middle school students’ perceptions and experiences of academic placement in a racially diverse middle school and a segregated and disinvested African American neighborhood. This research introduces the term Plessy’s Tracks to acknowledge the sustained racial caste system that manifests through lower-track classes and devalued homes and communities. Findings suggest students face multiple challenges and systemic inequalities when self-selecting classes. Also, racially segregated homes and communities have shaped racialized tracking while producing Black placemaking in homes, classrooms, and communities.

Modifying Harmful Beliefs About Academic Setbacks: An Attribution Retraining Intervention for African-American Middle School Students at Risk for Academic Failure

Ongoing reports of the achievement gap suggest the need for effective interventions that can increase motivation and academic outcomes for African-American youth. This study describes a 3-week evidence-based attribution retraining intervention designed to alter harmful beliefs associated with academic failure among African-American middle school students. Guided by attribution theory, the lessons in the intervention were designed to help students modify maladaptive attributions for academic failure and understand that positive academic outcomes could be obtained through increased preparation and effort. Participants included 64 6th graders identified as low achieving who were randomly assigned to either a treatment or wait-list control group. Results showed significant increases in adaptive attributions and decreases in maladaptive attributions for the treatment group compared to the control group. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

‘STEM girls should be’: a discourse analysis of school structures and their impact on African American, middle school girls’ positioning in science

ABSTRACT This paper explores school structure in an all-girls, predominantly African American middle class school to examine the ways in which discourses of education, race, gender, and science work to position middle school, African American girls as outside of science. Using discourse analysis, two prominent school signs are presented, a bulletin board and a classroom sign, and examined alongside excerpts from student interviews. The results indicate that being a ‘Nice Girl’ is a prerequisite for being a ‘Good Student’ and is synonymous with being a ‘STEM Girl’, potentially alienating students from viewing themselves, or wishing to be viewed by others, as a science person.

Peer sexual harassment predicts African American girls’ psychological distress and sexual experimentation

Peer sexual harassment (PSH) occurs frequently and across contexts during adolescence. The current study examined the relations among PSH in school, psychological distress, sexual experimentation, and sexual risk-taking in a sample of African American middle and high school girls. Results indicate that negative body appraisals mediated the relationship between PSH and psychological distress, suggesting that PSH is one way to operationalize interpersonal sexualization and sexual objectification. PSH was directly associated with sexual experimentation, but the association between PSH and sexual experimentation was not mediated by negative body appraisals. Neither PSH nor negative body appraisals were related to sexual risk-taking. This suggests that frequent exposure to high levels of sexualization and sexual objectification, in the form of PSH, is associated with more psychological distress and sexual experimentation, but not with sexual risk-taking, regardless of how girls feel about their bodies.

We Need a New Approach to Prevent Obesity in Low-Income Minority Populations.

* Abbreviations: COPTR — : Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment Research Consortium CPP — : community policy and program CPP-Strat — : community policy and program created to assess either nutrition or physical activity strategy GEMS — : Girls’ Health Enrichment Multi-site Studies HCS — : Healthy Communities Study In the last 2 decades, the National Institutes of Health invested in 2 major multicenter trials aimed at the prevention of obesity in high-risk populations of low-income Hispanic and African American children.1 The trials were the Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment Research Consortium (COPTR) and the Girls’ Health Enrichment Multi-site Studies (GEMS). Despite intensive, state-of-the-art, and often creative interventions conducted by seasoned investigators, all 5 of the studies considered below failed to alter the trajectory of weight gain in their participants compared with controls. In this issue of Pediatrics , Moore et al2 describe the most recent of the COPTR studies. This study, conducted in Cleveland, Ohio, is 1 of 4 randomized controlled intervention trials, 2 of which have already been published. In this trial, 360 predominantly African American middle school children (mean age 11.6 years) and their parents were randomly assigned to a HealthyChange intervention, which relied on cognitive behavioral and motivational interviewing strategies that focused on goal setting, problem solving, self-monitoring, and relapse prevention. The control group was a SystemChange intervention that sought to establish family routines, restructured to develop new healthy habits. Both interventions focused on improving diet, physical activity, sleep and stress management, and reducing sedentary behavior. Both interventions included intensive engagement through 25 small-group sessions in the first year, alternating face-to-face and individualized phone sessions in year 2, and 4 face-to-face sessions and 8 individualized phone sessions in year 3. At the end of the 3-year intervention, 90% of enrolled participants remained in the study. No significant differences were observed in annual changes of BMI, waist circumference, or triceps skinfold thickness. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed in diet, physical activity measured by accelerometry, sleep, perceived stress, or cardiometabolic factors. In 2 other COPTR studies that included randomized intensive obesity interventions in low-income, … Address correspondence to William H. Dietz, MD, PhD, Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Room 319, 950 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington, DC 20052. E-mail: bdietz{at}email.gwu.edu

The Relationships of School-Based Discrimination and Ethnic-Racial Socialization to African American Adolescents’ Achievement Outcomes

Schools provide a place of learning for adolescents and can be considered safe havens. However, in some cases, African American adolescents are subjected to discrimination by peers and teachers, which can impact their own academic engagement and abilities. Applying a risk and resilience framework, the present study examined the relationship between adolescents’ perceptions of school-based discrimination and academic outcomes in a sample of African American middle school students. Adolescents’ reports of perceived school-based discrimination and racial socialization were identified as predictors of academic outcomes (i.e., academic persistence, academic self-efficacy, and academic self-concept). The study also investigated whether racial socialization moderated the relationship between school-based discrimination and achievement outcomes. The study sample comprised 74 African American adolescents (49% female) and one of their parents. Hierarchical regressions showed that racial discrimination by peers was negatively related to academic outcomes. Furthermore, we found that dimensions of racial socialization buffered the effects of school-based discrimination on academic outcomes. Implications for the importance of investigating race-related factors in the academic outcomes of African American youth will be discussed.

Exploring the Difficulties African-American Middle School Girls Face Enacting Computational Algorithmic Thinking over three Years while Designing Games for Social Change

Computational algorithmic thinking (CAT) is the ability to design, implement, and assess the implementation of algorithms to solve a range of problems. It involves identifying and understanding a problem, articulating an algorithm or set of algorithms in the form of a solution to the problem, implementing that solution in such a way that the solution solves the problem, and evaluating the solution based on some set of criteria. CAT is an important scaffolded on-ramp as students develop more advanced computational thinking capabilities and apply computational thinking to solve problems that are more constrained and require greater expertise. Supporting Computational Algorithmic Thinking (SCAT) is both a longitudinal between-subjects research project and a free enrichment program supporting and guiding African-American middle school girls over three years as they iteratively design a set of complex games for social change. This article explores Scholars' reflections about the difficulties they faced while using CAT capabilities as they engaged in collaborative game design for social change over those three years. We particularly focus on how these difficulties changed over the course of three years as well as new difficulties that emerged from year to year as Scholars become more expert game designers and computational algorithmic thinkers.

“Everybody Have Their Own Ways of Talking”: Designing Writing Instruction That Honors Linguistic Diversity

Enacting culturally sustaining pedagogy includes supporting students’ development and use of their primary languages and dialects. A commitment to honoring linguistic diversity requires explicit attention in both instruction and assessment practices. Based on the experience of teaching a four-week summer writing class to mostly African American middle school students, the author describes instruction that was specifically designed to align with the concepts of code-meshing and constructivism, as well as an assessment that encourages the use of multiple dialects and languages. Descriptions of lesson plans are included.

Impact of Prosocial Behavioral Involvement on School Violence Perpetration Among African American Middle School and High School Students.

The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with school violence perpetration among African American youth. African American students in 7th through 12th grade (n = 7488) in schools within one Metropolitan area completed the Pride National Drug Survey. Chi square analyses revealed school violence perpetration significantly differed based on grade and prosocial behavioral involvement. Students in 7th-8th grade (54.7%) were more likely to engage in school violence in comparison to 9th-12th grade students (48.8%). Students with low prosocial behavior (52.8%) involvement were more likely than their counterparts (48.9%) to engage in school violence perpetration. Logistic regression also indicated females and 9th-12th students with low prosocial behavior involvement were significantly less likely than their counterparts to engage in school violence. Findings should be considered by health educators and prevention specialists when developing programs and efforts to prevent in school violence perpetration among African American students.

Impact of Prosocial Behavioral Involvement on School Violence Victimization Among African American Middle School and High School Students

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with school violencevictimization among African American youth. Methods: African American students in 7th through 12thgrade (n=7,488) in schools within one Metropolitan area completed the Pride National Drug Survey.Results: Chi Square analyses revealed that school violence victimization signi cantly diff ered based ongrade. Logistic regression analyses indicated that prosocial behavior involvement (i.e., do you make goodgrades; do you take part in school sports teams; do you take part in school activities; do you take part incommunity activities; do you attend church or synagogue, etc.) did not signi cantly impact school violencevictimization. Discussion: Findings should be considered by health educators and prevention specialistswhen developing programs and eff orts to prevent school violence victimization among African Americanstudents.

Youth Violence

Although research suggests gender differences in both forms and functions of aggressive behavior, there has been limited research into these types among African American early adolescents. This study examined the types and patterns of aggression in girls and boys in that group. Participants were 452 predominantly African American middle school youth (50.4% girls) aged 11 to 13 ( M = 11.97) enrolled in three urban public schools. Students were invited to participate in a school-based intervention designed to prevent aggressive and deviant behaviors. Assessments occurred pre- and post-intervention. Surveys were analyzed to identify gender differences in the levels and types of aggressive behaviors, as well as differences in predictors of aggressive behaviors. Predictors were measured at baseline; aggressive behaviors at follow-up. There were significant gender differences in types of aggressive behaviors and their predictors indicating a need to develop and implement more suitable, gender-tailored prevention and treatment approaches.

Belongingness and Pedagogy

In the present study, school belongingness was explored in the context of a mathematics classroom over the course of one academic year. In-depth interviews with eight African American middle school students and their three White teachers were conducted at two time periods. This phenomenological qualitative investigation of African American middle school girls revealed two primary themes of personal connection with their teachers and authentic pedagogy. As practitioners and researchers continue to examine the factors related to African American student achievement, empirical research should highlight the importance of teacher warmth and instructional relevance in the experiences of students of color in middle grades and secondary mathematics classes.

Best of RESPECT, Part 2

The guest editors introduce best papers on broadening participation in computing from the RESPECT'15 conference. The five articles presented here are part two of a two-part series representing research on broadening participation in computing. These articles study participation in intersectional ways, through the perceptions and experiences of African-American middle school girls, the sense of belonging in computing for LGBTQ students, the impact of a STEM scholarship and community development program for low-income and first-generation college students, a leadership development program, and how African-American women individually take leadership to enable their success in computing.

African-American Middle School Girls: Influences on Attitudes toward Computer Science

The number of women in computing is significantly lower than the number of men in the discipline, with African-American women making up an even smaller segment of this population. Related literature accredits this phenomenon to multiple sources, including background, stereotypes, discrimination, a lack of self-confidence, and a lack of self-efficacy. However, a majority of the literature fails to represent African-American females in research studies. The purpose of this study is to understand the factors that influence the attitudes of African-American middle school girls toward computer science. The results reveal that the African-American middle school girls in the sample generally have negative attitudes toward computer science. However, after participating in a computer science intervention, perceptions become more positive due to four factors: engaging in the intervention, the intervention content domain, the facilitation of performance accomplishments, and participant characteristics.

Effects of a Virtual Manipulative on Male African American Middle School Special Education Students’ Knowledge in Social Studies

Effects of a Virtual Manipulative on Male African American Middle School Special Education Students’ Knowledge in Social Studies

Psychosocial determinants of marijuana use among African American youth

ABSTRACTThis study examines the psychosocial determinants of marijuana use among youth. A total of 7,488 African American middle and high school students from 133 metropolitan private and public schools completed a survey assessing psychosocial factors associated with annual marijuana use. The PRIDE survey, a nationally recognized survey on substance use, was used to assess the frequency of marijuana use and the influence of psychosocial factors on marijuana use among African American students. Results indicated that 18.5% of African American youth used marijuana in the past year. Males were significantly more likely than females to report using marijuana. Engaging in risky behaviors, such as getting in trouble at school and with police and attending a party with alcohol and other drugs, were significantly correlated with annual marijuana use. Conversely, having multiple parent, teacher, and school protective factors reduced annual marijuana use in this population. Such findings may assist prevention specialists in developing interventions to reduce and prevent marijuana use.

Race and Belonging in School: How Anticipated and Experienced Belonging Affect Choice, Persistence, and Performance

Background/Context A sense of belonging in school is a complex construct that relies heavily on students’ perceptions of the educational environment, especially their relationships with other students. Some research suggests that a sense of belonging in school is important to all students. However, we argue that the nature and meaning of belonging in school is different for students targeted by negative racial stereotypes—such as African American, Latino/a, Native American, and some Asian American students. Our conceptual framework draws upon stigma and stereotype threat theory and, specifically, the concept of belonging uncertainty, to explore how concerns about belonging in academic contexts may have different meaning for—and thus differentially affect the academic outcomes of—White students compared with underrepresented racial and ethnic minority students. Purpose/Objective Although feelings of belonging are important to all students, there are reasons to believe that students from stigmatized racial and ethnic groups may have especially salient concerns about belonging in school because their social identities make them vulnerable to negative stereotyping and social identity threat. Three studies examined how college and middle school students’ feelings of belonging at school relate to their academic aspirations, motivation, and performance. Research Design One experiment (Study 1) and two longitudinal studies (Studies 2-3) examined the influence of belonging among students in different educational settings. Study 1 examined first year college students’ social representations of the kinds of students that comprised various majors on campus and their self-reported sense of belonging in those majors. Study 2 examined middle school students’ self-reported sense of belonging and how it related to their educational goals and efficacy. Study 3 examined college students’ belonging and its relationship to academic performance one year later. Setting The settings for the three studies varied. The setting for Study 1 was a large, urban, public university in a major Midwestern city that is racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse. The setting for Study 2 was Prince George's County, a predominantly African American, largely middle-class county near Washington, DC from which the student sample of middle school students was drawn. The setting for Study 3 was a large predominantly White “flagship” university located in a Midwest college town. Data Collection and Analysis Findings revealed that college students’ anticipated sense of belonging in various college majors was predicted by their social representations of the students that comprised those majors. Both White students and students of color anticipated more belonging in majors where they perceived their group to be represented. In Study 2, middle school students’ self-reported belonging in school predicted educational efficacy and ambitions of African American middle school students, but not of White students. Finally, in Study 3, self-reported feelings of belonging in the first weeks of college predicted second semester grades (from university transcripts) among stigmatized college students of color, but not White college students (Study 3). Taken together, we suggest a more nuanced understanding of belonging is essential to creating supportive schools for everyone.

A Health Literacy Program Using Family Health History for Young Black Rural Students: Implications for Reducing Health Disparities.

This report from the field introduces use of the U.S. Surgeon General's Family Health Portrait in an African American rural middle school population in Alabama. It is believed that use of this online tool in this population could serve as a model for addressing chronic health disparities between African Americans and Whites at an earlier age.