Black Male Students Research Articles

In Pursuit of Meaningful Relationships: How Black Males Perceive Faculty Interactions in STEM

Many studies suggest that faculty support is an important determinant in Black male student’s retention in STEM disciplines, yet few have deeply described how these dyadic bonds are formed. The current study investigates the subtle dynamics that characterize the relationships that occur between STEM faculty and Black male students. Using narrative inquiry and thematic analysis to analyze a longitudinal qualitative dataset of Black men in the sciences, several themes were most prominent. Black men shared a desire to transcend beyond “basic relationships” with faculty, eschewing superficiality and instead seeking more personal bonds. When participants perceived a change in faculty members’ behaviors, this signaled a reciprocated desire to develop more genuine relationships. Findings demonstrate the complex interplay of perceived faculty behaviors and attitudes that facilitate relationships, and affirm Black men in science courses. Implications from this study strongly urge faculty to reconsider the timing and importance of validating students, both on an individual- and departmental-level.

Overlooked Exclusionary Discipline: Examining Placement in Alternative Schools, Expulsions, and Referrals to Hearing in an Urban District

School discipline is a salient challenge in K–12 districts nationwide. The majority of prior studies have focused on suspensions with relatively little attention paid to other forms of exclusionary discipline. This mixed-methods study provides a descriptive analysis of overlooked disciplinary consequences, namely, assignment to alternative schools, expulsions, and referrals to hearing. The findings from the quantitative analysis indicate that possession of drugs, student and staff assault, and weapons-related incidents account for the majority of infractions leading to the most severe forms of exclusionary discipline. Black male students account for the largest proportion of students receiving the harshest exclusionary disciplinary consequences. The findings from the qualitative analysis reveal several challenges that policymakers in urban districts navigate regarding alternative schools, including (a) staffing and the development of professional capacity, (b) the length of the school day, (c) transportation, and (d) the choice between in-district versus third-party operation of alternative schools.

Do Foreigners Crowd Natives out of STEM Degrees and Occupations? Evidence from the US Immigration Act of 1990

This article examines effects of the US Immigration Act of 1990 on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education and labor market outcomes for native-born Americans. The Act increased the inflow and stock of foreign STEM workers in the United States, potentially altering the relative desirability of STEM fields for natives. The authors examine effects of the policy on STEM degree completion, STEM occupational choice, and employment rates separately for black and white men and women. The novel identification strategy measures exposure to foreign STEM workers of age 18 native cohorts immediately before and after the policy change via geographic dispersion of foreign-born STEM workers in 1980, which predicts subsequent foreign STEM flows. The Act affected natives in three ways: 1) black male students moved away from STEM majors; 2) white male STEM graduates moved away from STEM occupations; and 3) white female STEM graduates moved out of the workforce.

Men Passionately Pursuing Purpose (MP3): A Group Counseling Intervention for Black Male Student Athletes

ABSTRACTBlack male student athletes are at risk for over-identification with their athletic role to the detriment of their other identities. This paper describes a study that explored the meaning ascribed by high school Black male student athletes to an 8-week group counseling experience. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants after the group experience and two major themes emerged: sense of self and connection with others/brotherhood. Implications for school counselors are discussed.

Educational Social Justice in Action Through the Black Male Initiative (BMI) Program

AbstractHistorically, black male students in the United States have the lowest college degree completion rate. This chapter describes the work of The Black Male Initiative (BMI) at Empire State College in NYC. Grounded in an Afrocentric paradigm, BMI provides a safe space for students to share experiences. In this chapter, the author describes the components of BMI along with challenges and successes.

“It’s the Person, but Then the Environment, Too”: Black and Latino Males’ Narratives about Their College Successes

This study relies on in-depth interviews with 30 Black and Latino males to explore how they narrate and make meaning from their college experiences at a Hispanic Serving Institution. A good deal of public and educational discourse often supposes these students’ lack of care and concern about their educational outcomes without understanding a larger context for their experiences. In this study, I explore these Black and Latino male students’ transitions to college and their success narratives. First, investigating their transition experiences allows for an opportunity to understand the strategies they deployed upon entering college and how these early experiences matter in their aspirations and sense of self. In their transitions, I find that students primarily relied on strategies and behaviors that are focused almost solely on academic effort while also isolating themselves from the college community and precluding themselves from developing social and cultural capital on campus. Second, analyzing their narratives of success allows for understanding the various networks and resources that students call upon in their college career. My findings show that students rely on a family–community nexus, including their on-campus involvement to support their college efforts. In addition to showing how social and cultural capital matter in Black and Latino males’ college experiences, this study extends our understanding of how students strive for and achieve success in college.

A Journey Towards Equity and Diversity in the Educator Workforce

In this article, co-written by a self-identified White female professor and a self-identified Black male doctoral student, the authors address the pressing need to train and retain a teacher workforce willing and able to foster equity for students from nondominant racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. They make three arguments. First, the impact of educator work is deeply entwined with student and teacher identities as well as the cultural knowledges, histories, and experiences that students and teachers bring to classrooms. Second, professional knowledge must be interdisciplinary, drawing on a number of social science and humanities disciplines to inform practice and ongoing inquiry in practice. Third, the critical shortage of research on the interaction between individual and collective educator identities and teacher learning must be addressed. The authors conclude with a call to regroup the preparation of all educators, including special educators, to become more explicit and present in discourse about ability, race, gender, sexuality, and other identity markers. Both discourse and curricula need to represent and educate our nation’s students about the rich tapestry of diversity that manifests in multiple forms of knowledge, social, political, and intellectual capital. The teacher workforce needs to be prepared and supported to do this work.

Evaluating Africentric Violence Prevention for Adolescent Black Males in an Urban Public School: An Idiothetic Approach

Overrepresentation of Black male students among suspensions and expulsions from public schools contribute to negative psychosocial functioning. The Imani Rites of Passage program (IROP), sponsored by Family Renaissance Inc., is a time-limited Africentric intervention, designed to enhance Black male students’ life coping skills to respond more appropriately to negative situations. The study seeks to evaluate an idiothetic approach to behavior change from implementation of the IROP program in a low-income public school, comparing intervention and no-intervention groups on measures informed by the cognitive-cultural model of Black identity. After informed consent and assent, IROP participants completed online measures of Africentric socialization, individual and cultural identity, social competence, and violence risk using school lab computers, followed by 15 weekly sessions of two hours each of intervention. The hypothesis was that intervention participants (N = 20, mean age = 16.04) at posttest will exhibit greater cultural socialization, stronger racial and individual identity, greater social competence, and reduction in violence risk than no-intervention participants (N = 20, mean age = 15.42). The findings of the evaluation indicated an Africentrric socialization effect on some predictor variables associated with posttest reductions in violence risk for the intervention group. They provide partial support for hypotheses derived from the cognitive-cultural model. We conclude that (1) the IROP can be successfully implemented in a public-school setting; (2) intervention effects are partially consistent with the cognitive-cultural model of African American identity: and (3) idiographic and idiothetic approaches are more sensitive to behavior change than the normative type of data analysis.

What Matter Matters? Retaining the Critical in New Materialist Literacy Research

The field of literacy research has seen a recent surge in scholarship focusing on how matter—both human and nonhuman—comes to matter in literacy research and practice. This article explores how new materialist theories may be recruited for literacy research motivated by an anti-racist ethic. We present an illustrative intra-action analysis of a short autobiographical video produced by Malcolm, a Black male high school student, for a digital autobiography class assignment. Our analysis, informed by both new materialist and poststructuralist theories and emphasizing both discourse and materiality, produces varied interpretations of Malcolm and his literacy practices. Based on our multitheoretic analysis, we raise ethical concerns regarding analyses of racialized students’ literacy practices that emphasize materiality and affect without also retaining a critical eye toward powerful discourses of race and racism. We end with implications and recommendations for others engaging new materialisms in literacy research.

Meeting the Psychological Health & Growth Needs of Black College Students: Culture, Resonance and Resilience

ABSTRACT Under-utilization of mental health resources by Black students stands in sharp contrast to exploding demand for clinical services on campus. Review of existing literature indicates that African-Americans experience unique patterns of stress exposure throughout childhood and on predominantly White college campuses. Cultural preferences, underrepresentation of providers of color and lack of culturally relevant intervention models contribute to perpetuating college mental health disparities. Changing Minds, Changing Lives, a strength-based resilience training model, promotes healthy adaptation to college life among Black male college students in the absence of a shared socio-cultural identity between facilitators and participants. Participants report both positive psychosocial skill development and personal transformation following the 5-week, ten session CMCL academic course. Qualitative data indicate that model design factors promoting group norms of authenticity, mutuality, reciprocity and deliberate de-centering of professional authority contribute more to transformational change than facilitator identity. Group-as-a-whole mirroring and resulting cultural resonance appear to enable the model to serve as an effective psychological wellness opportunity structure for students of color during the transition to college. Implications for improving college mental health systems and better meeting the needs of students of color are discussed.

"Everybody is an Artist": Arts-based Education and Formerly Incarcerated Young Black Men's Academic and Social-Emotional Development in an Alternative School.

Although arts-based programming is shown to positively influence the development of youth exposed to adversity, little is known about the influence these programs have on formerly incarcerated emerging adult Black men enrolled in an alternative school. With educational resilience as a guiding framework, this qualitative case study explored the ways in which an arts-based program in the context of an alternative school designed for formerly incarcerated young people facilitates emerging adult Black men's academic and social-emotional development. Data collection consisted of observations and interviews with school personnel and formerly incarcerated Black male students. Analysis and interpretation included a range of inductive techniques (coding, constant comparisons, and memoing). Results indicate that offering arts-based activities fostered an environment where students could build caring and supportive relationships with peers and school personnel. Instructional practices that integrated music and poetry provided meaningful opportunities for the young men to participate, which appeared to enhance their motivation and attitudes (self, others, learning, and school) and academic self-efficacy, and lessen their psychological and emotional distress. Study findings provide insights into how an arts-based program in an alternative school can improve healthy development and academic achievement among formerly incarcerated young Black men transitioning into adulthood.

“That’s the Point of Going”: A Qualitative Inquiry Into the Experiences of Black Males at an Early College High School

Early college high schools are small schools designed to increase college and career readiness for groups underrepresented in higher education. While some research has focused on student experiences in the early college environment, few have specifically examined the perceptions of Black male students. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of Black males in an early college high school. Using a qualitative case study design, data were collected using focus groups and individual interviews. Emergent themes included students’ descriptions of their learning environment and the benefits and challenges they experienced. The results of this study provide further insight into early college high schools and how they serve their targeted population.

Unpacking the Theory of African American Offending: A Qualitative Exploration of Racial Socialization Processes and Their Effects on African American Male College Students

In 2011, Dr. James Unnever and Dr. Shaun Gabbidon introduced a Theory of African American Offending, which posits that African American offending is motivated in part by common experiences of racism. They argue that these experiences contribute to a shared worldview that includes both an accumulation of bad feelings toward pro-social institutions and legal cynicism toward the justice system, leading to decreased social bonds and a greater predilection toward delinquency. They also suggest that racial socialization can help to mitigate these effects of racism. Previous studies have found support for this idea, but few have examined the mechanisms by which racial socialization takes place. The current study uses qualitative interviews to explore the racial socialization process among a sample of Black male college students in a Midwestern public university. The findings reveal that racial socialization processes vary widely among male college students in terms of content (police contact, dating, safety), sources (parents, grandparents, peers, and other adult role models), timing, and the effect on social bonds to White-dominated institutions. Implications of the findings for the research on race, racial socialization, social problems, and criminological theory are presented and discussed.

Identifying and Supporting Black Male Students in Advanced Mathematics Courses Throughout the K-12 Pipeline

Black male students are underrepresented in advanced mathematics programs and courses. White adults and students are the primary beneficiaries of these specialized mathematics options, thereby making them White institutional spaces. There has been a call to focus on the underrepresentation of Black male students in advanced mathematics courses. This article examines the scholarly literature about Black male students’ mathematical experiences. We conclude by providing recommendations for increasing Black male students’ representation in specialized mathematics spaces and how to use the knowledge to transform their lives and community.

Dangerous Moments

The high-poverty urban school building is a prime environment for racial misunderstanding between teenagers and adults: most teachers are white and middle class, while most students are nonwhite and live near the poverty line. In this reflective essay, Jay Wamsted, a white teacher, examines the complicated nature of a teacher-student relationship in one such school. He uses a story of a hallway incident as a frame for examining his time spent teaching a young, black male student, and in doing so he demonstrates both successes and missteps, providing a window into the various interpersonal challenges facing the teacher in the high-poverty urban school.

Black Male Students Negotiate Ways of Knowing Themselves During Digital Storytelling

We explore how valuing Black male students’ literacies within academic contexts during multimodal writing can position students’ ways of knowing at the center of their learning. This centering requires a repositioning of students’ cultural literacies at the core of instruction. Using multiliteracies and Critical Discourse Analysis frameworks, we analyze and share excerpts from conversations with three Black adolescent high school seniors as they composed and reflected upon authoring digital autobiographies for an assignment in their Black Literature class. These reflections illuminate how the students drew on culturally salient texts to share elements of themselves with their peer and teacher audience.

Supporting Continued Academic Success, Resilience, and Agency of Boys in Urban Catholic Alternative Middle Schools

The persistent inequalities in urban public education in the U. S. that have left far too many Black and Hispanic male students behind with respect to academic skill development, high school graduation, and college success have led Catholic groups to provide alternative secondary school models to advance the academic and career success of urban students. One of these initiatives is the NativityMiguel model school, the first of which opened in New York City in 1971. The present study examines the lived experience, with respect to benefits of this education on the subsequent academic and career successes, of male graduates of two of these schools, one for African American, or Black, students and one for Mexican American students in different parts of the country. Analyses of interviews with 37 graduates showed that they benefitted from the schools’ approach to academic skill development and the building of resilience, leadership, and a commitment to service in the context of a community that continued to support the development of resilience after middle school graduation. Differences in aspects of the two programs are examined along with the implications for making use of the schools’ initiatives on a larger scale.

“I have the highest GPA, but I can’t be the valedictorian?”: two Black males’ exclusionary valedictory experiences

ABSTRACT Being the valedictorian is the highest honor bestowed upon a senior. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Jeffrey and Autry, the two high-achieving African American male participants in this critical race qualitative study, who were short-changed of their valedictorian status. Their cases reveal three themes: (1) these Black male students were shocked they did not receive this honor and were exploited in the process, (2) there were unfair institutional policies and practices associated with this title, and (3) there were drastic differences regarding the academic expectations for other students who were vying for this valedictory designation. Therefore, these African American male students experienced this academic honor as an exclusionary enterprise. Implications for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers are shared to mitigate the barriers associated with the valedictory accolade.

Introducing the Predictors of Black Outcomes in STEM Survey (PBOSS): A Tool for Identifying and Cultivating STEM Talent

In this article, we review factors that are associated with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) achievement and describe the development of the Predictors of Black Outcomes in STEM Survey (PBOSS). We retain a well-fitted three-factor model (engagement, continuity, and guiding functions) and find that the PBOSS scores are useful in predicting STEM outcomes. These outcomes include the likelihood of selecting a STEM major and levels of enrolled mathematics courses in college for Black male and female students. The PBOSS provides a useful tool for identifying and cultivating STEM talent as well as opportunities to improve STEM-related curriculum experiences in urban and other educational settings.

Place, Race, and Sports: Examining the Beliefs and Aspirations of Motivated Black Male Students Who Play High School Sports

This article examined academically and athletically motivated Black male students who play high school sports. In-depth interviews and observations illuminated their experiences, beliefs, and aspirations in their Chicago neighborhood and school context. The notion of Place and Critical Race Theory framed their experiences. Yosso’s communities of cultural wealth were utilized to analyze their experiences. Family members were instrumental in guiding these adolescents as they participated in recreational activities, enrolled in advanced classes, and participated in sports. This study concludes with implications for education, policy, society, and educational outcomes for Black male students, and Black male students who play sports.