Enrollment Of African American Students Research Articles

A Decade of Disproportionality: A State-Level Analysis of African American Students Enrolled in the Primary Disability Category of Speech or Language Impairment.

Purpose This study aimed to determine if African American students were disproportionately represented between the years of 2004 and 2014 in the primary disability category of Speech or Language Impairment (S/LI) under the 2004 reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. Method S/LI enrollment data from the Office of Special Education Programs and general enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics were analyzed to compare the risk of primary S/LI category enrollment of African American students to that of all other students. Risk ratios with 99% confidence intervals were calculated for each state across the 10 years studied. Results An average of 75% of states disproportionately represented African American students in the S/LI category each year; on average, 62% underrepresented African American students, and 14% overrepresented them. A post hoc analysis of the relationship between African American student representation and population densities revealed that states with high African American population densities almost exclusively underrepresented African American students and states with low densities tended toward a proportionate representation. Conclusions African American students were largely underrepresented in the category of S/LI in the years studied. These findings, alongside historic and chronic overrepresentation in other categories of special education, are discussed in the context of the fragmented harm theory ( Payne, 1984 ; Voulgarides, 2018 ; Voulgarides, Zwerger, & Noguera, 2013 ) and the disability rights and critical race theory ( Annamma, Connor, & Ferri, 2013 ). Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7967024.

Individual Practices to Increase the Graduation Rate of African American Students at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities

African American students face a number of institutional barriers when admitted to Predominantly White Colleges and Universities (PWCUs). Many of the obstacles they encounter are related to historical racism, stereotypes, and prejudices embedded in the culture of these institutions. Even though the enrollment of African American students at these institutions continues to increase, their completion rate remains low. While past studies have examined institutional strategies to increase African American graduation rate, they have failed to provide recommendations on the individual level for these students to practice. This article explores an important questions: What individual strategies are important for African American students to practice in an effort to graduate from PWCUs? Using semi-structured interviews of tenured Africam American faculty at PWCUs, ten recommendations were proposed to practice.

From Bakke to Fisher: African American Students in U.S. Higher Education over Forty Years

We consider how antiblack legal precedents constrain African American access and success in higher education. We employ critical race theory to assess status and trends for African American college, graduate, and professional students. Our forty-year analysis traces national patterns of African American student enrollment and degree completion at public, four-year institutions. Using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, we find that higher education remains a site of intense racial struggle for African American students. Across institutions we see various trends: the number of African American students at flagships has declined, more students enroll and complete degrees at black-serving institutions, and historically black colleges and universities are more racially diverse.

Does race still matter in nursing? The narratives of African-American nursing faculty members

BackgroundThe rise in undergraduate enrollment of African-American students has not translated into more African-American faculty members, although they could mentor minority students and promote an ethos that encourages their academic success. Discrimination against African-American faculty members continues, which could lessen their presence. PurposeThis study explored the narratives of 23 African-American faculty members to determine if race still matters in nursing. MethodsA narrative approach grounded in social constructionism and critical race theory was used to illustrate the journey of African-American faculty into and throughout academia and to reveal factors related to decisions to enter and remain in academia. DiscussionMost of the participants stated that they faced racial discrimination that tested their resilience and reinforced their commitment to the academy. ConclusionIntentional actions and open discourse could strengthen institutional commitments to racial diversity and facilitate the recruitment and retention of racially diverse nursing faculties.

What Does Charter School Mean to You? A Look at Louisiana's Charter Enrollment by Charter Type

This article examines the intersection of race, socioeconomic status (SES), and charter type/admission practices in Louisiana charter schools. This study used publicly available Department of Education data to compile the sample of charter school demographic information. A one-way Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted using race and socioeconomic status as dependent variables and charter type and admission practice as the independent variables. Findings suggest that there are significant differences in African American student enrollment and enrollment of low income students, particularly for Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) start-ups/conversions and forced conversions/Recovery School District (RSD) charters when compared to all other types. This is also true when comparing selective versus open enrollment charters. Results reveal a higher enrollment pattern of African American and low income students in BESE start-ups/conversions and forced conversion charters (Types 2 and 5) than in local school board start-ups and conversions (Types 1, 3, and 4). This indicates that race and SES are a function of charter type in Louisiana, which adds context to the charter school debate on enrollment patterns.

African American Student Enrollment and Law School Ranking

The director of the U.S. News law school rankings, Robert Morse, has initiated discussion about how – if at all – racial diversity should be included in the U.S. News rankings. This essay explores the relationship between African American student enrollment and U.S. News peer assessment scores of law schools. It explores this first at all ABA-approved law schools, and then within tiers of law schools. It finds a positive, though slight, relationship between African American student enrollment and peer assessment scores for the 26 most elite law schools, a marginally stronger relationship for the top 103 schools, and a slight negative relationship for the remaining schools. These findings are supplemented with data on the relationship between schools’ U.S. News peer assessment scores and their proportions of Asian American students, Hispanic students, and minority faculty.

Using a Self-Advocacy Intervention on African American College Students’ Ability to Request Academic Accommodations

Due to an increase in enrollment of African American students with disabilities in postsecondary education, there is a need to identify strategies that may lead to improved transition and self-advocacy skills for these students. These strategies include teaching students to request academic accommodations and to have an understanding of how their disability affects their academic learning. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide an in-depth explanation of a self-advocacy strategy that was used to teach three African American male college students how to request their academic accommodations. Results indicated this strategy may be a promising intervention for African American college students with disabilities.

An innovative plant genomics and gene annotation program for high school, community college, and university faculty.

Today's biology educators face the challenge of training their students in modern molecular biology techniques including genomics and bioinformatics. The Dolan DNA Learning Center (DNALC) of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has developed and disseminated a bench- and computer-based plant genomics curriculum for biology faculty. In 2007, a five-day "Plant Genomics and Gene Annotation" workshop was held at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL, to enhance participants' knowledge and understanding of plant molecular genetics and assist them in developing and honing their laboratory and computer skills. Florida A&M University is a historically black university with over 95% African-American student enrollment. Sixteen participants, including high school (56%) and community college faculty (25%), attended the workshop. Participants carried out in vitro and in silico experiments with maize, Arabidopsis, soybean, and food products to determine the genotype of the samples. Benefits of the workshop included increased awareness of plant biology research for high school and college level students. Participants completed pre- and postworkshop evaluations for the measurement of effectiveness. Participants demonstrated an overall improvement in their postworkshop evaluation scores. This article provides a detailed description of workshop activities, as well as assessment and long-term support for broad classroom implementation.

African American Educators’ Perspectives on the Advanced Placement Opportunity Gap

This study examines perspectives of educators on the advanced placement opportunity gap for African American students. Using interviews with 11 educators from 10 high schools, we explored their perceptions regarding the impact of a local academic achievement program on the enrollment of African American students in honors and advanced placement courses. Results of the analysis suggest that there is a perceived and real gap in the participation of African American students in AP courses. Findings also revealed that educators were concerned about the lack of access for African American students to AP courses. Further, issues of belonging and operational citizenship within the school environment were raised. Recommendations for pedagogical techniques are presented as well as suggestions for future research.

The Impact of the Brown v. Board of Education Decision on Postsecondary Participation of African Americans

Although specifically directed toward the nation's K-12 Brown v. Board also opened wider the doors of postsecondary education for African Americans. The landmark decision has led to increased enrollment of African American students in predominantly White colleges and universities. Still, 50 years after the Supreme Court's ruling, African Americans are still proportionately underrepresented in these institutions, which are frequently unwelcoming and sometimes even hostile settings. Many Americans, especially those of African descent, thought that a new era was dawning when on May 17, 1954 the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision declaring that racial segregation in the nation's public schools was unconstitutional. The court's pronouncement, along its subsequent declaration that the decision be implemented with all deliberate speed, offered the impression that school desegregation would be swift and certain. The reality has been quite the opposite. Although some progress toward integration has occurred since the Brown v. Board of Education decision, particularly in the South, across the nation, K-12 schools are still significantly segregated by race. More than 70% of the nation's Black students now attend predominantly minority schools, according to a recent report from the Civil Rights Project at Harvard (Orfield, 2001). In the last decade of the 20th century, the percentage of White students attending public schools Black students actually decreased since 1988, and the figure was lower in 2000 than in 1970. At the start of the 21st century, the top 27 largest school systems were overwhelmingly non-White and segregated (Williams, 2003). While the text of the Brown decision was about segregation at the elementary and secondary school level, the subtext was about justice and equality throughout the educational arena and the entire social system. So, as the Court decision began to be applied at the postsecondary level, the doors of colleges and universities that had been closed to African Americans were also flung open. As we examine the result of the Court's ruling 50 years later, aggregate enrollment patterns in the nation's colleges and universities appear to show quite a different outcome than in the K-12 schools. At the time of the Brown decision, segregation was as pervasive in the nation's colleges and universities as it was in the K-12 systems, and nearly all African American students received their undergraduate education in the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). However, by the end of the 20th century, the great majority of these students were enrolled in postsecondary institutions that are predominantly White. On that basis, one could argue that the student enrollment figures suggest that racial integration has been more extensive, and, thus, ostensibly more effective at the collegiate level than at the K-12 level. A dramatic increase in the enrollment of African American students in colleges and universities took place during the second half of the 20th century, and a similar situation occurred for other groups of color, whereas enrollment peaked for Whites in the early 1991. For African Americans, the figures vacillated somewhat in the mid 1980s from the level that had been reached at the beginning of the decade, but, by 1987, their numbers and those of other students of color enrolled in the nation's colleges and universities were moving upward in a steady and consistent fashion, and they have continued to do so. Fifty percent more African Americans were matriculated in postsecondary institutions in 2001, compared to twenty years earlier. Over the last two decades of the 20th century, the rate of growth for African American enrollment was more than double the growth rate of White students, and, specifically, during the last decade of the century, the rate of increase accelerated to a level that was three times higher than that of Whites. …

The Thunder during the Storm-School Desegregation in Norfolk, Virginia, 1957-1959: A Local History

This article contends that Norfolk, Virginia, serves as a microcosm of the social tensions that flared throughout the South in the wake of the 1954 and 1955 Brown school desegregation rulings. It provides a retrospective look at regional, state, and local actions pertinent to Norfolk's desegregation experience between 1957 and 1959. Examining both the impact of White southerners' to desegregation and the efforts of Black and moderate White Norfolkians to advance school integration, the author maintains that the storm wrought by this conflict met its demise in February 1959, when 17 Black students were peacefully admitted to the city's previously all-White secondary schools. The 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas not only overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), but it also provided the legal recourse for African Americans to attack and dispel the racially discriminating practices that were common throughout the United States during the early half of the 20th century, particularly in the public schools. Although the desegregation of the nation's armed services in 1948 was a sign that the racial attitudes and conditions between Blacks and Whites were changing, the Brown decision was the catalyst that triggered the South's to school desegregation. Shortly after the Court issued its landmark decision in the Brown case, Richmond (Virginia) newspaper editor James J. Kilpatrick, inspired by the 18th-century idea of interposition, or state's rights, defined southern defiance of school desegregation efforts as massive resistance (Dabney, 1971, p. 536). The purpose of this was to undermine Brown and protect the southern tradition of segregation. It was manifested in the efforts of White southern lawyers and lawmakers to appeal the Supreme Court's decision and to legislate state laws that funded not only White flight from the public schools but the building of separate but equal schools for African Americans (Campbell, Bowerman, & Price, 1960; Dabney, 1971). Notwithstanding, the widespread defiance of Whites in the state of Virginia would eventually collapse under the pressure of federal efforts to enforce integration, resulting in a domino effect on throughout the South. In the wake of Brown, state legislators in Virginia passed a number of laws in an attempt to block or delay desegregation and yield only token school integration in that state (Campbell et al., 1960). Among these was the Pupil Placement Act of 1956 (Education: Public Schools-Virginia, 1956). Conceived as part of a lawful stratagem to nullify the Brown decision, this piece of legislation and its resultant political agencies, the Pupil Placement Boards (PPBs), formed the centerpieces of Virginia's undertakings (Dabney, 1971). By decreeing that the enrollment of African American students in previously Whites-only schools would disrupt the efficiency of those schools' operations, the PPB maintained the segregated status quo in Virginia's schools for nearly two years after the Court's ruling. The Gray and Almond plans, named after Virginia governors Stanley Gray and J. Lindsay Almond, were two other legal tactics used by the state of Virginia to avoid school desegregation (Dabney,1971). The Gray Plan established state-funded tuition grants for White students who did not want to attend integrated schools to attend private or parochial schools. The Almond Plan empowered the governor with the authority to close the state's public schools and cut off funding to those schools in the event that the federal government forced the state to comply with Brown. In the port city of Norfolk, Virginia, the evasive legislative manuevering of the lawmakers in the state capital coalesced into a peculiar and telling event. Norfolk did not have the large Black population characteristic of other Virginian and southern cities, nor did its racial climate match that of the precarious situations in Little Rock, Arkansas, or Prince Edward County, Virginia. …