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TO BE BLACK, MALE, AND SCHOLAR: A CASE STUDY OF BLACK MALE
STUDENTS PERSISTING TOWARD DEGREE COMPLETION IN A
MIDWESTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
A dissertation submitted
by
Kimberly L. Chavis
to
Benedictine University
in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Educationin
Higher Education and Organizational Change
Lisle, Illinois
May 2017
Copyright by Kimberly L. Chavis, 2017All rights reserved
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I joyfully acknowledge my many family and friends for every prayer, word of
encouragement and act of love that has led me to the completion of this work. Although
the space provided for this acknowledgement does not allow me to name you all, I know
in my heart that you know the role you have played in this accomplishment.
I must offer special appreciation and acknowledgement of my best friend, soul
mate and husband, Fred “Ricky” Chavis. Your love and continuous support are the
reason I could complete this work. Thank you for loving me and for pushing me. You see
in me, the possibilities that I failed to see in myself. I thank God daily for the blessing of
you and the blessing of us.
To my brothers, Lacy and Lee, thank you for your life long support and love.
Dr. Ray Francis, thank you for your encouragement and for always reminding me that
this process is a marathon, not a sprint! I love you cousin.
I am so thankful for my Mom, Jacqueline H. Boyd, whose unconditional love,
support, and unwavering belief in me has led to this day. As you now rest with God, I
feel your presence and I hope to always live my life in a way that makes you proud.
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To the members of my dissertation committee, Director and Chair, Dr. Antonina
Lukenchuk, Dr. Kenya Ayers, and Dr. Anthony Munroe, thank you for so freely giving of
yourselves and supporting me during this journey. Your counsel has been immeasurable.
To Dr. Sunil Chand and Dr. Eileen Kolich, thank you for creating such a
wonderful environment for this scholarly pursuit.
Finally, to Black men everywhere, your intellect, strength, and resilience give me
hope for a brighter tomorrow.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................iii
LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................................xi
LIST OF FIGURES...........................................................................................................xii
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................xiii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION.................................................................................1
Statement of the Problem.....................................................................................................2
Rationale for the Study........................................................................................................4
Research Purposes and Questions.......................................................................................8
Significance of the Study.....................................................................................................8
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................12
Introduction.......................................................................................................................12
Theoretical Perspectives on Identity Development...........................................................14
Erikson’s Identity Development Theory....................................................................14
W.E.B. Du Bois: Double Consciousness....................................................................16
Theories on Racial Identity Construction..........................................................................17
William Cross.............................................................................................................17
Alfred Wade Boykin...................................................................................................18
Bailey Jackson, III......................................................................................................21
Crises, Violence, and Institutional Practices: The Influence on Identity Construction.....24
It Takes a Village: The Crisis of Family and Community.........................................24
Constructing Identity amidst Challenging Circumstances.........................................29
Institutionalized Practices: The Early Messages........................................................30
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Resources, Readiness, and Retention…………………………………………………….36
Readiness without Resource.......................................................................................36
Access without Success..............................................................................................39
Retention Realities......................................................................................................40
Black Male Experiences Through the Lens of Critical Theory.........................................41
Critical Race Theory...................................................................................................42
Stereotypes.................................................................................................................48
Microaggressions........................................................................................................50
Masculinity.................................................................................................................53
Media Portrayal of Black Males…………………………………………………….55
Deficit Frameworks....................................................................................................57
Teacher Expectations..................................................................................................58
Campus Culture..........................................................................................................61
Institutional Responsibility, Inclusion, and Engagement .................................................64
Conditions and Frameworks for Academic Success..................................................65
The Responsibility of Higher Education....................................................................66
Black, Male, and Scholar...................................................................................................69
The Question..............................................................................................................69
The Scholar Identity Model........................................................................................70
Summary............................................................................................................................75
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY..........................................................................78
Introduction.......................................................................................................................78
Theoretical Positioning of the Study.................................................................................79
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Critical Race Theory...................................................................................................80
Racial Identity Construction.......................................................................................80
The Nigrescence Model..............................................................................................81
The Triple Quandary Theory......................................................................................81
The Black Identity Development Model....................................................................82
Scholar Identity..........................................................................................................82
Research Design................................................................................................................83
Case Study..................................................................................................................83
Research Site and Study Participants.........................................................................84
Data Collection and Analysis Strategies............................................................................85
Interviews...................................................................................................................86
Focus Group Interview...............................................................................................87
Documents and Artifacts............................................................................................87
Data Triangulation......................................................................................................88
Data Analysis..............................................................................................................89
Confidentiality………………………………………………………………………90
Validation Criteria and Researcher’s Self.........................................................................90
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION...............................93
I Know Where I Am Going...............................................................................................93
The Study Participants.......................................................................................................95
Eric......................................................................................................................96
James...................................................................................................................97
Lenny...................................................................................................................97
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Kevin...................................................................................................................98
Arthur..................................................................................................................98
David...................................................................................................................99
Nate.....................................................................................................................99
Devin...................................................................................................................99
HVCC Executive Leaders........................................................................................100
Mary..................................................................................................................100
Sarah..................................................................................................................101
John...................................................................................................................101
Data Analysis Process……………………………………………………………….….102
I Know Who I Am: Black Male Students’ Experiences at the Community College......102
The Burden of Blackness..........................................................................................103
The Other Side of Me...............................................................................................107
I’m Not Saying He’s a Racist, But… ......................................................................109
Are You Serious?.....................................................................................................114
It’s On Me.................................................................................................................115
Serving the Needs: Executive Leaders on Challenges, Institutional Practices, and
Initiatives.........................................................................................................................116
Lack of Black Male Achievement............................................................................117
Lack of Persistence...................................................................................................120
The Initiatives...........................................................................................................124
We Are Not Doing Enough......................................................................................127
Campus Environment...............................................................................................129
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Executive leadership.........................................................................................131
The student voice..............................................................................................132
Campus values and climate...............................................................................135
Summary..........................................................................................................................141
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND
REFLECTIONS...............................................................................................................144
Introduction.....................................................................................................................145
Black Male Students’ Perceptions of Themselves...........................................................146
Living As Two: The Role of Double Consciousness...............................................146
Messaging: Identity Conferred by Others................................................................147
Identity Contingencies..............................................................................................148
I Am a Man: The Duality of Personhood.................................................................150
Black Male Students’ Experiences That Hinder Their Academic Success.....................152
Stereotyping..............................................................................................................153
Microaggressions......................................................................................................154
Confronting Behaviors.............................................................................................154
Institutional Intentionality: Serving the Needs of Black Males.......................................155
A Recent Initiative: Enhancing the Student Experience..........................................157
A New Approach......................................................................................................158
You Are Welcome Here...........................................................................................159
To Succeed or Not to Succeed? What Makes the Difference?........................................159
Personal Responsibility............................................................................................160
Engaging Relationships............................................................................................161
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Recommendations for Future Research...........................................................................162
Conclusions and Reflections...........................................................................................163
REFERENCES................................................................................................................166
APPENDIX A: Informed Consent-Individual Interview................................................190
APPENDIX B: Informed Consent-Focus Group Interview............................................193
APPENDIX C: Focus Group Confidentiality Agreement...............................................196
APPENDIX D: Student Interview Guide........................................................................198
APPENDIX E: Administrator Interview Guide..............................................................201
APPENDIX F: Student Focus Group Interview Guide………………………………...203
APPENDIX G: Happy Valley Case Study Approval…………………………………..205
x
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Student Participants’ Demographic Information....................................................96
2. HVCC Associate Degree Awards, 2011–2016.....................................................118
3. HVCC Certificate Awards, 2011–2016................................................................119
4. HVCC Fall to Spring Persistence, 2009-2013......................................................121
5. HVCC Fall to Fall Persistence, 2008–2012..........................................................122
6. HVCC Black Male Credentials Awarded, 2008–2016.........................................123
7. Summer Bridge Outcomes, 2011–2012................................................................126
8. HVCC Community College Survey of Student Engagement, 2015.....................134
9. HVCC Personal Values, 2013 and 2016...............................................................137
10. HVCC Perceived Culture, 2013 and 2016............................................................137
11. HVCC Desired Culture, 2013 and 2016...............................................................137
12. HVCC EEO Survey Highest Scored Items, 2013..................................................139
13. HVCC EEO Survey Lowest Scored Items, 2013...................................................139
xi
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1. Triangulation of the data sources............................................................................89
2. Emergent themes from student interviews............................................................103
3. Emergent themes from the interviews with executive leaders..............................117
4. Three views of campus environment....................................................................131
5. HVCC employee climate, 2013............................................................................140
xii
Abstract
While Black males are gaining access to higher education through the community
college sector in unprecedented numbers, academic persistence rates for this group of
students continue to fall below that of their peers. The purpose of this qualitative case
study was to investigate the experiences of Black male students regarding their
persistence toward degree completion in a two-year predominantly White community
college, their self-concept, and the institutional practices and policies that serve their
needs on the college campus. Additionally, I explored ways in which these students dealt
with the occurrences of stereotyping, microaggression, and racism on the college campus.
Individual semi-structured and focus group interviews were conducted with eight
African American students and three college administrators. The analysis of the
interviews with the students revealed the following themes: (a) The Burden of Blackness;
(b) The Other Side of Me (c) I’m Not Saying He’s a Racist, but…; (d) Are You Serious?
and (e) It’s on Me. Additional themes were identified as a result of the analysis of the
interviews with the college administrators: (a) Lack of Black Male Achievement; (b)
We’re Not Doing Enough; and (c) Campus Environment.
This study provided insights into the lives of Black males in a manner that goes
beyond the importance of academic persistence for these men, and includes a rigorous
examination of factors such as self-concept, social class, privilege, and equity during
navigation of a community college campus in which they are in the significant minority.
xiii
Working closely with the eight student participants in this study, I gained a much
greater understanding of the challenges they face, how they respond to those challenges.
While there is no magic formula for success, this inquiry has shown me the importance of
students challenging assumptions that are made regarding them and their likelihood of
success. The students in the study demonstrated a high degree of resilience,
responsibility, and commitment to their pursuit of academic success.
xiv
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
You all know the numbers. By almost every measure, the life chances of the
average young man of color is worse than his peers. Those opportunity gaps begin
early—often at birth—and they compound over time, becoming harder and harder to
bridge.
President Barack Obama, 2015
During President Barack Obama’s first four-year term, 22,000 Black men were
murdered in America (“My brother’s keeper,” 2014, para. 2). In 2014, President Obama
launched the My Brother’s Keeper initiative in the wake of the not guilty verdict in the
highly-publicized murder of Travon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old African American
male. During the My Brother’s Keeper address, President Obama (2014) stated the
following:
As a Black student, you are far less likely than a White student to be able to read
proficiently by the time you are in 4th grade. By the time you reach high school,
you’re far more likely to have been suspended or expelled. There’s a higher
chance you end up in the criminal justice system, and a far higher chance that you
are the victim of a violent crime. Fewer young Black and Latino men participate
in the labor force compared to young White men. And all of this translates into
higher unemployment rates and poverty rates as adults. (p. 2)
1
As a teacher, higher education administrator, and a Black woman I am very disturbed by
the statistics espoused by President Obama regarding the dismal prospects for academic
success and the likelihood of expulsion, suspension and incarceration for Black males.
Unfortunately, these stark realities are not new, uncommon, or shocking to the
majority of American society. In fact, these realities have become commonplace in
society as the expectations for Black men. I wonder how America became a nation
where it is acceptable for 22,000 Black men to be murdered in a four-year time span
without the expression of moral outrage by most our society? I also wonder how such
indifference regarding the lives and liberty of Black males impacts their identity? If in
fact the violence that permeates urban communities across the country is accepted as
being the norm, if it is acceptable for students without financial means to be relegated to
substandard primary and secondary schools, how then can Black males be expected to
rise above these circumstances and become student scholars?
Statement of the Problem
Of the 1.2 million Black males in 2010 who enrolled in higher education
institutions, more than 529,000 (43%) were attending community colleges (Knapp,
Kelly-Reid, & Ginder, 2012). Another 11% of Black males attended for-profit
universities, such as the University of Phoenix, and11% attended Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (Knapp, et. al., 2013) In 2013, community colleges were
responsible for the enrollment of 52% of all Black undergraduates in the United States
(Aud, Fox, & Kewal-Ramani, 2010). While the number of Black males gaining access to
higher education through community college enrollment continues to increase, the
academic persistence of these students continues to be on the decline. Jiandani, (2012)
2
noted that “if the current population trends continue and the educational attainment levels
continue, the average general education of Blacks will probably decline by 2020” (p. 18).
Of the 45% of Black males age 25 and older, only 16% have the distinction of earning a
four-year degree (Toldson & Esters, 2012). Lack of persistence has far-reaching
implications for Black students. Failure to persist can lead to an uncertain economic
future with diminished employment options. While education cannot protect one from
the ills of society, I believe it presents a pathway to improving the lives and conditions of
Black men in America. Now, more than ever before, higher education is recognizing the
urgency for this nation to improve the academic success rates for Black men.
I served as Dean in an urban community college located in an economically
impoverished area within a large, metropolitan Midwestern city. The college campus
was in a community that made up approximately three square miles of the most crime-
ridden landscape in the entire city. This local community had the horrific distinction of
having approximately140 homicides between the years 2010 and 2012 Being in this
environment daily, I developed a deep level of concern for young Black males from the
community who enrolled in many of the career programs under my leadership.
Beyond the educational challenges faced by these Black male students, the added
burdens of homelessness, joblessness, and the struggle to maintain safety often weighed
heavily on their possibilities for academic persistence. Black males also face media bias,
resulting in unfair stereotypes and disenfranchisement in society where perceptions of
them are often considered pathological (Burrell, 2010). In the criminal justice system,
Black males on average will receive a sentence that is 20% longer than that of a White
male (Feldmeyer & Ulmer, 2011). From 2002 to 2011, Black males, who made up
3
approximately 12% of the U.S. population, had the highest murder rate in the United
States. A Black male was nine times more likely to be murdered than a White male, who
during that same timeframe, made up approximately 82% of the U.S. population (Glaze
& Parks, 2011).
The young men I encountered were not born of privilege. They were relegated to
a public-school system that was far from equitable, yet this system is responsible for the
education of approximately 198,000 Black students in the state (Stetser & Stillwell,
2014). My interest in exploring the issues surrounding the college experiences of Black
men stems from my desire not only to assist them to improve their learning outcomes, but
also to address the lack of equity that marks their educational experience.
Rationale for the Study
Events like the 2015 student protest against acts of racism at the University of
Missouri where both Black and White students called for and received the ouster of the
university’s president and chancellor for their inaction in addressing campus-wide
discrimination and the regular media news reporting of deaths of unarmed Black men and
boys at the hands of law enforcement suggest a surge in police violence against Black
males. The painful reality is that these men have endured a long-standing history of
police brutality and murder that has gone unpunished. The emergence of cell phone
video has exposed the police murders of Eric Garner in New York in 2014 and Walter
Scott in South Carolina in 2015, both chronicled on cell phone video tape, again
confirming the brutality that Black males are subjected to by police. Black males face a
multitude of unique and sometimes life altering experiences throughout their lives.
4
In too many places in this country, Black boys and Black men, Latino boys,
Latino men, they experience being treated differently by law enforcement—in
stops and in arrests, and in charges and incarcerations. The statistics are clear, up
and down the criminal justice system; there’s no dispute. (Obama, 2015, para.
12).
For decades, community colleges have focused a great deal of attention on the
issue of access to higher education. Higher education has been proven to enhance the
likelihood of earning potential and a better life for those who are able to complete a
degree or certificate. Community colleges accounted for 40% of the undergraduate
enrollment for all sectors of the United States higher education in 2010 (American
Council on Education, 2010). The growth of online course offerings has also contributed
greatly to access. While access to higher education has improved for Black male
students, persistence and completion continues to decline. Nationally, in 2006, 68% of
the Black men who enrolled in college did not graduate in six years (Harper, 2006a).
In my current role as Dean in a suburban community college with the benefit of
much greater resources, I am still troubled with feelings of inadequacy when it comes to
the level of support being provided for our students who are Black and male. Students
who have so much promise often struggle immensely to fulfill their academic dreams.
As Dean in a suburban predominately White community college setting, with limited
diversity and a wealth of resources, I find that challenges still exist for the Black male
student population. Even though the environment at this college by all accounts is
considered safe and without the threat of violence that is commonly experienced in urban,
impoverished communities, this group of students faced other challenges, such as
5
stereotyping and being on the receiving end of subtle comments made by others that
served to reinforce the stereotypes for Black males, commonly known as
microaggression, as they attempt to assume their place on the college campus. There is
scant literature focusing on the consideration of Black male identity development in the
context of success initiatives in the community college setting.
In 2015, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign produced a report as part of
its Racial Microaggressions Project. The report Racial Microaggressions at the
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign presents findings from a survey of over 4,800
students of color on campus. With a 45% response rate, the survey revealed that 39% of
the students of color who responded to the survey reported feeling uncomfortable on
campus because of their race. Over half of the participants reported experiences of being
stereotyped in the classroom; 27% reported feeling that their contributions in different
learning contexts were minimized and that they were made to feel inferior because of the
way they spoke, and 25% reported feeling that they were not taken seriously in class
because of their race (Harwood, Choi, Orozco, Huntt, & Mendenhall, 2015).
There are numerous reasons for the lack of persistence among Black male
students. Research indicates that many of these reasons are non-cognitive in nature and it
is incumbent upon higher education to find ways to address issues that impact Black male
students and inhibit their persistence and completion. The challenge of academic
persistence is heightened for Black males enrolled in predominantly White Institutions
(PWIs). Because much of the research to date regarding persistence of Black male
students enrolled in PWIs focuses on academic persistence in four-year colleges and
6
universities, this study is designed to address similar issues in a two-year community
college.
The way these young men establish their identity and make meaning of their
experiences is worthy of further exploration. Most of the literature on Black male
identity, academic persistence, and institutional practices addresses Black male students
enrolled in predominantly White four-year colleges and universities.
In higher education, the U.S. has been outpaced internationally. In 1990, the U.S. ranked
first in the world in four-year degree attainment among 25–34-year-olds; today, the U.S.
ranks 12th (Carnevale & Rose, 2011). The United States also suffers from a college
attainment gap, as high school graduates from the wealthiest families in the U.S. are
almost certain to continue to higher education, while just over half of American high
school graduates in the poorest quarter of families attend college. And while more than
half of college students graduate within six years, the completion rate for low-income
students is around 25% (Aud, Hussar, Planty, Snyder, Bianco, Fox, & Drake, 2010).
In 2010, President Obama presented community colleges with the 2020 challenge,
asking that community colleges to add an additional 5 million degree and certificate
graduates by 2020 (Kotamraju & Blackman, 2011). Lack of attainment continues to
threaten the American economy and places the U.S. at risk for being unable to compete in
global markets. For Black males, the lack of academic credentials places them at even
greater risks with the odds stacked against them for employment that will yield a living
wage.
7
Research Purposes and Questions
The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of Black male
students regarding their persistence toward degree completion in a two-year community
college, their self-concept, and the institutional practices and policies that serve their
needs on the college campus. Additionally, I explored ways in which these students deal
with potential occurrences of stereotyping, microaggression, and racism on the college
campus. This qualitative case study was designed to add to the body of research on the
persistence of Black male students in predominantly White community colleges and the
institutional practices and policies that serve the needs of these students.
In an effort to advance this investigation and exploration, the following research
questions guided this study:
1. What are the experiences of Black male students on the college campus that
either hinder or contribute to their academic success and persistence?
2. What are these students’ perceptions of themselves?
3. How do these students respond to the instances of stereotyping,
microaggression, and racism, should such occur on college campus?
4. What are the institutional practices and policies that serve the needs of Black
male students who aspire to complete a degree or certificate in a two-year
community college?
Significance of the Study
When considering the significance of this study, it was important to highlight
some statistical data at the time regarding the status of Black males in post-secondary
8
education. In 2012, of the Black men ages 18–24 in the U.S., 28% were poor compared
with 20 % of all people in that age group nationally. A total of 13 % of Black men ages
18–24 were extremely poor compared with 11 % of all people in that age group
nationally (Iceland, 2013). Of the Black men ages 15–24 who graduated from high
school in 2012, 53 % were enrolled in two- or four-year colleges in October 2012,
compared to 66 % for all 2012 high school graduates in this age group nationally. In
2013, while 69% of Black students who took the ACT had taken a core curriculum in
high school, only5 % of Black students who took the test scored “college ready” in all
four tested subjects (Heckman & LaFontaine, 2010).
Of the Black male undergraduates in 2012, 37% worked more than 40 hours a
week. Of the Black males who worked while they were undergraduates in 2012, 65%
identified themselves primarily as students, not as employees. In 2013, 28% of Black
males age 25 and older had a postsecondary degree compared to 41% of men age 25 and
older of all races (Ryan & Bauman, 2016). Another 20 % of Black males in this age
group had some college, but no degree compared to 17% of males of all races (Ryan &
Bauman, 2016). Finally, of the Black males who were undergraduates in 2012, 40%
were the children of parents with a high school diploma or less education, compared to
26% of White male undergraduates.
Statistics alone present a rather bleak picture for Black male college students.
That picture is only as bleak as the instructional inequity and apathy that exists in some
K–12 sector schools located in the nation’s most impoverished communities (Toldson &
Esters, 2012). The good news is that the statistics clearly identify the areas in which
improvement for this group of students should be targeted. Some of the conditions these
9
students find themselves in, such as single parent homes, poverty, and being on the
receiving end of inequitably distributed educational resources, are conditions that all fall
outside of the students’ locus of control (Toldson & Esters, 2012).
Black males are arriving at community college campuses in unprecedented
numbers, yet the number of those who persist and graduate is extremely low in
comparison, for instance, to Black females, Hispanic males, and Caucasian males
(Juszkiewicz, 2014). Most studies regarding academic persistence of Black male
students focus on those enrolled in four-year institutions. This study sought to contribute
to similar studies while focusing on community colleges, where the enrollment of Black
males accounts for only 2% of the total student population. It was important to find out
how these students coped with a variety of issues that could potentially impact their
ability to persist and complete a college certificate or degree. As a site for this study, the
community college in question had engaged in a few practices for the benefit of Black
male student persistence. However, these practices had not yet been properly evaluated.
At the time of this study the success of these institutional practices required validation by
the college, and the results of this study could inform the practices of the institution,
thereby providing evidence for the need to sustain and hopefully expand such practices,
or evidence for eliminating the practices that did not work.
Additionally, this study aimed to fill in some gaps in the literature with regard to
institutional practices geared toward success initiatives, Black male identity development,
and the self-perceptions of Black males on a predominately White community college
campus.
10
The grave concern regarding the future of Black males is the reality that they will
be more likely than White males to be suspended or expelled, be required to repeat a
grade, be placed in special education programming, or be tracked for behavioral problems
and poor performance (Ferguson, 2001; Noguera, 2008; Polite & Davis, 1999).
Once they become young adults, the number of Black males that are incarcerated
is at a rate that is seven times that of White males (Alexander, 2010). Black males are
more likely than any other race to be the victims of homicide and other violent crimes
(Toldson & Esters, 2012). The inequitable distribution of resources in public K–12
schools results in achievement gaps that are often attributed to the student’s ability as
opposed to the lack of resources, privilege, and a culture of institutional racism.
This study provides important implications for Black male student experiences
attending predominantly White institutions of higher learning. Understanding the needs
of Black male students is foundational for the development of practices that can serve to
mitigate their years of inequitable educational experiences.
It is essential to identify institutional practices that can lead to greater persistence
and degree completion for Black men who are twice as likely as all other American
citizens to be unemployed (Alexander, 2010).
This study provides insights into the lived experiences of Black males
matriculating in a predominantly white community college. In addition to focusing on
importance of academic persistence for these men, and this study examines factors such
as self-concept, social class, privilege, and equity during their navigation of a community
college campus in which they are in the significant minority (Jackson, 2012, Johnson,
2006, Wise, 2013b).
11
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter presents the analysis of existing research and scholarship pertaining
to Black male college students, their identity construction, the challenges that they face
when pursuing higher education, and the institutional practices designed to assist these
students in persisting toward their academic degrees (Jackson, 2012, Harris & Wood,
2013). With a wealth of existing research on the plight of Black males and the host of
life challenges faced by Black males growing up Black in America, this group more than
any other in the educational system continues to struggle with the lack of persistence,
low levels of academic achievement throughout primary, secondary, and post-secondary
education, and consistent teacher expectations of lower academic achievement
(Alexander, 2010; Ferguson, 2000; Hopkins, 1997; Kunjufu, 2011; Polite & Davis, 1999;
Williams, 2014). The responsibility of the institution for ensuring successful outcomes
for Black male students is one of the themes that is explored in this literature review.
When considering the role of identity, Erikson (1968) advised that the popular
usage of the term “identity” is subject to changing historical connotations. Beyond
consideration of Black male identity, a multitude of other experiences come into play
when studying opportunities for their success.
12
The analysis of literature has resulted in the identification of the following
interrelated themes: (a)identity construction by Black males as a multidimensional
process not fully considered in early research and identity theory development; (b) early
educational experiences that can significantly shape the trajectory of the Black male
educational life cycle; (c) inequitable distribution of educational resources, societal
perceptions, and educator expectations for Black males are inconsistent with that of
White male peers, (d) historically Black manhood has been challenged; and (e)
community colleges have experienced limited progress in improving academic success
rates and scaling initiatives designed to benefit Black male students.
The section in this literature review, Theories on Racial Identity Construction,
offers a glimpse into the theories of Cross (1971), Boykin (1986), and Jackson (1976,
2012).
While Erikson presents the theory of identity development through a
psychological lens, the section in this review of the literature Theories on Race and
Identity Construction, examines early and more recent theories on the role of race in
shaping identity as a social construct (Jackson, 1976, 2012). The section entitled, Crises,
Violence, and Institutional Practices, offers an analysis of the literature that chronicles the
challenges faced by Black males growing up in poor communities and their experiences
of being stigmatized and stereotyped early on in their educational history (Noguera,
2003). Connecting these prior experiences to their arrival at the community college
campus may shed light on the student’s postsecondary academic and social condition.
The section in this literature review entitled Resources, Readiness, and Retention
examines the systematized inequity in educational resources experienced by many Black
13
students who, based on socioeconomic status and zip code, find themselves in a public
education system that inadequately prepared them for postsecondary education in the
community college setting. The lack of college readiness contributes significantly to the
failure to persist academically (Noguera, 2008; Wise, 2013b). Additionally, the role of
deficit thinking and limited expectations in relation to identity construction is also
examined.
Experiences of Black males in society and on the campus, are closely examined in
the section Black Male Experiences Through the Lens of Critical Theory. Institutional
Responsibility, Inclusion, and Engagement presents models of institutional responsibility
that committed institutions take seriously when seeking to improve success rates for
Black male students (Wood & Palmer, 2015).
The seventh and final section of this chapter investigates the Scholar Identity
Model as developed by Whiting (2006a) and discusses the opportunity for institutional
adaptation of a model that can be scaled in the community college environment.
Theoretical Perspectives on Identity Development
Erikson’s Identity Development Theory
Erikson (1950/1964) presented one of the earliest theories on identity
development. Erickson’s work concerning identity was expanded by many who sought
to confirm or revise his scholarship on the subject (Chickering & Reisser, 1993;
Josselson, 1987; Marcia, 1966, 1980). Erikson is credited with coining the phrase
identity crisis, and his work is foundational for any discussion on identity development.
Erikson (1964) defined identity as “the ability to experience one’s self as something that
has continuity and sameness, and to act accordingly” (p. 42).
14
Central to Erikson’s theory of developmental stages is the development of the
ego; Erikson considered the ego as being expressed outwardly via our identity. Erikson
described the concept of ego as a sequence of biological and psychological phases
(Torres, Howard-Hamilton, & Cooper, 2003). Erikson was one of the earliest theorists to
consider the role of environment in the creation of identity, and his theory covers the
lifespan. Erikson (1959) believed that identity was rooted in society and that ego identity
was dependent upon “the process by which a society identifies the young individual” (p.
122).
Erikson’s theory focused heavily on interpersonal, social, and cultural influences,
and his stages of development are well known. Each of the stages offers its own unique
set of challenges which Erikson termed crises. Each of the challenges that individuals
experience related to identity development must be successfully overcome. Per Erikson,
successfully meeting and overcoming the given crises associated with the state of
development is a requirement for growth.
Considering Erikson’s belief that identity is rooted in society and that ego identity
is dependent on the way society identifies an individual, it will be interesting to explore
whether identity construction for Black males can be impacted by societal views, media
messages, and the environment in which the males are placed. This holds special
significance because the academic success of Black males in predominately White spaces
is often shaped by social and institutional forces in the college setting (Sinanan, 2012).
15
W. E. B. Du Bois: Double Consciousness
Long before the work of Erik Erikson and those who followed him, exploration of
racial identity construction was addressed early in the 20th century. Thirty-eight years
after the end of slavery, W. E. B. Du Bois addressed the identity struggles of Black
people in America. As the first Black American to earn a PhD from Harvard with a
doctoral thesis entitled The Suppression of the African Slave Trade (1896/2007), Du Bois
demonstrated a keen awareness of the struggles faced by Black Americans in the 20th
century who attempted to be both Black and American in a racially divided United States.
Du Bois (1903/2003) offered for consideration the plight of the Negro in the book The
Souls of Black Folk and addressed the duality of consciousness as experienced by the
Black man:
The Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight
in this American world—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but
only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar
sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self
through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that
looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness—an
American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two
warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being
torn asunder. (Du Bois, 2003 p. 9)
Du Bois acknowledged the duality of personhood experienced by Blacks post-slavery,
and the struggles of a people and their ancestors who were stripped of their identity
during slavery, stripped of names, native languages, cultural practices, and religion;
16
education was also forbidden. Du Bois uses double consciousness as a framework for the
identity of the Black man. Du Bois speaks of the “veil” with which the Black man is
born and of his own awareness as a young child that he was different; such difference
was not of his own making but rather a condition he saw in himself as he viewed himself
through the eyes of a young White female classmate. The veil of race and its relationship
to the degree of cognitive dissonance experienced by Black males in the construction of
identity is certainly worthy of deeper exploration.
Theories on Racial Identity Construction
Identity development as described by Erikson is a much more complicated
proposition for Black youth who often are required to negotiate conditions of racism,
viewing life through the lens of socioeconomic depression. The formation of an
integrated ego-identity requires more on the part of Black youth (Murrell, 2008).
Racial identity construction theories go beyond Erikson’s theories of societal
views shaping the construction of identity by examining the impact of the social construct
of race and the internalization of the treatment received as a member of a marginalized
group. Racial identity construction theories, post-Erikson, shed light on Du Bois’
explanation of the “veil” to which Black men in America are born (1903/2003).
William Cross
The first widely published research model on racial identity was developed by
William Cross in 1971. Since that time, Cross’s nigrescence model has been studied,
revised by Cross himself, and has served as the impetus for new models and theories on
racial identity development. Cross’s (1971) nigrescence model consists of five stages,
each of which address the development of Black racial identity in the context of feelings
17
and attitudes regarding the dominant White culture in America. The stages of identity
development in the nigrescence model include: (a) Pre-encounter, (b) Encounter, (c)
Immersion-Emersion, (d) Internalization, and (e) Internalization-Commitment. In 1991,
Cross revisited the nigrescence model in the book, Shades of Black: Diversity in African-
American Identity (Cross, 1991). According to Cross, the nigrescence model involves the
“resocializing” experience which can transform a preexisting non-Afrocentric identity
into an Afrocentric identity. Despite past nomenclature, Cross (1991) related to identity
construction, Negro to Black in the 1970s, or the quest for Afrocentricity that was
witnessed in the 1990s; as Cross engaged in a rethinking of his nigrescence model, he
maintained that the five stages of Black identity construction found in the nigrescence
model retained their relevance.
When considering models of racial identity construction, the past experiences of
the young men who participated in my study were significant. The Black male student
coming directly from high school and arriving at the predominantly White community
college may not have had prior experiences with the dominant culture; he may have his
very first significant encounter with a White person on campus, so the pre-encounter
stage of the nigrescence model may be absent.
Alfred Wade Boykin
In positing the triple quandary theory, Boykin (1986) addressed the social
stressors experienced by Blacks, particularly those dwelling in urban areas. This theory
is based on Boykin’s assertion that Blacks are required to negotiate three separate and
distinct identities. The first identity in the triple quandary is organized by cultural values
that are commonly shared amongst members of the Black community. In addition to the
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common communal values, a “minority” social identity exists as a result of being a
member of a much wider group of persons historically marginalized in American society.
The third aspect of the triple quandary theory includes an American social identity
marked by shared mainstream core values of middle class America; this mainstream
force, according to Boykin (1986), presents itself as the most pervasive realm of
negotiation.
Boykin’s triple quandary theory addresses the negotiation and conflicts that are
created as a person of color, a minority, navigates the societal landscape. According to
Boykin, Blacks have the burden of trying to fuse two cultural traditions that are at odds.
The duality of cultural identity expressed in this theory is treaded throughout much of the
racial identity literature. Confirming the triple quandary theory, Prager (1982) addressed
the duality of identity that assimilation in the mainstream culture requires:
It is not the mere fact that Blacks hold a dual identity which has constrained
achievement; to one degree or another, every ethnic and racial group has faced a
similar challenge. The Black experience in America is distinguished by the fact
that the qualities attributed to Blackness are in opposition to the qualities
rewarded by society. The specific features of Blackness, as cultural imagery, are
almost by definition those qualities which the dominant society has attempted to
deny and it is the difference between Blackness and Whiteness that defines in
many respects, American cultural self-understanding. For Blacks, then, the effort
to reconcile into one personality images which are diametrically opposed poses an
extraordinarily difficult challenge. To succeed in America raises the risk of being
told—either by Whites or by Blacks—that one is not “really Black.” No other
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group in America has been so acutely confronted with this dilemma, for no other
group has been simultaneously so systematically ostracized while remaining so
culturally significant. (p.111)
Prager’s observation in 1982 still rings true today in American society. Images of
beauty in America as seen in media marketing continue to reflect Eurocentric norms
(Burrell, 2010). Mainstream ideas of success in the U.S. posit a spirit of competition that
can be seen in sports, reality television, game shows, and more. The Eurocentric
perspective can be seen in Rene Descartes’ philosophical proposition, Cogito ergo sum,
Latin for “I think therefore I am.” This phrase purports to prove the existence of the
thinker. An example of an Afrocentric perspective comes for the Xhosa culture in
Africa; Ubuntu, which means “I am because we are,” is reflective of the recognition that
as an African people, we are bound and connected by the community that surrounds us.
Bishop Desmond Tutu (1999) describes Ubuntu:
Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that one can’t exist as a human being in
isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can’t be human all by
yourself, and when you have this quality Ubuntu you are known for your
generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated
from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole
World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity. (p.32)
Further examination of the triple quandary theory and how Black males in a
predominantly White community college experience expectations of mainstream society
as represented in classrooms and other campus spaces is a significant piece of my study.
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Bailey W. Jackson, III
The original Black identity development (BID) model was theorized by Jackson
in 1976. Jackson acknowledges that his original BID model was influenced by Erikson’s
(1968) model. Following his experiences working in elementary and junior high schools,
Jackson realized that, unlike Erikson’s assertion regarding the lack of social identity
issues occurring prior to adolescence, he noticed that there were in fact instances where
preadolescent Black children displayed awareness of their race. Like other identity
models, the BID model has undergone transformative iterations (Cross 1971, 1991; Cross
& Fhagen-Smith 1996, 2001; Jackson, 1976, 2012) and places its primary focus on
experiences of the individual at each stage based on the effects of racism (Jackson, 2012).
The Black identity model of 2012, in contrast to the 1976 and 2001 models,
acknowledges the impact of Black culture and Black community on Black identity.
According to Jackson (2012), the BID framework introduced the levels/stages of
consciousness that Black people tend to follow in the development of their racial/Black
identity (p. 38). A contemporary view of racial identity is offered by Jackson as he
revisits the BID model, presenting new ideas as a theoretical framework for consideration
(Jackson, 2012). Noting that there have been significant changes in the world since the
original authoring of the BID model in1976, Jackson revised the BID model with
consideration being given to the role of Black culture as a major influence on identity
development. The 2012 BID model offers a relatively current examination of identity
development in the context of today’s landscape; this includes the election of the first
Black president in the United States, and a greater national discussion on race, class, and
21
ethnicity (Jackson, 2012). The BID model consists of five stages: Naïve, Acceptance,
Resistance, Redefinition, and Internalization.
Stage one, Naïve, represents the point at which identity development occurs in
early childhood; from the age of birth to three years. In the Naïve stage, there is little to
no conscious awareness of race on the part of the child. Acceptance is the second stage
of the BID model. This stage marks the conscious and unconscious internalization of
ideas regarding racial dominance and subordination. In this stage, the individual seeks to
gain resources and power by aligning with and adapting to the values and social/cultural
standards of the White race.
In the third stage of the BID model individuals find themselves questioning the
views that were adopted during the prior stage. Persons in the stage known as
Resistance, begin to have a greater appreciation for the pervasiveness of racism and its
bearing on individuals and institutions. The recognition of both covert and overt racism
causes the individual to experience feelings of anger, hurt, and pain. During the
Resistance stage, the individual becomes so consumed with addressing and eradicating
racism that they are unable to place meaningful attention on Black culture.
Stage four of the BID model is termed Redefinition. In the Redefinition stage the
Black person is determined to define him- or herself without regard to the Eurocentric
standards of the dominant culture; the individual in this stage does not have as a focus the
desire to reject White culture, but rather to define his or her own experience. In this
stage, Black people seek to form connections with other people of color who are also at
this stage of consciousness. Embracing Black culture is the hallmark of the Redefinition
stage.
22
The fifth and final stage of the BID model is known as the Internalization stage.
It is in this stage that the individual will integrate the newly adopted Black culture. The
Internalization stage signifies a growth that has occurred from all the stages to this final
stage (Jackson, 2012). It is also at this stage that the Black person will reflect a deep
sense of security with his or her identity and not feel that he or she needs to explain a
lifestyle lived from an Afrocentric perspective.
In contrast to the racial identity models of the 1970s and 80s, the BID model also
takes into account the theoretical perspective of intersectionality. Intersectionality “helps
us understand the multidimensional ways a people experience life—how people see
themselves and how they are treated by others” (Dill & Zambrana, 2009, p. 630). To
gain a richer understanding of aspects of social identity, intersectionality requires that due
consideration is given to race, sex, and class. Such consideration allows for scholarship
on how identities are impacted by racism, sexism, and classism (Jackson, 2012).
Intersectionality is a particularly significant consideration in this study because it speaks
to the multidimensional nature of identity construction for Black males in the United
States.
Each of these models, in my view, offers value in understanding the complexity
of identity construction for people of color. The two models that are most relevant to this
study are the triple quandary theory (Boykin, 1986), and the Black identity development
model (Jackson, 2012). The triple quandary theory is somewhat reminiscent of Du Bois’
(1903/2003) double consciousness that addresses the stress of attempting to navigate
multiple identities in the context of Blackness. Black males are required to engage in
such navigation on a regular basis (Brown & Donnor, 2011; Burrell, 2010; Harper &
23
Harris, 2010). The significance of the Black identity model is that it presents racial
identity development in the context of contemporary events in the United States that
likely never would have been envisioned during the creation of earlier models.
Crises, Violence, and Institutional Practices
Identity construction for Black males begins early in their lives as they interact
with family, the community, and the world around them. There has been a significant
shift in urban communities over the past several decades, and often Black males are
products of these communities (Kafele, 2009). Growing up in the 1970s, my younger
brother, who is Black, knew every family and every parent on our block. For several
blocks in our community, he knew other children and their families. During that time,
there was a sense of accountability for your actions. Many children in our neighborhood
felt that there was a requirement to answer to all adults, and any bad behaviors observed
by adult neighbors could very easily be reported to our parents with the threat of a strict
penalty.
It Takes a Village: The Crisis of Family and Community
The African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child” was played out in my
community and many other urban communities across the country in the 1960s and 70s.
Kafele (2009) described the crises of family, community, and identity that exist for Black
males in modern urban communities. The village mentality is still seen in the Black
church. Churches large and small provide an opportunity for community, fellowship,
safety, and support for children. However, the 21st century community village is very
different; evidence of this is seen regularly on the nightly news.
24
The lack of jobs along with the influx of drugs, guns, and gangs in urban
communities has set in motion a definite crisis in community (Kafele, 2009) . An
example of this was recently seen in Chicago. Over one weekend in May 2015, there
were 44 shootings and 12 people murdered in urban communities, with the oldest
shooting victim being age 33 and the youngest victim age 4 (Murdock, 2015). Clearly, in
communities that are not plagued with poverty or violence, this reality would be unheard
of, but unfortunately, these are the types of communities in which many Black males live,
grow, and construct their identities. In addition to the crisis that exists in communities
populated with persons of color, there also exists a crisis in family that directly impacts
Black boys (Kafele, 2009). This discussion of crisis is not a new one; historically the
condition of the Black family and Black men has been referred to as being in “crisis,” or
“endangered”; these descriptive terms date back to a report commissioned by the Johnson
administration, and in 1965, Daniel Moynihan wrote the report, The Negro Family: The
Case for National Action.
Today’s crisis, as described by Kafele (2009), encompasses the poverty, violence,
and lack of opportunity that plague many of the communities inhabited by young men of
color as they seek to construct their identity amidst the many challenges they face, among
them, the absence of fathers in these homes. The pain of having an absent father and its
impact on a young Black male is recounted in Barack Obama’s 1995 autobiography
entitled Dreams of My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. “When males are absent
from the lives of Black school-aged males, mothers, schools, or the streets become
substitute fathers” (Kafele, 2009, p. 43).
25
In 1990 Black boys were more likely to come from female-headed households
with incomes that were insufficient for basic necessities (Ferguson, 2001). Research
indicates that children who live in single-mother families score lower on measures of
academic achievement than their counterparts in two-parent families (Aughinbaugh,
Pierret, & Rothstein, 2005; Alexander & Entwisle &, 1996; Lang & Zagorsky, 2001;
Morrison & Cherlin, 1995). Studies on the subject have revealed that a father’s absence
has a more negative effect on boys’ psychological well-being than on girls’ (Jekielek,
1998; Yogman, Kindlon, & Earls, 1995).
In 2011, the number of children living in homes without a father was
approximately 24 million, (National Fatherhood Initiative, 2014). In 1960, the number of
children in fatherless homes was less than 8 million (Cheadle, Amato, & King, 2010). In
2011, Black children who lived in homes without the presence of a father accounted for
6.5 million of the previously mentioned 24 million; White children in fatherless homes
accounted for approximately 9.5 million, with Whites making up 77% of the U.S.
population. These numbers are considerably more significant for African Americans who
make up only 13% of the total U.S. population.
In 2010, President Obama launched a new, nationwide Fatherhood and Mentoring
Initiative and stated the following:
But we also know that what too many fathers being absent means—too many
fathers missing from too many homes, missing from too many lives. We know
that when fathers abandon their responsibilities, there’s harm done to those kids.
We know that children who grow up without a father are more likely to live in
poverty. They're more likely to drop out of school. They're more likely to wind
26
up in prison. They’re more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. They’re more
likely to run away from home. They’re more likely to become teenage parents
themselves. (Lawrence, Watson, & Stepteau-Watson, 2013, p. 4)
The statistics and the discussions about Black communities and families suffering
as the result of absent Black fathers beg the question: Where are the Black fathers? The
question was most fittingly answered by Michelle Alexander (2010), the author of the
bestseller, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.
Alexander explained the present-day crises effecting Black communities, Black families,
and our society. According to Alexander (2010), mass incarceration in the United States
has resulted in many a Black child born today being less likely to be raised in a
household with two parents. “More Black adults are under correctional control today—in
prison or jail, on probation or parole—then were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the
Civil War began” (Alexander, 2010, p. 180). The 1850 U.S. Census reported that there
were approximately 1.7 million adults enslaved. In 2007, the Pew Center reported that
approximately 2.4 million Black adults were under correctional control (Glaze & Parks,
2011).
The statistics regarding mass incarceration of Black males are astounding. A
clear majority of these individuals has been convicted of non-violent offenses and swept
up in a criminal justice system that declared a “war on drugs” in the 1980s, imposing
strict penalties, mandatory minimums, and sentencing disparities for powder cocaine and
crack cocaine. The financially affluent have much greater access to powder cocaine
based on cost. Crack cocaine is most commonly found in poor urban communities and
carries with it a much longer sentence (Alexander, 2010).
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President Obama presented a new narrative regarding the absence of Black
fathers. This new narrative addressed one of the major reasons Black children are often
without their fathers:
About one in every 35 Black men, one in every 88 Latino men is serving time
right now. Among White men, that number is one in 214. The bottom line is that
in too many places, Black boys and Black men, Latino boys and Latino men
experience being treated differently under the law. A growing body of research
shows that people of color are more likely to be stopped, frisked, questioned,
charged, detained. Blacks are more likely to be arrested. They are more likely to
be sentenced to more time for the same crime. And one of the consequences of
this is, around one million fathers are behind bars. Around one in nine Black kids
has a parent in prison. What is that doing to our communities? What’s that doing
to those children? So, our criminal justice system isn’t as smart as it should be. It
is not as fair as it should be. Mass incarceration makes our country worse off, and
we need to do something about it. (Obama, 2015, p. 2)
A focus correctly placed on opportunities for young Black males to break the
cycle of poverty and familial struggle is bolstered by a universal acknowledgment that
the education required to break the cycle surpasses the acquisition of a high school
diploma. Black males who make it to college, particularly a predominately White
institution (PWI), will bring with them a set of experiences that will set them apart from
their peers. Honoring these experiences will require cultural competence on the part of
the institution, the faculty, and the staff (Owen, 2009).
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The environment in which Black males construct their identity speaks to their
lived experiences, positive or negative. For Black males enrolled in a predominantly
White community college, their community of origin will shape their expectations of the
campus community and how they make meaning of their campus experiences. This study
provided a focused examination on the environmental influencers of identity
construction.
Constructing Identity Amidst Challenging Circumstances
Black males experiencing the crisis of family and community are often faced with
the crisis that arises as they develop self-image and budding racial identity. These crises
include the individual’s self-esteem, maintenance of self-discipline, and capacity for self-
respect (Kafele, 2009). Black males who consistently experience racism, live in poverty,
and lack education form social networks with those in the same position and these
networks can have a significant impact as they construct their identity (Jackson, 2012;
Porter & Washington, 1993). As young children, Blacks are “vulnerable to the
worldview of their socializing agents such as parents, teachers, media, and significant
others” (Jackson, 2012, p. 48).
An examination of Black males’ identity construction and their ability to adopt
student scholar as a part of their identities would not be complete without due
consideration being given to the educational experiences that will serve to shape the
identities of these young men throughout their lives.
29
Institutional Practices: The Early Messages
A young man’s construction of his image of self will be based on several
experiences, many of which are related to the educational pipeline through which he will
be required to navigate as he moves from pre-kindergarten to postsecondary education.
The consistency of subtle messages throughout one’s lived experience will certainly have
an impact on the individual as he makes meaning of experiences and develops a sense of
self. The content of these messages can be positive or negative. When negative
messages are presented early in one’s life, there is a greater likelihood that they will be
internalized and these messages accepted as valid (Dancy & Brown, 2012).
One might ask, “Why is it necessary to consider the earliest educational
experiences of Black males when engaging in a study that focuses on identity
development and Black male students in a predominantly White community college?”
The answer to this question is simple. Some studies suggest that Black boys are being
given subtle messages as early as preschool that they are, among other things, bad boys
and trouble makers (Noguera, 2008). There is an abundance of literature documenting
the inequity in the treatment of Black boys as they enter the educational system as early
as preschool at age three or four. Practices in the educational environment that
negatively impact these young Black boys not only speak to how others see them, but
also to how they may internalize the thoughts, perceptions, and pronouncements
communicated by their teachers and student peers (Dancy & Brown, 2012; Ferguson,
2001; Hopkins, 1997; Noguera, 2008).
The Yale University Child Study Center conducted a national study of expulsion
rates in state funded prekindergarten covering 40 states (Gilliam, 2005). This Yale study
30
sought to shed further illumination on the issue of prekindergarten expulsion rates as first
reported as part of Michigan’s Child Care Expulsion Prevention Program (Grannan,
Carlier, & Cole, 1999).
The Yale study revealed that African American preschoolers were about twice as
likely to be expelled as were European American, Latino, and non-Latino preschoolers
and were over five times as likely to be expelled as Asian American preschoolers. For
African Americans, boys accounted for 91.4% of the expulsions (Gilliam, 2005, p.6).
The impact of removing three and four-year-old Black boys from the preschool
classroom sets in motion the beginning of inequitable educational experiences for Black
males (Kunjufu, 2011).
Why is the expulsion rate so high for these young Black males? Monroe (2005)
has illustrated the connection between the punishment of Black boys and the fear
experienced by teachers and school personnel. How does such fear sway the treatment
and educational opportunities received by these young boys? How does such treatment
influence their identity construction? The literature is clear that systematized practices
designed to remove Black males from the educational environment only continue as they
grow older (Dancy & Brown, 2012).
The overrepresentation of Black male students being on the receiving end of
exclusionary discipline is in no way a new finding; research confirming this unenviable
statistic dates back to 1975 (Children’s Defense Fund, 1975). A plethora of research data
exists that present the plight of students of color in middle and high school who had been
suspended at rates that exceed by two to three times that of their non-minority peers
(Skiba, Horner, Chung, Rausch, May, & Tobin, 2011). Skiba et al. confirm the scholarly
31
work of many on the topic of overrepresentation of office referrals, school expulsions,
and the use of corporal punishment (e.g., Fenning & Rose, 2007; Howard, 2008;
McCarthy & Hoge, 1987; McFadden, Marsh, Price, & Hwang, 1992; Mendez, & Knoff,
2003) for students of color. Dancy and Brown (2012) noted that in 2001, the U.S.
Department of Education reported that 25% of all Black male students had been
suspended at least once over a 4-year period and were 2.6 times as likely as White males
to be suspended from school.
Overrepresentation of Black male students in school suspension data means that
throughout their educational journey, they are more likely to have their ability to engage
in the educational process inhibited. Exclusion in an effort to punish or reform student
behavior is more likely to result in poor academic performance, school dropouts (Skiba &
Rausch, 2006), and exposure to the juvenile justice system (Wald & Losen, 2003). This
long-standing practice of overrepresentation in exclusionary discipline statistics has
created an issue of social injustice that is yet to be resolved. Considering these facts in
relation to identity construction, the question arises: “How can consistently applied,
disproportionate discipline allow the young Black male to see himself as being someone
other than a problem in the school setting?” Such experiences will shape the construction
of his identity and as the young man gets older, he is more likely to see the role of race in
his identity.
Where these young men attend school is an important consideration as well.
Research confirms that Black males attending public schools across the county are less
likely to be prepared for college. In the U.S. public school setting, those schools tend to
be under resourced and located in impoverished communities (Kunjufu, 2011). A
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predominant number of novice teachers find their early teaching assignments in public
schools. In 2010, the United States Department of Education noted that of the 8,207,325
Black children enrolled in K–12 education, 8,166,353, or some 76% of the total K–12
population, were enrolled in a public school (Aud & Fox, & Kewal-Ramani, 2010).
The fact that many of the Black males finding their way to the community college
campus hail from public school systems is significant. The dearth of educational
resources, the lack of a rigorous curriculum, and the likelihood that teachers in the most
under-resourced schools usually have the least teaching experience all align to send forth
an underprepared Black male community college student.
As Black males matriculate from K–12 in the public-school setting, they are
likely to have young White female teachers who have little experience and backgrounds
that have insulated them from those who are marginalized and at the lower end of the
socioeconomic strata (Kunjufu, 2011). For Black male students, research shows that they
hold a belief that White teachers really do not care about their success (Polite, 1993,
1994) and this belief partially explains why many Black male students lack the
motivation to achieve in high school. The idea of carrying this lack of motivation to the
community college setting can help to shed light on low college persistence rates for
Black male students (Harper, 2008).
The years of targeting Black males as troublemakers, problems, or misfits, from
prekindergarten through high school, is certain to impact the psyche and the construction
of identity for these young men as they mature and move through the educational system.
There exists a great opportunity to develop new ways of thinking with regard to
discipline for all students of color. In addition to the differential expulsion rates for
33
Black males, their exposure to novice teachers and the likelihood of them attending an
under-resourced public school all contribute to the perspective that “students can be
unfairly victimized by the labeling and sorting processes that occur within schools”
(Noguera, 2003, p. 442). Overrepresentation in special education occurs when a
particular group’s membership in the program is larger than the percentage of that
group’s representation in the educational system or within a given disability category,
such as learning disability, mental retardation, or emotional disturbance.
Such population variance is rarely justifiable and is always a cause for concern
(Skiba, Simmons, Ritter, Gibb, Rausch, Cuadrado, & Chung, 2008). Black males are
more likely than any other group and 5.5 times more likely than White females to be
identified as Severely Emotionally Disturbed (SED) (Dancy & Brown, 2012, p. 79).
Black males are routinely overrepresented in the numbers of those students requiring
special education programming. Such mislabeling of Black male students, places these
young men on a trajectory in the educational system that will lead to these students being
excluded from the opportunity to experience a full and rich curriculum and will limit their
access to students in the mainstream, thereby limiting their social development (Noguera,
2003, Kunjufu, 2011).
Such mislabeling can also lead to limited progress in the realm of postsecondary
educational opportunities. Black male students often suffer stigmatization based on race
as early as prekindergarten, which results in overrepresentation in their rates of expulsion.
Once identified and labeled as in need of special education, there is an increased social
stigmatization (Lipsky & Gartner, 2013; National Research Council, 2002).
34
The U.S. Department of Education cited as another extremely significant
consequence of overrepresentation of African American students in special education
programs the fact that once students become a part of the special education system,
movement out of that system can be very difficult if not impossible. The work of Harry
and Klinger (2006) aptly documented the disproportionate representation of various
ethnic groups in special education. African American males comprise approximately
26% of students nationwide identified as educable mentally retarded, 34% of students
diagnosed with serious emotional disorders, and 33% of students identified as “trainable
mentally retarded or developmentally delayed (Howard, Flennaugh, & Terry, 2012, p.
87). The data are clear that a degree of generalization is being made about these young
men.
Adolescence signals a time when young men and young women seek to establish
their independent identity. For students of color who are poor, marginalized, and without
access to quality primary and secondary educational experiences and environments, it is
not realistic to have the expectation that these students, once they make it to a community
college campus, will see themselves as empowered in the college campus environment.
The predominantly White community college must be very intentional if it is to break the
cycle of subtle, institutionalized negative messaging that students of color have been
exposed to for so many years.
35
Resources, Readiness, and Retention
Readiness Without Resource
For many Black males, the resource conundrum begins early in their educational
experience. In 2012, the Schott Foundation for Public Education published its report on
the state of educational achievement for Black and Hispanic males in high schools. The
Urgency of Now provides data that confirm that Black males can achieve in high
numbers, numbers that are often overlooked in the literature. States with relatively small
Black populations, such as Maine, Utah, Vermont, and Idaho, achieved high graduation
rates for Black male students. The data suggest that Black males, on average, perform
better in places and spaces where they are not relegated to under resourced districts or
schools. When provided similar opportunities, Black males are more likely to produce
similar or better outcomes than their White male peers (Holzman, Jackson, & Beaudry,
2012).
A very different story is presented in those states where the educational resources
are tied to demographics and zip codes. States such as New York, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio,
South Carolina, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, Indiana, and the District of
Columbia represented the lowest ranked states for Black male 2012 high school
graduation rates in the United States. When examining Black male persistence in the
postsecondary educational ranks, it is imperative that a true historical perspective of these
students’ secondary opportunities for a quality education be considered.
As reported in Vincent et al., the 2014 Department of Education’s Civil Rights
Data Collection (CRDC) report indicated three important areas where gaps in educational
opportunities existed between Black male students and their White peers.
36
The 2014 CRDC report continued to confirm the disproportionate levels of
discipline for Black males, resulting in suspensions for offenses like tardiness, while such
behaviors in White male students go unnoticed (Vincent, Sprague, Pavel, Tobin, & Gau,
2015). Another considerable inequity that was uncovered in this report was that schools
having large populations of Black students consistently offered a less rigorous
curriculum, placing Black males at a disadvantage by omitting courses that are required
for admission to colleges and universities. Finally, Vincent et al., highlight the CRDC
reporting of inequities in teacher assignments for schools that are predominately Black;
citing that teachers who are considered novices, with one or two years of teaching
experience, predominate in schools that serve students of color in economically depressed
environments.
Students who have the greatest need are often subjected to teachers who earn the
lowest wages and possess the least amount of teaching experience. In addition to the lack
of experience on the part of the teacher, a significant diversity gap exists in public
primary and secondary schools in the United States. Studies conducted by the Center for
American Progress and National Education revealed that while half of all students
attending public schools are classified as minorities, fewer than 1 in 5 teachers is non-
White (Boser, 2014).
These findings beg the question of the existence of “achievement gaps” for
students of color in general, and Black males specifically. In 2010 the U.S. Department
of Education, Office of Civil Rights found a practice of inequity in teacher assignments
in the 20 largest school districts in the United States. Of the 8,550,344 Black children
enrolled in K–12 in the United States, 95.5% of them attended public schools and only
37
4.5% attended private schools (Lynn, Bacon, Totten, Bridges, & Jennings, 2010). While
students of color are predominant the public education system in the United States, they
are much less likely to have an opportunity to participate in rigorous advanced placement
courses that would support their transition to postsecondary education.
The U.S. Department of Education found that of Black students enrolling in
college in 2007–2008, 45.1% of them were required to enroll in non-credit remediation
courses (Aud et al., 2010b). These findings would suggest the connection between public
education, teacher expectation, resources, and the inequity afforded Black students during
primary and secondary education. The American College Testing (ACT) report, The
Condition of College and Career Readiness 2014: African American Students, indicated
that in the benchmarks of readiness in the areas of English, mathematics, reading, and
science, Black students achieved lower benchmarking scores than any other racial or
ethnic group (American College Testing [ACT], 2015). Consideration of these data
requires reflection on the historical challenges of standardized testing among students of
color.
While there is a robust pronouncement in the literature regarding the lack of
college readiness on the part of Black high school graduates, there is less in the way of
literature that addresses the intersectionality of equitable distribution of educational
resources in the U.S. public education system, student zip code/socioeconomic status, and
the college readiness of persons of color.
38
Access Without Success
Community colleges are often well versed in the identification and labeling of
students who present to the open access institution as unprepared for the college level
curriculum (Bailey, Jaggars, & Jenkins, 2015). Often, these students find themselves
trapped in a cycle that requires the completion of a myriad of noncredit-bearing courses,
which upon successful completion, will ultimately allow these students to enroll in a
college credit course. Some students require several semesters of developmental or pre-
credit courses prior to being eligible for the college courses they sought when they
arrived to campus. While many community colleges continue to fulfill their traditional
missions of providing access to affordable education, their college completion rates
continue to be dismal (Toldson & Lewis, 2012). Nationally, 68% of Black men who start
college do not graduate within six years (Harper, 2006b). In addition to the mission of
providing access, as a public entity, community colleges receive tax payer, state, and
federal funding and, therefore, have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the success of
those admitted to the institution.
A special 2014 report from the Center for Community College Student
Engagement (CCCSE), Aspirations to Achievement: Men of Color and Community
Colleges, advised that success for men of color cannot be achieved without the
community college first acknowledging that steps must be taken to redesign
developmental education, investing in big changes by examining boutique programs that
cannot be scaled institutionally, and focusing on those changes that will lead to
inescapable student engagement, while also committing to improve the cultural
competence of faculty and staff (Center for Community College Student Engagement
39
[CCCSE], 2014). Other institutional initiatives that will assist Black male students to
move from access to success involve every level of the institution being accountable for:
(a) improving retention, engagement, and graduation rates; (b) having honest
conversations about racism and its effects on Black male student outcomes; and (c)
requiring that institutional actions be guided by strategy that is collaboratively developed
by all institutional stakeholders (Harper & Kuykendall, 2012).
Retention Realities
Many have heard the pronouncement “there are more Black men in prison than
there are in college.” This statement originated in the 2002 report from the Justice Policy
Institute titled Cellblocks or Classrooms: The Funding of Higher Education and
Corrections and Its Impact on Black Men. The report found that in 2000, more African
American males (791,600) were under the jurisdiction of a federal, state, or local penal
system than were enrolled in higher education (603,032). The report attributed these
findings to an increase in state investment for corrections departments and a decrease in
support for higher education throughout the 1980s and 1990s (Schiraldi & Ziedenberg,
2002).
This 2002 report offered a compelling narrative, so compelling that the statistics
was quoted by then Senator Barak Obama in a 2007 speech to the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The concern regarding the use of this
Justice Policy Institute statistic is that the college enrollment data used in the Cellblocks
or Classrooms report only considered Black males who attended degree-granting
institutions and enrolled for the fall semester. The report also failed to include some
40
historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU’s), and over 1,000 colleges did not
submit data on Black male headcounts (Toldson & Esters, 2012).
The statistics presented in the bulk of the literature paint a somewhat bleak picture
for Black males in academia. Toldson & Lewis (2012) presented a counter narrative to
this picture, citing that the true statistics show Black males completing college with
modest gains. In 1990, Black men graduated at a rate of 11.1%; in 2000, the rate was
13.2%, and in 2010, the rate was 15.8%. Based on these trends, the year 2020 could
potentially see Black men graduating at a rate of 20%. While there is much less in the
literature regarding Black male academic success, Toldson & Esters (2012) noted that
Black men are not underrepresented in higher education, but they are underrepresented in
selective admission institutions. In 2012, community colleges enrolled 46% of all
undergraduates in the United States (Xu & Jaggers, 2013), and 14% of the community
college enrollment was African American. The challenge is to retain Black men even
though they present with prior educational experiences that have been substandard,
leaving them ill prepared for the rigor of college curriculum and struggling to ascend
from the bottom up.
Black Male Experiences Through the Lens of Critical Theory
In an opinion poll conducted by the National Opinion Research Center in 2010,
when people were questioned about various characteristics based on race, researchers
found that many traits that society deems as being positive are much more likely to be
ascribed to members of society who are Caucasian as reported in Marsden & Wright,
(2010). Based on race, respondents provided ratings on assumed intelligence, being
hard working, and presumed wealth. Forty-four percent of the respondents rated Whites
41
as intelligent and 30% rated Blacks as intelligent. With regard to which group was
considered most “hard working,” 37% of the respondents rated Whites as hard working,
while only 20% of the respondents indicated Blacks as hard working. When asked about
the perception of wealth between Blacks and Whites, 41% perceived Whites as being
“rich,” while only 7% of respondents perceived Blacks as “rich” (Marsden & Wright,
2010). There are a multitude of reasons for societal perceptions of Black males, among
them, the long-standing stereotypes and media portrayal of persons of color.
Of the multiple influences with respect to achievement and opportunities for
Black men and boys, research has demonstrated that expectations and biases on behalf of
potential employers, teachers, health care providers, police officers, and other individuals
in positions of power have significant sway over the life outcomes for millions of Black
males. The result of such public perceptions also influences Black males’ identity, self-
esteem, and their ability to overcome in difficult circumstances (Open Society
Foundations, 2011).
Critical Race Theory
Critical Race Theory (CRT) informed this study; therefore, understanding CRT is
important in addressing the role of social construction of identity, power dynamics,
privilege, and inequity within the various systems of education, particularly higher
education. In the mid-1970s, Critical Race Theory had its origin in Critical Legal Studies
(CLS) (Bell, 1995). CLS arose from the work of legal scholars Derrick Bell and Alan
Freeman and it focused on Gramsci’s (1971) ideas regarding hegemony. CLS prompted
legal scholars to consider an alternate theoretical lens when addressing societal issues of
hegemony and meritocracy (Ladson-Billings, 2003). Scholars of Critical Legal Studies
42
agreed that CLS did not fully address the significance of racism in the United States.
Critical Race Theory provides a laser focus on the effects of race and racism. CRT also
takes into consideration the dominant ideologies that exist in America and the systemic
effect of social class, gender, sexual orientation, and other characteristics of difference
(Parker, 1998).
Critical Race Theory holds at its core the following five tenets: Counter-
Storytelling, the Permanence of Racism, Whiteness as Property, Interest Convergence,
and Critique of Liberalism. The significance of each of these core assertions is flushed
out in the midst of addressing the questions that guided in this inquiry.
A definition of counter-storytelling is offered by Delgado and Stefancic (2012) as
a method of storytelling that “aims to cast doubt on the validity of accepted premises or
myths, especially ones held by the majority” (p.144). Counter-storytelling is
operationalized in the work of Dancy and Brown (2012), with a close examination of
Black male identity and teacher perceptions. Negative perceptions and beliefs held by
teachers are based on premises and myths about Black males that are pervasive
historically and perpetuated by media. Counter-storytelling challenges assumptions made
about Black males that have been normalized in American society (Delgado & Stefanic,
2012). Counter-storytelling “help[s] us understand what life is like for others, and
invites[s] the reader into a new and unfamiliar world” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012, p.41).
This study aimed to collect and analyze the participants’ stories of their challenges,
successes, and meaning making in a predominantly White community college
environment in the Midwest.
43
The Black author and activist James Baldwin (1953/1985) eloquently addressed
the construct of race stating that “it took generations, and a vast amount of coercion,
before this became a White country” (p. 178). Baldwin (as cited in Johnson, 2006)
pointed out that the social reality of our experiences are nothing more than a cultural
creation regarding the notion of race, and the categories of othering have no significance
outside of the hierarchical structure that allows the dominant group maintenance of
privilege through oppression and subjugation of others. According to Johnson (2006),
categories of privilege have changed over time:
One way to see the constructed nature of reality is to notice how the definitions of
different “races” change historically, by including groups at one time that were
excluded in another. The Irish, for example, were long considered by the
dominant White Anglo-Saxon Protestants of England and the United States to be
members of a non-White “race,” as were Italians, Jews, Greeks, and people from
a number of European countries. As such, immigrants from these groups to
England and the United States were excluded and subjugated and exploited in
much the same way that Blacks were. (p.68)
The permanence of the racism tenet of Critical Race Theory offers challenges the
claims of some Americans that the historical election of the first Black president confirms
the notion that America is now a post-racial society. According to Bell (1992), “racism is
a permanent component of American life” (p. 13). In asserting the permanence of
racism, Bell acknowledged that one must adopt a “realist view” of the American societal
structure, understanding that there remains a hierarchical structure that continues to be
supported by socioeconomics and political power. The degree to which this hierarchical
44
structure can be threaded throughout the lives of Black male students matriculating in a
predominantly White community college has been critically analyzed as part of this
inquiry.
Another tenet of CRT is that of Whiteness as “Property”. At first glance the idea
of property may seem odd in a discussion of CRT; however, acknowledging that CRT is
an outgrowth of Critical Legal Studies, it becomes easier to make the connection. In
legal studies, property maintains three characteristics; there is the right of possession, the
right to use, the right to disposition, and the right to transfer property. The right to use
and exclude others from use is another important element of property rights (Ladson-
Billings & Tate, 1995). Property rights denote a certain degree of privilege enjoyed by
the property owner.
Critical Race Theory supports the analysis of the benefits of Whiteness that
persons of color do not enjoy. In the realm of education, the lack of these benefits results
in significant inequity (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). Having access to quality
education, to a rigorous college preparatory curriculum, to participation in gifted
programs, and to earning college credit while in high school are all too common
privileges that Black males, as well as other students of color, are prohibited from
enjoying based on zip code of residence and socioeconomic status (Solórzano & Ornelas,
2002). McIntosh (2000) identified privilege as existing when one group has something of
value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than
because of anything they have done or failed to do. The privilege of not having to be
concerned about race is not a privilege that Black males on a predominantly White
45
campus can enjoy. If and how these young men established a sense of belonging and
ownership of their campus environment were discovered in the process of this inquiry.
Interest Convergence, a tenet of CRT, was highlighted by Bell (1980) who
pointed out that the gains of the civil rights movement only provided Black people with
very basic rights, and any gains from the Brown v. Board of Education case were
diminished by school closings, termination of Black teachers and administrators, and the
lack of access to quality curriculum. Interest convergence is regularly seen in higher
education with athletic programs. Black males constitute most of the student-athletes
participating in Division IA football; however, less than half of them graduated from
college between 1996 and 2002 (Donnor, 2005). In 2003, the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA) also reported that the graduation rate for White Division I
football players was 61%, while Black Male Division I football players matriculating in
the same six-year period had a graduation rate of 49% (Donnor, 2005). Institutional
reliance on revenue generation speaks to the willingness of the leaders of sport programs
to engage in the heavy recruiting of young Black men and minimally focusing on their
academics beyond the students’ eligibility to play in the game. Per DeCuir and Dixson
(2004), “gains that coincide with the self-interests of White elites are not likely to make a
substantive difference in the lives of people of color” (p. 28).
The final tenet of Critical Race Theory that bears examination is termed “Critique
of Liberalism”. This tenet, established in the 90s, addresses the neutrality of the law,
incremental societal change, and a concern that is still prevalent today—the notion of
“colorblindness” (DeCuir & Dixson, 2004). Wise (2013a) noted this as the “Rise and
Triumph of Post-Racial Liberalism.” The idea of colorblindness turns a blind eye to the
46
permanence of racism and the struggles for equity faced by persons of color in 2015.
CRT scholar Gotanda (1991) noted that the colorblind approach was nothing more than a
way to justify doing away with policies developed to address the social inequity in the
United States that has historically been based on race and racism.
The critique of liberalism or the more common term in today’s vernacular, post-
racial liberalism, advances the idea of rhetorical racial transcendence. In the words of
former NAACP chairman, the late Julian Bond (2003),
Whether race is a burden or a belief is all the same to race-neutral theorists; that is
what they mean when they speak of being colorblind. They are colorblind, all
right—blind to the consequences of being the wrong color in America today. (p.
8)
America as a “post-racial” society was the topic of much discussion with the
election of the nation’s first Black president in 2008. For many, the fact that a Black man
was elected president was a clear sign to many that America was on a new path to social
and racial equality. Wise (2013a) went to great lengths to point out the notion of post-
racial liberalism as presented in many of the speeches made by President Obama prior to
his election. Wise posited that it was necessary for Obama, the candidate, to commit
himself fully to the colorblind concept, noting Obama’s praise for the founding fathers as
“statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and
persecution” (Obama, 2008). While pointing this out, Obama did not address the savage
tyranny imposed by these same “statesmen and patriots” on the indigenous people of the
land or the Africans they enslaved.
47
Donnor (2005) advised that “terms such as merit and colorblindness serve as code
words for laws and policies that secure and advance the political and economic interests
of upper class Whites” (p. 58). Critical Race Theory serves as a critical lens through
which to view the lived experiences of Black males in higher education as they
matriculate in a predominantly White institution.
Stereotypes
Stereotypes can be defined as “overgeneralizations of group characteristics which
are used to describe and evaluate people of those groups” (Hughes & Baldwin, 2002, p.
41). Stereotypes include beliefs about the personal characteristics of a group that are
overgeneralized, erroneous, and resistant to change. Stereotypes involve social
categorizations, and Black males are often the recipients of such stereotypical thoughts.
It is important to note that the application of stereotypes is not unique to Blacks.
Stereotypes reflect conditions that are tied to one’s identity (Steele, 2011). In a society
with a multitude of identities, such as gay, heterosexual, old, millennial, republican,
democrat, scholar, athlete, we see the likelihood of one being stereotyped at some point
in life as a true possibility.
The way stereotypes impact members of society in general and Blacks
specifically has been the scholarly focus of Claude Steele for over two decades. Steele
and Aronson (2004) presented their seminal work on the phenomenon known as
stereotype threat and its impact on intellectual test performance for Blacks. Stereotype
threat is defined as “being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative
stereotype about one’s group” (Steele & Aronson, 2004, p. 797). Steele and Aronson’s
48
study examined the way social context and group identity come together as well as the
social psychological predicament of race.
When considering identity construction, Steele (2011) advised:
Imposing on us certain conditions of life, our social identities can strongly affect
things as important as our performances in the classroom and on standardized
tests, our memory capacity, our athletic performance, the pressure we feel to
prove ourselves, even the comfort level we have with people of different groups
—all things we typically think of as being determined by individual talents,
motivations, and preferences. (p. 4)
Steele presented the relationship between identity and stereotype threat and how
the stereotypes reflect societal views at any given time in history. Stereotyping can play
a significant role for Black males when they allow stereotypes to enter their self-concept;
when this occurs, the individual will engage in what is termed self-stereotyping (Oakes,
Haslam, & Turner, 1994). In the U.S., Black males routinely are the recipients of applied
stereotypes regarding sports, lack of intelligence, criminality, and an affinity for rap
music (Burrell, 2010). Black males who consider being an athlete as an important part of
their identity may form a self-stereotype consistent with their identity and self-esteem.
Some Black males may adopt a self-stereotype regarding their love of sports and their
athletic ability; however, those who impose the stereotypes often characterize Black male
athletes as having great physical prowess, while their White peers are lauded for their
understanding, intelligence, and their strategic thinking (Stone, Lynch, Sjomeling, &
Darley, 1999).
49
Unlike many of their peers, Black males enrolled in a predominantly White
community college are often confronted with some barriers that are unique to their race,
gender, and class. One of the goals of this study was to find out how Black male students
can navigate such challenging barriers, while progressing academically and making
meaning of these experiences.
Microaggressions
There are many institutionalized practices that can serve as barriers to academic
success for Black males in higher education, and microaggressions are one such barrier.
Microaggressions have been defined as “subtle, stunning, often automatic, and non-
verbal exchanges which are ‘put downs’ of Blacks by offenders” (Pierce, Carew, Pierce-
Gonzalez, & Wills, 1978, p. 66). Davis (1989) expanded the definition of
microaggressions by including that the disregard of microaggressions is related to the
unconscious attitudes of White superiority which in the offender’s mind, constitute a
verification of Black inferiority. Microaggressions can have a cumulative impact on the
person of color upon whom they are inflicted (Pierce, et al., 1978). Marable (1995)
highlighted the pervasiveness of microaggressions with his definition of racism,
extending the role of microaggressions beyond the realm of White and Black interactions.
Marable (1995) defined racism as “a system of ignorance, exploitation, and power used
to oppress African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, Pacific Americans, American Indians and
other people on the bases of ethnicity, culture, mannerisms, and color” (p. 5). Marable
offered a comprehensive perspective on the diversity of cultures that are regularly
impacted by microaggressions and racism in America.
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In 2010, Sue created a taxonomy of microaggressions, offering a more detailed
presentation of microaggressions and extending the original theory of racial
microaggressions to include insults that were intentional in nature, taking the form of
verbal, behavioral, or environmental in nature (Minikel-Lacocque, 2012). The taxonomy
of racial microaggressions covers “commonplace verbal or behavioral indignities,
whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative
racial slights and insults” (Sue, 2010, p. 78). Microaggressions are further broken down
into three forms that include what Sue termed microinsult, microassault, and
microinvalidation.
Microassaults represent overt, conscious acts of degradation. The individual on
the receiving end of a microassault is keenly aware that the assault is motivated by
bigotry. The person perpetrating the microassault is clear about his or her disdain based
on race. Microinsults, according to Sue (2010), are the result of subconscious behaviors
and the perpetrator is unaware of the offensive action and resulting injury. Microinsults
are those comments which on the surface appear to be a compliment; examples of
microinsults include comments such as “you are very articulate,” or specifically for Black
males, “what team do you play on?” suggesting that all Black males are in college
because they were recruited to play sports, and are not there based on academic merit.
For persons of Asian descent, the comment “I know you must be really good in math!” is
indicative of a microinsult, presenting the stereotype that all persons of Asian descent are
good in math.
Microinvalidation relates to those aspects in society that are the result of what Sue
terms, the “power to define reality” (Gómez, 2015, p. 26). Often these unconscious
51
invalidations take the form of comments or behaviors that exclude or negate the thoughts,
feelings, and experiences of persons of color (Sue, 2010). The three forms of
microaggressions as described in the taxonomy are funneled into Environmental
Microaggressions which include racial insults and invalidations commonly manifested on
systemic and environmental levels. At the environmental level, Sue (2010) pointed out
the forms of systemic racism found in environments. Individuals subjected to this
environment will be treated as if they are lesser persons. The persons of color will be
assumed to have lower degrees of intelligence; there is the general practice of
pathologizing cultural values and styles of communication; and there is an assumed
criminality and deviancy that is solely race based.
The racial microaggressions taxonomy identities some of the common beliefs held
by the perpetrators of the microinsults, assaults, and invalidations. Such beliefs include
the concept of color blindness, where the individual deny that they see color and asserts
that race plays a very minor role in one’s success in life. There is also the assumption
that those members of American society who can be easily identified as a racial or ethnic
minority based on culture or dress are not U.S. citizens, but rather foreigners (Sue, 2010).
While microaggressions may be a common occurrence for persons of color
generally and specifically for Black males in a predominantly White college
environment, the toll that these aggressions take and the stress these cause for the Black
male student are rarely discussed in the context of the educational achievement gaps seen
in Black male high school and college students. Discrimination in the form of
microaggressions can produce psychological effects (Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009),
and high levels of depression have been associated with exposure to microaggressions
52
(Donovan, Galban, Grace, Bennett, & Felicie, 2013). In addition to depression, Donovan
(2013) noted the anxiety and stress experienced by persons of color because of subjection
to microaggressions.
Microaggressions occur in everyday life on a regular basis (Minikel-Lacocque,
2012; Pascoe & Smith Richman, 2009; Sue, 2010; Sue, Capodilupo, & Holder, 2008; Sue
et al., 2007). The ability of Black male community college students enrolled in
predominantly White institutions to manage these negative experiences, as they construct
their identity and seek success academically was especially important to examine in this
study. Throughout their lives, Black males are confronted with assumptions and
expectations that are cast upon them by society. The weight of these burdens requires
societal and institutional acknowledgement and understanding. In addition to the
prevalence of microaggressions, the role of stereotyping and stereotype threat must also
be addressed in any discussions on education, race, and achievement for persons of color.
Masculinity
There is a dearth of research exploring men enrolled in community colleges.
Most of the research on community college men addresses this group in terms of the
deficits they exhibit (Harper & Harris, 2010). Understanding the role of masculinity for
college men is important for all men, but this role presents with particular importance in
the study of Black males. Since the dawn of slavery in America, the masculinity of Black
males has been denied, stereotyped, and ignored. Masculinity refers to “the observable
enactments, affectations, and performances that men use to honor or dishonor their
manhood” (Dancy, 2012, p. 2). Masculinity is socially constructed and as such, it will be
dependent upon the experiences and expectations of cultural/societal norms.
53
Gender research on males is not as plentiful as that on females; however, the literature
that is available suggests that masculinities assume an important role in the way men
experience college and the decisions they make while in college (Edwards & Jones,
2009).
Per Kimmel and Messner (2007), masculinity like other socially constructed
identities such as race, social class, and sexual orientation, operate within a hierarchal
structure. At the top of this structure sits White, affluent, heterosexual, able-bodied men.
Men finding themselves on the lower end of the hierarchy include those who are typically
marginalized in American society, such as men of color, unemployed men, men in
poverty, homosexual men, and men who are disabled (Harper & Harris, 2010).
Masculinity is marked by a certain set of expectations and the role of the father and son
relationship is critical in the development of the masculine identity (Harper, 2004);
common fatherly expectations are that men do not cry; men should be in charge; men are
not soft, weak, or fearful. While these expectations may fall within many of the cultural
norms for manhood, the reality is that many men have displayed multiple aspects of their
identity that conflict with these norms.
Black men who may live in a home where the father is absent will often find their
greatest influencers are their male peers. As young boys and young men, Black males
have been socialized to a great degree to what is known as the Brother Code (Dancy,
2012). As a code, the brother code offers a set of principles, rules, laws, and an
organized system of signs that are unwritten formally and are unique to Black males.
“The Brother Code refers to the rules that govern manhood for Black males. The Brother
Code rules are lifelong and clearly describe acceptable ways that Black boys and men
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must walk, talk, dress, think, and carry themselves” (Dancy, 2012, p. 2). Within this
code, Black males are taught to display masculine behaviors or masculinities. The
differentiation between manhood and masculinity is important to note. Masculinities are
observable enactments that are the result of a performance.
Majors and Billson (1992) presented another form of masculinity in what they
termed the “cool pose.” “The cool pose represents a ritualized form of masculinity
entailing behaviors, scripts, physical posturing, expression management, and carefully
crafted performances that deliver a single, critical message: pride, strength, and control”
(Majors & Billson, 1992, p. 4). Black males who violate either the brother code or the
cool pose can be the recipients of shaming from peers if they have educational aspirations
and engage in other pursuits that are not deemed masculine. How Black males
experience their racial identity, their masculine identity, and any conflicts that they may
face as these two identities intersect were critical considerations for this study because
there has been very little research regarding masculinities and Black males in the
community college setting.
Media Portrayal of Black Males
By far, media portrayal of Black boys and men has done more to perpetuate
stereotypes than any other form of communication. An example of this can be seen in the
daily news headlines. The way Black male victims are described in comparison to White
suspects is notable. In 2010, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal presented a story where
they described Amy Bishop, a White former college professor, as “suspect brilliant, but
social misfit.” Ms. Bishop murdered three colleagues and wounded three others when
she was denied tenure (Kruger & Love, 2015). A 25-year-old Black man who was
55
murdered recently in Alabama prompted this headline in the online news source AL.com:
“Montgomery’s latest homicide victim had history of narcotics abuse, tangles with the
law.”
Other headlines regarding White suspects read as follows:
The Associated Press reported on a White suspect: “Ohio shooting suspect T.
J. Lane, described as a fine ‘person” (Associated Press, 3/1/2012
A Los Angeles Daley News headlined a White shooter: “Santa Barbara
shooting: Suspect was ‘soft-spoken, polite, a gentleman’, ex-principal says”
(Gazzar, 2014).
A headline from Fox News reads: “Oregon school shooting suspect fascinated
with guns but was a devoted Mormon, his friends say.” This headline was the
result of a 15-year-old White male entering a classroom, killing a classmate,
and injuring a teacher before taking his own life (Associated Press,
6/12/2014).
The South Carolina Telegram depicted a White male bombing suspect as
“Straight–A student plots to bomb high school” (Associated Press,
4/21/2008).
From the Staten Island Advance, a White male suspect was accused of
murdering his parents: “Son in Staten Island murders was brilliant, athletic—
but his demons were the death of parents” (Spencer, 2010).
Contrary to these headlines, the ongoing coverage of the Black male Trayvon Martin
murder prompted NBC News to run the headline: “Trayvon Martin was suspended three
times from school” (3/26/2012).
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These disparate characterizations of Black victims and White suspects is not a
new phenomenon. The ability to shape perceptions and beliefs regarding historically
marginalized groups is the cornerstone of social, political, and economic domination over
a group (Howard, et al., 2012). Once these representations of Blackness become familiar
and accepted, they fuel negative perceptions and perpetuate misunderstandings among
the “races”.
The limiting of positive images and positive narratives concerning Black males
makes it difficult for young Black males to envision themselves in the future tense as
academic scholars, doctors, lawyers, or police officers. Media inundation with the most
successful Black males in the U.S. being professional athletes, or rap music stars, sends a
clear message to the young Black male as they construct their identity. A simple Google
search of the words “Black Male” reveals countless images of muscular and shirtless
Black men, police photographs commonly referred to as mug shots, and an array of
photos of Black athletes, rappers, singers, and other entertainers.
These images represent common portrayals of Black men in our society, the
impact of which undoubtedly contribute to the negative stereotyping regularly
confronting Black men. The campus environment must commit to being a place of
refuge for these young men in order to ensure their academic persistence.
Deficit Frameworks
Beyond the challenges of microaggressions and stereotype threat faced by many
Black male students, research has demonstrated that teachers will develop and rely on
stereotypes regarding race (Chang & Demyan 2007; Chang & Sue 2003; Tenenbaum &
Ruck 2007) and social class (Diamond, Randolph, & Spillane, 2004; McCombs & Gay
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1988). This debilitating model of thinking, predicting assumed failure based on race,
gender, and socioeconomic status, is known as the Cultural Deficit Model. The cultural
deficit model has been widely used in education and human services. “The cultural
deficit model contends that minority cultural values, as transmitted through the family,
are dysfunctional, and therefore the reason for low educational and later occupational
attainment” (Solórzano, 1997, p. 13). Pica-Smith and Veloria (2012) addressed the
common use of the terms “at risk” and “at-risk youth.”
While this term has not been operationalized, it would appear to represent a
tangible construct instead of a socially constructed one that has been critiqued for
reifying a new social identity of risk that pathologizes youth of color and poor
youth. (p. 34)
Much like the discussion on achievement gaps for Black males, the discourse commonly
used in education related to being “at risk” often fails to consider practices that have been
institutionalized, resulting in inequitable treatment for Black male students from primary
to postsecondary education.
Teacher Expectations
Matriculation in a predominantly White community college increases the
likelihood that young Black males will interface with teachers who may harbor limited
expectations of them as students. There are a multitude of reasons for such diminished
expectations. Some faculty may have had limited to no exposure to students of color.
Some faculty may assume that students of color were inadequately prepared for the rigors
of college work; others may simply feel that Black males are academically inferior. Of
course, there will also be faculty who harbor no preconceived notions regarding the
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academic ability of Black male college students. Whatever the case, the literature
presents an argument on behalf of teacher expectations and their connection to student’s
academic success.
Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) conducted the first widely published research on
expectancy effects relating to teachers’ expectations of their students. The Pygmalion
effect, or Rosenthal effect as it has been called, is demonstrative of students internalizing
positive or negative expectations of them and those expectations having a role in their
academic performance. In 1968, Jane Elliot conducted in her classroom what was
controversial research at the time—the blue-eyed, brown-eyed experiment. This
experiment was meant to show to her students what it feels like to be discriminated
against following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition to the
feelings of discrimination, based on their eye color, students could feel the expectancy
effect that one eye color made the student feel superior over another student’s eye color;
this demonstrated the sway that a teacher’s expectations can have over an entire
classroom of students.
Brophy (1988) focused on the negative expectations as generated via the
Pygmalion effect. Through his experiment, Brophy found that negative expectations and
what he termed “expectation-mediated” discrimination and false evaluation were
detrimental to the motivation of students these practices target. The power dynamics in
the classroom setting are often affected by race, gender, socioeconomics, and the lived
experiences of both teacher and student (Sheared, 1994). Teachers understanding this
dynamic will be in a better position to incorporate differences, provide an inclusive
environment, and motivate students toward successful outcomes. A failure to
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acknowledge these, as if they do not exist, can inhibit the teaching and learning
transaction. Teacher perceptions matter, shaping the school environment and classroom
practices (Skiba, Michael, Nardo, & Peterson, 2002). Noguera (2003) posited that
“students can be unfairly victimized by the labeling and sorting processes that occur
within schools” (p. 442).
The studies by Alvidrez and Weinstein (1999) and Ferguson (2001) demonstrated
that students with higher socioeconomic status were perceived more positively by their
teachers, and that race was a determining factor in the teacher’s belief in the student’s
ability to achieve; students of color were viewed by teachers as lacking in achievement
ability while non-minority peers were viewed more positively. Bias on the part of
teachers can impact any student for a host of reasons. Some studies suggest that Black
males more than any other student peer group find themselves on the receiving end of a
presumed lack of ability and diminished educational expectations (Monroe, 2005;
Noguera, 2003, 2008; Skiba et al., 2002).
The importance of creating high expectations for Black males cannot be
overstated. Expectations can lead to greater motivation, and the acknowledgement that
these young men can in fact be as successful as any other student in the campus
community should be a part of the institutional culture if the institution is serious about
improving outcomes for Black males on campus. Being viewed through the lens of
faculty in a negative framework can directly impact the student’s sense of belonging and
hope for success.
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Campus Culture
Currently, almost every U.S. college recruitment brochure and catalog will
contain a statement like College X prohibits discrimination against any individual based
on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, and
physical or mental disability. Today in higher education there is heightened awareness of
the need for institutions to be inclusive of all students, and a diversity office exists in
large part due to this awareness. Colleges and universities recognize that failure to
ensure an equitable educational experience can result in the loss of the ability to offer
their students federal financial aid (Chaplot, Cooper, & Johnstone, 2015).
As a mirror of American society, despite the diversity and inclusion policy
making that occurs on many campuses, individual attitudes, beliefs, and stereotypical
notions cannot always be addressed with students, faculty, and staff. On the
predominantly White college campus as in society, there are instances where Black males
may feel isolated (James, 1998). Social alienation can be problematic for college
students of all races, genders, and sexual orientations; social alienation in and of itself is
not a new issue for students as they enter college (Pounds, 1887; Tinto, 1987). James
(1998) defined social alienation as the “lack of perception of fit within an environment
that is in some ways alien” (p. 2). Taylor (1986) studied Black male students at
predominantly White universities and found that of those Black students who longed for
the acceptance of their White peers did not possess sufficient understanding of self.
Wood and Harris (2012) describe two important non-cognitive variables that serve to
enhance the experiences of Black males on the community college campus; they include
the student having a sense of belonging, and the complexity of identity.
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A sense of belonging is defined as “students’ perceived social support on campus,
a felling or sensation of connectedness, the experience of mattering or feeling cared
about, accepted, respected, valued by, and important to the group or others on campus”
(Strayhorn, 2012, p. 3). Students who don’t enjoy a sense of connectedness with the
campus and institutional environment are less likely to persist academically (Harris &
Wood, 2013).
The intersection of gender, race/ethnicity, as presented by Gardenhire-Cooks,
Collado, & Ray (2006), sheds light on the complexity of identity construction for Black
males, finding that their failure to seek assistance for academic and personal challenges
along with placing their role of income earner before that of student is in keeping with the
commonly adopted construct of masculinity as part of identity.
Campus culture and campus climate are used interchangeably in the literature.
For this study, the term “culture” was used and was meant to be inclusive of climate
related to racism and sexism because the focus of this study is Black males enrolled in a
predominantly White institution. Research on campus racial climates has been conducted
for over two decades; the widely referenced study on campus racial climate was
conducted by Hurtado (1992). The journal article “The Campus Racial Climate:
Contexts of Conflict” provided the earliest scholarship on racial climate. To date, the
preponderance of the studies conducted regarding racial climate have occurred at four-
year colleges and universities, and few of the studies focused solely on Black students
(Fries-Britt & Turner, 2001; Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000; Swim, Hyers, Cohen,
Fitzgerald, & Bylsma, 2003).
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The literature reflects that consistently, Black students and White students
experience the racial climate of the institution very differently (Cabrera & Nora, 1994;
Hurtado, 1992; Mohr & Lee, 2000; Suarez-Balcazar, Orellana-Damacela, Portillo,
Rowan, & Andrews-Guillen, 2003) with White students not recognizing the racial
tensions and injustices, and Black students regularly indicating that such tension and
challenges exist on the campus. Harper and Hurtado (2007) identified nine themes
commonly associated with institutions where the racial climate needs positive
transformation:
Cross-Race Consensus Regarding Institutional Negligence
Race as a Four-Letter Word and an Avoidable Topic
Self-Reports of Racial Segregation
Gaps in Social Satisfaction by Race
Reputational Legacies for Racism
White Student Overestimation of Minority Student Satisfaction
The Pervasiveness of Whiteness in Space, Curricula, and Activities
The Consciousness-Powerlessness Paradox among Racial/Ethnic Minority
Staff
Unexplored Qualitative Realities of Race in Institutional Assessment
Harper and Hurtado’s (2007) nine themes resulted from their study of racial
climates at five predominantly White universities; however, when considering the
themes, the plausibility that some if not all may be applicable to the community college
campus is certainly a reasonable consideration and worthy of close examination. Tinto’s
(1975) early work regarding adjustment problems experienced by Black students at PWIs
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cited a four-factor model for college retention that included student family background,
high school experiences, campus social interactions, and personal attitudes as predictors
of the Black student’s satisfaction with college. The four factors described by Tinto
(1975), while very important, exclude the Black students’ integration within the entire
campus community.
Because the culture/climate of the campus is a determining factor in student
success, institutions bear responsibility for ensuring that the campus is inclusive and that
all students have a sense of belonging. One of the key goals of this study was to
determine the degree to which Black male students can adapt to the campus culture and
develop a sense of belonging.
Institutional Responsibility, Inclusion, and Engagement
Over the past decade, higher education institutional acknowledgement of
disparities in success rates for Black males has been widely discussed and addressed
through the adoption of various student success initiatives. Despite these efforts, many
colleges have experienced only limited improvement in the outcomes for Black male
students. Tinto (1997, 2002; Tinto & Pusser, 2006) is well known for his research and
theories on student departure from college. Tinto’s research asserted that the greater the
degree of student integration within the institutional setting, the greater the likelihood that
the student will persist. This assertion by Tinto presents obvious challenges for
institutions that are perceived as being less than welcoming to students of color. Tinto
and Pusser (2006) offered a model of institutional action that promotes success for low-
income students who have historically experienced low rates of completion. Institutional
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action that shapes student success rather than focuses on student attributes (deficit
framework) is the goal of this model.
Conditions and Frameworks for Academic Success
Tinto and Pusser (2006) suggested that an institutional environment should reflect
five conditions that will promote student success: Commitment, Expectations, Support,
Feedback, and Involvement.
Institutions must be committed to the goal of increasing student success for those
students of low socioeconomic status and those students who are historically
underrepresented in higher education. Institutions must also create an environment where
expectations for student success are high and are communicated to the student in multiple
ways. The third condition is that of support; in this case, support specifically targets
academic, social, and financial aspects of the student’s experience within the institutional
environment. Feedback on a regular basis allows students to consider their performance
and adjust while allowing faculty to the make necessary adjustments to their teaching
based on student need. The fourth institutional condition for the success of low-income
and underrepresented students is involvement. Involvement has long been described in
the literature as academic and social integration (Astin, 1993; Tinto, 1987, 2012). There
is consistent research supporting the fact that students who are academically and socially
engaged are more likely to persist and graduate. In the community college environment,
involvement is most critical in classrooms and lab spaces because these spaces, in many
instances, are the only places where students will have the opportunity to interact with
one another and with faculty members on a regular basis.
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Wood and Palmer (2015) offered a unique perspective on the factors affecting the
departure from college for Black male students and addressed institutional responsibility
as the major influence for increasing outcome success rates for Black males. Wood and
Palmer countered Tinto’s early assertion that “in order to become fully incorporated in
the life of the college, [students] have to physically as well as socially dissociate
themselves from the communities of the past” (Tinto, 2012 p. 96). Bensimon (2005)
described three cognitive frames that underpin a structure for institutional responsibility
for student success; these cognitive frames include deficit, diversity, and equity. The
deficit cognitive frame places the focus of student success on the student’s circumstances.
In this frame, students are blamed for their inadequate preparation for college because
they hail from poor communities and have a lack of parental involvement. Many of these
common constructs come to mind as the institution prepares to address the needs of Black
male students. The cognitive frame of diversity places the focus of student success on the
benefits of a diverse campus for the majority students, providing them the opportunity to
engage with diverse students to prepare these majority students to face a global society.
The diversity frame promotes the appearance that Black male students are admitted to the
institution in order to benefit majority students, not necessarily for their own educational
benefit. Bensimon (2005) posited that the deficit and diversity cognitive frames do very
little to bolster student success for underserved students because these limit the focus on
institutional responsibility by placing the onus for student success solely on the student.
The Responsibility of Higher Education
Wood and Palmer (2015) focused on student success and addressed the issue of
institutional responsibility for that success:
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Educational programming should not merely focus exposing majority students to
compositional diversity, but rather on changing the inherent organizational
structures that limit student success. This involves assuming responsibility for
student outcomes, challenging the deficit and diversity cognitive frames, and
developing systems to monitor outcomes. (p. 54)
According to Bensimon (2005), when employing the equity cognitive frame, colleges and
universities will take “institutional responsibility for student outcomes, the manifestation
of institutionalized racism, color consciousness, awareness of practices based on their
differential consequences, and awareness of White privilege” (p. 103).
Wood and Palmer (2015) presented an alternative model for Black male student
success. The context, actions, and outcomes (CAO) model of institutional responsibility
provides a model that counters Astin’s (1993) input-environment-outcome (I-E-O) model
that focuses on the student arriving to campus with certain inputs—things like prior
learning, different environments, and differing personal attributes. These inputs are then
shaped by the student’s engagement in academic and social experiences along with the
educational programming occurring on the campus. The input-environment-output model
relies on the student’s ability to adapt to the institutional environment rather than the
institutional environment adapting to the student’s needs. The CAO model addresses the
institutions responsibility to meet the students where they are, and limits the focus on
deficit and diversity cognitive frames while enhancing the focus on the cognitive frame
of equity.
The CAO model includes eight key domains of institutional responsibility for
Black male success. The domains are interrelated and include programs, policies,
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practices, resources, structures, climates, partnerships, and inquiry (Wood & Palmer,
2015). Within each domain, select sub-domains and key responsibilities are included.
The CAO model delves into all aspects of institutional responsibility, such as
partnerships with PreK–12, partnerships with industry, campus climate, academic and co-
curricular programming, as well as institutional practices in hiring, provision of student
services, and teaching and learning. The development of academic policies and the
impact on Black males is also considered. The CAO model removes the onus for success
from the student and places it where it rightly belongs, within the institutional locus of
control (Wood & Palmer, 2015).
An engaging campus environment requires a culture of concern for all students.
When such student-centered investment in success is obvious to the student, the student is
more likely to be engaged, persist, and complete. Wood and Turner (2010) found that
positive student-faculty engagement was a primary requisite for student success and
identified four key elements for such engagement: (a) exhibiting a friendly demeanor, (b)
checking in on students’ progress, (c) listening to students’ concerns, and (d) encouraging
students’ success by challenging them to meet high expectations. The last element belies
the use of deficit frameworks regarding Black male success.
Higher education in general, and the community college sector in particular,
command a position of great consequence in shaping society by enhancing communities
and improving the economic sustainability of the country. Community colleges
strategically addressing the necessity for retention, persistence, and completion for
approximately 43% of all Black male college students should be considered one of this
sector’s highest educational missions.
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Black, Male, and Scholar
The Question
Who do you say I am? This fundamental question was proffered by Jesus Christ
to his disciples over two thousand years ago. The question is so significant that accounts
of its answer can be found in three of the four Gospels of the New Testament (Matthew
16:15, Mark 8:29, Luke 9:20). Black males address questions daily as they move about
in society, navigating the challenges of stereotypes that have been attributed to them for
over one hundred years. Of the multitude of adjectives used to describe Black male
students, I have been challenged as a researcher to find literature that recognizes and
celebrates the Black male student as possessing a scholar identity.
As the literature review as pointed out, there is ample research regarding Black
males being subjected to a lack of equity, a deficit paradigm, and disproportionate
representation in school suspensions.
Specifically, the literature addresses tracking and classification that results in
disproportionate assignments in special education, the greater likelihood for exposure to
novice White female teachers, and the lack of access to a robust college preparatory
curriculum. Alexander (2010) reports that Black males are seven times more likely than
their White male peers to be caught up in the criminal justice system. Criminal justice
disproportionality along with other societal issues impacting Black men and boys, begs
the question—How can institutions support Black males in rejecting identities that have
been constructed through the lenses of others?
Black males arriving at any of the 1,123 community colleges in the United States
will bring with them their unique identity that has been shaped by a multitude of lived
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experiences. Even though many community colleges have come to realize the
importance of designing initiatives to serve this population of students, such as
mentoring, intrusive advising, and weekend participation in rap sessions to discuss their
challenges with accomplished Black male mentors, the academic gains for Black males
have been and continue to be very modest (Dancy & Brown, 2012; Harper, 2010, Harper
& Kuykendall, 2012; Strayhorn, 2012; Toldson & Lewis, 2012).
Community colleges must aggressively collaborate with the K–12 sector to
promote a new paradigm for Black males, a paradigm that places these young men in a
position to be viewed through the lens of promise rather than risk (Ford, 2010).
Additionally, within the community college, there exists an opportunity to create success
models for Black male students. Such models should shift the paradigm from Black
males being at risk to Black males being at promise, offering them support for continued
identity construction that includes acknowledgment of the infinite possibilities that exist
for them as a member of the campus community.
The Scholar Identity Model
The scholar identity model (SIM) (Whiting, 2006a) presents a counter-narrative to
the stereotypical roles that in some cases are internalized by Black males who find
themselves as products of a public education system that is driven by zip code and tax
base, resulting in their precarious placement at the lower end of the socioeconomic strata.
The SIM presents nine constructs (self-efficacy, future orientation, willingness to make
sacrifices, internal locus of control, self-awareness, need for achievement, academic self-
confidence, racial identity, and masculinity) that if addressed appropriately and
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internalized by Black males, will lead to greater attainments of academic success
(Whiting, 2006a, p. 55).
At the foundation of the scholar identity model is the requirement for self-
efficacy. Early theory on the role of self-efficacy and academic achievement was
supported by the work of Bandura (1977). Belief in self and in one’s ability to be
successful is necessary for the additional eight constructs in the scholar identity model to
be operationalized. Self-efficacy is important for all students but it bears importance for
Black male students who will likely face some form of negative perception, stereotype
threat, or microaggression while in pursuit of higher education. The Black male student
with high self-efficacy will not shrink from challenges nor will he view a failure or set
back as the final determinant of his future. Self-efficacy builds the foundation for the
future orientation construct of SIM, which when present, will ensure that the student has
an adequate amount of motivation to remain focused and think about his future and how
what he does in the present moment can directly impact his future (Uwah, McMahon &
Furlow, 2008). Future orientation will help the Black male student understand the benefit
of delayed gratification and the rewards that come from hard work and planning for
desired future outcomes.
The scholar identity model presupposes that the student be willing to make
sacrifices. The willingness to make sacrifices and the ability to connect those sacrifices
to future successful outcomes is a necessity for Black male students seeking scholar
identity (Gira, 2010). Sacrifices can be as variable as the students’ educational
experiences and ages. Younger students may find those sacrifices include the playing of
video games, watching television, or spending time with friends. Students in institutions
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of higher education may find those sacrifices related to attending parties, joining a
fraternity, working extra hours to purchase a luxury item, or engaging in romantic
relationships. Whatever the sacrifice, the Black male student who seeks to develop the
scholar identity will need to have a clear understanding of the importance of making the
sacrifice and be willing to do so when necessary (Whiting, 2006b).
The fourth construct in the scholar identity model is known as internal locus of
control. Locus of control (LOC) addresses an individual’s ability to accept responsibility
for their role in a successful outcome, as well as their role in an unsuccessful outcome
(Rotter, 1966). The African American male seeking scholar identity would require a
degree of insight in order to fully exhibit the internal locus of control. Students operating
with a high level of internal locus of control would take the steps necessary, when
struggling academically, to identify ways to improve (Whiting, 2006a). Furthermore, the
student would not avoid seeking additional help by way of tutoring or counseling, thus
acknowledging his role in his academic success. Students operating with internal locus
of control do not get focused on blaming their teachers or circumstances, but rather they
would enjoy their role in their successes and accept responsibility in their failures. For
the students to exhibit the traits of self-efficacy, future orientation, a willingness to make
sacrifices, and internal locus of control, it makes sense that the next building block of the
scholar identity model would be self-awareness (Harris & Wood, 2013).
Self-awareness requires the Black male student to have the ability to engage in a
true appraisal of his strengths and weaknesses and in so doing, identify ways to play to
his strengths and compensate for his weaknesses. Again, the Black male student who
struggles academically but has a level of self-awareness can understand and address the
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areas of concern, possibly by seeking out tutorial services, or the assistance of peers. The
need for achievement is the sixth construct in the scholar identity model. McClelland
(1965) theorized that people have an intense need to achieve and succeed. The strong
need for achievement, as seen in the scholar identity model, results in the student taking
pride in his work and experiencing a sense of accomplishment because of his successes.
For scholar identity seeking students, it would be much more important to experience
academic achievement than it would be to experience collegial affiliation (Ford, 1996).
Students in the educational setting must have a sense of academic self-confidence.
Academic self-confidence follows the need for achievement in the SIM and is vital for
the student’s overall success in the academic setting (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). If the
student truly believes that he is academically prepared for the rigors of college, he will be
much more likely to persist and enjoy the learning experience. The student with a strong
sense of academic self-confidence will not feel inferior to his peers regardless of the
perceptions that may be unfairly placed upon him based on his race.
Racial identity is the eighth building block of the scholar identity model and is
related to the student’s perception of self and his ability to navigate his environment.
According to Whiting (2006a), Black males seeking scholar identity will also be seeking
a greater self-understanding and will be comfortable with the adapting and code
switching that will likely occur when the Black male student is in a predominantly White
environment. The final building block for scholar identity is masculinity. The role of
masculinity is important and in the Black community, this has not always been congruent
with academic prowess (Harper & Harris, 2010). For the Black male student who has
fully embodied the scholar identity, he will not fear that he is any less masculine as a
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result of being an academician and scholar. The idea that to be smart, to study, and to do
well academically does not denote a lack of masculinity would be wholly rejected by a
Black male who personifies the scholar identity.
The predominance of Whiting’s (2006a) work focuses on helping young Black
males in middle school who are preparing for high school to achieve the scholar identity.
The creation of the Scholar Identity Institute at Vanderbilt University speaks to an
essential need for a shift in the educational preparation of young Black males in the
United States (Whiting, 2009). Helping the students to experience new ways of
achieving not only helps to build their confidence, but also serves to prepare them to
achieve future successes. The SIM is applicable to the college student and beyond.
Within this model, there is also consideration given to the roles of family, community,
mentorship, and the school.
The SIM presents for consideration constructs that have the potential to enhance
academic persistence and prepare Black male students to navigate through educational
institutions that may not provide a consistent level of support for male students of color.
Whiting’s model (2006a) and his work in developing the Scholar Identity Institute at
Vanderbilt University provide a catalyst for the possible implementation of a similar
model that will specifically address the needs of Black male students matriculating in a
predominantly White community college setting. These Vanderbilt students might not
have had the opportunity to participate in a program that offers a new way of thinking
regarding their identity.
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Summary
The analysis of the literature revealed a consistent narrative regarding the
challenges for Black male students in the U.S. educational system. The systemic inequity
that exists for persons or color (particularly Black males), those of low-socioeconomic
status, and those who exist on the margins of society is well documented. When one
considers the academic achievement of Black males, without a bird’s eye view of the
conditions that impact the identity of many Black males in America, a critical component
for understanding the current state of Black males in postsecondary education is missing.
Identity development as studied and advanced by Erikson (1968) did not fully
consider the duality of the Negro male and his quest to attain self-conscious manhood as
described by W. E. B. Du Bois (1903/2003). Erikson’s (1968) idea of a sense of
empowerment based on a Black man assuming a negative identity, his assertion that Du
Bois’ life experiences put him in an integrated setting living a “favored life,” speak to
Erikson’s lack of mindfulness of the perceived invisibility experienced by Black male
authors of the period, as described by Baldwin (1953/1985) and Ellison (1952). After
150 years’ post-slavery, Black males in America still find themselves being viewed by
society as inferior, pathological, criminal, endangered, worthy of low expectations, and
seen as persons to be feared (Burrell 2010; Lemons, 2008). From Erikson in 1950 to
Cross in 1971, the evolution of thought regarding identity development for Black people
has evolved. Consistent with this evolution of racial identity construction is the fact that
the impact of societal views of Black males has changed very little in the last 150 years.
In the case of Dred Scott in 1857, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney’s decision
revealed America’s view of the Black man.
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It is too clear for dispute that the enslaved African race were not intended to be
included, under the word "citizens" in the Constitution, and can therefore claim
none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to
citizens of the United States. On the contrary, they were at that time considered
as a subordinate and inferior class of beings who had been subjugated by the
dominant race, and, whether emancipated or not, yet remained subject to their
authority, and had no rights or privileges but such as those who held the power
and the Government might choose to grant them. According to Chief Justice
Taney, Black men had no rights that White men were required to respect.
Fehrenbacher (2001).
In his speech entitled “A More Perfect Union,” then Senator Barack Obama (2008)
quoted William Faulkner:
The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past. We do not need to
recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to
remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the Black community
today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation
that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. Segregated schools
were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown
v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now,
helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s Black and White
students. (p.7)
The history and adverse societal treatment of Black men in the United States was
and still remains worlds apart from that of all other men in America. The psychosocial
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impact of such treatment requires scholars to identify new paradigms regarding
educational success initiatives and address the systemic inequity that exists for Black
males from primary to postsecondary education. Addressing the needs of Black male
college students requires the institution to know who the Black male student is, and how
he became the man he is when he arrives to the campus. Institutions of higher education
are now acknowledging the fact that significant changes must be made in order to ensure
the opportunity for academic success for these students. Community colleges are also
acknowledging that despite concentrated efforts, the gains in Black male academic
achievement have been limited (Harper 2008; Toldson, Harrison, Perine, Carreiro, &
Caldwell, 2006; Harris & Wood, 2013). The analysis of the literature revealed that there
is minimal scholarship on the development of success initiatives that use identity
construction, taking into account the student’s current sense of identity, and on providing
a new paradigm with which the student can construct a new concept of self in the context
of academic achievement as well as the student’s ability to thrive socially on a
predominantly White community college campus.
This study sought to add substantially to the scholarship on the subject, which in
turn can enable community colleges to support scalable models that promote Black male
self-efficacy, academic self-confidence, the celebration of racial identity, and aspirational
thinking amongst Black male student scholars.
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CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
When it comes to explaining people’s behavior—something like achievement problems, for
example—there is a big difference between the
“observer’s perspective”—the perspective of a person
observing the behavior—and the “actor’s perspective”—the
perspective of a person doing the behavior.
— Claude Steele
Introduction
This chapter addresses the methodological assumptions of the study grounded in
interpretivist and critical epistemologies (elaborated on in the following section), research
design, methods of data collection and analysis, validation criteria, qualitative research
ethics, and the role of the researcher in this inquiry.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of Black male
students regarding their persistence toward the degree completion in a two-year
community college, their self-concept, and the institutional practices and policies that
serve their needs on college campus. Additionally, I explored ways in which these
students navigated potential occurrences of stereotyping, microaggression, and racism on
the college campus. This qualitative case study was designed to add to the body of
research on the persistence of Black male students in predominantly White community
colleges and the institutional practices and policies that serve the needs of these students.
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The following research questions guided this study:
1. What are the experiences of Black male students on the college campus that either
hinder or contribute to their academic success and persistence?
2. What are these students’ perceptions of themselves?
3. How do these students respond to the instances of stereotyping, microaggression,
and racism, should such occur on college campus?
4. What are the institutional practices and policies that serve the needs of Black male
students who aspire to complete a degree of certificate in a two-year community
college?
Theoretical Positioning of the Study
This study is broadly positioned within the interpretive and critical paradigms of
research in that it assumes that the social world is constantly being constructed through
group engagement and that social reality is, therefore, understood from the perspective of
the individual in that it explores the dynamics of social power as it shapes one’s social
reality (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2011).
There are several theories that align with interpretive and critical inquiry that
informed this study: Critical Race Theory (CRT) in higher education (Ladson-Billings &
Tate, 1995), theories on racial identity construction, (Boykin, 1986; Cross, 1971, 1991;
Jackson, 2012), and Scholar Identity (Whiting, 2006a). These theories are especially
relevant to this study because it presents an optimistic path for academic success for
Black males.
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Critical Race Theory
Solórzano (1997) defines critical race theory (CRT) as “a framework or set of
basic perspectives, methods, and pedagogy that seeks to identify, analyze, and transform
those structural and cultural aspects of society that maintain the subordination and
marginalization of People of color” (p. 6). Critical race theory operates under the
premise that racism in the United States is endemic and permanent (Russell, 1991).
Another characteristic that distinguishes CRT is its focus on social justice, which
employs a degree of activism and advocacy in order to bring about change (Crenshaw,
1988). CRT places the focus on the need for equity. Equality assumes that all persons
have the same life experiences, access to resources, and opportunities. When the focus is
shifted from equality to equity, it is clear that those marginalized based on race and
racism do not find themselves on a level playing field to begin with, so while they may be
treated equally, the lack equity is still quite impactful (DeCuir & Dixson, 2004).
Racial Identity Construction
This study is informed by several theories on racial identity construction (Boykin,
1986; Cross, 1971, 1991; Jackson, 2012). Racial identity construction theories go beyond
Erikson’s theories of societal views shaping the construction of identity, examining the
impact of the social construct of race, and the internalization of the treatment received as
a member of a marginalized group. Racial identity construction theories shed light on Du
Bois’ (1903/2003) explanation of the “veil” into which Black men in America are born.
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The Nigrescence Model
Cross’ nigrescence model has been studied, revised by Cross himself, and has
served as the impetus for new models and theories on racial identity development. Cross’
nigrescence model (1971) consists of five stages, each of which address the development
of Black racial identity in the context of feelings and attitudes regarding the dominant
White culture in America. The stages of identity development in the nigrescence model
include: (a) Pre-encounter, (b) Encounter, (c) Immersion-Emersion, (d) Internalization,
and (e) Internalization-Commitment. In 1991, Cross engaged in a rethinking of his
nigrescence model, but he maintained that the five stages of Black identity construction
found in the nigrescence model retained their relevance.
The Triple Quandary Theory
Boykin (1986) addressed the social stressors experienced by Blacks, particularly
those dwelling in urban areas. This theory is based on Boykin’s assertion that Blacks are
required to negotiate three separate and distinct identities: the identity of cultural values,
the minority social identity, and the American social identity.
While the triple quandary theory originally addressed the social stressors
experienced by Blacks who most often lived in urban areas, the three-prong approach of
the theory informed this study by presenting some important questions regarding the
potential stressors faced by Black male students being in the minority on campus and
their need, if any, to adapt their behaviors. This study further examined how Black male
students negotiated spaces in which they felt marginalized and how they remained true to
their Black identity and culture.
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The Black Identity Development Model
The original Black identity development (BID) model was theorized by Jackson
in 1976. Jackson acknowledged that his original BID model was influenced by Erikson’s
(1968) model. Following his experiences working in elementary and junior high schools,
Jackson realized that unlike Erikson’s assertion regarding the lack of social identity
issues occurring prior to adolescence, Jackson began to notice that there were in fact
instances where preadolescent Black children displayed awareness of their race. Like
other identity models, the BID model has undergone transformative iterations (Cross
1971, 1991; Cross & Fhagen-Smith, 1996; Jackson, 1976) and places its primary focus on
experiences of the individual at each stage based on the effects of racism (Jackson, 2012).
The Black identity model of 2012, in contrast to the 1976 and 2001 models,
acknowledges the impact of Black culture and Black community on Black identity.
Scholar Identity
Peer influence is strong for all groups as they construct their identities; it is
especially strong for Black and Hispanic males (Steinberg, Dornbush & Brown, 1992).
The scholar identity model (Whiting, 2006a) provides students with a counter-narrative
for the assertion from peers that they are “acting White,” a long-held stereotype espoused
by young men of color who associate the pursuit of academics on the part of Black males
as not being cool, being a “sell out” and “acting White” (Lewis & Erskine, 2008). SIM
offers nine distinct constructs for consideration and these include: self-efficacy, future
orientation, willingness to make sacrifices, internal locus of control, self-awareness, need
for achievement, academic self-confidence, racial identity, and masculinity. SIM offers
an opportunity for Black males to take a holistic approach when pursuing higher
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education. This model and its practices informed this study and were used for
comparison purposes with intuitional success initiatives that target Black males enrolled
in Happy Valley Community College.
Research Design: Case Study
There are many benefits to using qualitative inquiry. It allows for an in-depth
exploration of individual lived experiences, and qualitative research helps to describe, in
rich detail, phenomena as they occur (Stake, 1995). I selected a qualitative approach for
this inquiry because it is most advantageous in that it can provide an in-depth
understanding and appreciation of the unique experiences of the participants. Utilizing a
qualitative approach helped me to obtain rich data from the participants and develop a
detailed description and analysis of the issues surrounding the experiences of Black male
college students.
Case Study
A case study is the best suited design for this study because it provides
researchers with the opportunity to explore and present a “holistic understanding of a
problem” (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2011, p. 255). Case study allows for exploration of a
bounded system, a system that is unique in terms of time, place, or other boundaries
(Creswell, 2012). The bounded system reflected in this case study was a predominantly
White community college located in the Midwest. At the time of this study, this
institution counted only 3.5% of its enrollment as Black males. Case studies are
appropriate when there is a desire to understand complex social phenomena, life events,
group behavior, and organizational and managerial processes (Yin, 2009). Subsequently,
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based in this approach, I aimed to uncover the complexities of Black male college
students’ experiences and the ways in which they construct their identities.
The nature of this inquiry clearly called for the use of a case study design.
Because I sought to better understand the lived experiences of Black males as they
matriculate in predominantly White environments while developing their
self-concept/identity and the systematized approaches employed by institutions of higher
education to address the problem of access without success for Black males attempting to
earn a degree or certificate, the case study approach offered the opportunity to obtain a
holistic view of the intersection of race, gender, identity, and success in the community
college environment (Creswell, 2012; Stake, 1995; Yin, 2009).
Research Site and Study Participants
Happy Valley was a community college located the Midwest. The administrators
of this bounded site consented to allowing me access to the campus and to its students
with the expectation that the anonymity of the institution would be maintained. In an
effort to ensure anonymity, I assigned the institution the pseudonym Happy Valley
Community College. Anonymity was also ensured for all study participants. At the time
of this study, Happy Valley had an enrollment of 14,532 students; 6,635 students were
males. Of the males enrolled in Happy Valley, only 232 were Blacks, accounting for
3.5% of the male student population. Creswell (2012) described purposeful sampling as
a sampling of participants and sites that are intentionally selected so as to learn and
understand a central phenomenon. It is through purposeful sampling that this case study
identified a suitable number of Black male participants who were enrolled in Happy
Valley College.
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Because Black male students made up only 3.5% of the Happy Valley total male
enrollment, at the outset, I tried to recruit approximately eight to ten Black male students
to participate in this study. The criteria for selection included being a male student who
identified himself as Black and had completed or was enrolled in a minimum of six credit
hours of courses at the time of the study. I employed a convenience sampling technique
to allow for easy access to prospective participants. Convenience sampling offers the
qualitative research ease in identifying research participants (Creswell, 2012).
In addition to student interviews, I conducted interviews with the three members
of the Happy Valley Executive Council, a leadership council that was made up of the
college president and those reporting directly to the college president. Approval to
conduct this study was granted by the HVCC Institutional Review Board and the
President.
Data Collection and Analysis Strategies
I followed Creswell’s (2012) recommendations for data collection strategies and
gained access to the site, determined the types of data that I needed to collect, and
administered the process of data collection in an ethical manner. Case studies require
multiple sources of data and their triangulation (Stake, 1999). The data were collected
from semi-structured qualitative interviews with the students and administrators of Happy
Valley Community College, institutional documents and artifacts, and my observational
and self-reflective researcher notes. Confidentiality was maintained by using pseudonyms
for all participants, and for certain artifact document titles.
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Interviews
In qualitative studies, in-depth, semi-structured interviews typically serve as the
main sources of data for analysis. This format gives participants an opportunity to share
information that they deem important while maintaining a focus on the research questions
(Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2011). According to Stake (1999), the interview is the main road
to multiple realities (p. 64).
To gain an in-depth understanding of the institutional perspectives on the
academic success for Black males at the college, I conducted semi-structured interviews
with three senior level executives who represented the HVCC administrative leadership.
The student perspective was revealed through individual, semi- structured interviews, and
a focus group interview. The interviews conducted for the purposes of this study
obtained rich data about the lived experiences of the students as they made meaning of
their experiences in the Happy Valley Community College environment, their
understanding of their entire educational experience, and the construction of their identity
as Black men.
Interview guides (see Appendix D, Appendix E, Appendix F) were utilized to
conduct individual interviews with students, interviews with administrators, and a focus
group interview. Interview guides are important to researchers for many reasons, among
them, guides allow the researcher to carefully reflect on the important questions that she
or he seeks to have answered, while maintaining an appropriate organization of the
questions. Hesse-Biber & Leavy, (2011) advised that interview guides should not be
relied on so strictly that they prevent the researcher from focusing attention on the
respondent (p. 105).
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Yin (2009) pointed out that there are two major tasks that must be accomplished
throughout the interview process; the first is that the interviewer needs to follows the line
of inquiry as reflected in the case study, and the second task is to pose questions in an
unbiased fashion while serving the needs of researcher’s line of inquiry (p. 106). A
consent form (see Appendix A) was signed by each participant on the day of his or her
interview. Each interview lasted approximately 90 minutes. The interviews were audio-
recorded, transcribed verbatim, and sent to the participants for verification of accuracy.
Focus Group Interview
In addition to individual interviews, the student participants were invited to
engage in a focus group interview and give their consent (see Appendix B). Focus
groups allow for the collection of data from persons who have a shared understanding
(Creswell, 2012). The Focus group interview with seven of the eight participants in this
study provided additional light on how these students interacted with one another. Once I
completed the individual, semi-structured interviews, I conducted a focus group with
student study participants and inquired about any experiences they wanted to share as
they reflected on their enrollment in the college.
Documents and Artifacts
Yin (2009) suggested several sources of evidence for a case study:
documentation, archival records, interviews, direct observations, participant observation,
and physical artifacts. In addition to the semi-structured and focus group interviews, I
examined several documents related to the historical initiatives undertaken by the college.
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Institutional documents that chronicled Black male persistence, transfer, and graduation
rates were reviewed as part of this study, as well as the success rates of all male students.
To unpack the institutional policies and practices regarding student success in
general, and Black male student success specifically, I conducted a thorough review of
institutional documents that chronicled the student success initiatives implemented by the
college. Other documents that were analyzed included an assessment conducted every
three years reflecting the campus cultural values, environmental climate surveys, and
student engagement surveys.
Documentation of outcomes from past and current initiatives designed to foster
success for Black males were also examined. To gain a sense of the institutional culture,
I examined other physical artifacts such as the campus newspaper and campus art.
Data Triangulation
Creswell (2012) defined triangulation as the “process of corroborating evidence
from different individuals (e.g., a principal and a student), types of data (e.g.,
observational field notes and interviews), or methods of data collection (e.g., documents
and interviews) in descriptions and themes in qualitative research” (p. 259). The use of
multiple sources of data and data triangulation are important in ensuring construct
validity because multiple data sources offer multiple means of examining the
phenomenon being studied. In this process, I utilized multiple sources of data for this
inquiry as to ensure credibility and clarity of my findings. Figure 1 represents the
triangulation of the data that were obtained and analyzed for this study.
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Figure 1. Triangulation of the data sources.
Data Analysis
Analysis of data includes a thorough review of interview transcripts and several
iterations of coding that result in identification of themes, or meaningful units. leading to
themes that are coded for further analysis and meaning. Creswell (2013) described data
analysis as following a spiral, where one enters with data or text and exits with an
account or narrative (p. 182). Analysis of data also requires the separation of interview
text into parts or elements (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2015). To accurately present the lived
experiences of the participants in this study, I began the process of analysis by organizing
the written transcripts from the individual participant and student focus group interviews.
My data analysis included the process of organizing the data, drafting notes, describing,
classifying, and interpreting data through several rounds of coding that have resulted in
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identification of themes discussed in chapter four. The process of coding integrated the
analysis of the interviews and institutional documents.
Confidentiality
Approval for this study was granted by the HVCC Institutional Review Board
with the understanding that the participants would be free from personal identifiers and
the institution free from public disclosure. To ensure confidentiality, pseudonyms were
used for all participants. The documents related to this study are stored on a flash drive
and secured under lock and key for a minimum of seven years.
Validation Criteria and Researcher’s Self
There are several ways to ensure the credibility of qualitative research; the
triangulation of data, as mentioned previously, is but one of them. Denzin and Lincoln
(2008) advised: “qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting
to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them”
(p. 4). Lincoln and Guba (1985) defined criteria for assessing the
trustworthiness of qualitative research by citing the importance of
dependability and confirmability on the part of the researcher.
Researcher’s reflexivity is another way to make qualitative studies valid and credible. In
defining reflexivity, Creswell (2012) described the importance of researchers reflecting
on their own biases, values, and assumptions and actively writing them into their
research. Mann and Kelley (1997) defined reflexivity as the awareness that “all
knowledge is affected by the social conditions under which it is produced; it is grounded
in both the social location and the social biography of the observer and the observed” (p.
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392). To practice reflexivity, I have kept the journal of self-reflective notes that allowed
me to address my own dispositions on a variety of issues explored in this study, as well as
my potential biases.
After transitioning from teaching in a dental school environment, I began my
career as an administrator serving as dean in an urban community college in a large
metropolitan American city. In that role, I had the opportunity to work with large
numbers of Black male students pursuing various programs of study within the colleges’
Career Programs Division. Exposure to this group of students and some of the unique
issues they faced often left me feeling that as an institution, we were not doing nearly
enough to have impactful engagement that would lead to greater persistence and
ultimately completion for this group of young men.
My initial interest in the success of Black male students was the result of
witnessing up close the transformative power that certificate and degree attainment
played in the lives of these students and their families. My interest was further fueled by
encounters with many of these students who were not successful, failing to persist, failing
to complete, and sometimes leaving the campus by police escort because of accusations
of criminal activity committed outside of the campus environment. As a Black woman,
educator, and administrator, the limited gains made by Black male college students is
deeply disappointing to me on a personal level.
This study emerged out of my deep concern and love for Black men. At the
beginning of this inquiry, I had a limited understanding of the experiences that Black
boys and men face throughout their lives. Black men have shared with me many of their
experiences and thoughts. For instance, they have shared their awareness of fear on the
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part of a Caucasian female when they were the only two occupying an elevator; these
men have shared with me the humiliation of being followed around a store by security
personnel when attempting to purchase a new shirt. They also shared with me the
regularity of cabs whizzing by them as they raised their hands, hoping for a ride because
the cabs were absent passengers.
These all too common experiences have been shared with me by my father,
brothers, husband, and friends. It was not until I joined the ranks of higher education that
I began to get a glimpse of other experiences faced by Black male students, experiences
that had the power to impact, in a negative way, their educational trajectory and success.
As a researcher, I brought my values, thoughts, and perceptions to this important work of
inquiry and understanding. Recognizing this, I recorded and reflected on my personal
experiences throughout this study so as to remain reflexive and faithful to the accuracy of
data analysis.
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CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t
have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I
want.— Muhammad Ali
I Know Where I Am Going
This chapter provides a description of Happy Valley Community College
(HVCC) and the study participants and presents the analysis of the data obtained from
individual and focus group interviews with the student participants, individual interviews
with HVCC administrators, and the institutional documents that included the HVCC
2014–2015 Student Success Report that chronicled fall to spring, and fall to fall
persistence rates for all HVCC students over a five-year period as well as the completion
rates for Black male students over an eight-year period. Other institutional documents
analyzed in the study included the HVCC Strategic Plan, the HVCC President’s Report to
the Board of Trustees, the 2013 and 2016 Cultural Values Assessment, the 2015
Community College Survey of Student Engagement, and the 2013 Personal Assessment
of College Environment survey.
Happy Valley Community College is located in a quiet suburb approximately 40
miles from one of the largest cities in the Midwest. The campus was spacious and
inviting, flanked with ample green spaces, flowering plants, and beautiful trees. HVCC
found itself in an enviable financial position, with a significant annual budget. HVCC
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had continued to experience growth in campus construction and new academic
programming. Happy Valley served over 40,000 students annually. The HVCC 2015
Annual Report race/ethnicity statistics confirmed that the college was a predominantly
White institution (PWI), with the student body of 56% Caucasian. Black students make
up 5% of the student population.
HVCC offered eight two-year degree types, and hundreds of basic and advanced
certificates. Black males made up just 4% of the total student population at HVCC. The
faculty and staff at Happy Valley reflected little in the way of diversity, with 75% of the
new hires between 2013 and 2014 being Caucasian.
The leadership at Happy Valley had recognized recent demographic shifts in the
feeder school districts that surrounded the college and had shared this information with
the entire campus community to stress the importance of a diverse and inclusive
environment on the campus. Due to the workforce need and an enrollment that was
reflective of the community in which Happy Valley was located, initiatives had been
created to increase diversity amongst faculty and students within the institution.
However, when walking the halls of the many campus buildings, it was very easy to
notice the dearth of Black males on campus. Students were made aware of the
opportunity to participate in this study from flyers that were placed throughout campus
buildings. Those students who responded to the request for participation and met the
participation criteria (minimally, 18 years of age, with completion or current enrollment
in at least six credit hours) were identified based on their availability to meet for
individual interviews lasting approximately one and one half hours and a focus group
interview lasting approximately two hours.
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As a college administrator and Black woman, I recognize that I have a unique
concern for and interest in Black men, their well-being, and their educational success. In
conducting this data analysis, this consideration was at the top of my mind. My personal
and professional values, attitudes, and beliefs all factored into my decision to conduct this
research. Thus, throughout the study, I kept a journal of self-reflective notes so I could
address my positionality and potential bias.
The Study Participants
The Student Participants
A total of eight students were recruited to participate. The student participants in
this study represented a diverse mix of Black males in terms of age, early educational
experiences, and their future educational interests. Each of the eight students in the study
participated in the in-depth interviews and seven of the eight students participated in the
engaging and spirited focus group. Six of the eight student participants were U.S.
citizens and two were immigrants from Africa. Table 1 provides brief demographic
information about the students. Student participants are referred to by pseudonyms in
Table 1 and throughout the study.
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Table 1
Student Participants’ Demographic Information
Participant Hometown Age High School Class Year Major Employment Status
1 Eric Midwest, urban-inner city
19 Public Freshman Criminal Justice
EmployedPart-time
2 James Southern town
22 Home Schooled
Sophomore Political Science
EmployedPart-time
3 Lenny Small village, Northern Africa
18 Public Freshman Physical Therapy
Not Employed
4 Kevin Midwest suburb
26 Public Sophomore Special Education
Not Employed
5 Arthur Midwest small suburban town
24 Catholic-Private
Freshman Business- Marketing
EmployedPart-time
6 David Midwest, urban- inner city
32 Public Sophomore Fashion Not Employed
7 Nate Midwest, urban-inner city
20 Public Freshman Criminal Justice
EmployedPart-time
8 Devin Small village, West Africa
29 Public Freshman Nursing EmployedPart-time
Eric. Eric was 19 years old. He grew up in the Midwest and was the oldest of
eight siblings. Eric’s parents had separated after his youngest brother was born. Eric’s
father was the custodial parent of all but one of his siblings. Prior to coming to HVCC,
Eric described his grade school experience as one of being with teachers who did not
care. “I grew up in a school where they pretty much just passed you on,” Eric recounted.
In high school, Eric shared the teachers were “more on me.” Eric recalled how one
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teacher would even send him text messages to follow up with him on homework
assignments.
Eric was recruited by Happy Valley to be a part of the college wrestling team.
Identifying himself as a “relaxed person,” Eric said: “I’m really just trying to get here, get
my degree, and move on to the next college.” Eric was majoring in criminal justice and
had plans to transfer upon completion of his associate degree. Eric presented a demeanor
that was quiet, deliberate, and thoughtful.
James. James was 22 years old. He grew up in one of the southeastern states.
James was the oldest of five siblings; he described himself as a self-starter, with a unique
sense of individuality that he attributed to being home schooled by his mother and father.
James shared that despite the struggles of homelessness and the need to work several jobs
to support his family during his enrollment at HVCC, he never believed that he would fall
short of his educational dreams. James was majoring in political science and
communications. He was in his final semester at Happy Valley and planned to transfer to
a university on the west coast. James had assumed many student leadership positions on
campus and was highly thought of by his peers, faculty, and administrators.
Lenny. Lenny was 18 years old and the oldest of three siblings. Lenny grew up
in a country in northern Africa and lived with his grandmother. In about 2015, Lenny
moved to the United States to live with his mother. Lenny stated that it took several
years for his mother to get the necessary documents to bring him to the United States.
Lenny indicated that he was comfortable in his home environment in Africa, but very
excited when he learned that his mother had secured the opportunity for him to join her in
the U.S. Lenny described his coming to America as a “great adventure.” Lenny, a self-
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described soccer fanatic, planned to complete the courses necessary to prepare him to
major in physical therapy.
Kevin. Kevin was 26 years old. He had three sisters, one was younger than he.
Kevin grew up in a suburban area, located northwest of a large metropolitan city in the
Midwest. As a member of his high school wrestling team for four years, Kevin and his
team won the state title in his senior year. Kevin was recruited by Happy Valley for the
college wrestling team and upon graduation, he planned to pursue a bachelor’s degree in
special education, citing his experiences as being labeled a “special education student” in
high school, how that label made him feel, and the importance of there being male
teachers of color in special education to address the overrepresentation of Black and
Hispanic males who find themselves labeled as “special ed.” Kevin described himself as
being “young, eager, and always willing to learn.”
Arthur. Arthur was 24 years old and had two older siblings and one younger
sibling. Arthur grew up in a northwest suburb of a large metropolitan city in the
Midwest; he identified himself as a “genuine, caring person, outgoing and adventurous to
an extent.” At the time of this study, Arthur was enrolled in general education courses
and planned to transfer to a university to pursue a bachelor’s degree in marketing and
business. Arthur shared that during his first semester at Happy Valley, he had a job that
required him to work 40 hours a week. He seriously underestimated the amount of rigor
required while taking the five classes in which he was enrolled. Arthur had reduced his
course load and workload so that he was better able to focus on his studies.
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David. David was 32 years old and the youngest of five siblings. He felt it
important to note that all his siblings had the same father, and that he came from a two-
parent home, stating “I know a lot of Black men, specifically, don’t have two-parent
homes and the fact that we all have the same father with the large span of years that
separate us is significant.” David identified himself as an “outlier” and a renaissance
man, noting that he was typically an exception, and in many respects, a “special case.”
David was enrolled in the fashion design program and he was considering pursuing a
degree in fine arts. Not being new to higher education, David held a bachelor’s degree in
business and a master’s degree in economics. David stated that he applied to an
exclusive school in London to pursue a degree in economics because so many people had
told him that he would never be accepted. Not only did he want to prove the naysayers
wrong, but he also wanted to experience living in Europe. He stated that his pursuit of
fashion and fine arts allowed him to satisfy his creative desires.
Nate. Nate was 20 years old. He had two older sisters and two younger brothers.
Nate grew up in an urban Midwestern city. Nate was recruited by Happy Valley to be a
part of the college wrestling team. Nate identified himself as being “a fun person,
sometimes a little timid, a little shy, but overall a good kid.” Nate felt that he got more
attention placed on him by faculty when they learned that he was a part of the wrestling
team. Nate was pursuing a degree in criminal justice and hoped to have a future career in
law enforcement.
Devin. Devin was 29 years old. He emigrated to the U.S. from Africa in 2011
for the purpose of pursuing his education. Devin shared that he appreciated the
educational system in the United States. In reflecting on his primary and secondary
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school experiences in Africa, Devin recounted the many beatings he received at the hands
of his teachers. These beatings were a normal occurrence, conferred on those who did
poorly in class, especially math class. Devin planned to become a Registered Nurse; he
identified himself as religious and a helper to those who are in need.
HVCC Executive Leaders
In addition to the student participants, three members of the colleges’ executive
leadership agreed to participate in the study to provide the institutional perspective on the
academic success of Black males on HVCC’s predominantly White campus. These three
academic leaders were sought for participation based upon the positions they held at
HVCC and the impact of their positions on institutional student success initiatives.
Mary. Mary had been with the institution for over five years and served as the
chief academic officer. Reporting directly to the college president, Mary was responsible
for making recommendations and decisions related to academic programming and student
success. In her role, Mary was also responsible as the leader of the college’s academic
divisions, including academic deans, assistant provosts, and a college faculty of over 700,
with 27% serving in a full-time capacity and 73% classified as part-time adjunct faculty.
Mary had supported the creation of several student success initiatives during her tenure at
HVCC, among them, the development of first-year experience courses aimed at helping
new students acclimate to college, programs to improve math placement scores for
incoming freshmen students, and a program that focused on student success during the
first 15 hours of college credit courses. Mary had also engaged in a great deal of
collaboration with local universities to facilitate seamless transfer opportunities for
students graduating from HVCC.
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Sarah. Sarah was a former HVCC tenured faculty member who carried the titles
of chief diversity officer, and special assistant to the president. Sarah was the only
person of color in the president’s executive cabinet. Sarah’s role required her
involvement in multiple institutional initiatives. Sarah had been with the institution for
over 15 years and possessed knowledge on a wealth of institutional history. Being very
committed to improving the culture at HVCC, Sarah had developed opportunities for
regular dialogues on the HVCC campus surrounding issues of diversity and inclusion.
Sarah had attended a conference on Black male success in the community college sector
and she was interested in dedicating more time to identifying some of the best practices
around student success for this demographic.
John. John had held many leadership positions over his 20 years of service to
HVCC. John served as vice president of institutional effectiveness and the president’s
chief of staff. John identified himself as the chief architect of most of the student success
initiatives implemented at the college over the past decade. An important component of
John’s work involved the regular tracking and documentation of progress toward
institutional goals. John had a hand in the development of HVCC’s Institutional
Effectiveness Measures, also known as IEM’s, for over a decade. The IEM’s were
significant in that they reflected the metrics upon which the institution judged its success
and helped to determine where the institution would dedicate resources. Of the
institutional leaders interviewed, John provided the greatest detail regarding the
challenges that had historically faced Black male students enrolled at HVCC.
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Data Analysis Process
The analysis of the qualitative interview data is interspersed between the initial
story told by the interviewee to the researcher and the final story told by the researcher to
the audience (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2015, p. 219). Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2011)
recommended researchers engage in an activity where the researcher spends 20 minutes
writing down the ways in which the researcher’s position in society impacts the way the
researcher observes and perceives others. This exercise provides an important “gut
check” for researchers engaging in qualitative inquiry.
I Know Who I Am: Black Male Students’ Experiences at the Community College
The data analysis resulted in the emergence of eight major themes. Five of these
themes reflected the experiences of Black male students at Happy Valley, the other three
themes conveyed the perspectives on Black male student success held by the college
leadership.
Thematic development relies on the ability to understand the central phenomenon
as revealed in the data (Creswell, 2012). A theme captures something important about
the data in relation to the research question and represents some level of patterned
response or meaning within the data set (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 82). As can be seen in
Figure 2, the themes identified as a result of the analysis of individual and focus group
interviews with the students are: (a) The Burden of Blackness, (b) The Other Side of Me,
(c) I’m Not Saying He’s a Racist, but . . ., (d) Are You Serious? and (e) It’s on Me. These
themes were at the center of the experiences shared by the student participants with the
Burden of Blackness being the theme that stood out among each of the individual student
interviews. Figure 2 conveys a graphical representation of these themes.
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Figure 2. Emergent themes from student interviews.
The Burden of Blackness
As the students began to articulate their educational experiences, the first
important theme to emerge was what I refer to as the Burden of Blackness. The
participants shared their experiences on the predominantly White HVCC campus with an
air of annoyance and resolve that these experiences are “just the way it is.”
There was consensus amongst the participants in terms of what it means to be a
Black man matriculating at HVCC. James stated: “I have to work twice as hard as my
White peers to be considered half as good.” Eric made a similar statement: “I have to
work harder than most people; I accept the challenge because I can do anything if I put
my mind to it.” Eric further acknowledged what he believed was a presence of privilege
extended to his White peers at the college. Eric did not provide a concrete example of
what he meant by privilege, but he remarked: “I just feel at times I’m treated differently
than some of the White students here.” When asked how it felt being a minority on the
HVCC campus, David shared: “It’s like you got something to prove; there’s an
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Black Male Student Experiences
The Burden
of
BlacknessThe
Other Side ofMe
I’m Not SayingHe’s a Racist,
But…
It’s onMe!
Are You Serious?
opportunity to change that stereotypic Black male image. I think that’s part of being
Black; we always feel like we have to outwork someone to be who we are.” Arthur
recounted his experience with a faculty member. He recalled a time when his printer was
broken and he did not get a chance to print an assignment prior to the start of class.
Arthur explained that the instructor basically “blew him off,” not wanting to hear his
explanation: “I knew he would not believe me; I knew he would not give me the benefit
of the doubt.” As Arthur continued to describe this experience in greater detail, he
opined: “As a Black man, there is a feeling that you won’t be believed in certain
situations.”
Kevin’s comments succinctly illustrated the responsibility felt by some Black
people regardless of gender: “I feel uncomfortable when Blacks act ignorant, or are loud;
there is often guilt by association.” Kevin’s comments reflected his feelings of
discomfort and his concern that he would be viewed by others at the college based on the
bad actions of any Black male student. Most of the participants clearly articulated the
burden of Blackness, and James contributed his view: “I don’t see everybody through the
lens of race. I can step outside of the lens and unite people through discussion. Racism
prevails when we make differences highlighted. Peers like to joke about race. It’s
generational.” Eric added that when speaking of majority students, “I feel disrespected.
They don’t take the time to get to know me; they turn their nose up at me.” Experiences
such as these seemed unlikely to support academic success.
The participants shared much about their experiences prior to coming to HVCC;
acknowledging the significance of their high school experiences as well their early
experiences on the predominantly White campus. These early experiences appeared to fit
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with the burden of Blackness theme in that there is historical evidence (Ferguson, 2000)
showing a pattern of treatment that young Black males experience very early in their
educational journeys.
Consistent with the literature, two participants described what Noguera (2003)
termed the “labeling and sorting processes” that occur within schools. When the
participants expressed their experiences as “special ed” students during their educational
journey, Kevin recounted his own:
In third grade, I was diagnosed as ADHD and dyslexic; they kept telling me this so I actually started believing them. I was labeled in 6th grade as needing special ed; I was told by my teachers “you can’t do this; you can’t do that; don’t even try.” In high school, my first year and a half was spent in one classroom. They were limiting my ability. I knew I didn’t belong here; I wasn’t dumb!
Kevin confided that his treatment during his primary and secondary education had served
to motivate him in choosing his future career in special education. Kevin communicated
his frustration that teachers during his early education didn’t encourage him, and how
well he has done since enrolling at HVCC.
Eric reflected on his early experiences with special education and exclusionary
practices:
They put me in special ed because I had lead poisoning as a child; they thought that I was going to be retarded. I got expelled from school for three months and was required to complete counseling before I was allowed to return. I pushed a girl because she kept getting in my face telling me that I was retarded. I got out of Special Ed in my senior year of high school because Mr. Young made sure I did all my homework.
Both Kevin and Eric indicated that deep inside of them was the feeling that they did not
belong in the classes to which they were assigned, and that they would do well in school
if they received the support they needed. These experiences are significant because there
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is often over representation of Black males assigned to special education (Gartner &
Lipsky, 1989; National Research Council, 2002).
Beyond the requirement of special education, these young men spoke of other
experiences that made them feel excluded. David recalled an instance where he was
permanently removed from a class and was required to complete the class as an
independent study:
Some of the work was not challenging enough for me, so then I would do other things. I would get done quickly. In one of my classes, I ended up getting permanently removed from the class; but instead of being placed in another class for behavioral issues, I just got to take the class independently. The main reason I got taken out of the class is because my teacher marked a lot of my work wrong, and I was like, there is no way! So I went back and double checked it all, and I saw that she was taking points off for correct answers. For me, that was unforgivable so I addressed it.
In this instance, David recounted asserting himself based on his belief that he was being
treated unfairly, and that the principal confirmed that his answers on the assignment were
in fact correct. The solution to the tension with this teacher regarding the grading issue
was to remove David from the class and allow him to complete his coursework
independently.
These stories represented the lived educational experiences that shaped the
identity of the participants in this study. The participants’ early educational experiences
have relevance to how they experience the college campus life. Arthur offered his
perspective on being Black at HVCC compared to the city:
How it feels to be Black depends a lot on where you are. How it feels to be Black in the city where there are good Black people and some bad Black people, feels very different than how it feels to be Black when you come to a little suburb like this. It’s a whole different level because everyone’s not Black in your classroom. Everyone’s not from the city. In the city, they don’t care if you’re Black. You can graduate from Harvard or any other major university; in the city, you’re just some other Black guy. Here, it’s like you have something to prove.
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Arthur remembered the advice he received from his father regarding living as a
Black man:
My dad would always say, “Don’t feed into what other people look at you as, because they’re seeing Black people as a whole. You know who you are, outwork the person next to you, because that’s changing the stereotype.” So I’m always working to be different from what other people think that I should be.
Many of the stories and experiences recounted by the participants spoke to the
burden of Blackness that they carry daily. This burden, regardless of the way it is
perceived, is ever present for Black men. It is a part of their identity that is seen at first
sight and that historically has been linked to stereotypical negative connotations such as
criminality, laziness, and lack of cognitive ability (Alexander, 2010). Black men are
often plagued with a set of assumptions that give rise to stereotypes and microaggressions
(Burrell 2010, Harper 2008; Williams, 2014). How these students dealt with such
behaviors is the subject of the next theme to emerge during this analysis.
The Other Side of Me
In addition to articulating their experiences regarding their perceptions of how
others might view them, the study participants also offered insights into their identity and
how that identity can shift based on situations, circumstances, and locations. This shift is
not uncommon for persons of color and not unique to gender. Code shifting has been
widely studied (Dancy, 2012; Jones & Shorter-Gooden, 2003; Steele, 2011) and can
occur consciously or unconsciously during normal daily interactions with people in the
racial majority. As a Black woman, I have experienced my own shifting, for a variety of
reasons and in a variety of settings. I believe that my ability to read situations and shift
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accordingly is the result of being in the minority during all my postsecondary educational
experiences.
Student participants exchanged a great deal during the focus group regarding the
shifting that occurs based on geographic location and environment. Kevin described the
stark differences that exist between his suburban upbringing and that of his cousins who
grew up in a large urban area located just 40 miles away from Kevin’s home:
My mom didn’t want me going there; it’s crazy! Where all these killings are happening and stuff, where people are so terrified to go outside, or you can’t wear this color—it’s literally 45 minutes away, forty miles by car. When I go there, I am a different person; I walk different, talk different, and act totally different. I feel like if I don’t make this change, I may have some problems.
Nate added his experience with code switching:
Sometimes I have to go in and out of my own identity because sometimes I have to, just for my own personal safety, I have to identify as Black in the sense that—I do music, and I do it at a really high level. It’s hot! But I don’t necessarily want to blow up in the city because as soon as I blow up, get popular, I’d be a target. In the city, I have to be low key.
David revealed his thoughts and feelings about monitoring his self-expression:
At times, I feel like I have to censor myself. As a fashion designer, I like to have fun with what I do. I want to come out and flex, but I know that because I am Black on the outside, if I flex, people won’t see it as, “Wow, that designer has personality. He’s crazy.” They see it as “This is a Black guy acting out.” So lots of time, stuff I would normally do, I know I can’t because it will reflect bad on other people, on the Black community, and I feel like I have a responsibility not to do that.
Eric When described himself in the context shifting:
Sometimes I feel as Black men we are pitted against each other; we are expected to be competitive. When there are just two of us in a situation, and we are the only Blacks; it’s like, we are viewed as which man is the best Black man? I don’t want to be the best Black man in the room; I want to be the best man in the room.
Code shifting involves the changes in comportment by those who live in two
different worlds; these worlds are separate and distinct in the mind of the person doing
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the shifting. Often the shift is the result of stereotype threat, as was the case with David
and his desire to “flex” with pride based on his fashion designs. Other times, the shift is
based on wanting to fit into an environment or culture, as was the case with Kevin and his
experiences being raised in a suburban community and feeling the need to be a different
version of himself when he visits family members who live in a large urban community.
I’m Not Saying He’s a Racist, But . . .
As the student participants shared some of their more challenging experiences at
Happy Valley, I was surprised at the thoughtful consideration they engaged in regarding
the motivations of the actors involved in the situations they described. Students were
hopeful that the incidents they experienced were not motivated by racial animus; James
recalled a particular situation that caused him to think about this:
I remember one really bad experience I had with a music teacher; he blew up at me in front of the entire class. He said I was not putting in the practice; I was not doing the work. I had been working very hard in that guitar class, and the night before, I had worked a late shift. I knew I didn’t play as well as I could have, but it was not based on my lack of practice. I’m not sure if this was racially motivated.
Eric described an instance where he was accused by a HVCC teacher of being disruptive:
I really don’t want to call the teacher a racist, but I feel like he was targeting me because I spoke up in class. He doesn’t even acknowledge me in class. I decided to handle it by just not talking in class and not asking any questions. I believe this teacher really doesn’t care, and would prefer to see me fail.
Nate recounted a comment made by one of his coaches:
One time a coach . . . he didn’t say this in a racist way, but when a coach described our team’s need for more “natural talent,” I knew this was code for we need some more Black athletes from the city. It was very obvious.
In addition to the examples of microaggressions and stereotyping shared by the
students, one institutional leader interviewed spoke about an incident of racial tension on
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the HVCC campus. Chief Diversity Officer Sarah addressed with great clarity, some of
the challenges that may be faced by all under-represented students at Happy Valley.
Sarah also provided some historical context regarding the positionality of Black males on
the HVCC campus over the past decade and recalled past and recent incidents that had
impacted Black male students at HVCC. She recounted an incident where several Black
male students had gathered in a space just outside of the campus bookstore. The students
regularly gathered in this space and were described as “hanging out, laughing, and joking
with one another.” According to Sarah, a professor in a nearby classroom reported that
these students were being very disruptive and requested that the students be moved:
At that time, I was a faculty member and I remember this really created frustration, as the students being complained about were African American. The question for me when this incident occurred was why our Black male students are making the choice to gather in an alternative space, when the college has a Student Center designed to accommodate students throughout the day. Was the Student Center so unwelcoming that these students felt the need to create a new space for themselves? What makes the voice of the faculty members who are feeling that they’re disrupted more important than the student voice, which somehow feels like they needed a sense of community in another space?
Sarah explained the institutional response to this incident, citing how
disappointing it was that instead of having a conversation about Black males needing a
sense of community outside of the campus student center, the college decided to remove
the chairs in this space and replace them with standing only computer stations, designed
to limit the amount of congregating in the area. In describing another incident that
occurred on campus, Sarah explained the campus response when Black students invited a
gentleman from Ferguson, Missouri, the site of widely published racial unrest after a
police officer shot and killed a young, unarmed Black man in 2014.
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Sarah stated that the HVCC student group planned for the Ferguson speaker to
share information regarding the Black Lives Matter Movement; this movement had
gained national media coverage of its protests across the country that focused on police
shootings of unarmed Black men. Additionally, members of the college’s Black Student
Union decided to invite a former, original member of the Black Panther Party. The
purpose was to discuss ways to collaborate on issues of equity and social justice in
society. Once again, Sarah expressed her disappointment when she learned that a
member of HVCC police force sent out some e-mails regarding this approved campus
event:
One member of the HVCC police—let’s be clear about that, only one—had written some e-mails that one might argue were a bit inciteful to his police colleagues, saying that the students are bringing the Black Panthers to campus to start a Black Panther party at Happy Valley. None of that was true and there was a police presence around this campus event unlike any I’ve ever seen on this campus.
According to Sarah, instances like these made Black students feel a level of
discomfort with the campus police. Sarah assessed the situation: “In the absence of
information, people will fill in the blanks. Rather than discuss with the organizers of the
event, the purpose and expected outcomes, a member of the HVCC police department
made some inaccurate assumptions.”
The student’s expressed uncertainty regarding the motivation of faculty and staff
during challenging situations, and Sarah provided a valuable historical perspective, from
the vantage point of an administrator, on the culture of the institution and the impact
culture can have on students who are Black and male. In sharing their experiences,
students reflected on various incidents of stereotyping and microaggressions they had
been exposed to at HVCC.
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In speaking of his experiences with other students on campus, Kevin confided:
“I’m tired of having people say to me ‘You talk White’; ‘You’re a White man in a Black
man’s body’; ‘Who are you; where do you come from; why are you here?’ Kevin further
expressed his frustration with peers who were Caucasian and raised these types of
questions: “Why is it shocking that a Black man can speak English correctly?” Eric
articulated his thinking when it came to a particular slur: “When I hear White boys saying
the N-word, I just look past that as ignorance—don’t let it bother me too much.”
Lenny shared his dismay when he was on the receiving end of some outlandish
questions from students in his class:
Do you have a lion as a pet in Africa? Do you wear clothes in Africa, or just a loin cloth? I realize that many people think that Africa is an uncivilized part of the world, but Africa is civilized; it is beyond what you see on TV
During their interviews, there appeared to be awareness on the part of the HVCC
administrators regarding the challenges of Black males that stem directly from their day-
to-day experiences of having to endure microaggressions and constant stereotyping.
However, despite this awareness on the part of college leadership, no significant
discussion ensued regarding ways to ameliorate the situation. In describing their
experiences and perceptions of racism on campus and their experiences with stereotyping
and microaggressions, none of the students indicated that such experiences had served to
quell their academic progress. The students reflected on the importance of personal
responsibility for their academic successes and their futures.
Beyond their experiences at Happy Valley, the focus group interview revealed the
students’ thoughts on the treatment they receive as Black men in Society. David
articulated his bewilderment over people’s racial judgments:
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Black people are always viewed as the bottom of the totem pole. I’ve traveled and lived in Hong Kong and London—all over. It’s like some people, and I’m not even judging them, but it’s like some people come from countries who’ve made no major contributions to the world in the 20th century and beyond. Yet, they still think they’re better than all Black people. It’s like we invented the gas mask, street lights, and a disproportionate number of the military defending this country is Black. We make up 10% of the population, but we created 7 genres of music. No other race has done the things that Black people have done. Yet for some reason, people just view us at the bottom.
Arthur concurred and reworded David’s assessment:
It’s like you said, people definitely look down on Black people. But then, when you see what their daily entertainment is, it all has some influence by Blacks. People that judge Black people, when you go and ask them who their favorite athlete is, it’s Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, blah, blah, blah. But then when it comes to dating their daughter, you’re not in their class. All of that stuff that they’ve glorified and heroized is gone.
Nate also offered his experience of being snubbed:
I really don’t know if it’s racist or if it’s racism, but you just walk down the street, and you just say hi to some people. You know they heard you, but they just won’t answer you or they just give you that fake White person smile.
At this point in the discussion, Nate rendered a broad smile, showing all of his teeth,
providing his imitation of what he called the “fake White person smile.” Nate
contributed another demeaning experience to the discussion:
Just the other week, me and my friend stopped in the gas station store to get some snacks and while we were trying to decide what we would get, the guy behind the counter came out, lingering near us as we got drinks from the refrigerator case. I was like whatever; he’s doing his job. Then when we moved near the rack where the chips were, now all the sudden he needs to add some chips to the rack. I can see him following us around because he thinks we’re gonna steal something.
Nate’s frustration at the store caused him to return his beverage to the refrigerator case
and place the potato chips back on the rack, walking out of the store without making a
purchase. Nate admitted: “It kind of pissed me off; I don’t know why he expected me to
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steal something.” Nate’s frustrations about being followed in the store were not
surprising; I have heard these types of complaints from Black males throughout my life.
Are You Serious?
In reflecting on their early educational experiences, the interviewees shared their
thoughts on the importance of education in their early years and how those ideas had
changed with their maturation. The students candidly described how their early
educational opportunities, in many instances, were taken for granted. David described
how he was viewed by those who knew him in high school: “I was a bit of class clown,
but too intelligent to be punished. I was a popular, smart kid.” Nate explained: “I did
enough to get by; I was not as focused as I needed to be. I didn’t try hard.” Arthur
admitted: “I would goof off a lot; I wasn’t the best in the books student.” Lenny added:
“I wish I had been more serious. It was difficult to catch up in high school; grades were
very bad; grandma got me a tutor and things got better.”
It was clear in discussing the importance of early education that the student
participants now recognized the impact that their carefree attitudes could have had on
their futures. Kevin described his turnaround:
I didn’t think school was for me; I was a lazy kid. When I found out how my grades would impact me, how I couldn’t get into schools because of bad grades, and how I wouldn’t be able to wrestle, I changed. I view college as a fresh start.
Eric reflected all the way back to his perspective on education when he was in grade
school and explained the sources of his poor behavior:
In grade school, I didn’t care; no one was pushing me. I thought I was going to be a chef and wouldn’t need an education. I knew I had potential, but never really locked into it. I got into a lot of trouble, in a lot of fights; I was angry about my mom.
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While Eric acknowledged the anger and frustration that resulted from his mother
being absent from the home blocked his academic progress, other participants addressed
their own motivations for a lack of seriousness during their early educational experiences.
As the students thoughtfully looked back on their early lack of commitment to their
studies, they began to reflect on their current thoughts and feelings regarding their
educational success.
It’s On Me
As clearly as they expressed the burdensome experiences that I suspected were
the result of being Black and male, the participants were also very clear about the root of
their success in college, presenting what I describe as an “in spite of” spirit.
Acknowledging an unquestionable requirement to view success through the lens of
personal responsibility, the students did not relate their current conditions to external
forces or actions.
When asked about pathways to academic success, David stated: “I’m big on
personal responsibility; you can be academically successful anywhere.”
Arthur in turn opined:
I don’t think everything has to be perfect in order to learn; you learn and grow from good and bad. I had to decide to cut my work schedule so that I could achieve better grades. I feel like everything good or bad, helped me out to better me for college.
Reflecting on his pathway to academic success, Nate shared: “I thought I didn’t do
enough to prepare for college; I didn’t expect to succeed. I regained focus and got very
focused. I do everything I am supposed to do.” Eric offered his thoughts; “Just being a
Black man, I know Black people aren’t the most privileged usually, and they struggle a
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lot, so just being a Black student, I see myself as having to work harder than most
people.”
James remarked on his change of mindset:
This is me. It’s my time. If I want to do it, I can do it. There’s no point in waiting; let’s go; let’s get it. That’s how my mindset changed from high school to college, and now, it’s on me!
Consistently, it was inspiring to hear these young men discuss their realizations of
how important they were as individuals in contributing to their own success. Each of
them expressed their confidence that they could and would be successful. Each had in
mind a plan for moving to the next level of their educational journey and each claimed
personal responsibility for ensuring that their plan was moving them forward.
After examining this group of Black male students, at varying points in their
matriculation, it appears that students who seem, to possess high levels of confidence and
intrinsic motivation begs the question, how and why are these young men assumed to be
at risk of being unsuccessful? How does the educational institution support these
students? Given the qualities presented by these students during the individual and focus
group interviews, I began to wonder, why shouldn’t their path to success be expected?
Serving the Needs: Executive Leaders on Challenges, Institutional Practices, and Initiatives
With the institutional knowledge regarding the lack of success for Black males at
Happy Valley, the interviews with the college leaders revealed several themes pertaining
to the questions that guided this study. The themes presented in Figure 3 that emerged
from the analysis of the interviews with the college executive leaders are: (a) Lack of
Black Male Achievement; (b) We Are Not Doing Enough; and (c) Campus Environment.
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Figure 3. Emergent themes from the interviews with executive leaders.
In the book, Men of Color in Higher Education, Williams (2014) provided an
overview of the many efforts made by colleges and universities from 1999 to 2014 to
address the needed improvements toward the student success of Black males, particularly
at predominantly White institutions. Happy Valley, like many other community colleges,
included as part of its institutional mission, a commitment to providing affordable and
accessible education based on a desire to serve those students from diverse populations.
Lack of Black Male Achievement
While identifying one of the major themes arising from the interviews conducted
with HVCC intuitional leaders, I was struck by the immediate consensus that Black male
students at HVCC consistently experience a lack of achievement that represents a
significant gap between them and their peers. Data analysis revealed that college leaders
were keenly aware that Black students in general achieve academic success at
significantly lower rates than their White and Hispanic male peers, and that Black males
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experience academic success at rates lower than that of all peer groups. A review of
credential award data for Black males at HVCC as compared to other male peers and the
entire student body are presented in Tables 2 and Table 3, and the numbers speak to the
significance of the success gap.
Table 2
HVCC Associate Degree Awards, 2011–2016
Degree Awards by Academic Year
2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016
All Students 1,702 1,688 1,728 1,643 1,629
White Males 553 545 503 510 477
Hispanic Males 94 86 89 103 98
Black Males 23 33 29 25 28
Note. The source of this table is the HVCC Institutional Research.
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Table 3
HVCC Certificate Awards, 2011–2016
Certificate Awards by Academic Year
2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016
All Students 2442 2075 2074 1758 1873
White Males 621 516 538 416 401
Hispanic Males 168 115 139 115 146
Black Males 23 31 21 26 22
Note. The source of this table is the HVCC Institutional Research
In sharing her thoughts, Mary, who served as the college’s chief academic officer,
offered some comments on the school’s Black male achievement gap:
We have about 5% African American students on the HVCC campus. I don’t know the breakdown between males and females, but I suspect overall college-wide we have 60% females and 40% males. So, I would infer that the breakdown in African American males and females is similar. The success of African American males in particular has been less than other cohorts at the college. We’ve instituted a number of ideas, initiatives to help to decrease that achievement gap and have this population succeed as other cohorts at the college, but we have not achieved that.
John served as the vice president of institutional planning and effectiveness and in this
capacity, John was responsible for leading institutional efforts to improve student
outcomes throughout the college. In sharing his thoughts on Black male achievement,
John stated:
African American males are our lowest performing student demographic at the college, which is so unfortunate. They are also one of the groups that have improved. They are the group that has improved more than any other over the past five years, but that net result still has them as the lowest performing group.
Sarah, the chief diversity officer, echoed the sentiments of her colleagues: “When you
look at the data, the reality is we are not doing very well with African American males. I
don’t know the exact numbers, but they still continue to lag behind their Hispanic
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counterparts and their White counterparts.” The HVCC executive leaders clear in their
assertion that Black males were achieving at much lower rates when compared to their
peers. Over the years, HVCC had engaged in multiple initiatives designed to “move the
needle” with respect to success rates for students who are underrepresented on the
campus.
Lack of Persistence
Lack of persistence has been described as one of the major challenges faced
regarding Black male success (Harper, 2010). Data analysis included an examination of
the success rates for students as documented in the HVCC Student Success Reports from
2013 through 2015. The Happy Valley Student Success Report provided data on key
metrics for student success. For this inquiry, consideration was given to success metrics
regarding student fall to spring retention rates, fall to fall retention rates, and ultimately,
completion rates. According to the institutions Success Report for 2013–2015, Happy
Valley defined persistence as being “measured by the percentage of a student cohort that
continues to re-enroll at HVCC during a given time period”.
This report considered those students enrolled as first-time, credential-seeking
students who enroll in the fall semester of a given year. Table 4 presents the data
collected on the fall to spring semester persistence rates for full-time students by race.
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Table 4
HVCC Fall to Spring Persistence, 2009–2013
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Asian % persisting 78.8% 81.3% 80.1% 77.0% 81.6%Asian N persisting 215 165 165 154 279Black % persisting 70.1% 69.3% 62.6% 63.9% 77.6%Black N persisting 157 185 181 108 156
Hispanic % persisting 73.4% 74.0% 73.1% 76.5% 73.9%Hispanic N persisting 350 325 332 355 505
White % persisting 79.9% 79.7% 79.7% 78.9% 78.9%White N persisting 1,340 1,304 1,187 1,044 1,562
Overall % persisting 77.8% 78.1% 76.7% 77.8% 78.1%Overall N persisting 2,160 2,140 2,063 1,835 2,630
Note. The source of this table is the HVCC Student Success Report.
The fall to spring persistence rates for Black students are lower than that of all
student demographics except in 2013, when Hispanic students represented the lowest
persistence rate. The persistence rates for Black students range even lower when
considering fall to fall persistence, with the average rate of persistence over the five-year
period being 41%. As can be seen in Table 5, the fall to fall persistence rates diminish
even further.
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Table 5
HVCC Fall to Fall Persistence, 2008–2012
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Asian % persisting 61.0% 65.6% 73.4% 64.1% 58.5%Asian N persisting 163 179 149 132 117
Black % persisting 49.5% 44.6% 40.8% 28.7% 43.2%Black N persisting 91 100 109 83 73
Hispanic % persisting51.5% 57.2% 57.6% 52.6% 57.8%Hispanic N persisting 194 273 253 239 268
White % persisting 62.6% 62.9% 62.7% 61.9% 63.0%
White N persisting 953 1,056 1,026 922 833
Overall % persisting 59.3% 60.7% 60.6% 56.9% 60.8%Overall N persisting 1,597 1,687 1,661 1,530 1,434
Note. The source of this table is the HVCC Student Success Report.
It is important to note that this data represents first-time, full-time, male and
female students enrolled at HVCC during the 2008–2012-time frame. The data reported
in the HVCC student success report do not consider part-time students, or students
returning to college following prior enrollments. Institutional data procured from the
HVCC Institutional Research department confirmed the assertions of the institutional
leaders interviewed for this study. College completion data reveal that HVCC awarded
Black males an average of 24 degrees and 22 certificates annually since 2008 (see Table
6).
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Table 6
HVCC Black Male Credentials Awarded, 2008–2916
Academic Year Certificates Degrees Total2008-2009 4 18 222009-2010 14 21 332010-2011 38 21 562011-2012 23 23 452012-2013 31 33 632013-2014 21 29 492014-2015 26 25 442015-2016 22 28 45
Note. The source of this table is the HVCC Department of Institutional Research.
Overall, the five years of data as reported in the 2014–2015 Student Success
Report, and the six years of Black male credential completion data confirm the assertions
of the HVCC institutional leaders. Each of the executive leaders interviewed was clear
regarding their understanding of the lack of success experienced by Black male students
at HVCC. College leaders consistently indicated that various initiatives have been
implemented at HVCC to address the lack of academic progress experienced by Black
male students.
When queried regarding the understanding of initiatives targeting Black males at
the college, Chief Academic Officer Mary expressed the following:
We have a group that mentors—a club type of situation, although it wasn’t formally a club for African American males. We put a tremendous amount of mentoring support and counseling support into these initiatives along with requirements for participation; we just haven’t seen the outcomes. Students participating in the ENGAGE initiative had to agree to mentoring, seeing a counselor, and getting tutoring when necessary. Sign up for this initiative was voluntary. We have a summer bridge program for students who graduated at the bottom of their high school class and have two or more developmental course placements, anyone meeting the criteria is eligible for this program; it is not designed solely for African American males.
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The Initiatives
Consistent with many of its peer community colleges, Happy Valley had
recognized the need for special programming designed to enhance the success rates for
Black males on campus. To ensure appropriate context, it was helpful to consider past
and current student success initiatives. Of the initiatives employed, each of the
institutional leaders described two programs at HVCC that had a positive impact on the
success of Black male students.
The ENGAGE program was designed for full-time Black students, both male and
female. According to the HVCC Strategic Plan in 2014, the purpose of the ENGAGE
program was to enhance the personal and academic development of African American
students by intentionally increasing the level of engagement opportunities at Happy
Valley Community College. The program goals included an increase in the use of
support services, greater engagement with faculty and staff, enhanced knowledge of self
and the life skills needed for college success, along with improved academic preparation
and planning. The ENGAGE program also sought to provide greater connections with
other HVCC students. A unique feature of the program was the financial support offered
to students for meals and transportation.
Students participating in the program were required to sign a contract in which
they agreed to comply with the following stipulations:
Maintain full-time enrollment status
Complete a college first year experience/college orientation course
Meet with an ENGAGE counselor monthly
Meet with an ENGAGE mentor monthly
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Attend Networking Sessions
Attend Job Readiness Workshops
The ENGAGE program served two cohorts of students prior to being disbanded
by the college in 2015. While the program experienced some success, with 73% of the
student participants persisting from fall 2013 to spring 2014, the cost of the program and
the small number of student participants who were impacted, 12–15 students per cohort,
rendered the program incapable of being scaled to serve more students.
The Summer Bridge program, originally piloted at HVCC in 2011, was designed
for recent high school graduates planning to enroll in HVCC in the fall semester. These
students had completed placement testing at HVCC and had been found to be in need two
or more developmental courses (developmental reading, English, or math) during their
first semester at HVCC. Additionally, these students tended to represent the lower third
of their high school graduating class. The program provided four weeks of intense
preparation for assessments in math and English, which were designed to improve the
student’s placement when they begin their courses in the fall semester. Many of the
students participating in the summer bridge were first generation college students and
brought diverse backgrounds that were typically underrepresented at HVCC.
The HVCC chief academic officer indicated that this program, while not designed
specifically for Black males, did have the potential to serve Black males coming from
area high schools who met the criteria for program participation. The structure of the
summer bridge program allowed for participation of up to 100 students and had
demonstrated successful outcomes.
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During the 2011–2012 year, the 70 students who participated in this initiative
experienced the outcomes that are displayed in Table 7.
Table 7
Summer Bridge Outcomes, 2011–2012
Table 7: Summer Bridge Outcomes N= % of students
Increased placement in at least one area. 56 80%Tested into at least one college-level course. 24 34%Tested into all college-level courses 8 11%Tested into at least one college-level English course 32 46%Tested into at least one college-level math 27 39%Obtained a fall GPA of 2.0 or higher 45 64%Were retained through the fall semester 67 96%
Persisted fall to spring 54 77%
Note. The source of this table is the HVCC 2013 Strategic Planning Report.
The favorable outcomes experienced by the Summer Bridge program led the
college to continue offering the program for students from surrounding high school
districts. This program was voluntary and had a limited number of Black male
participants. In addition to the programs described by institutional leaders, review of the
HVCC Student Success Report revealed another major success initiative that was
institutionalized during the development of the college’s 2010–2015 Strategic Plan.
Based on the strategic goal of decreasing achievement gaps for students who were young,
male, Black and Hispanic and who were placed in developmental courses, the college
instituted the Target Success program which was designed to provide immediate
interventions for students who were deemed to be “at risk,” providing them the
opportunity to receive counseling at the first instance of academic difficulty.
John, vice president of institutional planning and effectiveness, also mentioned
the ENGAGE initiative and the Summer Bridge program, explaining that the ENGAGE
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program was no longer operating, and that the nature of the ENGAGE program was to
provide intensive one-on-one intervention with the student, and as such, ENGAGE was
not a program that could be scaled to serve more than 12 students in a semester.
Regarding the summer bridge program, John confirmed that the program likely touched
some Black male students, but the program was designed to support all low-achieving
high school graduates who had placement test results that required enrollment in
developmental courses the summer prior to their first semester at Happy Valley.
We Are Not Doing Enough
Executive leaders at Happy Valley indicated that a great deal of work had been
done over the years in an attempt to positively impact the academic success of Black
males; However, each leader was clear regarding their beliefs that as an institution, much
more needed to be done to support Black male success. As part of the strategic planning
process, HVCC had adopted Student Success Institutional Effectiveness Measures to set a
pathway for success for students who required developmental education and to enhance
student advancement, persistence, and completion rates.
Historically, HVCC’s approaches targeting the Black male student demographic
appeared to have been somewhat scattered, with some initiatives being grass roots in
nature while others were institutionalized but not designed to focus solely on Black males
and, therefore, were of tangential benefit. HVCC had gotten involved in two new
initiatives designed to support the academic success of Black males at the college. Chief
Diversity Officer Sarah described HVCC’s collaboration with a national consortium as
developed to improve academic success for minority male students enrolled in
community colleges. In this regard, Sarah stated: “This consortium is helping institutions
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find ways to develop programs for student success. So far we have attended the national
meeting and we’ve participated in several webinars.” Sarah went on to say that HVCC
was collaborating with a state university that was located in a neighboring suburb so as to
improve success opportunities for Black male students. This university had done well
with its initiatives targeting Black males for success and Sarah believed that partnering
with that institution would allow HVCC to improve on its practices.
The second new student success initiative was the result of a $2 million U.S.
Department of Education grant. According to the HVCC Title III grant, the goal of this
initiative was to “strengthen and increase the capacity of college technology and
personnel to provide improved student engagement, tracking, communications, success,
retention, and completion.” With the improvement of technology and personnel
practices, HVCC hoped to improve the success rates for African American students and
students who are classified as “developmental,” which means that the student is not
college ready and must be successful in developmental, non-credit courses prior to
enrollment in courses for college credit.
This initiative involved improvement in the student onboarding process with what
the college referred to as “holistic assessment” of the students when they began their
educational experience at HVCC. Using an Early Alert system, faculty could flag
students in an electronic system when they were experiencing academic difficulties that
required tutoring, or if they were in need of counseling. Coaches were assigned to each
of the students targeted in this initiative, with the coach’s main function being to guide
the students toward completion of a certificate or degree. Greater use of technology
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included the creation of a data warehouse and the use of predictive modeling to better
integrate student onboarding, coaching, and use of the Early Alert system.
Over the years, many efforts to address the needs of Black male students on
campus had directed goals at “fixing” Black males, highlighting deficits but failed to
consider the role of institutionalized and structured practices ingrained in the institutional
setting (Williams, 2014). This HVCC initiative focused more on increasing and
strengthening institutional technological capacity and the development of personnel to
ensure optimal student engagement. This initiative reflected a pivot from prior more
student-centric change initiatives to that of an inwardly focused institutional change
initiative to drive student success.
Campus Environment
Campus culture is one aspect of college life that will determine the level of
engagement and connectedness that scholars like Tinto (1997) described as necessary for
academic success and persistence. HVCC leaders shared their thoughts on the nature of
the campus environment for Black males. The acknowledgement from the college
administrators regarding low success rates for Black male students was a consistent
theme throughout the collected interview data. Some of this study’s hypotheses provided
regarding low success rates went beyond the mere lack of college readiness based on
inadequate high school experiences and focused on the role of campus environment as it
impacted Black male students.
Campus environment, or culture, in any institution will be uniquely experienced
based on the positionality of the individual experiencing the culture. Data analysis of the
campus culture at HVCC was approached as follows. The executive leadership’s view on
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campus culture was directly referenced in the individual, semi-structured interviews that
were conducted. Sources for data that represented the students’ perspectives regarding
the campus culture and environment included individual, semi-structured interviews, a
focus group interview, as well as the results from the Community College Survey of
Student Engagement conducted at HVCC in 2015.
The campus community also shapes the culture and environment and the views of
the campus at large are seen in three institutional reports: the 2013 and 2016 Cultural
Values Assessments and the 2013 Personal Assessment of the College Environment
survey. Figure 4 presents Happy Valley through the lens of community factors at work in
shaping the campus environment and culture.
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Figure 4. Three views of campus environment.
Executive leadership. Mary, the chief academic officer, voiced her thoughts
regarding the HVCC environment as students navigate the campus:
I think it’s difficult to be in a minority population at a school. Since only 5% of our students are African American, they don’t see as many people that look like them here nor do we have the representation among our professors that I’d like to have of African Americans, particularly African American males. I don’t think there is any intentionality to not be welcoming, and yet I don’t know.
When asked about the campus environment, Sarah, the chief diversity officer, recounted
her experience leading a focus group of Black males. Sarah reported that, according to
that group, they did not always feel welcomed:
Not being an African American male, I can’t say if it is or is not. I don’t think in my time here I’ve seen us be intentionally unwelcoming, but I don’t know that we do a really good job of making any group that’s historically underrepresented feel like this is home for them. I just think that’s just an area where we struggle. I think this struggle is related to the fact that there are not enough people of color here to say that this needs to be different.
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Happy Valley Community College
Environment/Culture
Student
View
Campus Community
View
Executive
Leadership
View
In sharing his thoughts on the campus environment, John recounted what he heard in past
focus groups conducted with Black male and female students:
Students would tell us that they’re used to the environment where they don’t see many people like them around. That they’re more aware of it. They’re bothered more by it in higher education than they were in high school. I think in higher education, when the students don’t see many people like them around campus, they begin to think, well . . . maybe I can’t do this; maybe I’m not supposed to be here.
At first blush, it appears that the perspectives of the campus leaders suggested that
the campus environment was not unwelcoming for Black male students. However, each
campus leader infused a level a doubt when sharing their thoughts on this subject. While
there was consensus amongst the campus leaders interviewed, that they are aware that
underrepresented students had reported not feeling at ease on campus, feeling
marginalized, and not feeling as if they fit in on HVCC campus, none of leaders spoke to
the implementation of concrete strategies to combat the cultural malaise that they
acknowledged existed on the HVCC campus.
The student voice. The participants discussed the times when they did not feel
the campus presented an environment that was welcoming, such as Eric admitting he felt
disrespected when people did not take the time to get to know him, and that he didn’t like
hearing White boys use the N word, and Kevin expressing disappointment that “there
hardly any Black people in power here, barely any Black administrators at HVCC.”
However, the students also discussed some positive experiences on campus, reporting
that there were times when they felt highly supported at HVCC. In regard to these
positive experiences, Kevin contributed: “I do well now because of all the resources
available. I’m not scared to go to the writing center, not scared to say hey, I don’t
understand this.” In a similar vein, Devin remarked: “I always feel welcomed here; they
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help me. The One-Stop Center is very helpful, the library, bookstore, tutoring, all are
good,” and Lenny commented; “I have had good experiences with faculty; they take time
to understand me due to my accent.” Arthur added his positive assessment of the
college’s environment: “It’s a good community here; not all colleges have this sense of
community. I can meet random people and have a conversation with them.” Four of the
eight students interviewed for this study reported positive feelings and engagement
regarding the campus environment.
Annually, Happy Valley had participated in a national survey known as the
Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). In this survey,
community college students respond to a series of questions regarding their engagement
at the college. The survey allows a community college to compare itself against top-
performing community colleges in the United States as well as all other colleges
participating in the annual survey during a given year. The survey assesses five key
benchmarks and these benchmarks are: active and collaborative learning, student effort,
academic challenge, student-faculty interaction, and support for learners.
The benchmark of active and collaborative learning refers to the student’s
opportunity to collaborate with others to solve problems, master content, and develop the
skills needed to address real-life situations and problems. The student effort benchmark
represents how students’ behaviors contribute to their learning and achievement of goals.
Academic challenge is the third CCSSE benchmark and it considers the assigned
academic work, academic rigor, and the cognitive tasks required of students.
The importance of student and faculty interaction is an assessed benchmark, with
an expectation that positive student-faculty interactions will lead to faculty becoming
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mentors and role models. The fifth benchmark is support for learners. According to the
2015 CCSSE, this benchmark addresses the importance of student satisfaction with
available support services and the cultivation of positive relationships throughout the
campus.
As depicted in Table 8, the 2015 CCSSE for HVCC reveals that student responses
for the five benchmarks do not rise to the level of the 2015 top-performing colleges.
When compared to all other community colleges that utilized the survey in 2015, HVCC
student responses score the college a bit higher than peer institutions in the areas of active
and collaborative learning, academic challenge, and student-faculty interaction.
Table 8
HVCC Community College Survey of Student Engagement, 2015
The benchmarks of Student Effort and Support for Learners represent the lowest
scoring benchmarks for the 2015 survey. For each of these benchmarks, HVCC student
responses are lower than that of the 2015 peer institutions completing the survey. The
benchmark Student Effort included questions related to preparation for class by
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completing readings and assignments prior to class and the frequency with which
students participated in writing and math skill labs. The types of questions related to the
Support for Learners included financial support and frequency of academic advising.
Inclusion of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement offers an
opportunity to holistically view the HVCC student opinions on their engagement at
HVCC. The survey findings and the student participant interviews provided a glimpse
into the HVCC campus culture as experienced by the student.
HVCC institutional leaders consistently advanced the ideas that Black male
students tended to be less engaged, required more in the way of resources, both academic
and other, and that as an institution, HVCC had taken several stabs at reaching this
demographic but had yet to find that “thing” that was scalable to serve the entire
demographic. Each of the leaders interviewed acknowledged that the institution was
aware of the struggles faced by Black male students, and that despite the focus the
college had placed on these students, there was still much more work to be done.
Campus values and climate. Happy Valley Community College invested
resources in assessing the campus culture, values, and climate by enlisting the services of
professional researchers to survey the entire campus community every three years. In
2013, HVCC conducted the Campus Culture Survey, (CCS). The campus culture survey
was repeated in 2016. In 2013, the college also engaged in the Employee Opinion
Survey, (EOS). While the 2016 Employee Opinion survey results were not available at
the time of this inquiry, an overview of the 2013 and 2016 CCS outcome data and the
2013 Employee Opinion Survey were included as part of this analysis. These surveys
allowed for the analysis of broader perspectives on campus culture, climate, and values.
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The Campus Culture Survey conducted in 2013 and 2016 included input from
faculty, administrators, clerical staff, managers, directors, maintenance workers, and
grounds keepers. Anyone who was a member of the HVCC campus community as an
employee was eligible for participation in this assessment. The CCS is a short survey
instrument designed to be completed by participants within 10–15 minutes. The survey
focuses on personal, perceived, and desired cultural values. Participants are presented
with a series of 60–70 words representing various values. Participants are asked to select
their top 10 personal, perceived, and desired values. The CCS is helpful in identifying the
values deemed important by the campus community.
HVCC leaders indicated that the CCS was used to gain an understanding of the
campus community desires related to values and to ensure that all employees felt
included and valued for their contributions to the college.
In 2013, 612 members of the Happy Valley campus community took part in the
campus culture survey, and in 2016, 499 members of the campus community participated
in the survey. The results for personal values, perceived culture, and desire culture
values for the years 2013 and 2016 are presented for comparison in Table 9, Table 10,
and Table 11.
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Table 9 HVCC REPORT- Personal Values, 2013 and 2016
2013 Personal Values 2016 Personal Valuesfamily 39.2% family 33.3%humor/ fun 38.9% honesty 32.7%honesty 35.9% responsibility 32.7%responsibility 33.0% humor/ fun 32.5%caring 30.7% positive attitude 28.9%positive attitude 28.4% integrity 28.5%integrity 28.3% caring 27.5%fairness 25.3% compassion 26.3%accountability 24.5% balance (home/work) 25.9%compassion 23.7% respect 25.9%
Table 10 HVCC Perceived Culture, 2013 and 2016
2013 Perceived Culture 2016 Perceived Culture bureaucracy 40.4% bureaucracy 44.5%hierarchy 28.1% cost reduction 40.1%community involvement
24.5% hierarchy 34.9%
brand image 23.0% community involvement 26.5%goals orientation 23.0% territorial behavior 26.5%cost reduction 22.9% silo mentality 25.3%continuous improvement
22.4% goals orientation 24.6%
confusion 21.4% favoritism 23.8%diversity 21.2% job insecurity 23.4%controlling 20.9% micro-management 22.2%
Table 11 HVCC Desired Culture, 2013 and 2016
2013 Desired Culture 2016 Desired Culture acceptance 35.1% accountability 31.5%collaboration 34.3% collaboration 30.3%accountability 28.6% acceptance 29.1%coaching/ mentoring 25.3% employee engagement 27.9%diversity 24.7% open communication 27.7%employee engagement24.2% diversity 24.4%open communication 23.7% respect 24.2%respect 23.7% coaching/ mentoring 23.0%adaptability 22.4% transparency 22.0%information sharing 22.1% teamwork 21.6%
Review of the 2013 and 2016 campus culture survey reveal the values that are
important to employees of the institution, however, the comparison shows little in the
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way of value differences from 2013 to 2016. The personal values of HVCC employees
reflect the importance of family, honesty, humor, and fun. The perceptions of campus
culture reflect the idea of a campus dealing with a degree of bureaucracy and hierarchy
amid the valuing of community involvement. Members of the campus community
remain consistent in their desire for cultural values on campus that reflect accountability,
acceptance, and collaboration.
In addition to the survey on campus culture, Happy Valley conducted the
Employee Environment Opinion, or EEO. Like the CCS, the EEO survey is administered
every three years; however, EEO is administered to specified employee groups that
include faculty, staff, administrators, campus police and other service employees.
The focus of EEO is to assess the institutional climate. EEO seeks to identify
perspectives on institutional climate regarding institutional structure, supervisory
relationships, teamwork, and student focus. HVCC administered this survey in 2013.
The survey was also administered in 2016; however, survey outcomes for 2016 were not
available at the time of this inquiry.
In 2013 HVCC sent the EEO survey to 1776 HVCC employees, and found that
using a four point Likert scale with one indicating that leaders demonstrate little trust in
employees to four, indicating that leaders have trust in their employees.
Table 13 and Table 14 present the types of statements in the survey and those
statements reflecting the highest and lowest scores for the HVCC 2013 EEO survey.
Table 12
HVCC EEO Survey Highest Scored Items, 2013
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Table 13
HVCC EEO Survey Lowest Scored Items, 2013
Finally, the EEO survey assessed the climate at HVCC considering factors such
as institutional structure, supervisory relationships, teamwork, and student focus. Results
are presented in Figure 5 below.
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Figure 5. HVCC employee climate, 2013.
Based on the results of the Campus Culture Survey and the Employee
Environment Opinion Survey, members of the campus community valued teamwork and
collaboration; they preferred that bureaucracy and hierarchy be replaced with acceptance,
accountability, and collaboration. The campus community believed that the focus on
students should be at the forefront. In 2015, utilizing the Community College Survey of
Student Engagement, HVCC students ranked the college higher than their 2015 cohort
peer institutions regarding active and collaborative learning, academic challenge, and
student-faculty interaction.
Summary
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The participants in this study were exceedingly open about sharing their
experiences as Black males on a predominantly White college campus. These young men
acknowledged that they could have taken their earlier educational opportunities more
seriously. Some of the participants shared their experiences with the exclusionary
practices commonly faced by Black male students during their primary and secondary
education (Noguera, 2008).
Recounting their lived experiences at HVCC, participants shared both the
challenges and successes experienced while persisting towards graduation. The leader
participants in the study at HVCC clearly articulated their views regarding the lack of
success for Black male students and how these students tended to be the lowest-
performing student demographic at the college. Institutional leaders also shared that
there were a variety of initiatives that were designed to meet the needs of Black male
students.
As was indicated by the institutional leaders, many initiatives that had been
undertaken at HVCC, in the end, had fallen short of enhancing the academic performance
of Black students. The HVCC leaders were consistent in their belief that as an
institution, HVCC was not doing enough to support the success of Black males on their
college campus.
To gain the student perspective, the 2015 Community College Survey of Student
Engagement (CCSSE) that was conducted at HVCC was included in the analysis. The
student voice, as reflected in the CCSSE, ranked HVCC slightly higher than its peer
institutions in the areas of faculty-student interaction, collaborative learning, and
academic challenge.
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It is important to note, however, that the CCSSE report did not disaggregate the
data based on racial demographics, and with only 4% of the HVCC student population
being Black males, the report was not necessarily reflective of many Black male students,
but rather represented the overall HVCC student body.
To ascertain the campus environment and culture at HVCC, this study’s analysis
included the examination of HVCC’s 2013 and 2016 Cultural Values Assessment (CCS),
and the 2013 Personal Assessment of College Environment survey (PACE). The analysis
of these reports revealed the desire of the campus community to strive for an environment
that is open and inclusive, with acceptance being an important cultural value sought in
both 2013 and 2016.
Finally, the lived experiences of Black male students at HVCC reflected the
challenges that these students faced because they were constantly aware of their
positionality in the institution. Merely walking the HVCC campus as a Black male
student, based on the institutional demographics, the likelihood of seeing a Black faculty
member, a Black administrator, or other students of color was very limited. Awareness
of positionality in society also calls for additional consideration on the part of Black
males. Who they are and how they are perceived in society is significant, even during the
most mundane of activities. Whether it is trip to the grocery store, entering an elevator,
or sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle that has been pulled over for a traffic stop, Black
men are prone to a set of unique experiences often solely based on their race.
The institutional leaders, albeit overwhelmingly supportive of these students,
continued to wrestle with the solutions that could address how to enhance these students’
academic success and create a more welcoming environment for them to experience
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Happy Valley Community College as their second home. As the institution continues to
search for formulas that could lead to better outcomes for all students, HVCC leaders
expressed the hope that greater intentionality regarding student engagement from
admission to graduation, along with the use of intrusive and personalized coaching and
counseling, will be the solution to the lack of academic success for Black male students.
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CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND REFLECTIONS
Introduction
This inquiry was borne out of a personal quandary I experienced during my years
serving as a community college dean in an economically depressed community in a large
Midwestern city. In the role of dean, I crossed paths with thousands of students as they
sought to make better lives for themselves and their families by enrolling in their local
community college. The academic division under my purview was responsible for
serving students seeking a new career, or wishing to enhance their current job skills.
Students enrolled in the various career programs desired to earn credentials that would
prepare them to assume careers as nurses, automotive technicians, dental hygienists, child
care and social workers, addiction counselors, heating and air-conditioning technicians,
and other professionals. These students had a shared desire to have a career, to go work.
Despite the institution’s ability to attract students who were Black and male,
students, who by all accounts, wanted to be successful, wanted to change their lives, and
wanted a career, these students were often limited in reaching the levels of success they
hoped for. This caused me to wonder about what could be done, and ultimately, to
initiate this study. Even though educational access for Black male students has improved
significantly over the years, with 43 % of all U.S. Black male undergraduates enrolling in
a community college (Knapp, et al., 2010), Black male students continue to face
substantial challenges with persistence and completion.
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Of the 45% of Black males age 25 and older enrolled in college, only 16% had the
distinction of earning a four-year degree, and 19% earned a two-year degree or certificate
within three years (Aud et al., 2010). Experiences with institutionalized and societal
racism, poverty, media bias, and the overall oppression and violence that stem from
social injustice present a set of challenges that peer groups of the Black male student will
likely never to be required to confront. A journey into the post-secondary academic
success rates for Black males can be best understood by examining their introduction to
the educational system in pre-school. Connecting the experiences of many of these male
students can reveal the need for additional research and scholarship around the
convergence of identity development, the life cycle, and the pursuit of education.
Based on my experiences working closely with Black male students, I realized
that they truly wanted to complete their academic programs of study. I also witnessed
how supportive the college was of their success. I continued to wonder about the
circumstances in the lives of these students and the factors that could hinder their
academic success and professional pursuits. Because of this personal and professional
wondering and questioning, this study is an inquiry into the lived experiences of eight
Black male community college students. What follows is the analysis of this study’s
findings and a discussion of the relevance of my investigation to the existing literature.
Black Male Students’ Perceptions of Themselves
Data analysis revealed an ever-present, underlying awareness of the student
participants regarding the significance of their race and gender. Each participant
candidly shared his self-perceptions as he discussed his early educational experiences and
his current experiences as a college student in a predominantly White institution.
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Participants gave voice to many of the conditions found in the literature that are unique to
men of color, and in so doing, shared their perceptions of self and how they confront
instances of stereotyping and microaggression.
Living as Two: The Role of Double Consciousness
As the participants shared their experiences, describing what it meant to be Black
and male as they moved about on campus and in society, I was reminded of the condition
described in 1903 by W. E. B. Du Bois in his book The Souls of Black Folk. Du Bois
addressed a condition he termed “double consciousness” to describe the predicament that
many Black men found themselves in during the early 1900s. Du Bois (1903/2003)
described double consciousness as “a peculiar sensation, this sense of always looking at
one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that
looks on in amused contempt and pity” (p. 9).
Du Bois’ words rang true for him in 1903 and rang true again in 2016 through the
voices of the student participants. Their stories and their experiences at times offered an
unfortunate and uncanny resemblance. Students described the need to work twice as hard
in order to be considered half as good. They shared experiences of marginalization in
such a matter of fact way, it appeared that marginalizing behaviors were generally
expected and accepted by the students as the norm.
Student participants shared instances where they assumed an awareness and, at
times, a perception of responsibility for the actions and conduct of their Black peers on
campus. This self-awareness exemplifies the intersectionality described by Dill (2009)
and Jackson (2012) when examining social identity and the multidimensional nature of
identity construction for Black males. These students are required to engage in
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considerations that their White male peers on campus would not likely be required to give
thought to. The duality of consciousness experienced by the participants was evident
during the discussion of their experiences in the suburban community where the campus
was located and in the urban environment that some of the participants hailed from, just
45 miles away from the college. James reflected on the criticism he received from his
Black peers for “not being Black enough.” James stated, “I’m not going to change to
make people accept me. My culture is what I’m proud to be from, proud to represent.”
Messaging: Identity Conferred by Others
Messages received during their early educational experiences also played a role in
the development and resolve of these young men to persist towards graduation. “They
kept telling me this so I actually started believing them” was the sentiment expressed by
study participant Kevin, a student who said he knew he did not belong in a special
education classroom during his secondary education. However, the early messages he
received led to his being a statistic in the over representation of Black males assigned to
special education (Gartner & Lipsky, 1989; National Research Council, 2002; Noguera,
2003). The impact of this early messaging had resonated so significantly with Kevin that,
upon completion of his baccalaureate degree, he planned to pursue graduate studies in
special education, citing the overrepresentation of men of color in special education and
the underrepresentation of Black men teaching in special education classrooms.
The literature is plentiful regarding institutionalized practices that can contribute
to the identity development of young Black males. One such practice is that of the
exclusionary discipline that Black male students experience at much higher rates, with
two to three times more office referrals and out of school suspensions (Skiba, et al., 2011)
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than their White male peers. Noguera (2008) addressed the array of challenges that affect
Black and brown boys from families of low-socioeconomic status enrolled in public
education who most often have teachers who are novice in the field and are usually
Caucasian and female. David recalled his experience of being removed from a class after
challenging a grade received from one of his high school teachers. Even though the
school principal confirmed that David’s work was graded incorrectly, the school’s
solution for this uncomfortable situation was to remove David from the class and allow
him to complete his coursework as an independent study. Eric, who was assigned to a
special education class in high school, discussed his three-month suspension from school
for cursing at a classmate who was teasing him during class. Consistent with the
literature, Dancy and Brown (2012) reported that approximately 25% of all Black males
had been suspended once over a four-year period. Similarly, two of the eight student
participants in this study, or 25%, recounted their experiences with being disciplined with
the punishment of removal from the classroom.
The burden of institutional messaging had been carried by these students from
their secondary educational history to their current postsecondary educational
experiences. The manner in which David and Eric described their exclusionary
experiences suggests that such messaging had factored into their identity construction.
Identity Contingencies
The students presented a keen sense of awareness of the necessity for them to
navigate multiple identities. Participants discussed their switching in and out of identities
based on situations, circumstances, and geographical locations. Nate revealed:
“Sometimes I have to go in and out of my own identity because sometimes I have to, just
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for my personal safety.” Kevin added how his identity changed when he visited relatives
in a large urban environment: “When I go there I am a different person; I walk different;
talk different; and act totally different.”
David said: “At times, I feel like I have to censor myself . . . lots of time, stuff I
would normally do, I know I can’t because it will reflect bad on other people, on the
Black community.” These feelings of responsibility, the weight, the burden, the
necessity, leads me to wonder what, if any, is the impact related to this burdensome
requirement? What does such an impact mean for the success of Black males? David’s
feeling that he must self-censor his normal reactions and not display too much pride in
his fashion designs, to not “flex,” due to his concern that his demonstration of pride in his
work may reflect badly on the Black community. This represents what Steele (2011)
referred to as “identity contingencies.” Identity contingencies are those subtle cues an
individual is required to confront that can lead to stereotyping because of a given social
identity; that identity can be tied to age, race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. In
the case of the students in this study, race and gender factored heavily in their social
identity.
There is a significant amount of scholarly literature that addresses the notion held
by many Black males regarding the concept of “acting White” (Ferguson, 2001; Kunjufu,
2011). For young Black males, the idea that being both cool and accepted by peers, is
inconsistent with being smart (Harper, 2010). Some Black males hold the idea that other
Black males being smart, studious, and well-read is considered “acting White.” While
there are many reasons for this phenomenon of “acting White,” Kunjufu (2011)
considered this to be due to the fact that African history, before slavery, is not being
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taught in the schools. This phenomenon of “act White” and the discussions surrounding
it usually occur between Black male peers interacting. In the case of Kevin, he heard
comments from his White peers regarding his affect being that of a White male.
I Am a Man: The Duality of Personhood
The triple quandary theory (Boykin, 1986) addresses the societal stressors for
Black persons, particularly those who dwell in urban areas. These stressors occur as the
person of color engages in experience as part of the societal mainstream, while also
engaging in experiences as a minority and as an individual rooted in Black culture. The
stories shared by the student participants demonstrated the triple quandary theory in
action. The duality of identity described by the participants, that it is experiencing one
self while in the predominantly White suburban campus environment and another self
while in an urban environment, involves what has become an innate ability to shift. As
Black males in a predominantly White environment, the imposition of conditions related
to the students’ identity contingencies can impact their performance in the classroom as
well as other interactions they engage in as they grapple with navigating the landscape as
a person in the minority.
Experiencing a duality of personhood is not limited to Black males; similar
dualities are experienced by others in marginalized groups. There are many
circumstances in which Black males can face an additional identity challenge regarding
their masculinity. As another socially constructed identity, masculinity operates within a
hierarchal structure, with White, affluent, heterosexual, able bodied men at the top of that
structure (Kimmel & Messner, 2007).
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Harper and Harris (2010) addressed the development of a masculine identity and
the assault on masculinity for those who are men of color, unemployed men, homosexual
men, and men who are disabled. Harper and Harris cited the importance of the presence
of a father as Black boys develop their masculinity. Study participants shared the
significance of the role of father, with David stating: “I know a lot of Black men,
specifically, don’t have two-parent homes and the fact that (in my family) we all have the
same father with the large span of years that separate us is significant.” Arthur cited the
advice he received from his father when dealing with people who view him as a
stereotype, and Kevin spoke of the importance of his older brother, who was like a father
to him. The literature aptly reflects the importance fathers in the lives of their Black
sons, and how the absence of fathers can negatively impact the life of Black males
(Alexander, 2010; Dancy, 2012).
In addition to being in the minority at HVCC, Black males are also in the minority
in society, and the students shared their thoughts on the perceptions of Black males in
U.S. society and beyond. David eloquently described his perception of the judgment
reserved for Black people, citing some of the many inventions created by Black men, and
how the race has contributed to so many aspects of society; yet, in his opinion, Black
people are still viewed as being at the bottom. Arthur cited the common glorification of
Black male athletes and recording artists, and the compartmentalization that occurs when
people can set aside their bias and racism to cheer for a Muhammad Ali or a Michael
Jackson. When considering how Black males perceive self, it should be noted that there
are multiple intervening factors involved in Black male identity development. Identity
construction for Black males, like for most individuals, will be as unique as their
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individual life experiences; the difference for Black males is all the additional
circumstances that are unique to Black men in America.
Black Male Students’ Experiences that Hinder Their Academic Success
What are Black male students’ experiences in a community college that prevent
them from being academically successful? How the students in the study confronted
situations involving stereotyping and microaggressions seemed to vary based on the
position of the offender. The student participants of this study shared experiences when
they felt they were treated differently than their peers both on and off campus. I was
surprised, however, that in describing some of these experiences, the students were
hesitant to assume that the offending behavior directed toward them was the result of
racism, as when Eric described an encounter with a teacher: “I really don’t want to call
the teacher a racist, but I feel like he was targeting me because I spoke up in class.”
According to Eric, his non-Black peers in the class readily offered their opinions
during classroom discussions. Eric expressed frustration in doing the same because he
felt targeted by the teacher; Eric’s teacher considered his comments to be “disruptive.”
The unfortunate result of this encounter was that Eric’s solution for dealing with
the actions of the faculty member was to stop talking in class: “I just don’t say anything,
anymore.” Positive student-faculty engagement was a primary requisite for student
success (Fries-Britt & Turner, 2001; Wood & Turner, 2010). Tinto (1997) addressed the
negative impact of social alienation on student persistence.
James shared an incident where a music teacher “blew up” at him in front of the
entire class. James stated: “I’m not sure if this was racially motivated.” These types of
interactions with faculty members can serve to stifle the creativity and sense of belonging
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in the classroom. Students also described use of the “N word” by White peers in their
presence; however, it didn’t appear to be upsetting to the Black students interviewed.
They described the tactic for handling such situations as simply ignoring the ignorant
comments. James shared that he believed language and jokes around race are
generational and were something that he and his peers did not get too worried about. The
student discussions of racism on campus did not reveal any stark overt occurrences of
racist behavior, but rather the subtleties of microaggressions and stereotyping. The
teacher examples provided by Eric and James revealed that racism as a motivation for
teacher behavior was unclear to both.
Stereotyping
Stereotype threat is defined as “being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic,
a negative stereotype about one’s group” (Steele & Aronson, 2004 p. 797). Long after
Steele and Aronson completed their important research on stereotype threat, there exists a
greater understanding of the phenomenon. In his continued work on the topic, Steele
(2011) reminded those who are concerned with doing the work necessary to improve the
lives of students who are marginalized that bias may occur when we attempt to explain
the behavior of those who are marginalized by placing emphasis on actions that we can
see, while deemphasizing the causes of those actions and the circumstances that led to the
actions. When James described his music teacher “blowing up” up at him, James
admitted that he was not sure if the teacher’s behavior was due to racism or his
assumption that James was not well prepared for his guitar solo because he was lazy and
simply did not rehearse.
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Microaggressions
Instances of microaggressions appeared to be more obvious to the students.
Lenny described the stereotypical comments made to him by his White classmates
regarding his upbringing in Africa, and Kevin talked about the surprise of his White
classmates that he is able to speak the English language properly. For Kevin, being told
by his White peers that “you talk White” and “you’re a White man in a Black man’s
body” served as a point of great frustration. Nate described his coach’s use of the term
“natural talent,” when describing the need to recruit more athletes to the college wrestling
team, as a euphemism for urban Black male athletes. It was clear that the student
participants were aware of the subtle underlying stereotypes and microaggressions
occurring on campus.
Confronting Behaviors
Challenging stereotypical assumptions of those in the majority at Happy Valley
was something that each of student participant seemed to be adept at accomplishing. The
students were aware of the challenges that bias can present, but they did not seem to be
overly concerned or impaired by these challenges. They displayed an impressive degree
of self-awareness. Each of them described with clarity, his experiences and feelings
while on the HVCC campus. The students seemed to develop varying coping
mechanisms when confronted with instances of stereotyping and microaggressions.
As HVCC continues to plan and implement initiatives designed to improve
engagement and educational experiences for Black males on campus, it is critical that
institutional leadership maintain a fundamental understanding of the potential impact of
stereotype threat and microaggressions that can exist within the campus environment.
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Institutional Intentionality: Serving the Needs of Black Male Students
Many post-secondary institutions have sought to design initiatives to promote
success for Black males in an attempt to experience significant progress regarding
successful academic outcomes. While many initiatives designed to support academic
progress are well-intentioned, the continued pace of academic success rates for Black
males in the postsecondary sector provides an opportunity for some additional thinking
around whether such initiatives fully address from an identity perspective, who the Black
male student is; or considers how the student defines himself in his educational
environment.
Happy Valley has struggled to improve persistence and completion rates for its
Black male students. An analysis of the HVCC Student Success Report confirmed the
assertions of HVCC administrative leaders that Black male students were achieving at
rates that were lower than that of their peers. The HVCC leaders were consistent in their
acknowledgement that the institution was not doing enough to remedy the gap in
achievement levels for Black males. Many community colleges have developed
mentoring and success programs for men of color; of the over 1,600 community colleges
located in the United States, only 88 of them have officially registered their Minority
Male Student Success Programs with the American Association of Community Colleges.
As an institution, Happy Valley has engaged in several initiatives designed to improve
outcomes for underrepresented minorities, but none have addressed with exclusivity,
success measures for Black male students. During the individual interviews, Happy
Valley leaders consistently communicated their belief that Black males were
underachieving academically at rates that were higher than all other student peer groups.
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Each of the three leaders interviewed expressed his or her concern that the institution was
not doing enough to serve the needs of Black male students.
The significance of the major themes gathered from the interviews with the
college administrators was confirmed through the examination of institutional documents
and reports. Data for HVCC degree and certificate completion between the academic
years of 2011–2012 and 2015–2016 revealed that Black male students consistently
achieved below their White and Hispanic male counterparts. The Happy Valley 2015
Student Success Report demonstrated the low persistence rates for first-time, full-time
male and female students at the college during the years of 2009–2013. For each year,
excluding 2013, fall to spring persistence rates for Black students were lower than that of
their Asian, Hispanic, and White peers. In 2013, however, Black students had a higher
persistence rate than their Hispanic peers.
The unquestionably limited success rates for Black male students at Happy Valley
were acknowledged by each institutional leader that was interviewed. The HVCC chief
academic officer noted: “We’ve instituted a number of ideas, initiatives to help to
decrease that achievement gap and have this population succeed as other cohorts at the
college, but we have not achieved that.” The HVCC vice president of institutional
planning and effectiveness confirmed about Black male students that, “They are the
group that has improved more than any other over the past five years, but that net result
still has them as the lowest performing group,” and the chief diversity officer assessed,
“When you look at the data, the reality is we are not doing very well with African
American males.”
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HVCC had established many institutional initiatives with the hope that Black
males would benefit and experience greater academic success; despite these efforts,
Black males enrolled at HVCC continued to underperform. After interviewing the
College leadership and speaking with the students, it was evident that improving
academic success for Black males was an important goal of the institution. Existing
literature reflects the importance of targeted initiatives for Black male student success.
Responsibility for student outcomes in environments that may present challenges for
students in the minority rests with the institution (Bensimon, 2005).
HVCC’s prior approaches to Black male success were well intentioned,
thoughtful, and have helped some students; however, the inability of the institution to
scale and sustain these initiatives continues to offer opportunities for improvement.
A Recent Initiative: Enhancing the Student Experience
Happy Valley’s 2016 initiative, resulting from a $2 million dollar Department of
Education grant, places the focus for student success on the institution, challenging the
institution to increase its technology capacity, improve student engagement and
communication, and enhance the practices of college personnel. It is planned that this
grant will have a direct impact on Black male student success. The grant represents a
departure from prior success initiatives aimed at the Black male student population. This
grant places a major focus on student engagement and the role of the college in ensuring
that students are met at their individual point of need. The requirements of the grant
encourage increased professional development for those staff responsible for directly
engaging with students.
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A New Approach
Past HVCC initiatives were designed based on a deficit framework. The
cognitive frame of deficit focuses of the concept of “lack” when addressing Black male
students. The assumptions of the deficit frame include a lack of preparedness on the part
of the student, lack of self-determination by the student, and a lack of academic habits
that would lead to successful student outcomes (Noguera, 2008). The deficit frame
places the blame for poor academic outcomes directly on the student, the student’s
family, and the student’s community. In the deficit frame, ultimate responsibility for
student success rests solely with the student.
HVCC has stepped away from a commonly used deficit framework when
addressing the needs of Black male students and has moved to an equity framework. In
addition to improving student engagement by increasing professional development
opportunities for college staff, the $2 million dollar grant also seeks to improve
technological capacity for the college. Because this was a newly implemented grant
program, student success outcomes were not known as this study concluded.
An approach that eliminates the deficit frame and adopts an equity framework is
supported in the literature. As identified by Bensimon (2005), the equity frame
represents a shift from student responsibility to institutional responsibility for student
success. The equity frame identifies the role of internal organizational structures as a
potential impediment to successful outcomes. This frame requires the institution to shift
the focus from a solution of remediation for students who have been historically
underserved. The equity frame places great emphasis on the institution’s promise of
appropriate programming, with culturally relevant curriculum, equitable distribution of
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resources, and a commitment to the regular assessment of student outcomes. In this
framework, the institution not only assumes the responsibility for outcomes for Black
male students, but it also challenges the legitimacy of the deficit frame (Dowd, Bishop,
Bensimon, Witham, 2011).
You Are Welcome Here
As an institution, Happy Valley appears to be committed to providing a campus
environment that is welcoming to all. Every three years, the college conducts a campus
climate survey and a cultural values assessment to ascertain the perceived environment
and values held by members of the campus community. To determine the students’
perceptions of the institution, its faculty, resources, and ease of engagement, HVCC
annually conducts the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE).
Based on interviews with HVCC administrators, students, and my familiarity with this
campus community, I can attest to the sincere desire that exists amongst leaders on the
campus to create an environment that is welcoming, and inclusive and where all members
of the campus community are valued.
To Succeed or Not to Succeed? What Makes the Difference?
Over the course of this study, the students shared with me their experiences prior
to enrolling in HVCC, as well as their experiences as students at HVCC. When asked to
reflect on their early educational experiences, I was surprised at how candidly some of
the student participants discussed the frivolousness of their actions during their primary
and secondary education. Some of the students described taking on the role of “Class
Clown,” not being serious, goofing off, being lazy, or simply doing just enough to get by
as their normal approach during grade school and high school. As the participants
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described these carefree attitudes, it was clear to me that these young men now
recognized the potential for missed opportunities related to such lighthearted behavior.
As college students, they spoke from a lens of maturity in describing how they
could have done better, how they could have tried harder and been much more serious in
approaching their studies. Each of the participants acknowledged that his academic
success rests solely in their hands. The students’ insight on what is necessary for their
success along with their described commitment to their studies was refreshing to hear.
Despite being in the minority on the HVCC campus, it was evident that the
students did not want to assume that the challenges they confronted on the campus had
any relationship to them being Black men. The students seemed to not be moved by the
stereotypes and microaggressions occurring in their presence on campus. They handled
these occurrences as minor annoyances, not worthy of their attention.
Personal Responsibility
When responding to how he addresses barriers that may arise on campus, Eric
stated: “When I want to do something, I make sure I do it; no matter what, I find a way to
get it done.” Kevin shared: “I do well now because of all the resources available; I’m not
scared to go to the writing center, not scared to say hey, I don’t understand this.” In
keeping with the idea of personal responsibility, James commented that he does not let
any negativity weigh him down; his approach is to do that which he can do and not focus
on external forces, particularly if they are not positive.
Taking ownership for success appears to be an imperative that each of the
students ascribed to. David articulated this best: “I’m big on personal responsibility; you
can be academically successful anywhere.” The interview process revealed a group of
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young men who were comfortable, confident, and insightful regarding their identity and
positionality on the Happy Valley campus. These men appeared to possess an awareness
of the assumptions made for them by others, assumptions that often represent a reflection
of the stereotypical behaviors Black males encounter in society. I was pleased to learn
that the students had placed a premium on the concept of personal responsibility as a
pathway to success.
Engaging Relationships
While more research is needed on Black male success in predominantly White
community colleges, the literature suggests that there are some proven strategies to
support success for these students. The importance of student engagement for positive
outcomes has been chronicled in the research of Chickering and Reisser (1993), Jones
and Watt, (1999), Pascarella and Terenzini (2005), and according to Strayhorn (2008),
positive relationships are a requirement for student success.
Wood and Turner (2010) identified four important behavioral aspects necessary
for positive student-faculty interactions with Black male students: faculty displaying
concern for students’ performance, being friendly to students, listening to students’
concerns, and encouraging students to maximize their potential. Study participants
described the importance of the support they received from coaches, mentors, and HVCC
faculty members. It appears that in addition to the importance of personal responsibility,
the students consider engagement in productive relationships within the campus
community as a very necessary component of their success.
The focus group interview with the student participants revealed that the
complexity of their lives requires an institutional approach to support their success that
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takes into consideration the psychosocial aspects of their matriculation. The challenge
for the institution is to find a way to address and support the unique psychosocial
challenges faced daily by Black men in society and on college campuses. Positive
relationships that convey genuine concern for the students’ circumstances and their
success can make all the difference for Black males enrolled at HVCC.
Recommendations for Future Research
This study can be further developed in several directions to add deeper insight
into its findings. A longitudinal study can be implemented to investigate the trajectories
of further academic pursuits and the professional careers of the participants upon their
graduation from HVCC. A variety of questions can guide such a longitudinal study.
How do these participants go on to contemplate career choices and navigate a
competitive market of various professions? Do they remain successful in their career
choices? Do they get discouraged? What propels their career interests? What sustains
their perseverance?
Second, a mixed methods study would be beneficial in identifying the facets of
the CAO (Context, Actions, and Outcomes) model (Wood & Palmer, 2015) that could be
particularly applicable to the context of HVCC. Subsequently, qualitative data collected
for the purposes of this study would be complemented by quantitative data gathered from
a group comparison experimental design study using intervention strategies pertaining to
student success.
Third, this study has a strong potential to be specifically developed into a critical
research project, inquiring into the nature and instances of microaggressions and
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institutional racism as experienced by young Black male professionals who are graduates
of predominantly White institutions.
Conclusions and Reflections
Happy Valley Community College is an institution committed to supporting
student success and providing a campus environment that is engaging and inclusive.
Over the years, HVCC has implemented multiple initiatives designed to increase student
persistence, degree, and certificate completion. While the initiatives have demonstrated
degrees of success with all HVCC students, Black males at HVCC continue to experience
limited success. One initiative designed for students of color, male and female, achieved
a measure of success; however, the cost of this initiative precluded its scalability and,
after a couple of years, the program was no longer funded.
I was very pleased to find that HVCC is committed to inclusivity and has
demonstrated that commitment by assembling a task force on diversity and inclusion as
well as the establishment of an Office of Diversity and Inclusion. To assess the campus
climate and preferred values, HVCC conducts surveys of the campus community at
regular intervals. Based on my observation of the HVCC environment, interviews with
campus leaders, and interviews with the students, I am convinced that the institution has
the best interest of all students in mind when initiatives are rolled out to improve student
success. It is also clear that HVCC’s leaders want to ensure that the values of the
institution are embraced by all members of the campus community. The campus leaders
interviewed for this study consistently acknowledged their belief that the institution was
not doing enough for students who are Black and male. The continued lack of success
experienced by Black males at HVCC appears to be more a result of not finding the
163
correct formula to move the success needle, rather than an institutional lack of
commitment to their success.
Black males enrolled in community colleges across the country are more likely to
fail to persist to graduation or transfer to a four-year college or university (Wood &
Turner, 2010). With this knowledge in hand, HVCC remains committed to making a
difference in the lives of historically marginalized students. As I reflect on this inquiry, I
am reminded of the recommendation from Bensimon (2005). Bensimon addressed the
necessity for postsecondary education to engage in a paradigm shift when seeking to
serve the needs of students of color and underserved students.
This case study focused on Black male students enrolled at a predominantly
White HVCC. Through interviews with academic administrators and students, many
themes emerged regarding the lived experiences of Black male students and the
challenges faced by the institution as it seeks to meet the needs of these students.
Because of this study, I have learned the importance of a holistic approach in
supporting the needs of Black male students, particularly when they are in the minority.
Community colleges across the country have sought strategies to improve outcomes for
Black males, and there are models of academic success programs designed specifically to
meet their needs (Harper& Harris, 2010; Harper & Kuykendale, 2012; Wood & Palmer,
2015). It is not enough to focus on remediation activities and financial support for
students. Working closely with the eight student participants in this study, I had the
opportunity to gain a much greater understanding of the challenges they face, and how
they process those challenges. The findings of this study provide a pathway for an
improved institutional approach to student success for these young men. While there is
164
no magic bullet for success, this inquiry has shown me the importance of students
challenging assumptions that are made regarding them and their likelihood of success.
The students in the study shattered the myth that Black males do not like to ask for help.
I believe this study adds to the body of research regarding the lived experiences of
Black male students matriculating in predominantly White community colleges, and as a
case study, I believe it provides necessary food for thought for institutional leaders at
colleges that continue to strive for equity in the educational outcomes of all students.
As I ventured on this inquiry, I pondered my own experiences that had led me to
this juncture and the experiences that my friends, relatives, and students had shared with
me. The challenges faced by Black men, due to no fault of their own, cannot be fully
appreciated by me or anyone else who has not walked in their shoes. Steele (2011)
reminds us that the circumstances to which Black males are responding to are often
obscured from our view (the view of those who are neither Black, nor male).
Today one need only look at a cable news show to gain a glimpse of the
disparities in treatment, challenges to masculinity, stereotypical assumptions, violence,
and deficient framing that Black men are regularly subjected to in the United States. It is
my sincere hope that this study can lead to a greater understanding of the needs of Black
male students enrolled in the community college, and that these young men can be given
an opportunity to discover the scholar within with the full support of student peers,
faculty, staff, and campus administration.
165
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APPENDIX A
INFORMED CONSENT—INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW
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APPENDIX A
Informed Consent—Individual Interview
Dear prospective participant,You are being invited to participate in the study, To Be Black, Male, and Scholar: A Case Study of African American Male Students Persisting toward Degree Completion in a Midwestern Community College conducted by Kimberly Chavis, a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education and Organizational Change program at Benedictine University. Your consent to participate in this study is completely voluntary and once you consent to participate, you retain the right to withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. You must be 18 years or older to participate in this study. This study seeks to understand your unique experiences at the college and any information shared during the process will be strictly confidential. Your name and any other potentially identifying information will not be used as a part of this study or any future research studies.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of African American male students regarding their persistence toward degree completion in a two-year community college, their self-concept and perception of others, and the institutional practices and policies that serve their needs on the college campus. Additionally, the study will include exploration of the ways in which African American male students deal with potential occurrences of stereotyping, microaggression, and racism on the college campus. This qualitative case study is designed to add to the body of research on persistence of African American male students in predominantly White community colleges and the institutional practices and policies that serve the needs of these students.
I am particularly interested in two main areas: (1) How African American males develop their identity; (2) What college initiatives can help to increase academic success rates for African American males. This research will add to the body of knowledge about how community colleges can better serve African American males by having a fundamental understanding of the role of Black male identity development. This research could potentially assist with a greater awareness of the types of institutional success initiatives that are most impactful for African American males enrolled in predominantly White community college environments.
Your participation is voluntary, and you are not required to answer any questions you do not want to answer. The individual interview will take approximately one and a half to two hours. To maintain the essence of your words for this research, the interviews will be audio recorded and at any time you may request to see or hear the information is collected during the research process. The interview will be audio, and video tape-recorded and I will take notes. This is done for data analysis. The tapes will be transcribed by me and kept confidential in a password-protected computer. All individual identification will be removed from the hard copy of the transcript. Participant identity and confidentiality will be concealed using coding procedures.
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For legal purposes, data will be transcribed on to a compact disc and transmitted to a Benedictine University faculty member for secure and ultimate disposal after a period of seven years. Dr. Antonina Lukenchuk is the Benedictine University faculty member who will secure and ultimately dispose of the information disc, her contact information is at the end of this form. As researcher, I will also maintain a copy of the data on a password-protected computer.
Excerpts from the interview may be included in the final dissertation report or other later publications. However, under no circumstances will your name or identifying characteristics appear in these writings. If, at a subsequent date, biographical data were relevant to a publication, a separate release form would be sent to you. I would be grateful if you would sign this form on the line provided below to show that you have read and agree with the contents.
The study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of Benedictine University. The Chair of Benedictine University’s Institutional Review Board is Dr. Alandra Weller-Clarke. She can be reached at (630) 829 – 6295 and her email address is [email protected]. The chairperson of this dissertation is Dr. Antonina Lukenchuk and she can be reached at (630) 310-6382, her email address is [email protected] for further questions or concerns about the project/research.
You will be given a signed copy of this consent form. Please acknowledge with your signature below your consent to participate in this study. Students who participate in both the individual interview and the focus group will receive a gift card in the amount of $40.00 at the conclusion of the focus group interview. Thank you for your willingness to participate in this research study,
Kimberly ChavisDoctoral Candidate in the Higher Education and Organizational Change ProgramCollege of Education and Health ServicesBenedictine University
□ I have read the information presented in the consent form and fully understand the contents. I acknowledge that I am at least 18 years of age and I voluntarily agree to participate in this research study.Participant’s Signature: ________________________________ Date: _____________
Participant’s Printed Name: _____________________________ Date: _____________
Researcher’s Signature: ________________________________ Date: _____________
Researcher’s Printed Name: _____________________________Date: _____________
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APPENDIX B
INFORMED CONSENT—FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW
193
APPENDIX B
Informed Consent—Focus Group Interview
Dear prospective participant,You are being invited to participate in the study, To Be Black, Male, and Scholar: A Case Study of African American Male Students Persisting toward Degree Completion in a Midwestern Community College conducted by Kimberly Chavis, a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education and Organizational Change program at Benedictine University. Your consent to participate in this study is completely voluntary and once you consent to participate, you retain the right to withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. You must be 18 years or older to participate in this study. This study seeks to understand your unique experiences at the college and any information shared during the process will be strictly confidential. Your name and any other potentially identifying information will not be used as a part of this study or any future research studies.The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of African American male students regarding their persistence toward degree completion in a two-year community college, their self-concept and perception of others, and the institutional practices and policies that serve their needs on the college campus. Additionally, the study will include exploration of the ways in which African American male students deal with potential occurrences of stereotyping, microaggression, and racism on the college campus. This qualitative case study is designed to add to the body of research on persistence of African American male students in predominantly White community colleges and the institutional practices and policies that serve the needs of these students.
I am particularly interested in two main areas: (1) How African American males develop their identity; (2) What college initiatives can help to increase academic success rates for African American males. This research will add to the body of knowledge about how community colleges can better serve African American males by having a fundamental understanding of the role of Black male identity development. This research could potentially assist with a greater awareness of the types of institutional success initiatives that are most impactful for African American males enrolled in predominantly White community college environments.
Your participation is voluntary, and you are not required to answer any questions you do not want to answer. The focus group interview will take approximately one and a half to two hours. To maintain the essence of your words for this research, the interviews will be audio recorded and at any time you may request to see or hear the information is collected during the research process.
The focus group interview will be tape-recorded and I will take notes. This is done for data analysis. The tape will be transcribed by me and kept confidential in a password-protected computer. All individual identification will be removed from the hard copy of the transcript. Participant identity and confidentiality will be concealed using coding procedures.
194
For legal purposes, data will be transcribed on to a compact disc and transmitted to a Benedictine University faculty member for secure and ultimate disposal after a period of seven years.
Dr. Antonina Lukenchuk is the Benedictine University faculty member who will secure and ultimately dispose of the information disc, her contact information is at the end of this form. As researcher, I will also maintain a copy of the data on a password-protected computer.
Excerpts from the interview may be included in the final dissertation report or other later publications. However, under no circumstances will your name or identifying characteristics appear in these writings. If, at a subsequent date, biographical data were relevant to a publication, a separate release form would be sent to you. I would be grateful if you would sign this form on the line provided below to show that you have read and agree with the contents.
The study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of Benedictine University. The Chair of Benedictine University’s Institutional Review Board is Dr. Alandra Weller-Clarke. She can be reached at (630) 829 – 6295 and her email address is [email protected]. The chairperson for this dissertation is Dr. Antonina Lukenchuk and she can be reached at (630) 310-6382, her email address is [email protected] for further questions or concerns about the project/research.
You will be given a signed copy of this consent form. Please acknowledge with your signatures below your consent to participate in this study.Thank you for your willingness to participate in this research study,
Kimberly ChavisDoctoral Candidate in the Higher Education and Organizational Change ProgramCollege of Education and Health ServicesBenedictine University
□ I have read the information presented in the consent form and fully understand the contents. I acknowledge that I am at least 18 years of age and I voluntarily agree to participate in this research study. Students who participate in both the individual interview and the focus group will receive a gift card in the amount of $40.00 at the conclusion of the focus group interview. Participant’s Signature: ________________________________ Date: _____________
Participant’s Printed Name: _____________________________ Date: _____________
Researcher’s Signature: ________________________________ Date: _____________
Researcher’s Printed Name: _____________________________ Date: _____________
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APPENDIX C
FOCUS GROUP CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT
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APPENDIX C
Focus Group Confidentiality Agreement
I acknowledge that I fully understand that confidentiality will be maintained by the researcher, Kimberly Chavis, and Benedictine University, but may not be maintained by other focus group members. Benedictine University, the researcher, the department, and anyone else affiliated with the project from Benedictine University will not be responsible if this happens.
□ I have read this confidentiality agreement and fully understand its contents. I acknowledge that focus group member confidentiality is the responsibility of each focus group participant.
Participant’s Signature: _________________________________Date: ___________
Participant’s Printed Name: ______________________________Date: ___________
Researcher’s Signature: _________________________________Date: ___________
Researcher’s Printed Name: ______________________________Date: ___________
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APPENDIX D
STUDENT INTERVIEW GUIDE
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APPENDIX D
Student Interview Guide
Background Question
1. Please tell me about yourself (age, family, major, credit hours, etc.)
Early Educational Experiences
2. Please share your early educational experiences. How did you feel about the education you received and grade school and high school? Do you feel your teachers were willing to help you be successful in grade school? High school?
3. What were some of your favorite things about your early educational experiences?
4. How would you describe yourself as a student in high school?
5. Do you recall ever being treated unfairly in grade school or high school? If so why do you think it happened?
6. Is there anything you would have liked to be different regarding your early educational experiences?
7. What were (if any) your expectations of college education?
8. How and why did you decide to attend Happy Valley Community College? Were there other options? What were they?
Experiences in the Predominantly White Community College Environment
9. Please describe yourself as an individual and as a student. How would you say others would describe you?
10. Is this the first community college you have ever attended? If not, what were your prior experiences in other educational institutions and why did you choose to leave?
11. In what area(s) on campus do you feel the greatest sense of belonging?
12. What have your experiences been when interacting with faculty?
13. Have you had any experiences that made you aware of your race, or aware that you are in the minority on campus? Have you experienced any barriers to your academic success? If so, what were they?
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14. Do you believe you are treated as part of the college community? If yes, how? If not, why not?
15. What activities outside of the classroom do you participate in?
16. Are you able to be your authentic self on this campus?
17. Have you participated in any campus initiatives designed specifically for you as a Black male student? If so, please share your experiences.
18. Have you ever considered leaving this college? If so why? If so what made you decide to stay?
19. What would you change about your current college experience?
20. Would you say you are treated fairly and with respect by faculty, staff, and administration?
21. Has there been a time where you felt you were singled out based on being Black, and male?
22. Have you experienced anyone on campus that you perceived was fearful of you for any reason?
23. What does the word scholar mean to you? Do you consider yourself a scholar?
Looking Forward
24. What are your plans after leaving this institution?
25. As you reflect on all of your experiences at Happy Valley, as an Black male student, what would you like to say in conclusion?
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APPENDIX E
ADMINISTRATOR INTERVIEW GUIDE
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APPENDIX E
Executive Council Member Interview Guide
1. Please tell me what your position is in the college and what an extent to which you are involved in the institutional policies and practices.
2. How would you describe the educational success of Black males on campus?
3. What initiatives has the institution created for Black males? Please describe your level of involvement in these initiatives.
4. Do you think and/or have evidence to support that these initiatives have been successful? Please explain.
5. Based on your knowledge and experience, do you think that Black male students have challenges to succeed academically in your college? If so, then what are these challenges? What are the reasons behind them?
6. Are there any other initiatives that the institution is planning to implement with regard to persistence and completion for Black male students? If so, what are they? Why do you think these are important and/or effective initiatives?
7. Do you think that the campus environment is welcoming to Black males? Why or why not?
8. In your tenure in this college, have there been the instances of racial tensions, stereotyping, discrimination, microaggressions, or microinsults toward Black male students? If so, please share them with me.
9. Please share your idea of the top three things the college can do to increase completion rates for Black male students.
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APPENDIX F
STUDENT FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW GUIDE
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APPENDIX F
Student Focus Group Interview Guide
1. When you think about your identity, what characteristics best describe you?
2. What does being a Black male mean to you?
3. Has the college had any impact on the way you see yourself?
4. Have you ever experienced being singled out or isolated based on being an Black male on this predominantly White campus? If there was anything you could change regarding your experience on this campus, what would it be and why?
5. Are you familiar with the term microaggression? Have you had an experience of microaggressions or stereotypes while on campus? Have you had such experiences off campus?
6. Has there been anything in your educational experience (a person, an initiative, etc.) while in high school or while enrolled in this college that has given you the confidence that you can be successful in your academic pursuits?
7. When you think about your classroom experiences, how would you describe the support you have received from your instructors? Have you found your instructors to be encouraging and approachable? Are you comfortable talking to faculty regarding your academic success?
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APPENDIX G
HAPPY VALLEY APPROVAL TO CONDUCT A CASE STUDY
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APPENDIX G
APPROVAL TO CONDUCT CASE STUDY
Approval to conduct this case study was granted by the Institutional Review Board and the Happy Valley Community College President.
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