Browsing by Subject "African American Students"
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Item Perceptions of Five Middle School Science Teachers: A Suburban Success Story on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills Achievement for Eighth Grade African American Students(2012-07-16) Henry, Cheryl TurnerThe purpose of this qualitative study was to examine a problem of practice present in an actual school district. The study examined the achievement gap that existed between African American and European American students in eighth grade science. Over the course of one school year, the perceptions of five eighth grade science teachers and an administrative team?s series of strategies were explored in a suburban middle school in Southeast Texas. Since the enactment of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (2001), the achievement gap has been discussed and studied. However, few studies have investigated the strategies used by teachers to close the achievement gap for African American students who attend suburban schools. This study examined the perceptions of five science teachers about the achievement gap at one suburban middle school, and identified and described the teaching methods and practices, aimed at closing the achievement gap as measured by the performance of African American students on the eighth grade Science Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test. Participants were the eighth grade science teachers at the chosen school. The results yielded a reduction in the achievement gap for African American students in eighth grade science on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills; 90% of the African American students passed the Science TAKS test in comparison to the 77% pass rate the previous school year. Member checking and peer debriefing were used to establish trustworthiness. Recommendations for future study include a comparison of culturally responsive teaching and Quantum Learning (2008) strategies, as well as areplication of the identified strategies in the study to other suburban and urban schools, and districts.Item Successful African American students in two-way immersion programs: parent and student perceptions(2009-05-15) Boone, Sonia KayThe purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of possible factors that lead to academic success for African American children who participated in two-way immersion programs. In order to examine the perceptions, the following areas were explored: 1.) The evolution of the academic achievement gap that exists between African American and Anglo children and the reasons theorists gave as to why the gap exists, as well as the importance of this connection to two-way immersion program participation 2.) The evolution of the modern two-way immersion language program via its development through bilingual education, and 3.) The development of Canadian twoway immersion language programs, and how political, economic, and cultural factors have impacted their successful implementation. The research method consisted of purposeful sampling of six African-American children in fourth and fifth grade who are participants in an elementary two-way immersion language program and their primary caregivers. The interviews were audio taped with notes taken for clarity. The data revealed that the primary caregivers perceived the participation of their children in a two-way language immersion program to be an educational move which would enhance the lives of their children economically, educationally and socially. The primary caregivers maintained involvement in the education of their children through facilitating homework completion in Spanish, communicating with teachers on a regular basis, participating in PTO, and facilitating structured and unstructured extra curricular activities with family and friends. The children perceived positive teacher interaction to play an important role in their academic success. They had positive experiences speaking Spanish with friends, family, and persons that they did not know. The primary caregivers perceived that the school and the district did not provide enough additional support to facilitate Spanish language acquisition for their children. This would indicate that more support from the school and the district is needed for future groups of African-American children in two-way immersion language programs.Item Use of the Rorschach as a personality assessment tool with African American students(Texas A&M University, 2005-08-29) Velox, Andrea JeanAfrican American children comprise 16.5 percent of all public school enrollments, but account for 27 percent of all students in Seriously Emotionally Disturbed (SED) classes (U. S. Dept of Education, 2001; U. S. Department of Education Ofice of Civil Rights, 1997). Being in such a position sets these children in the position of being assessed more often for placement and diagnostic purposes. Test instruments often use norms that either have not been standardized with African American children, or the cultural impact of African American socialization has not been validated with these children. In this investigation, the Rorschach was administered to 40 African American students of low-and middle-socioeconomic status. Comparisons were made between the Rorschach??s established norms for 9- and 11-year-olds and the study group of 40 African American male and female, 9- and 11-year-olds, to investigate any trends for the study group. In addition, the relative impact of acculturation on the Rorschach scores of this study??s participants was examined. Results revealed significant differences from the norm group on six of the 15 variables for the 11-year-olds in the study group, although not all significance was in the same direction, nor in the direction expected by the investigator. F+, and m were found in higher amounts for the study sample; CF, Pairs, Zf, and T were all found in significantly lower amounts for the study group. Significance on six (CF, Pairs, R-total, Zf, AG, and T) of the Rorschach variables investigated was found for the 9-year-old study group. There was no significance found due to the impact of acculturation for the entire study group. It may be that the 9-year-olds have a less sophisticated or negative "worldview" than their 11-year-old study group counterparts, or that when they are younger African American children perceive or process images more similar to their mainstream peers. Implications for further research and practice were discussed.