Browsing by Subject "African American college students--Texas"
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Item A comparative analysis of African American male and female students' perception of factors related to their persistence at a Texas community college(2001-08) Ihekwaba, Remigus Herbert; Moore, WilliamThe purpose of this study was to identify and compare factors of persistence of African American male and female students within a Texas community college. This evaluative study contributed to the literature by producing 6 significant finds of African American students’ persistence at Brookhaven community college. The interactive qualitative analysis methodology (Northcutt et.al.,1998) was utilized to interview eight African American male students and eight African American female students regarding their perception of factors impacting their persistence. The results of this study contributed to theory and practice. New knowledge was added to the theory of African American male and female students’ ability to persist at Brookhaven College by comparing their factors of persistence. Finally this study contributed to practice by prescribing specific retention program to improve African American male students’ persistence. One of the major significant findings was that African American male students identified nine factors impacting their persistence, while the African American female students identified ten factors. The male students’ factors are as follows: 1) Family Influence, 2) College Resources and Services, 3) College Climate, 4) Personal Motivators, 5) Self-esteem, 6) Self-determination, 7) Seeking Assistance, 8) Goal-setting, and 9) Coping with Stereotyping. The female students’ factors are as follows: 1) Family Influence, 2) Institutional Impact, 3) Friends’ Support, 4) Faith in God, 5) Finding Funds, 6) Self-confidence, 7) Networking, 8) Skills, 9) Sense of Responsibility, and 10) Personal Motivators. Another significant finding was that the African American female students applied more relationship-type factors toward their persistence than the African American male students. While much remains to be learned about African American female and male students’ factors of persistence, this study initiated important new research. Future research should explore African American students’ persistence in different states. They may have different perceptions about their persistence based on where they live.Item Exploring Black student perceptions of institutional factors related to persistence in a central Texas community college system(2004-08) Hawley, Stephanie Jones, 1958-; Moore, WilliamThis exploration and analysis of Black student perceptions of institutional factors that support and impede their persistence in an urban community college system provide information for college administrators and personnel to use in the development of college policies and retention initiatives. Thirty-four Black students of varying ages and educational backgrounds participated in focus group and individual interviews for eightweeks. Several common supportive factors emerged from the collective narratives: a welcoming atmosphere on one of six campuses and select exemplary faculty and staff on several campuses. Perceptions of common impeding factors included mono-cultural campus climates; ineffective communication methods; under prepared faculty and counselors; a lack of academic support; and limited opportunities for social interaction. Participants’ articulated needs included better-prepared faculty and counselors, enhanced communication; and an increase in opportunities for academic integration and ethnic group social integration within the college system and the community. Researcher recommendations to college administrators included using the organization’s values as a means to develop retention policies, as well as conducting additional qualitative studies to further explore the perceptions of older students and other ethnic minority students.Item Songs of Zion in a strange land : successful first-year retention of African-American students attending a traditionally white institution : a student perspective(2002-12) Benn, Sherri Humphrey; Kameen, Marilyn C.The purpose of this study was to document factors to which senior- and sophomore-level African-American students attributed a ten-year trend of retention demonstrating higher success rates for African-American freshman than White and Hispanic freshmen enrolled in the same traditionally White institution of higher learning. The study was conducted in order to document the success of AfricanAmerican students from the students’ cultural perspective. Employing the research methodology of portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997), institutional document reviews, focus groups, and in depth interviews were conducted in order to document the students’ successful retention. Interviews were also conducted with participants who elected to leave the institution after their freshman year. The findings revealed that a critical mass of African-American students enrolled at the institution facilitated collective success through culturally relevant strategies of adaptation to campus life. The retention strategies employed by the students were interactive stages of community engagement that manifested as a cultural enclave comprising of seven components: 1) community, 2) fitting in, 3) village, 4) involvement, 5) security, 6) solidarity, and 7) reciprocity with, the seventh component serving as the perpetuating force necessary to maintain and cohere the other components of the phenomenon. A portrait entitled “Songs of Zion in a Strange Land” represented the overarching story of the students’ cultural and institutional success as it related to the African-American students’ retention. In addition, the research offered practitioners several retention strategies through the enclave retention model for retaining minority students.