African American Students:

1. African American Students: The struggle for success Katie Bell Julia Russell Jared Votaw

2. Learning Objectives • Understand the educational, spiritual, and social hurdles of African American students • Identify the identity development process of African American students • Become familiar with historical development of African American history • Understand Black Cultural Learning Styles • Become familiar with what a successful retention model looks like for African American Students

3. GAME TIME

4. Educational Challenges • Stereotype Threat • Relevance • Learning Styles • Academic Success

5. Educational Challenges Stereotype Threat • “Negative stereotypes about the intellectual or academic ability of certain populations (usually minorities) can lead to higher levels of anxiety for members of those groups when compared to students of non-stigmatized groups (Asian & White students)” • The more invested a student is in academics the more likely they will experience stereotype threat.

6. Educational Challenges Effects of Stereotype Threat • Academic Performance • Withdrawal • Dis-identification

7. Educational Challenges Relevance • Students need a purpose larger than themselves • Interest in the greater good of the community • “Recognize, validate, and testify to racism, poverty, and inequality.”

8. Educational Challenges Learning Styles • Spirituality • Harmony • Movement • Verve • Affect • Communalism • Expressive Individualism • Orality • Social Time Perspective

9. Faith Integrating Identity of Black Students on a PWI • Study: Five African American students on a predominantly white campus • Goal: Understand how the students negotiated and integrated their ethnic identities and self-images

10. Faith Integrating Identity of Black Students on a PWI • Four Separate Interviews (1-1.5 hours each) • Understand life history and clarify responses • Attain student’s descriptions of their own identities and identity integration • Questions concerning self-knowledge (race, gender, class) and how various aspects intersected • Focused on issues of dependency and home

11. Faith Integrating Identity of Black Students on a PWI Identity Integration “Provides a way to transcend the societal tendency to compartmentalize everything, including the self, to smooth out the supposed contradictions between these facets of self and to provide a sense of coherency about who one is and how one lies in social context” Spirituality/faith “To deconstruct the fragmentation we have created in our lives. Wholeness and identity integration are not only consistent with faith and spirituality but are the core of it.” According to the author, identity integration and spirituality are viewed through the same lens.

12. Faith Integrating Identity of Black Students on a PWI A look at the students… K.B • Narrowed his organizational involvement to what could be termed the “Black agenda” (Black fraternity, Black student organization, campus multicultural center), according to K.B. • Identity and self-assessments depended on how he was perceived by others • Became too dependent on the “Black man” instead of finding his own identity Kashmir • Kashmir Biracial (black mother, white father) • Grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood • In high school, considered white by others until they met her mother • Came to college expecting to change and be Black • Her Black female identity depended on other’s feelings and attitudes

13. Faith Integrating Identity of Black Students on a PWI A look at the students… Ophelia • Seeing impossibility of incorporating race and gender • Wresting with the frustration of not know how to integrate • Process of weaving herself together Poke • Found identity as an ambassador to bridge Black and White people • Educated both White and Black people as a “middle man” • Prayed to God in a near-death accident • Saw no relevance of God in negotiating relationships Sage • Faith is her ultimate purpose of her life and belief that God’s hand was directing her • Focused on the importance of being whole, weaving the pieces of herself together • Importance of relationship and Christian community • Her faith impacted her ability to see herself as integrated and whole

14. Student Involvement Black Students on a PWI • An Institutional Study • Student Involvement and Leadership Scale • Measures involvement in numerous types of organizations both on and off campus • Total of 989 instruments were distributed and 405 were completed and returned

15. Student Involvement Black Students on a PWI • Results: Typically utilize campus facilities, clubs and organizations • Black student groups • Black Greek-lettered organizations • Academic clubs/honor societies • Student government • Orientation leaders/ambassadors • Residence hall assistants • Residence hall government • In contrast, Black students on majority Black campuses did utilize the above as often.

16. Student Involvement Black Students on a PWI • Exhibiting Leadership • Black student perception of leadership • Offering a service rather than holding an official position • i.e. community service

17. Gender Women • What they're up against • Coping strategies • Social adjustment • Racial Prejudice • Social Alienation • Faculty-Student Relations

18. Culture • Family • Community

19. Historical Development of Ethnicity • The meaning of black • The ideas of Blacks • Threatening White superiority • Religious changes • Post-Emancipation • Jim Crow

20. Cross’ Nigrescence Model • Pre-encounter • Encounter • Immersion-Emersion • Internalization

21. Retention Characteristics of an Effective Retention Model • Support of administration • Recruiting faculty • Motivational lectures • Financial aid counseling • Involvement with programming • Knowledge on retention issues • Assess program effectiveness • Early assessment and intervention • Faculty mentoring • Leadership seminar • Caring and competent staff

22. Retention University of Virginia • Outreach • Student Involvement • Peer Advisors • Faculty Mentoring • Academic Support • Symbolism and Cultural Artifacts

23. Retention 8 Variables for Black Student Success • Positive self-concept • Understanding and dealing with racism • Realistic self-appraisal • Preference of long-range goals to immediate needs • Availability of a strong support person • Successful leadership experiences • Demonstrated community service • Nontraditional knowledge