Education Commons^™

What Works? Teaching African American Students In Urban Schools, Shawn Renee Forman

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The academic achievement gap for African American students compared to their White counterparts has historically and currently remained significant. Many researchers have been prompted to address this issue by examining the practices utilized to teach African American students. The findings from this study suggest that when teachers move away from the traditional methods of teaching and move toward teaching practices that take into consideration the individual student, motivation and academic performance can be achieved. This research presents a general literature review, interviews from four urban elementary school principals, and the stories of five African American urban elementary teachers who were …

An Exploration Of The Experiences Of Black High School Students In The Mathematics Classroom: A Qualitative Study, Jennifer Banks

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

For the past 30 years, there has been a significant “achievement gap” between the mathematics academic performance of Black and White students. This “achievement gap,” has been used to validate deficit thinking frameworks and portray Black students as unmotivated and deviant. This study suggests that it is necessary to change the national conversation of the achievement gap to one that Milner (2012) refers to as the opportunity gap.

Using the stories of Black high school students’ experiences in the mathematics classroom, this dissertation displays the various opportunity gaps that Black students experience within the classroom. This study utilizes qualitative research …