Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Within-Group Ethnic Differences Of Black Male Stem Majors And Factors Affecting Their Persistence In College, Shane Y. Williamson Ed.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

The present study examined how familial and institutional factors interact with the academic experiences of a diverse group of Black males enrolled as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at one university. Ogbu’s (1998) Cultural-Ecological Theory of Minority School Performance, a theoretical framework, posits that the manner by which a group achieves minority status, coupled with community and family educational values, impacts academic achievement. Immigrants, voluntary minorities, perform better academically than involuntary minorities (nonimmigrants) because they are more accepting of and more likely to adapt to the White middle-class norms upon which schools in the United States are based …