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Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0669-4766
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Afro-American Studies
Year Degree Awarded
2021
Month Degree Awarded
September
First Advisor
Dania Francis
Subject Categories
African American Studies | Africana Studies | African History | Education | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies
Abstract
The racial academic achievement gap between Black students and other students is one of the most pressing education-policy challenges faced by the United States. This gap refers to the disparities in standardized test scores between these groups of students. Decades ago, Fordham and Ogbu’s theory about the “burden of acting White” was one of the most cited studies indicating the causes of this achievement gap. This theory indicates that Black students who do not perform well academically, do not want to achieve success at school because it is considered as acting White. However, this is an old way of thinking that has been largely discredited because a growing body of research, in which Gloria Ladson-Billings, Derrick Bell, Patricia Williams, and Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw are part, shows that this theory is not accurate because it does not take into account other social and educational factors that affect Black students. For that reason, through interviews, questionnaires, and document revision, this dissertation research attempts to analyze how Black organizations teach Black students to deal with their familial, educational, and community issues in order to help them focus more on an excellent academic performance in their primary and secondary school classes to increase their chances of going to college.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/24236993
Recommended Citation
Vidal Perlaza, Leydi Mercedes, "Black Organizations as a Way to Increase Black Students’ College Attendance Rates by Improving Their Academic Performance at Primary and Secondary Schools" (2021). Doctoral Dissertations. 2380.
https://doi.org/10.7275/24236993
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/2380
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Africana Studies Commons, African History Commons, Education Commons