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This study used data from questionnaires completed by teachers employed in North Carolina schools (N = 370) to determine if teachers felt that non-school-related or school-related factors served as barriers that limited the number of African American male children from participating in gifted programs. The majority of the teachers taught 3rd-to 5th-grade students. African American, Hispanic, and other minority teachers accounted for 29.8% of the teachers. White teachers identified barriers that were not related to school personnel, practices, or policies. Minority teachers identified both school-related and non-school-related factors as major barriers. No differences were found on barriers identified by teachers who had exposure to gifted development activities and those who did not. Recommendations for engaging teachers' commitment to African American male student learning through professional development programming are described.Analyses of data collected by federal and state agencies emphasize the low percentage of African American males participating in public school gifted programs. Survey data from 2002 showed the combined national percentage of Black male and female students participating in public school gifted programs was only 3.1% (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2006b). Further, there is common agreement of the direct relationship between the disengagement by Black males in education and their exceedingly high incarceration and death Teacher Perceptions of Barriers 435 by homicide rates (Children's Aid Society, 2006). The following statistics and trends support this statement: 6 out of 10 Black male prisoners are school dropouts (Eckholm, 2006); Black males ages 17-29 account for 51% of all Black homicides (U.S. Department of Justice, 2007); the mortality rate from homicide for African American males ages 15-17 per 100,000 is 43.4 compared to 2.4 for non-Hispanic White males (Dellums Commission Report, 2006); 32.2% of Black males who are 8 years old today will be incarcerated during their lifetime (Bonczar, 2003); According to Eckholm ( 2006), "all of these negative trends are associated with poor schooling" (p. 2).These unsettling statistics portend a society wherein those most qualified to participate in the workforce of coming decades will include few African American males (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2006). According to Holzer ( 2006), the best hope for dissuading young Black males from contributing to these statistics is a combination of effective education and training programs. Engaging the instructional expertise of school teachers in addressing the educational morass stifling the promise of gifted Black male school children is urgently needed. This study is framed around the belief that too many academically gifted Black male school children transition out of formal education and become the statistics reported above because their intellectual promise is not recognized by teachers. The Status of African American Males in Formal EducationWorkforce qualifications are the accu...

Greater numbers of women are entering and working in higher education. Some of these women are the first in their families to attain academic degrees. They are known as first-generation students, and the care of children and others is often responsible for their withdrawal from academic study. This study addressed the void of information concerning the post-baccalaureate work experiences of first-generation women by documenting their presence in higher education administrative positions and by determining that providing care for a greater number of dependent children than their peers remained in the profile of first-generation women who had transitioned from undergraduate students to academic administrators. An online questionnaire was used to examine the responses of 345 women working in North Carolina community colleges, colleges and universities. Of the respondents, 38.8 percent were first-generation; 17.4 percent of the first-generation respondents provided financial support to a parent or other. The data results and a literature review are used to suggest that family-friendly workplace policies including equitable pay for women and health insurance options that allow coverage for elderly parents could assist first-generation women who aspire to academic positions within higher education.

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