Black male community college students : a narrative study of their success

Abstract

Black males tend to start their higher education at a community college. However, when it comes to the issue of retention, there are few studies concerning the success of Black men who attend this type of higher education institution. Therefore it is vital to learn from academically successful Black male community college students. The purpose of this doctoral thesis narrative was to discover the support systems that affected academic completion of Black men at a community college in the Midwest. Utilizing Uri Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, both on-campus and off-campus support systems were explored to find out how they influenced academic success. By using a qualitative narrative study, Six Black male participants from the same community college were interviewed, and the data revealed three major themes. These themes were Relationships, Internal motivation, and External motivation. Support systems directly or indirectly interconnected with each other and positively assisted with these students' academic success during their first 24 credit hours of college-level work. Based on the findings recommendations for practice, such as a peer mentoring program and family appreciation events were recommended. Also, suggestions, such topics as successful Black female community college students, were given as future research topics.