Promoting academic achievement: The role of racial identity in buffering perceptions of teacher discrimination on academic achievement among African American and Caribbean Black adolescents.

Abstract

In this study, the authors examined the moderating effects of different dimensions racial identity (i.e., racial centrality and public regard) on perceptions of teacher discrimination and academic achievement among a nationally represented sample of African American and Caribbean Black adolescents. The findings revealed that perceived teacher discrimination was negatively related to academic achievement for both African American and Caribbean Black youth. In addition, high racial centrality and low public regard buffered the negative consequences of high levels of perceived teacher discrimination on academic achievement among Caribbean Black adolescents. Implications of these findings for academic achievement among Black youth are discussed.

School Racial Climate and the Academic Achievement of African American High School Students: The Mediating Role of School Engagement

“…Additionally, in one of the few studies to examine these relationships longitudinally, Wong and colleagues (2003) found that experiences with teacher and peer discrimination at school lessened achievement motivation and academic outcomes as well as the increased likelihood of problem behaviors in African American adolescents. Additional research has also demonstrated the deleterious impact on race discrimination experiences on academic-related outcomes (e.g., Burchinal, Roberts, Zeisel, & Rowley, 2008;Eccles et al, 2006;Neblett, Philip, Cogburn & Sellers, 2006;Powell & Arriola, 2003;Smalls, White, Chavous, & Sellers, 2007;Thomas, Caldwell, Faison & Jackson, 2009). Taken together, this research provides some evidence that discrimination, prejudice and other disadvantages in school settings is associated with negative educational outcomes among African American adolescents.…”

Ethnic/racial identity and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review

“…college, work). For African-Americans, Thomas, Howard Caldwell, Faison, and Jackson (2009) found that public regard was not associated with academic achievement. However, they did find that public regard moderated the negative consequences of teacher discrimination.…”

Developmental Implications of Discrimination

“…Teachers and other students can both play equally contributory roles in perpetuating and perpetrating discrimination in the classroom, although some students report feeling more helpless in the face of teacher discrimination as compared to peer discrimination (Aroian, 2012;Thomas, Caldwell, Faison, & Jackson, 2009). Teacher discrimination can also influence the subjective sense of how well students feel that they are doing in school, regardless of their actual calculated grades.…”

“…Teacher discrimination can also influence the subjective sense of how well students feel that they are doing in school, regardless of their actual calculated grades. Some students, in the face of discrimination from their teachers, have reported that they are doing more poorly in school (whether or not that is actually the case) than those students who do not report teacher discrimination (Thomas et al, 2009). Aroian (2012) found that Muslim youth often cope with the discrimination they face from both teachers and peers by doing nothing, both out of fear of retribution and thoughts of futility.…”