“You Are Going to School”: Exploring the Precollege Experiences of First-Year Black Males in Higher Education

Abstract

Black males are often underrepresented in postsecondary education settings and frequently encounter many barriers in getting to college. Our aim in this qualitative investigation was to understand the precollege and college experiences of Black males who successfully enrolled in a postsecondary institution. Through a focus group interview, seven Black males in a living and learning community shared their experiences prior to and during enrollment at a highly selective, predominantly White institution. We used the grounded theory approach ( Strauss & Corbin, 1998 ) to analyze the focus group data and pinpoint thematic explanations of precollegiate and collegiate experiences of Black males. Based on the thematic findings, we offer specific recommendations on how school counselors can help Black males prepare and eventually matriculate in higher education.

Representation matters: A case study of ethnic matching aimed at building an environment of success for Black males

“…In fact, many of the participants were eager to be a part of the interviews because they were interested in learning what more they can do to support Black male students in the school. Given the abundance of literature pointing to the need for targeted supports, programs (Fletcher & Moore, 2021; Hines et al., 2021), and activities of Black male students, I believe Stanton Academy has an opportunity to improve the experiences of Black male students in the academy of engineering.…”

Getting closer to the achievement gap in urban education, promoting first-year reading success

“…To determine if attainment objectives were responsible for the relationship between past performance and self-handicapping behavior and how the connections were affected by the presence of disadvantaged minority students, mediation-based regression analyses were carried out. Hines et al (2021) investigated the way pre-service teachers saw their readiness to instruct utilizing CRP techniques in the classroom. There has to be a paradigm shift to bridge the accomplishment gap.…”

Introduction to the Special Issue: Black Males in Stem

“…In the scientific literature, special attention has been devoted to Black males in education (Hines et al, 2020;Jackson and Moore, 2006;Moore et al, 2021), and increasingly this literature base has concentrated on their low participation rates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and the many factors that influence their beliefs, experiences, and success in STEM (Fletcher et al, 2021(Fletcher et al, , 2022Moore et al, 2003). Black males are significantly underrepresented in STEM, evident by their low representation in advanced K-12 mathematics and science courses, programs, and curricular that prepare them for STEM career pathways (Fletcher et al, 2022;Henderson et al, in press;Hines et al, 2021). Despite long-standing efforts to diversify STEM, Black males only comprise 6% of college graduates with STEM degrees, which is lower than White males (56%), Latino males (12%), and males of Asian/Pacific Islander descent (13%) (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023; National Science Foundation, 2022).…”