RACE, CULTURE AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: An Historical Overview and an Exploratory Analysis in a Multi-Ethnic, Urban High School

Abstract

This study highlights the salience of race, cultural match between student and teacher, students' cultural conformity and perceptions of opportunity, and teachers' pedagogical perspectives in students' academic achievement, with particular attention to the perpetual achievement gap between African American and European American students. This analysis of a multi-ethnic group of 308 high school students and 23 teachers examines the inter-relatedness of students' and teachers' cultural values, view, and practices and school-based environmental factors that are often absent or dichotomized in explorations of academic achievement across racial/cultural groups. Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis Test results revealed statistically significantly higher achievement scores among (1) students who shared the same race/ethnicity or shared the same race/ethnicity and culture with their teachers; (2) students who reported cultural perspectives consistent with mainstream cultural views and experiences regarding race, social issues, school-related coping strategies, and school opportunity; and (3) students whose teachers reported pluralistic and multicultural/pluralistic pedagogical styles when compared to their peers. Exploratory analyses of variance supported multiple regression analyses which found each variable to explain from 15% to 23% of the variance in students' academic achievement. This African-centered investigation places the interests of African Americans central to its exploration. It posits the cultural heritage and social-political experiences of its subjects as the driving force of inquiry into the continual lack of "equal" opportunity for and "equal" legitimacy of African American people and culture in public education in America. Therefore, this study is informed by a comprehensive review of the history, culture, and social politics within which America's academic achievement levels and gaps are inextricably rooted. Given the pervasiveness of socially-reconstructed inequality through institutions in America, the roles of race, culture, and cultural conformity are analyzed in a "successful," multi-ethnic high school in the southwest. This analysis helps determine whether dynamics that involve culture and cultural conformity are active in America's classrooms and how they impact students' achievement. It is hoped that this clarification of racial and cultural dynamics within educational institutions will spur stakeholders' motivations and inform policies and strategies to provide equitable educational opportunities for African American students and to improve all students' academic achievement.