African American student experiences: a networking group in high school

Abstract

The achievement gap between ethnic minorities and majority students is currently a significant problem. This study seeks to explore one school's attempt to improve experiences and academic outcomes for African American students through implementation of the African American (AFAM) networking group facilitated by school administrators. The participants in this study consisted of 30 students from 9th through 12th grade. Fifty percent of the students were male and the other 50% were female. According to the school data, all of the students were African American with the exception of one male participant who was Asian. This study explored students' pre-AFAM and post-AFAM levels of disciplinary referrals, GPA, and school attendance as well as students' qualitative experience in the AFAM support group. Quantitative findings in the school data did not result in significant differences in the pre-AFAM and post-AFAM academic outcomes, but five core ideas emerged from the qualitative data that suggest that AFAM supports students in a way that may affect their ability to cope in their school environment and create a strong sense of belonging for African Americans.