This project examines the early educational experiences of 6 young African American males (ages 18-25) who attended urban schools in San Diego, California. All 6 men were incarcerated for at least 1-year before participating in a pre-release program. The participants were part of a pre-release program in San Diego, California, which was selected based on its reputation for preparing recently incarcerated African American males for assimilation into urban communities. The participants were selected because their academic experiences are similar to many young African American males who attend urban schools. The guiding research questions for this study were the following: (1) What are the educational experiences of African American males who have been incarcerated? (2)How do African American males, who have experienced incarceration, perceive themselves and their identity development in California's urban schools? (3) What perceptions do African American male students have of their urban school teachers' expectations? Data were collected during the pre-release program through individual interviews, a group interview, questionnaire, short writing responses, and observations. It was found that early academic experiences of African American men profoundly impact their social, cultural, and psychological development as well as life choices that can lead to incarceration. By examining the range of experiences described by the participants, six general themes were identified: (1) early academic success, (2) middle school meltdowns, (3) high school push outs, (4) teaching the purpose of education, (5) teacher expectations and student perceptions, and (6) African American male identity development. The overarching narrative identified by the themes is that African American males generally have more positive academic experiences in elementary school versus middle or high school. In addition, pedagogy (teaching the purpose of education), teacher-student relations (teacher expectations and student perceptions), and psychological development (African American male identity development) are also strong influences. In fact, all themes interweave and overlap at times. Explaining the opportunities and obstacles encountered in each stage of the early educational experience (elementary, middle, and high school) cannot be accomplished without simultaneously analyzing pedagogy, student-teacher relations, and psychological development. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]