The academic underperformance of Black students when compared to their White peers has confounded educators nationwide. This discrepancy in academic performance commonly referred to as the achievement gap has become a national crisis which has led to one of the most significant educational reforms undertaken in the United States of America in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Research has shown a relationship between academic performance, employment, and incarceration for Blacks. The influence of eight factors on the academic achievement of a sample of Black high school students and college graduates was examined in this study. The eight factors examined were parental involvement, mentor support, caring teachers, academic support, tutoring, intrinsic motivation/resilience, hard work, and teachers with high expectations. The results from this quantitative descriptive study were derived from sampling 249 Black participants (177 college graduates, and 72 high school students from Cherry Hill, New Jersey) who had demonstrated academic proficiency on par with their White peers as evidenced by report card grades, standardized test scores, or by graduating from college with a minimum of a bachelor's degree. Analysis of these data indicated that the high school students that participated in the study identified intrinsic motivation/resilience and hard work as the most influential factors to their academic success. Findings from this study indicated that the college graduates that participated in the study identified intrinsic motivation/resilience and hard work as the most influential factors to their academic success as well. In fact, the college graduates that recorded the greatest level of influence From the factors intrinsic motivation/resilience, hard work, parental involvement, academic support, tutoring, and teachers with high expectations also earned higher annual salaries and had obtained advanced degrees when compared to their peers that participated in this study. Results of the study suggest that the study be expanded to a wider sample population, that the Cherry Hill school district foster intrinsic motivation/resilience in its Black students, that all teachers within the school district have high expectations for Black students, and that the parents of the Black students are actively engaged in the educational process. [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.]