In the field of education, much of the research on Black student achievement focuses on cultural and/or structural explanations for the academic outcomes of these adolescents. A vast amount of the research on Black student achievement perpetuates a continuous discussion of Black underachievement. Race continues to remain central across discussions…

This study explores how racial composition, in-migration and community identity influence the distribution of antiblack and antiwhite hate crimes. Drawing on six years of Chicago Police Department reports, two decades of census data and community survey data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, the paper evaluates…

This study examined the impact of the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944 (the GI Bill) on African Americans' quest for higher education. The central question guiding this study follows: Why has higher education been so elusive for African Americans? With reference to this question, the following sub-questions were addressed: (1) How can the…

The home and the public school classroom have been key environments in the African American community and have been instrumental in developing identity and encouraging academic progress. Despite this, the dropout rates of African American males in secondary grades have increased, while academic achievement scores of African American males in the…

For over 200 years Black colleges and universities have been at the center of the African American community. The legacy of these institutions has been to equip African Americans with the skills needed to be successful leaders. The study considers the leadership of Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne of the Wilberforce University and Rev. Dr. Joseph…

The National CARES Mentoring Movement (NCMM) is a call to commitment and action to the Black community to mentor its young, providing guidance and encouragement to build happy, productive and self-sustaining lives. Objectives include: (1) Connecting vulnerable Black youngsters with caring adults; (2) Communicating to at-risk youth that their…

This case study examines how the leadership of a principal in the worst elementary school in her district, located in what William J. Wilson describes as a socially dislocated African American community, worked to change the nature of an entire community by transforming how she and her faculty communicated with parents. Drawing on data gathered…

One could argue that advance teacher training does not make a difference in student achievement. According to William Sanders, a Professor at the University of Tennessee, the single most dominate factor affecting student achievement gain is teachers advance training. African American students make up 17 percent of the public school population…

Colleges and university missions often espouse ideals such as creating an active and engaged citizen. The concept, principles and manifestation of citizenship can take many forms. One such form is that of prosocial behavior, or voluntary actions towards others. Philanthropy is one example of prosocial behavior. This study enhances our knowledge of…

Since the fall of 2006 a number of Towson University students concentrating in the discipline of anthropology have been part of a civic engagement and service-learning project focusing on an historic African-American community in Baltimore. While the focus of the research project concentrates on the processes of gentrification, individual student…

The community college is one of the most diverse institutions of higher learning in regards to the make-up of its student population. However, with such a large representation of diversity within its student population, the community college has not been as successful in diversifying the community college presidency. The purpose of this…

Diffusion theory posits that information is disseminated throughout a social network by the persuasion of key opinion leaders (KOLs). This study examined the relative and combined influence of peer-identified KOL teachers (n = 12) and mental health providers (n = 21) on classroom teachers' (n = 61) self-reported use of commonly recommended…

Workforce Education appears to be a goldmine in the state of Florida. As of December 2003, annual job growth statistics reveal that Florida ranked number one in the nation in new jobs and tied for number one in percent change relative to other populous states (Georgia, Texas, New Jersey, and New York). The purpose of Florida's Workforce Education…

In this article, the author discusses the influence of conversations in the shaping of a person's life. He shares how some of the voices he heard early in his life, specifically those of his mother and his local pastor, had a profound impact on his life. These were conversations that taught him the value of doing the best that he could and of the…

Chicago's South Side has long been a renowned laboratory for groundbreaking research on Black urban life. The city's vast Black population, largely the product of the Great Migration, has made Chicago the home of both a celebrated Black middle class and an unsettling Black lower class. These two extremes have been meticulously documented over the…