The Transition To High School For Academically Promising, Urban, Low-Income African American Youth - Statistical Data Included

Adolescence, Spring, 2000 by Barbara M. Newman, Mary C. Myers, Philip R. Newman, Brenda J. Lohman, Victoria L. Smith

Fourteen (64%) of the students in this study resided in mother-only households, 8 of whom were high performers. In addition, 2 HPs lived in grandmother-only homes. Four students were part of a two-parent family (2 HPs and 2 LPs). These findings concur with those of Dornbusch et al. (1991), who found that family structure was not predictive of academic performance among African American students.

Parents' perceptions (whether in single-parent or two-parent households) of both their children's educational abilities and the quality of the school have been shown to be very predictive of academic success (Reynolds & Gill, 1994). Even when a school had poor ratings, parents' positive feelings toward that school were found to influence their children's perceptions and to correlate with higher grade point averages. Bronfenbrenner (1986) indicated the need for closer relations between schools and families. Schools need to form partnerships with families and welcome their participation in children's education.

Beyond the role of mothers and fathers, the importance of extended family was evident. Eleven HPs and 8 LPs mentioned extended family members as being supportive of their academics. A majority of the HPs (69%), but only 22% of the LPs, also named extended family members as people to whom they turn when faced with any kind of challenge. Perhaps the LPs were unable to establish or maintain close relationships with extended family, or perhaps extended family members were less available to them than to the HPs. LPs were more likely than HPs to list adults who were not related to them, but it is likely that these adults, as compared with family members, spend less time with individual students. Less involvement in the students' lives may mean less monitoring of their behavior and activities, including studying and completing homework assignments.

The students provided a mixed picture of the role of friends. Students may go to friends for encouragement and support, but to become academically successful, the students expressed the need to pull away from friends and limit time with them. Students may realize the need to spend more time studying because of the increased quantity of homework assigned in ninth grade. No students mentioned spending time studying with groups of friends. Friends may not share the college aspirations of the YSP students, or may see tuition as a barrier to higher education.

When asked who was supportive of academics, HPs were much more likely to mention friends than were LPs (54% versus 22%). HPs' friendships may be based on classroom associations with similar students, while the nature of the friendship group of which the LP is a member may not be conducive to academic success (Legters & McDill, 1994; Clark, 1991). LPs' friendships may be formed outside the school environment, and these friends may downplay the importance of academic success.

Regarding the role of neighborhood, in urban, low-income communities, high rates of poverty, violence, crime, gang activities, and the stressors associated with these social problems, coupled with the poor quality of many of the local schools, have been identified as factors that place students at risk for low academic achievement (Levine & Nidiffer, 1996). A few students mentioned more fighting in high school, gangs, and the need to "forget outside problems." Interviews with YSP coordinators revealed that many of the students lived in dangerous neighborhoods, where shootings, police raids, and gang activity were common. However, most students did not analyze how these aspects of their neighborhoods might be affecting school performance.