underachievement of African American teachers in research methodology courses: Implications for the supply of African American school administrators, The

Journal of Negro Education, The, Winter 1998 by Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J

This study compared the academic achievement of African American (n = 29) and European American (n= 145) teachers in research methodology courses. It found that African American teachers obtained lower overall course averages compared to White teachers and scored below Whites on research article evaluations, written research proposals, and midterm and final examinations. Effect sizes ranged from 0.60 to 1.37 standard deviations. This suggests that underachievement in research methodology courses may prevent African American teachers from successfully completing their theses and dissertations, thereby restricting the numbers of Blacks who subsequently obtain graduate degrees and/or obtain certification for positions as school administrators. The implications of these findings for efforts aimed at increasing the numbers of African American school administrators are discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Students from ethnic minority backgrounds typically have the highest poverty rates and the highest school dropout rates in the United States (Williams, 1992). As such, Aldair (1984) contends that these students need the support of teachers from their own cultures who have an understanding of cultural and family customs and behaviors and who can serve as role models for educational attainment. African American students are similar to European American students inasmuch as their performance is affected by teacher perceptions, expectations, and interactions. Unfortunately, however, researchers have found that teachers of students with backgrounds different from their own tend to hold lower expectations for these students' performance and subsequently tend to deliver less praise and positive reinforcement (Hilliard, 1989). Moreover, Aaron and Powell (1982) report that European American teachers provide negative feedback to African American students two-and-one-half times more frequently than do African American teachers. Given that low expectations and negative feedback adversely affect students' performance (Persell, 1977; Rist, 1970), it is not surprising that students of color are disproportionately represented among low-ability groups (Oakes, 1985).

Stewart, Meier, and England (1989) assert that because African American teachers frequently share similar racial experiences with African American students, these teachers are more likely to be supportive of African American students who require emotional or cognitive assistance. According to Stewart et al. (1989), African American teachers are less likely to use inappropriate discipline measures on African American students or to conclude that African American students belong in low-ability tracks. For these reasons, England and Meier (1985) conclude that African American teachers can play an important role in improving the quality of education provided to African American students. Indeed, Martinez (1991) contends that a shortage of minority teachers could culminate in "the underachievement of minority students, provide little incentive for minority students to advance in school, and negatively affect [minority students'] career and life aspirations" (p. 24).

Currently, approximately 13 million students, or 30% of the school-aged population in the United States, are ethnic minorities (i.e., Alaskan, Native American, Latino, African American, or Asian American) (Clarke, Nystrom, & Perez, 1996). Minorities in Mississippi, New Mexico, and California now represent the majority of children of school age in those states (Quality Education for Minorities Project, 1990). Persons of color constitute the majority of students enrolled in 23 of the nation's 25 largest school districts (Gay, 1989; Newby & Dorrah, 1993; Villegas, 1991), with most urban school districts being comprised of more than 50% minority students. Demographers predict that by the turn of the century, students of color will average 46% of the school-aged youth nationwide.

In stark contrast, the proportion of minority teachers is expected to decline from 10% in 1987 to a mere 5% of all U.S. teachers by the year 2000 (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education [AACTE], 1990). Moreover, while the majority of U.S. teachers are European Americans, for more than a decade the disparity that has existed between the proportion of European American and minority teachers has increased. Even more discouragingly, the availability of teachers of color has decreased relative to European American teachers (Goodwin, 1991; Oakes, 1985; Waters, 1989). These statistics underscore the need for more minority teachers.

The low number of African American teachers severely limits the pool of potential African American school administrators. Indeed, many states are experiencing a dire shortage of minority administrators in their public schools (Hodgkinson, 1990; Savage, 1990). As Murray, Husk, and Simms (1993) report, 15% of all U.S. public school principalships were held by minorities in the 1987-88 school year. By 1992, the representation of minority men and minority women in the principalship was only 8% and 6.4%, respectively. Moreover, only 8.6% of assistant superintendents were minority men and 3.3% were minority women, while only 3.4% of superintendents were minority men and 0.4% were minority women. Thus, as Moody (1983) asserts, the number of African American administrators nationwide reflects a serious problem of underrepresentation. A few programs have been implemented with the aim of recruiting minority administrators. These programs include the Minority Administration Program (MAP) in South Carolina, which qualifies minority teachers to fill administrative vacancies through recruitment, selection, professional development, counseling, and referral activities (T. E. Thompson,1992); the Urban Superintendents Program (USP) at Harvard University in Massachusetts, which aims to increase the number of women and people of color in school leadership positions ranging from principals, supervisors, and curriculum specialists to superintendents of schools (Peterkin & Keppel, 1992); and the Leadership in Educational Administration Development (LEAD) (Murray et al., 1993), which has several minority recruitment programs in several states. Regardless, the few initiatives in existence indicate a piecemeal effort to redress the balance.