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

According to an AACTE report (1990), only 6.8% of the 493,686 students enrolled in teacher education preparation programs in the U.S. in 1990 were African American. This represents a decline of more than 3% since 1987. The decline in the numbers of people of color selecting teaching as a career can be attributed in part to various gatekeeping measures or "screens" that both regulate their entrance into teacher education programs and restrict their ability to meet certain teaching certification requirements. Competency, admissions, and certification tests, along with preservice teacher assessment programs, often create limited access for people of color to the teaching profession (Goodwin, 1991; Reed, 1986; Waters, 1989). Similar gatekeeping measures also may be preventing minority teachers from becoming administrators. Many states require certification in administration, a prerequisite for which is the completion of varying numbers of graduate-level courses (Stewart et al., 1989).

The design and completion of theses and dissertations in educational administration programs as well as in other programs in the fields of social and behavioral sciences typically necessitate the acquisition of research skills. Thus, at least one course in research methodology is usually required to be taken by teachers and other students at the graduate level. For many, these courses are the most difficult in their programs of study, and underachievement in research methodology courses is an apparently common phenomenon (Onwuegbuzie, 1997a, 1997b). Indeed, a significant proportion of graduate students fail to complete their programs of study due to their inability to meet the research requirements of their chosen fields (Bowen & Rudenstine, 1992; Cesari,1990). Insofar as teachers are concerned, inadequate performance in research methodology courses may deny them the necessary skills, motivation, and confidence to obtain their graduate degrees, thus preventing them from becoming certified as school administrators. Surprisingly, however, a paucity of empirical studies has been undertaken to examine the factors related to underachievement in research methodology courses.

Given the disproportionately high attrition rates among African American graduate students (Brown, 1987), the present article examines the performance levels of African American teachers in research methodology classes. The purpose of the investigation described herein was to compare levels of achievement in graduate-level research methodology courses between African American and European American in-service teachers. Bearing in mind the disproportionately small number of African American teachers who obtain graduate degrees, it was hypothesized that African American teachers would demonstrate lower levels of performance in research methodology courses than would their European American counterparts.

Apparently no other research has been undertaken in this area for this population, and only scant research exists in which the backgrounds, experiences, and performance of graduate students from various ethnic groups have been compared. Little is known about the extent to which these groups differ, and even less regarding how such differences affect experience and performance of graduate students (Nettles, 1990). Yet, as Conyers (1986) asserts, empirically based studies of African American students are needed to "establish a baseline from which practitioners and researchers, in years to come, can evaluate the magnitude, direction, and significance of changes which seem to occur with respect to African American professionals, their social and educational origins and the process by which they are recruited" (p. 304). Determining the differences between minority and majority graduate students is an imperative initial step in developing and implementing strategies aimed toward minimizing the inequities presently found between these groups in terms of experience and educational attainment.