Academic Possible Selves Research

Whether we realize it or not, test scores play a vital role in many people’s self esteem. A person who frequently scores high will be confident that they are very intelligent and will expect others to see them that way. Asimov attested to this when he stated, “All my life I’ve been registering scores like that, so that I have the complacent feeling that I’m highly intelligent, and I expect other people to think that too.” (Asimov, 536). On the other hand, those who score low on tests often write themselves off to be unintelligent. Emphasis on the importance of the ACT or SAT test scores can lead an adolescent to conclude that he or she is not capable of succeeding in college and lead them to not pursue higher education. The tragedy is that we may pass on opportunities because we have labelled ourselves unintelligent based on a test score which is not a true refelection of our

A substantial amount of educational and psychological research has consistently demonstrated that African American students underperform academically relative to White students. For example, they tend to receive lower grades in school (e.g., Demo & Parker, 1987; Simmons, Brown, Bush, & Blyth, 1978), score lower on standardized tests of intellectual ability (e.g., Bachman, 1970; Herring, 1989; Reyes & Stanic, 1988; Simmons et al., 1978), drop out at higher rates (e.g., American Council on Education, 1990; Steele, 1992), and graduate from college with substantially lower grades than White students (e.g., Nettles, 1988). Such performance gaps can be attributed to

In the article “In Their Own Words: Perceived Barriers To Achievement By African American and Latino High School Students”, Desireé Vega, James L. Moore III, and Antoinette H. Miranda

African American males’ cultural identity has been shaped by stereotypes placed on them down through history. Some stereotypes associated with African American males include incompetence, laziness, and aggression. African American males’ academic performance is often affected because of these stereotypes (Irving & Hudley, 2008). The literature generally concludes that African American male students’ educational aspirations, occupational expectations, cultural identity, and attitudes toward school are related to academic achievement (Irving & Hudley, 2008). Cultural mistrust for African Americans revolves around their belief that public schools cannot be trusted to provide an adequate education when the schools they attend are

I am a Second Generation African-American Student, and I’m proud to say that my eagerness to learn is one of the many reasons for my academic success. Growing up in an African immigrant family, education has always been my prime focus due to the inspiration I’ve received from my parents. Because of that, all through my middle school journey at Sky Vista, I have set and accomplished many goals for myself. From the baseline of having a 3.5 GPA in 6th grade to always having a 4.0 GPA each quarter in the 7th and 8th grade. Now that my middle school years are slowly coming to an end, my eyes have been shifted to look forward to achieving greater academic things. As I am about to enter high school this year in August, I hope to be faced with many

Thomas, Dominique. “Expectations of Educational Success as a Mediator between Racial Discrimination and College GPA.” The New School Psychology Bulletin, 1 Jan.

This study endeavored to seek answers that have been at the forefront of research for decades. The researcher has glanced into the lives and experiences of fourteen African-American undergraduate male students to seek answers to the following questions: (1) What are the experiences of African-American male students’ in California’s public high schools? (2) Are California public high schools and school-based professionals adequately preparing African-American male students’ for post-secondary education options? (3) What kind of barriers, if any, has impacted African-American male students’ academic success? (4) How are Black male students’ academically succeeding despite the academic underachievement that data suggests? and (5) What

A sit-down interview, in the interviewee’s classroom, on April 22, 2017, results in responses from Rachel, a female Elementary Education teacher at Deerfield Elementary School, in Deerfield, Wisconsin. Containing eight initial questions and two response follow-up inquiries, this interview represents a 4-year Kindergarten grade level perspective, and utilizes eleven years of teaching experience. As a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, Rachel began her career in Milwaukee before accepting her current position of nine years. With extensive knowledge of the field, Rachel qualifies as an excellent resource, both when actively pursuing plans to become an Elementary Education

One of the first and foremost reoccurring themes throughout the review of current literature on this subject has been the concept of self-efficacy and perseverance as the sole reason of black male success and retention at Hispanic Serving Institutions. In a doctoral work entitled, “Personal and Institutional Factors Relationship to Self-Efficacy of Persistence to the Senior Year in College Among Self-Identified Black Undergraduate Students in a Hispanic Serving Institution,” author Sandra Fletcher analyzes eight key factors that are alleged to have a significant role in the success and retention of Black males at Hispanic Serving Institutions. The eight factors listed as determinants of success were, “self-pride/personal goal, professional aspiration/career, motivation to support family, desire to have financial independence/better job, to serve community, opportunity to go to college, being first-generation college student, and prove to family the value of higher education” (Fletcher 2012: vii).

Ever since my later adolescence years, I have always been intrigued by the diverse complexity of the human brain. Numerous days I have sat down obtrusively observing my surroundings just to satisfy my curiosity on how individuals think, reason and problem solve everyday life happenings. As such, when it was time to attend university, I decided to study psychology as a means of gaining knowledge and understanding about individuals’ cognitive processes and their behavior. During my undergraduate studies, for a particular reason, I was struck by Abnormal Psychology and spent hours thinking about the various disorders captured by the then Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM IV). I spent an awful lot of time trying to understand the differing disorders and how their impact on the behavior and thinking processes of individuals that are diagnosed with them.

The goal of “Academic Self-concept and Academic Achievement for African American Students” was to investigate African American college students and their academic self-concepts in relation to academic achievements. Academic self-concept is how a student perceive their academic ability in comparison to other students. African American undergraduates from predominantly white colleges and universities (PWCU) and historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) were the participants in this research. The participants consisted of 84 men and 122 women with a mean age of 20.97 years. The participants were diverse in terms of their grades in high school. The participants were recruited through African American student organizations in PWCUs and

There are many discrepancies about the underlying causes of the problem of African American educational achievement. Measures of academic achievement in education show that African Americans are trailing their White counterparts, especially in higher education (Aronson, 2002). Numerous factors that affect academic achievement, affordability, financial aid, support of family. African American students are frequently stereotyped and spend a great deal of time establishing their academic credibility and rapport in the classroom. The challenges encountered in academic and social life on campuses is the result of the scrutiny that black students face when it comes to their intellectual ability. The need to validate their intellectual competence in the classroom to White peers and to faculty derive from stereotypes or comments from non-Blacks about the Black community (Fres-Brit, 2002). Whether women of color choose to attend a particular institution because of its ability to satisfy a desire to be in a predominantly Black environment, or because of the quality of education a particular institution offers, they can benefit in numerous respects when it comes to academic and career achievement. Understanding the variety of factors that contribute to Black students’ success requires researchers to examine resiliency from multifaceted perspectives (Bentley, 2015). In a space where black bodies and female bodies are considered “space invaders”, social scientist Nirmal Puwar, explains

There are a variety of topics that are interesting in life. This interest may then become a point of inquisition, where an individual may formulate a relationship between two variables, which may or may not influence each other. Next, a hypothesis is formed and tested. In this same manner, a school educator was interested in determining the potential relationship between grade point average (GPA) and IQ scores among ninth graders. The educator random sampled 30 ninth graders, ages 14 years old and administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). This writer will be expanding further on this topic and will formulate the null and alternative hypothesis, describe the four scales of measurement, describe whether if there is a correlation significant (positive, negative, or no correlation) enough between both variables, describe the strength of the relationship, describe what the results reveals about the hypothesis, and what conclusions can be drawn from the results.

Academic Expierence Alpha Omega Academy High School Class of 2016 Profesional Experience Caretaker August 2015 - May 2016 Personal healthcare assistant to my stepfather who suffers from MSA Parkinson's Volunteer Experience Volunteer in pre-school and children's ministry at FBC Denham Springs

Success comes easier to a student’s if they are in their comfort zone. students who feel at ease with their environment, have a higher tendency to achieve success in college, for example studies have shown that African American students that attend predominantly white universities are more likely to either have lower grade point averages or drop out at higher rates than their white counterparts and African Americans at historically black colleges. (Allen, Epps & Hanuf, 1991; Braddock & Dawkins 1981) This is a common example of how change could affect a student’s ambition unconsciously. Studies have shown that students who attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities are more likely to have higher self worth, positive self images, strong racial pride, and higher aspirations, opposite of black students on white campuses. This is true for almost all commonalities: race, gender, age, and even backgrounds. Students that feel more “at home” will more than likely receive higher grade point averages.