Toward a Holistic Understanding of Academic Identification in Ethnic Minority Boys at Risk for Academic Failure.

[摘要] Various studies indicate the academic underachievement of African American and Latino boys compared to their peers in classroom functioning across various academic domains beginning in kindergarten and extending through post-secondary education (NAEP, 2009; Sommers, 2000). Identity-based explanations have dominated the research literature, indicating how at-risk minority adolescents, particularly boys, may develop oppositional identities toward school resulting in adverse effects on motivation and achievement. The present work interrogated these explanations and developed a more complete understanding of identification with academics within a sample of 653 African American and Latino adolescents in New York City public schools. Toward this, a wide variety of measures were utilized to capture multiple components of academic identification and thus assemble a more comprehensive portrait of this construct. Through this, I assessed whether academic dis-identification is indeed the crux of underachievement trends for ethnic minority youth. Next, this study assessed how self-regulated learning and self-efficacy mediate the ways in which identification structures are expressed by students. Third, academic profiles of boys within the sample were constructed and the relationship between these profiles and achievement was assessed. Results reveal that ethnicity, gender and grade level are not meaningful predictors of the multiple modes of academic identification; however, self-efficacy moderated the relationship between school belonging/value and academic achievement. Further, self-regulated learning played a mediating role between identification and achievement, thus self-regulation may be one tangible expression of academic identity. Last, profiles of low-resourced boys from the sample were derived, each of which had differential relationships with achievement and related outcomes. The results suggest that there are many ways of being identified, challenging previous notions of simply being high or low on a singular dimension of academic identification. This work is valuable in that it triangulates the critical factors that promote healthy identity development and academic achievement for African American and Latino youth, specifically boys. The work also supports the notion of unique within group attributes and multiple pathways to achievement. Finally, this investigation creates knowledge for targeted interventions that can improve the development of curricula, character education/mentorship programs, and teacher training programs.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] Identification With Academics

[关键词] Ethnic Minority Achievement;Identification With Academics;Urban Education;African American Boys;Education;Social Sciences;Education & Psychology