This article studies the relationship between perceptions of school belonging, educational aspirations, and academic self-efficacy among forty African American Male students. The article mentions the achievement gap between White students and African American students. Research shows that the gap has increased in the past ten years with African Americans accounting for 14.7% of the dropout rate, twice the rate of White students. But, research also shows that lower-income and minority students often attend underfunded schools, with limited course offerings and under qualified and inexperienced teachers.
This study tests African American males’ psychological sense of belonging, academic self-efficacy and educational aspirations. Psychological sense of belonging is defined as students’ feelings of being welcomed, valued and respected by others in the community. Research indicates that this sense of belonging has a strong influence on education, including higher grades, academic motivation and high school completion. Academic Self-Efficacy is a student’s confidence in their ability to succeed academically. And lastly, educational aspirations refer to early impressions of one’s own academic abilities and the highest level of educations they wish to obtain. All these aspects were tested in the study.
Two hypotheses were used during this study. The first stated that perceptions of school belonging would be positively related to self-efficacy among a sample of African American male 9th and 10th graders. The second stated that measures of perceptions of school belonging and indicators of educational aspirations would positively predict academic self-efficacy scores.
The method for this study included forty African American males from a small African-American school in a large Southeastern city. Students completed a demographic questionnaire, including questions such as grade level and family income, a Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale (PSSM), which was an eighteen item questionnaire that measures sense of belonging in a school, and an Academic Self-Efficacy scale which measures abilities compared to other students their age as well as future plans.
Findings were very interesting. For example, 10% of students expected to earn just a high school diploma, 7.5% expected to earn a bachelor’s degree, 60% expected to earn a master’s degree and 22.5% intended to earn a doctoral degree. This shows African American males are academically motivated. The first hypothesis was not supported, but the results did indicate that the most important aspect in perceptions of school belonging were that these students felt they were the recipients of direct, targeted invitations to participate in school programming, both academic and extracurricular.
This article presents many implications for school counselors. School counselors must build a sense of community within their school for all nationalities. They must create a learning environment that supports academic, career and social success of all students. School counselors could also invite groups of African American males or individuals to discuss their school experiences. This way, they will receive one on one attention, and will receive guidance on how to participate in school activities and will learn to feel comfortable speaking to a counselor in a time of need. It is also important for school counselors to have a great sense of knowledge in regards to the African American culture, and to develop a relationship with each student. If students feel understood and valued, they will do better in school and obtain help when they need it, whether it is academically or socially. This article was very interesting and presented great ideas for school counselors as well as a better understanding of certain cultures within our society.