Racial Differences in Eighth Grade Students’ Identification With Academics

Having a positive attitude about school, valuing school, and being intrinsically motivated is associated with higher grades, graduation, and college attendance. However, the literature reveals that these characteristics and attitudes are not uniform across race, class, and gender. The purpose of the current study was to examine racial differences in student identification with middle school. Specifically the study looked at the ways in which African American and White students described abstract and concrete components of identification. A total of 256 African American and 208 White eighth grade students from four middle schools in the Midwest completed a 13-item Identification with Academics survey as part of a large study of the transition from middle school to high school. Results show that African American students held higher abstract identification with academics than White students. Step-wise linear regression analysis demonstrates that the abstract identification is associated with academic achievement controlling for demographic characteristics. The findings of the study have implications for developing and assessing programs that help students to think about their identification with academics.