African American male students' perceptions of social, emotional, physical, and academic variables in their transition from elementary school to middle school

The purpose of this study was to examine four variables that impact African\nAmerican male students’ perceptions of their transition from elementary school to\nmiddle school. This study determined what role social, emotional, physical, and\nacademic variables have in the transition process from elementary school to middle\nschool for African American males.\nThe two guiding questions for this mixed methods study were:\n1. What are African American male students’ perceptions of personal\ndevelopment variables on their transition from elementary school to middle\nschool?\n2. How do African American male students describe their transitional\nexperience from elementary school to middle school?\nParticipants in this study were 149 African American male students from five\nmiddle schools in southeast Texas. Findings of the study were derived from the use of a self-developed 52-item questionnaire (Student Transition Perception Survey) with one\nfree-response question and interviews of ten students (two from each school).\nThe major findings in this study were:\n1. Social variable –African American male students felt that schools did not\nprovide a positive school climate, teachers did not treat them with respect,\nand their parents were supportive of their education.\n2. Emotional variable –African American male students felt that schools did\nnot make them feel successful, and they did not feel equal to their peers.\n3. Physical variable –African American male students were equally divided in\nthe acceptance of their physical appearance and when they compared\nthemselves to others.\n4. Academic variable –African American male students felt that teachers did\nnot give them valuable attention in class.\n5. When looking at the trend of student responses among the five schools,\nAfrican American male students shared similar feelings about the social,\nemotional, physical, and academic variables.\n6. African American male students expressed their feelings about being unsafe,\nexperiencing differentiated teacher treatment, declining grades, and difficulty\nin their middle school transition.