Culturally Relevant Beliefs of Teachers and Their Affect on the School Experience of African American Male Students.

The study was conducted in two suburban middle schools. These schools are located in a very diverse public school district in Middlesex County New Jersey. Like many school districts throughout this country, many African American male students are experiencing school and schooling differently based on the differences still seen in the number of discipline referrals, special education referrals, suspension and dropout rates. This study was intended to address the following questions: How are teacher culturally relevant beliefs related to the student achievement of African American males? How do the self-reported experiences of high achieving and low achieving African American males vary according to the culturally relevant beliefs, values, and biases of their teachers? Do these beliefs appear to contribute to the school experience of African American males such that these students are disproportionately disciplined, referred to the Child Study Team, perform poorly on standardized tests, and receive the greatest percentage of the failing grades based on the boys self-reported experiences? This mixed method study was conducted following a sequential explanatory research design. The primary focus of the quantitative data was the 48-item CRB survey created by Dr. Angel Love. This instrument was distributed to the teaching staff of the two middle schools. Comparisons were made using the teacher's responses and the grading, testing, and discipline data from both schools. A focus group of African American male students provided the qualitative data for this study. The purpose of this focus group was to connect the students' view of the teachers' classroom practice, compared to their self-reported responses, and the teachers' perception of their practices. The results of this study did not indicate a causal relationship between their culturally relevant beliefs of the teachers and the school experience of African American male students. Generally, the achievement, as determined by test scores and grades, were not associated to the survey results of any of the students based on student ethnicity and teacher survey results. Questionsar eraised concerning the socially desirability of teacherresponses and how this should be considered for further research is discussed.