An examination of individual, family, and school factors that promote knowledge and motivation for African American females to attend college
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: African American females have been marginalized and persistently overlooked in educational literature. Presently, very little attention has been given to the academic achievement for African American females (Evans-Winters, 2011). Instead, researchers have focused on social problems (e.g., economic issues or racial, gender, and ethnic inequalities). This dissertation examined and explored factors that promote knowledge and motivation for African American females to attend college. This study contributes to the literature by helping to provide a clearer understanding of the challenges experienced by African American females to gain admission into post secondary education. Critical Race Feminism was used as its conceptual and theoretical foundation to examine the phenomenon. Qualitative methods were used for data collection and analysis. Individual and focus group interviews were administered to 24 African American females and one administrator from the same California State University. The collected data indicated that most African American females were not sufficiently prepared for college level work, as many of them were enrolled in remedial courses. Analysis of the data further revealed that parents played a significant role in influencing their daughters to attend college, yet they were not actively involved in the process of preparing them with the necessary knowledge to gain admission and be successful. Although the African American female participants had access to knowledge about college and were motivated to attend, they did not know what to do to reach their intended goal. Furthermore, to be adequately prepared for college, participants expressed a need to have more information about transitioning from high school to college, understanding the importance of putting forth their best effort, and knowing the cost for college. It suggests that there may be some systemic failures in the education system for these girls that may relate to critical race feminist factors. There is the need for proper guidance from parents, teachers, counselors, mentors, or positive role models to prepare them for college-level work and to be successful in their transition from high school to college.
Author: Arika Rochelle Jackson
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2547812236