Risk and Protective Trajectories in Mathematically Talented Black Male Students: Snapshots From 9th-12th Grades

• In Event: STEM Issues Related to Race, Class, and Gender

Abstract

The narrative of high school male students taught in distressed schools is often one of academic failure and urban despair, and, for many Black male students, a trajectory leading to prison or prison-like spaces. However, within these urban high schools exists Black students who continue to challenge, navigate, and overcome the deficit views often characterizing their educational trajectories. This qualitative study explores the lives of Black males who attended high schools that officially and anecdotally are classified as urban, and who are particularly talented in mathematics. Thirteen junior and senior Black male students were interviewed about their early lives, and school and mathematical experiences to better understand the challenges and opportunities available in and beyond their mathematics classrooms.

Authors

• Alvin Pearman, Vanderbilt Peabody College

• Ebony Omotola McGee, Vanderbilt Peabody College