Resilience Among Collegiate Black Males: Learning From Experience

• In Event: Roundtable Session 56
  In Roundtable Session: Urban Preparation: Black Males Moving From the South Side to Postsecondary Success

Abstract

Objective
• Describe the various Urban Prep support systems central to shaping their Black male graduates’ resilience in college
• Explore the relationship amongst resilience and success in higher education

Purpose of Research Project and Theoretical Perspectives
Researchers have noted that Black males experience high levels of underachievement in higher education—especially when compared to other race and gender groups. According to national data, 34% of Black males graduate from 4-year higher education institutions over a six-year period, which marks the lowest degree attainment rate for all race and gender groups (NCES, 2011). Despite multiple challenges faced by young Black men attempting to attain a baccalaureate degree, many are indeed persisting through college to graduation. Resilience figures prominently as an internal motivator for successful Black males helping them to persist through academic challenges resulting from their underrepresentation and isolation (McGee & Martin, 2011; Swanson, Cunningham, & Spencer, 2011). The current study seeks to add to the literature on Black male collegians in general and Black male resilience in particular by focusing on experiences in high school that students identify as crucial to their learning and persistence in college.

Method of Study and Data Sources
This paper comes out of the Urban Prep College Persistence Study. We used semi-structured, in-depth interview with twenty 2010 alum of Urban Prep’s inaugural graduating class. Each young man was in his 4th year of college at the time of data collection. The participants attend(ed) a range of colleges and universities throughout the Midwest, South, and Eastern regions of the United States. This study uses a narrative methodological approach (Clandinin, 2007), which focused on their experiences in college, and the salience of their high school experiences that helped them to stay in college, and ultimately graduate. Interviews lasted between 45 minutes and 2 hours and mini follow-up interviews were conducted to clarify, confirm, and member check researcher interpretation and emergent research themes.

Results
The current paper theorizes the function of Urban Prep for shaping student resilience. Three key findings emerge from early analysis of the data. First, the young men describe the college prep structure of the school as challenging—both academically and personally. Second, students appreciated the experiential learning opportunities Urban Prep afforded them—such as college visits, in-school activities simulating college-level work, and learning/presentations that exposed them to the obstacles facing Black boys increased the students’ desire to “beat the odds”. And, finally, students emphasize numerous relationships they built with faculty as important for strengthening their resolve to achieve in their postsecondary pursuits.

Scholarly Significance of the study
The stories of the students’ trials and triumphs serve as counternarratives (Harper, 2009) to Black male mediocrity by clearly demonstrating that Black males care about their education (Harper & Davis, 2012; Harris, 2006; Warde, 2008). Contemporary theories of student resilience are enhanced by examining modern-day schools like Urban Prep that are making strides for improving the life outcomes of young Black men.

Author

• Derrick R. Brooms, University of Louisville