Examining Self-Efficacy, Grit, and Their Relationship to the Black-White Achievement Gap

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Youth Civic Engagement and Attitudes Toward Social Justice and Morality (Table 1)

Abstract

Findings from an explanatory mixed-methods research study that investigated the roles that self-efficacy and grit played in student achievement to determine whether these factors had the ability to contribute a positive effect on reducing the achievement gap between Black and White 11th grade students attending an urban high school in the southwest U.S. are presented. The specific purposes of this study were to (a) identify if an academic achievement gap currently existed between Black and White students, (b) understand the relationship between Black and White students’ academic achievement to their self-efficacy and grit levels; and (c) gain students’ perspectives about how self-efficacy and grit are associated with academic achievement.

Authors

• Alex Fingers, University of North Texas

• Barbara L. Pazey, University of North Texas