Sideline Stories: High-Achieving Black Male Student Experiences and Strategies in Low-Performing High Schools

• In Event: 63.059 - Remixing, Remaking, and (Re)Imagining Resilience in Black Males

Abstract

This research project is a holistic case study of the experiences of high performing Black male students attending a low-performing high school. This qualitative study uses interview data to elevate the narratives of Black male students’ academic trajectories vis a vis their race, gender, class status, and schooling context. This serves to elucidate the lesser known challenges facing them in addition to what has been effective in supporting their success in schools that struggle to promote the academic excellency of their overall student population. This study highlights useful approaches of support present at the intersection of a multitude of marginalizing conditions faced by participants. Additionally this study reveals alternate and often under-recognized perspectives of success possessed by Black male students.

Author

• Travis Ervin Dumas, University of California - Los Angeles