Examining the Influence of Stereotype Threat on the Efficacy of First-Year African-American College Students Within a Public University in Maryland

Download or read book Examining the Influence of Stereotype Threat on the Efficacy of First-Year African-American College Students Within a Public University in Maryland written by Marone LaDarryl Brown and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The present research utilized a mixed-methods explanatory sequential design to examine how stereotype threat influences first-year African-American student efficacy within a public university in Maryland. The study took aim at the pervasive problem of African-American student achievement and retention in post secondary institutions across the country, due in part to the noesis of stereotype threat. In light of this challenge, the researcher dissected the relationship between first-year African-American students and the college context in which they exist to better interpret how stereotype threat influences the racial cohesion and dissonance of Black students on the campus of a public university in Maryland. The study secured the perceptions of 169 first-year African-American students within the framework of a public university in Maryland as it pertained to their teaching and learning experiences. The study employed a two-step statistical process to determine statistical significance using the F-test for ,two sample variances, followed by a t-test for two sample variances. The study determined through the use of the Stereotype Confirmation Concern Scale that there was a statistically significant difference between academic achievement and social interaction of first-year African-American students influenced by stereotype threat and first-year African-American students not influenced by stereotype threat. Moreover, the study also determined that student perceptions were influenced in part by stereotype threat, racialization, and lack of inclusiveness. Theoretically, the research draws upon critical race theory to impart that the academic achievement and perceptual experiences of African-American college students are just as influenced by perceived threats of stereotypes as they are by poverty or other psychosocial stressors suggested by previous literature.