Faculty Bibliography

The relatively poor academic performance of Black adolescent students in inner-city schools in the United States has been well documented over the past 30 years. Attempts at understanding this complex phenomenon have sometimes stigmatized Black students as being incapable, of academic success, or have focused strictly on external factors. The current study is important because it focuses on the psychological reactions of Black adolescent students to their perceived educational environments and opportunities. The purpose of this study is to assess whether Black adolescent students are discerning consumers of an education product, who are actively making psychological decisions as to how, and to what extent, they will engage in the formal education process, 204 Black students between the ages of 13 and 18 attending public secondary schools in Harlem filled out questionnaires regarding the perceptions of their proximal school environment, their outcome-expectancy attitudes, and their racial identity attitudes. Student self-reported effort and grade reports were used to assess academic behavior and performance. Statistical analyses indicated that older Black adolescent students were more pessimistic in terms of their academic ability and the instrumentality of academic success for positive life outcomes. Older students also report putting forth less academic effort. Regression analyses showed that student outcome-expectancy attitudes are positively related to their predicted academic effort. Optimistic views of the instrumentality of academic success for attaining positive career outcomes were related to improved academic performance. Perceptions of racism in the school environment were not related to differences in student academic behavior or performance, but the picture became more complex when racial identity attitudes were considered. Racial identity attitudes affected student perceptions of racism and prejudice in their proximal educational environment, as well as their perceptions of their long-term career opportunities. Racial identity attitudes also impacted upon student academic effort and performance. These findings attest to the importance of psychological factors in how Black adolescent students engage and navigate their educational environments. Implications for psychologists and educators are discussed in light of these in light of these findings.