"On me": How African American male students in an "urban" high school describe high teacher expectations

Abstract

Research on teacher expectations has given limited attention to the voices of African American males. This study used counterstories to explore how African American male high school students described and experienced high expectations in the classroom. Through focus groups and interviews, twelve African American males shared their experiences, offered insights into how they negotiate through classroom environments with few high expectancy interactions, and made recommendations for how teachers can effectively convey high expectations. Low expectancy interactions left participants feeling intellectually inferior, antagonized, or ignored, while high expectancy interactions fostered hope, high quality work, and synergystic engagement. Findings from this study indicate the participants not only experience bias in teacher expectations, but they assume and expect teachers will generally have low expectations of them until proven otherwise. Participants described paradigms and strategies they employ to navigate these experiences in the classroom. Critical racial consciousness, resistance, resilience, and beliefs about learning were concepts used to analyze their responses. The implications for this study present a “call to action” requiring a shift in professional development, paradigms, pedagogy and institutional practices implemented with relentless intention to facilitate African American male success. Teacher expectation is a lever that creates opportunities and facilitates deeper learning; therefore it is imperative that researchers capture more African American male perspectives and experiences to inform teacher practice.