Abstract:
In an effort to learn how to best educate Black students from low socioeconomic schools who were struggling academically and performing significantly lower than their White counterparts, this study unpacked the educational and professional experiences of the researcher and five like participants and reflected upon those experiences as a critical race theorist researcher. To further understand effective strategies used by other teachers, the theoretical framework of critical race theory (CRT) was used to explore the experiences of five African American female teachers who had success educating underachieving Black students. Interviews were conducted with each of the five women and group discussions were held with the same interviewees to gather additional data. Subsequent narrative data were used to construct three prominent themes. The themes were centered on building relationships with students and their families, creating high expectations for students to meet or exceed, and implementing cultural connections in the classroom to enhance academic success. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on addressing the opportunity gap to combat the educational disparities in education for students of color. The results suggest teachers can help resolve the opportunity gap conundrum if they are willing to meet students where they are. Results also suggest the need for researchers to do more qualitative research on teachers’ strategies to help educate academically low achieving Black students through the implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy.
Keywords: African American Female Teachers, Enhance the Learning Experiences of Black Students, Exploring Strategies