Campus Location

Dallas Campus (Online)

Date of Award

4-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Department

Organizational Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Bryan Patterson

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Simone Elias

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Linda Wilson-Jones

Abstract

This qualitative narrative study examined the authentic lived experiences of eight Black male participants who successfully completed their college undergraduate degree at a private college in the southeast United States. The participants were recruited via LinkedIn, a professional social media, networking site. It explored family, K-12, co-curricular, and community factors that contributed to the academic success of the participants throughout their educational journey. This study drew upon Harper’s (2012) antideficit theory framing the study from the lens of the positive aspects of their academic experiences rather than focusing on the negative aspects of Black men that graduate college at the lowest rate of any subpopulation. This positive lens structured the one main research question, how did they describe their educational experience as a Black man. This question was followed by a series of open ended, semistructured questions to allow the participants to share their authentic stories. The interviews were conducted via Zoom allowing participants to confidentially share their authentic lived experiences. The eight participants disclosed significant influences leading to three categories or themes: Influential, Systemic, and Personal Investment. These themes emerged from their stories through analysis of the data highlighting the intrinsic and extrinsic support. Recommended actions provided to assist K-12 and college-level administrators in designing strategies for preparing and supporting Black men on their pathway to successful college completion.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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