Title:
Perspectives of African Americans in rural Maryland: are public elementary schools meeting African American students’ needs?
Author:
Melaney M. Sanchez
Committee Member:
Joan Sattler
Committee Member:
Catherine Sarther
Committee Member:
Kelly Bull
Degree Granting Institution:
Notre Dame of Maryland University--School of Education
Place:
Baltimore (Md.)
Publisher:
Notre Dame of Maryland University
Date Created:
2012
Type of Resource:
text
Genre:
thesis
Language:
eng
Format:
application/pdf
Physical Form:
electronic
Digital Source:
born digital
Abstract:
This study sought to learn about African American community members' perceptions regarding their satisfaction with local elementary schools in predominantly white, rural school districts in Maryland. The research was conducted in rural counties because much of the attention about the achievement gap has focused on urban areas, where necessary solutions may differ. The Community Opinion Inventory (AdvancED, 2003) was distributed to African American community members in five school districts in rural Maryland using snowball- sampling methods. One hundred and fifty six surveys were collected, representing a 41% return rate. In this study, African American community members’ perceptions revealed they were most satisfied with well-maintained grounds, comprehensive programs, opportunities to learn, and media resources. They were most concerned with bullying, a lack of staff diversity, and substance abuse. Support for Student Learning resulted in the highest mean subscale score, and School Climate yielded the lowest score because it was the subscale with the lowest degree of agreement. Analysis of the COI scores with Maryland State Assessment reading and math performance data showed high to moderate correlations between the math scores and COI measures but little or no relationship between local school satisfaction and the state reading scores. This study’s findings supported a need for educators to collaborate with African American community members in predominantly white rural school districts to further investigate solutions for closing the achievement gap. Examining the community members' perspectives demonstrated the merit of a caring and safe environment, the value of staff diversity, and the importance of high expectations.
Subject:
Electronic dissertations
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Level:
Doctoral
Discipline:
Instructional Leadership for Changing Populations
Restrictions on Access:
Author has given permission to make this work available online.
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Identifier:
SanchezMM-12
