Contextual Influences on the Achievement Outcomes of African American Female High School Seniors

Purpose:  Insufficient attention has been given to furthering school social workers’ understanding about how the context-laden experiences of African American female adolescents impact their achievement outcomes. Arguably, school social workers need to better understand how protective influences foster educational resilience among this population. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to explore the relationships between types of support from parents, teachers and peers, contextual risks, and the achievement outcomes of African American female high school seniors.

Methods: Data were collected using a cross-sectional survey design. Stratified random sampling yielded a representative sample (n=178) of recruited high-achieving, middle-achieving, and low-achieving participants enrolled in an urban school district in Virginia. The School Success Profile which measures perceptions of support, contextual risk, and adaptation within family, peer group, neighborhood, and school contexts and the School Support Questionnaire, a seven item open-ended questionnaire, developed by the researcher were administered. Participants’ official weighted grade point averages (GPA) and their English Reading Standards of Learning (SOL) test scores, the two criterion measures, were obtained from the school district.

Bivariate and multivariate statistical procedures were used to examine the relationships between predictor variables and the criterion measures. Deductive logic guided the analysis of the School Support Questionnaire data. Atlas-ti software was used to sort, code, unitize, and identify emergent themes from the participants’ responses. Seven themes emerged as school success factors (tangible support, standards, social support, guidance, communication support, behavioral support and emotional support).  

Results: Quantitative analysis revealed that some support variables were predictive of better achievement outcomes whereas others were associated with poorer outcomes. Three predictor variables; Family Togetherness, School Behavior Expectations, and Peer Group Acceptance accounted for 11.9% of the variance in GPA. School Behavior Expectations was the only predictor associated with a higher GPA. One variable, Friend Support, accounted for 18.1% of the variance in SOL. Higher scores on this measure were associated with higher SOL test scores.  Contextual risk (CR) was not predictive of GPA or SOL and no support variables moderated the influence of CR on either achievement outcome.  

Qualitative analysis identified significant similarities and differences within the study sample related to the types and sources of support reported to have had an impact on the participants’ success in school. For example, low-achieving females acknowledged a need for more behavioral and tangible support from peers whereas high-achieving females reported that the provision of behavioral support and emotional support from parents had a significant influence on their success in school. Even though the qualitative findings cannot be generalized beyond the study population, the participants identified factors they perceived as having had an influence on their school achievement that were not accounted for in the quantitative findings.

Implications: The study findings support a systemic conceptualization of academic achievement that considers spheres of influence (peers, families, schools and communities) on African American female adolescents’ academic achievement. Findings also support the need for earlier, tailored school social work interventions for students at-risk of school failure that includes family, peer group, and school level components.