HBCUs Propel African American Male Mathematics Majors

An HBCU-Based Educational Approach for Black College Student Success: Toward a Framework with Implications for All Institutions

“…Although Fleming's (1984) study is now dated, researchers have continued to find a positive environment for black students at HBCUs (e.g., Allen et al 1991). This research has found greater levels of campus interpersonal relationships and social networking than their black HWI peers (Davis 1991), wellness (Spurgeon and Myers 2010), and sense of family and brotherhood (Jett 2013).…”

“…Areas of concern include equitable access to college (Posselt et al 2012), learning and overall development during college (Kimbrough and Harper 2006;Museus et al 2011), and graduation from college (Knapp et al 2011). Despite the impressive work of high-achieving black college students (Fries-Britt et al 2010;Harper 2012;Jett 2013;McGee and Martin 2011;Palmer et al 2010a), a race-based success gap persists.…”

“…The literature documents several positive similarities many HBCUs share that contribute a foundation to our theory. These include a common historical journey of struggle and victory (Allen and Jewell 2002;Brown and Davis 2001), a general mission of racial uplift (Gasman and Bowman 2011;Hirt et al 2006), the provision of social capital to traditionally marginalized persons (Gasman and Jennings 2006), and an uncommon student experience that is particularly meaningful to blacks (Jett 2013;Outcalt and Skewes-Cox 2002;Thompson 2008). Ample research suggests that HBCUs as a group contribute to the success of black students in special ways , and scholars even routinely champion them as exemplars that all institutions should follow for educating that population, including historically white institutions (HWIs) (Kim 2011;Walker 2011), community colleges (Hughes 2012), and even HBCUs themselves (Walker 2011).…”

“…2 Black instructors (Rucker and Gendrin 2003;Jett 2013) and external role models (Palmer and Gasman 2008;Thompson 2008) such as black guest speakers are said to help students feel comfortable in their own skin and improve as intellectuals. Indeed, HBCUs typically have more same-race role models than HWIs, especially when black faculty representation at majority schools can be 2% or less, leaving some departments with no black professors at all (Allison 2008).…”

“…Overall the faculty at HBCUs is quite diverse in all aspects including race, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, gender, and sexuality (e.g., Arroyo 2014b). Still, there is ample research, based on student perspectives and perceptions, that demonstrates that having professors with similar backgrounds (most dominantly race), and who appear to be similar or are thought to be similar by students, leads to higher levels of confidence and increased success among students (Jett 2013;Rucker and Gendrin 2003).…”