ABSTRACT

Educational and psychological research has long noted that students of African or Caribbean descent (collectively referred to here as Black) tend to experience poor academic outcomes relative to White majority students. This trend persists even after controlling for exogenous variables such as socioeconomic status, prior academic preparedness, and family structure (for a recent overview of this research, see Steele 1997). There are numerous explanations for these trends in the literature, including differences in cognitive style (e.g. Shade 1982), aversion to intellectual competition (Howard and Hammond 1985), language barriers and general cultural differences (e.g. Jacob and Jordan 1993) and even genetics (Herrnstein and Murray 1994). However, as authors such as Steele (1997) have pointed out, these theories tend not to be very satisfying. For example, if cultural differences are the culprit, why do children who emigrate from cultures drastically different from ours (e.g. Middle Eastern countries, Asian countries) often do better than Black children who come from families and communities with cultures that are arguably more similar to those of the majority White culture? Why do African immigrants (children not born into the majority White culture) do better in school than African-descended children born into the majority White culture? It is questions such as these that tend to make genetics and lingual/cultural theories unsatisfying. Other observations also raise interesting questions. For example, the Black White gap is not static, nor is it present at the beginning of schooling. The gap between White and minority students widens by as much as two grade levels by sixth grade (e.g. Alexander and Entwhistle 1988; Valencia 1991, 1997).