Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I am searching for participants for a research project focused on the experience of African-American men teaching in urban schools with a large population of African-American students from a low-income socioeconomic background. Involvement includes completion of short questionnaire and a face-to-face interview or virtual interview via Skype which will take approximately 60 minutes. If you know any teachers who might be a fit, kindly forward this email to them. Willing participants need only to follow the link below to complete the questionnaire.
I have pasted the full abstract for your information.
Many thanks!
Pat
Title: Class in the Classroom: Perceptions and Beliefs of Middle-Class African-American Male Teachers Teaching Low-Income African-American Students
Abstract: Trends in the racial make-up of students attending schools in large districts showed significant growth in the number of black and Latino students as far back as 1987 (Sietsema, 1996). Further, more than half of the students who attend school in these districts were eligible for free or reduced lunch (NCES, 2003). In sum, urban schools are increasingly populated by low-income students of color. Shifts in the urban student population necessitate changes in the way in which teaching and learning are conceptualized. As the population of the nation’s urban schools becomes increasingly black and Hispanic, the need for a teaching force whose racial background matches the student body also increases (K. Howey, 1999; Ladson-Billings, 2000a). The suggestion is that teachers teach children who are like themselves linguistically, culturally, and racially are the most ideal to facilitate learning (Martinez, 1994). Nonetheless, there is little scholarly discourse on the role or impact that socioeconomic class plays in scenarios where teachers and students share the same racial background. Using Ray Rist’s (1970) seminal work as an anchor, this study will employ a qualitative approach to examine black middle class male teachers’ perceptions of and beliefs about their lower income black students.