Validation: A Key Element for Teaching African American Male College Students

Tony M. Emetu, DM, MBA

December 3, 2020

Abstract

African American male college students have the lowest retention and graduate rates of all ethnic gender groups in higher education. The purpose of this article was to discuss barriers encountered by this student population and propose validation as a vital component to supporting their academic success. Through review of scholarly literature, teaching practitioners were provided recommendations for aiding the validation process.

Introduction

           Throughout scholarly literature, researchers have continuously documented the low retention of African American male students at institutions of higher education (Druery & Brooms, 2019; Emetu, 2019; Harewood, 2013; Lundy-Wagner, 2013; Phillip, 2011). Though women have traditionally outnumbered men in college enrollment across all ethnicities since the 1980s (Emetu, 2019; Mcdaniel, Diprete, Buchmann, & Swed, 2011; Tolliver, Kacirek, & Miller, 2019), the largest gender gap persist among African Americans with females leading males by a margin as large as 27% (Center for Community College Student Engagement, 2014; Harris, 2018; Tolliver, Kacirek, & Miller, 2019). Moreover, when compared to all other ethnic gender groups, African American male college students have traditionally maintained the lowest retention and graduation rates in post-secondary education (Center for Community College Student Engagement, 2014; Emetu, 2019; Harris, 2018; McDaniel et al., 2011). Production of this article sought to provide recommendations for incorporating validation as a means of supporting academic achievement. But an important first step is understanding the barriers that they encounter.

Barriers to Persistence

           African American male college students encounter an array of obstacles in education pursuit. Several researchers have noted lack of college readiness to be a barrier (Jaggers & Iverson, 2012; Wood & Palmer, 2013; Woods & Palmer, 2014), and others have documented that African American male learners encounter hurdles to academic progression as early as elementary school (Harris, 2018; Hutchinson, 2011; Wiggins & McTighe, 2011). Yet, perhaps, their greatest, and more frequently documented, challenges have nothing to do with academic ability.

           Rather, most challenges encountered by African American male students appear to be interpersonal in nature. For example, researchers have accredited racism (Johnson, 2013; Von Robertson & Chaney, 2017), stereotyping (Jackson & Hui, 2017; Jaggers & Iverson, 2012), and social isolation (Going, 2017; Jackson & Hui, 2017; Robertson & Mason, 2008) as major contributing factors for low retention of African American male students at Predominately White Institutions (PWIs). On the other hand, African American male college students of the LGBTQ Community often experience homophobia (Means, 2017; Means & Jaeger, 2013), and Strayhorn and Mullins (2012) proclaimed them to be double minorities on college campuses due to their ethnicity and sexual orientation. From another perspective, African American male college student athletes may be pressured by coaches to place athletics as priority over academics (Beamon, 2008; Harper, 2014), and African American male community college students have a higher tendency to be nontraditional and required to balance academics with personal life responsibilities (eg. Marriage, children, job, etc) (Wood, 2013). Indeed, though the impediments encountered by African American male college students tend to differ based upon these subcategories, literature suggests that they are nonacademic in nature.

           Some struggles may be internal. For example, researchers have reported that African American male college students are often reluctant to ask for assistance (Johnson & McGowan, 2017; Palmer, Davis, & Hilton, 2009; Palmer, Davis, Maramba, 2010; Parker, Puig, Johnson, & Anthony, 2016; Perrakis, 2008). Dancy (2010a) provided an explanation for this behavior by noting that African American male students are likely to avoid requesting assistance because asking for help conflicts with their definition of manhood. In other words, asking for help is viewed as a sign of weakness or violation of manhood (Dancy, 2010b).

           Other challenges may be external of the college environment. For instance, family support has proven to be a significant motivator for African American male college students to persist towards college graduation (Brooms & Davis, 2017; Gasman, Nguyen & Commodore, 2017; Kim & Hargove, 2013). However, family influence can also have the reverse effect. Negative reinforcement by family members in relations to academic pursuit can cause African American male college students to withdraw from college (Hinton, 2015), or they may withdraw for reasons pertaining to family, especially at community college students (Wood, 2012b).           

           The student experience begins upon initial contact with the institution rather than the first class session. It is possible for African American male college students to encounter the previously discussed challenges prior to initial engagement with faculty which may lead to doubts concerning their potentials to be academically successful or belonging in college. To be effective in teaching, faculty must be aware of this possibility and prepared to assist students in building their confidence through validating experiences. Just as a farmer plows the ground before planting a seed, it may be necessary for faculty to provide validation prior to applying more traditional teaching while being mindful that the validation process is a continuous one. Nevertheless, prior to providing validation, faculty must have a working definition of it.

The Validation Theory

           Validation is defined as an “enabling, confirming and supportive process initiated by in- and out-of-class agents that foster academic and interpersonal development (Rendon, 1994, p. 44). Rendon (1994) noted two types of validations: academic and interpersonal. Academic validation are actions of an academic nature that assist students in gaining confidence in their academic abilities and trusting their capabilities to learn. For example, this type of validation is provided when a student scores well on the first assignment of a course. By making a satisfactory score, the student may begin to believe, or confirm, that he is capable of achieving academic success. On the other hand, interpersonal validation are actions of an interpersonal nature that support social and personal adaptation to the college environment. This type of validation may be provided by peers, faculty, or other institutional agents in which students come in contact. For example, developing friendships with classmates or good rapport with the instructor or professor may encourage students to believe they belong in college. Additionally, out-of-class interpersonal validation can be gained through positive involvement in extracurricular activities (Wood & Williams, 2013), membership in fraternities (Lloyd, 2009), or mentorship by student affairs professionals (Spurgeon, 2009). Both academic and interpersonal validations are necessary to promote the academic success of African American male college students within the classroom (Rendon, 1994; Rendon, 2002; Rendón-Linares & Muñoz, 2011). However, given that social integration is considered a prerequisite to academic integration (Tinto, 1975; Tinto, 1993), interpersonal validation may prove to be the most critical. 

Recommendations for Teaching Practitioners

           There are many strategies that faculty can utilize to support the validation of African American male college students. Yet, this article will discuss only five of them. They are maintaining high expectations of learners, avoiding the assumption that ethnicity indicates culture, fostering inclusive classroom environments, utilizing advisement opportunities, and acting as a liaison between students and support services. Each recommendation is discussed in further details. 

Maintaining High Expectations of Learners

           Faculty should avoid underestimating the learning capabilities of African American male students. Hutchinson (2011) and Perrakis (2008) stated that academic ability cannot be determined by ethnicity or gender, while Rendon (1994) proclaimed that every student should be considered a capable learner that add value to the learning environment. On the other hand, Kalsner (1991) noted that most withdrawals from college are by students in good academic standings. Therefore, one sentiment appears to be clear; the low success rate of African American male college students is not necessarily related to academic ability. Rather, maintaining high expectations of African American male college has proven to elevate degrees of student engagement and academic performance (Flowers, 2015; Pelzer, 2016; Wood, McNiff, & Coleman, 2018), but low expectations have been found to have the opposite effect (Burrell, Fleming, Fredricks, & Moore, 2015; Wood, 2013). 

Avoiding the Assumption that Ethnicity Indicates Culture

           Hutchinson (2011) noted that African American learners tend to come from a variety of backgrounds and represent many subcultures. For example, Oliver (2013) stated that African American males in rural communities often originate from a different culture than the ones in urban settings and primarily learn of “Black Popular Culture” through the fame of hip hop music. Hutchinson (2011) further suggested that some learners maintain very high levels of individualism which cause them to avoid conforming to any specific subculture. For these reasons, faculty should not assume that African American ethnicity automatically indicate one specific culture or that all African American male students share the same culture, background, or interests. Given the potential variance in cultures and backgrounds, African American faculty should be mindful in assuming they share the same culture as their students. Instead, faculty should strive to get to know their students on an individual basis as much as possible to become familiar with their ambitions, goals, and values (Gasmen, Nguyen, Conrad, Lundberg, & Commodore, 2017). This feat can be achieved through brief, but frequent, informal conversations which may enlighten faculty of the most effective teaching strategies for motivating and aiding each student (Fisher & Frey, 2012). Faculty can also make use of getting-to-know-you forums within learning management systems to obtain key information about each student and use it throughout the semester.

Fostering Inclusive Classroom Environments

           Drayton and Prins (2011) found that African American male college students may demonstrate a lack of engagement in academics as means of resisting an alienating social environment. Therefore, faculty should aim to foster inclusive learning atmospheres. One means of accomplishing this objective is incorporating culturally inclusive curricula (Drayton & Prins, 2011; Emetu, 2019; Harper & Davis, 2012; Hughes, 2010; Rendon, 2002; Von Robertson & Chaney, 2015). Considering that African American male students may come from varying subcultures, this inclusion should be individualized as much as possible and based upon discussions and feedback obtained directly from students. For this reason, allowing students to have open discussions concerning their cultures and encountered challenges is crucial to inclusion efforts (Burrell, Fleming, Fredricks, & Moore, 2015; Harper & Gasman, 2008; Harper & Kukendall, 2012). Such discussions may not only serve as an informative method for teaching decisions but allow students opportunity to validate one another as well. Utilizing the classroom as a platform for diverse student interaction has been found to promote African American male student success (Wood & Palmer, 2013), and dialog with students of different cultures have been recommended to promote sense of belonging (Wood & Harris, 2016) and improve the effectiveness of the learning experience (Wiggins & McTighe, 2006). Therefore, these discussions could be key elements in the validation process.

Utilizing Advisement Opportunities

           Faculty engagement is one of the most important aspects of supporting African American male college student validation (Banks & Gibson, 2016; Emetu, 2019; Palmer, 2015; Jett, 2013; Wood & Williams, 2013). Yet, this interaction should not be limited to the classroom. In addition to directing students as it relates to courses to be taken from semester to semester, advising sessions should be used to build one-on-one relationships and reinforce classroom rapport. Mentorship by faculty is vital to African American male college student success (Brown, 2011; Fuller, 2017; Harrison, Martin, & Fuller, 2015; Sadberry & Mobley, 2013). So, faculty should use advising opportunities to provide mentoring (Palmer & Gasman, 2008) and allow students to potentially share insight about their integration that they may be unwilling to share during class. Since African American males are unlikely to take initiative to seek assistance, faculty must be proactive in encouraging advising appointments. For example, providing incentives such as extra credit may increase participation. Moreover, advising should not be viewed as being independent of teaching but a validating extension of it.

Acting as a Liaison between Students and Support Services

           Faculty are the most essential institutional agents in the African American male college student experience because no other position has as much impact on student success or failure (Emetu, 2019; Wood, Newman, Harris, 2015). Still, supporting the validation and success of African American male college students is a responsibility that cannot be fulfilled without assistance. Institutions may provide a variety of support services for students, but African American male college students are unlikely to seek them or may simply be unaware that they exist (Wood, Harrison, & Jones, 2016; Wood & Palmer, 2013). For this reason, faculty should strive to establish effective partnerships with various support service representatives that will allow them to make appropriate referrals when necessary to provide needed support, especially in cases of nonacademic matters that may be hindering academic progression (personal problems, financial aid, need for materials or resources, etc.). When considering the significance of validation and support, serving students in this manner may constitute more to their success than even the role of content expert.

Recommendations for College Leadership Support

           Validating African American male college students should not be the duty of one person, position, or entity but the entire institution (Emetu, 2019). Efforts to achieve any organizational goal prove to be most effective when woven into the values and infrastructure (Kinicki & Williams, 2018; Kinzie, 2010; Prystowsky & Heutsche, 2017). Therefore, leadership should be intentional about including aspects of support within their institutional values, objectives, and strategic plans. Strategies for additional support include providing mandatory diversity trainings for faculty (Beamon, 2014; Strayhorn & Mullins, 2012), supporting African American male fraternities and extracurricular activities (Lloyd, 2009; Wood & Williams, 2013), and promoting positive images of African American men on college campuses (Palmer & Shorette, 2015). Establishment of African American male leadership programs has been declared an effective means of achieving peer-to-peer bonding (Druery & Brooms, 2019), overall engagement, and improved academic performance (Baker & Avery, 2012). For this reason, college leadership should implement similar initiatives based upon feedback from their African American male student body.

Conclusion

           African American males have traditionally maintained low retention in higher education for decades. Though the reasons for this deficiency vary, most causes appear to be unrelated to academic ability or learning capacity. Rather, this student population encounter a variety of invalidating experiences before and during college enrollment that ultimately hamper persistence. Validation is key to propelling them towards academic achievement though this need may not be exclusive to African American male students. Yet, when contrasted with students of other ethnic gender groups, social adaptation into the college atmosphere prove to be most challenging for this student population. To aid in this process, faculty should seek to provide African American male students with validation through confirming experiences that are academic and interpersonal in nature. Wiggins and McTighe (2006) described the “coverage approach” to teaching as when teachers act as sole experts within classrooms and serve as “fountains of information” to their students. Yet, this traditional tactic has proven to be largely ineffective especially when teaching minority students (Rendon, 1994; Rendon, 2002; Rendon, 2011; Wiggins & McTighe, 2006). Instead, faculty should allow African American male college students to be active participants in their learning and allow freedom for them to be their authentic selves rather than conforming to an unfamiliar environment. As student needs continue to evolve, faculty must continuously seek new ways to engage African American male college students while realizing that validation will be critical to their retention, especially within the first year (Barker & Avery, 2012; Bush & Bush, 2010; Dukakis, Duong, Ruiz de Velasco, & Henderson, 2014; Wood, 2012). Furthermore, the process of validating African American male students is not a one-time event but continuous process (Rendon, 1994; Rendon, 2002; Rendon, 2011).

Dr. Tony Emetu is an Associate Professor of Business Administration at Central Piedmont Community College, Dissertation Chair in the Doctor of Business Administration program at California InterContinental University, and an adjunct instructor at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.

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