Qualitative Residency Defense

Phenomena

The phenomenon under consideration in this qualitative study is how Black male educators perceive their contributions toward Black students' academic performance and socioemotional well-being. Black male educators serve as role models, resulting in increased academic engagement and performance of Black students (Baker Jr, 2024). They set behavioral and performance standards for their students, motivating them to attain exceptional goals. Providing such role models would benefit Black students through instruction and mentorship from teachers with shared cultural backgrounds (Baker Jr, 2024). Understanding these views will be vital for developing strategies to benefit and support Black students while enhancing diversity and inclusion within the education system (Cormier et al., 2022).

Research Question(s)

The following are the research questions that will be used to guide this qualitative study.

1. How do Black male educators describe their influence on Black students' academic performance and social-emotional development?

2. What unique strategies or approaches do Black male educators report using to support Black students' educational experiences and emotional well-being?

3. What challenges or barriers do Black male educators report experiencing in their efforts to impact Black students' academic and social-emotional outcomes positively?

4. How do Black male educators perceive their roles as mentors and role models for Black students in the educational setting?

Theoretical foundation

Critical Race Theory

This conceptual framework was developed by Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado. The theory assesses the approaches through which race and racism intersect with forms of social stratification like class and gender (Bracey, 2022). Critical race theory challenges the dominant liberal approaches to racial justice by emphasizing systemic and structural racism. Based on this theory, race is a social construct, and racism is not simply the result of individual bias or prejudice (Bracey, 2022). Race is an element embedded in legal systems and policies. Therefore, it is crucial to consider factors like the intersectionality of race and social systems and institutions. This approach would help to identify factors promoting the permanence of racism. Organizations and policy-makers could address this challenge through counter-storytelling and critiquing liberalism.

The critical race theory will help frame the approaches to assess Black male educators' views on how they influence Black students' academic performance and social-emotional development. The theory will guide knowledge exploration and analysis processes and provide a lens on how systemic racism affects educational experiences and outcomes for Black students. The conceptual framework will also help to explore and understand how Black male educators navigate and challenge these systemic barriers.

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura's social learning theory advances the idea that people learn by observing, imitating, and modeling others (Bouchrika, 2023). The social learning theory focuses on the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Professionals should also implement other effective measures for reinforcement and enhancing their self-efficacy. The social learning theory will help to understand the techniques Black male educators utilize to support Black students' academic and social-emotional development. The theory sheds light on how these educators play a vital part as role models and how their behavior influences students' learning and development.

Role Model Theory

The role model theory by sociologists Robert K. Merton and Albert Bandura considers how people look up to and emulate their role models, including their behaviors, attitudes, and values (Ismail et al., 2022). The theory advances that role models can significantly influence an individual's aspirations, behaviors, and self-concept. The theory will help evaluate how Black male educators view their roles as mentors and role models for Black students. It will help study and interpret how educators inspire and influence students' academic performance and social-emotional development through their presence and actions.

How theories guide the research topic

The critical race theory would guide research to close knowledge gaps on how Black male educators perceive their influence on Black students' academic performance and social-emotional development. It would help to understand educators' views, like their commitment to social justice to provide critical or democratic education in their teaching practicum. Based on the theory, instructors' democratic commitments may be challenging to implement in practice, especially in a heterogeneous classroom (Sibbett, 2022). Democratic education incorporates warranted perspectives and could conflict with critical education that elevates and centers marginalized perspectives. Enacting critical democratic education is a complex undertaking, especially when implementing critical values into practice. The theory will help to identify recurring challenges in practice and contribute to perspective framing.

The social learning theory would guide the research topic as it advances the idea that people learn attitudes, behaviors, and skills by observing, imitating, and modeling others. This theory has been proven to be an instrumental framework for assessing the underrepresentation of African American male teachers and how they contribute to Black students' aspirations (Baker Jr, 2024). It advances that Black male educators serve as role models, resulting in increased academic engagement and performance of Black students. Social learning would help to assess and explain how behaviors, successes, and challenges encountered by African American male educators are observed and emulated by their students. The theory provides a framework for determining how Black male teachers could counteract the negative stereotypes often attributed to African American males in educational and career settings.

The role model theory would also guide research as it explains how role models could motivate individuals to establish and attain ambitious goals, especially for individuals from stigmatized groups in achievement settings. This theory would help to understand how Black male teachers set behavioral and performance standards for their students, motivating them to attain exceptional goals (Baker Jr, 2024). It would also help to understand the effects of historical influences, such as how the drastic reduction in African American male teachers impacted educational equity and student success, especially in urban areas. This issue resulted from the lack of relatable role models, limiting cultural representations, and mentorship opportunities vital for African American male students' academic and personal development. The theory shows the need for learning institutions to conduct targeted recruitment, establish supportive environments, and enact professional development programs for attracting and retaining Black male teachers. These educators would act as role models and provide visible proof that educational and professional success is attainable, motivating learners to pursue and excel in different career paths.

The selected theoretical foundation

The role model theory was selected over other approaches because it covers a more specific scope of learning than the critical race theory, which focuses on broader themes like social justice. The theory also focuses specifically on behavior, skills, and knowledge development through direct interaction between educators and students, compared to the social learning theory, which covers a broader scope of direct and indirect learning. The role model theory shows how the ability of schools to provide relatable role models would limit minority students' educational experiences and outcomes (Baker Jr, 2024). However, providing such role models would benefit Black students through instruction and mentorship from teachers with shared cultural backgrounds. The theory reveals that this issue could be resolved by considering and resolving African American males' barriers to the teaching profession. It also identifies personal and professional fulfillment and the desire to influence and mentor the next generation as significant motivators for African American males who enter the teaching career. The theory shows the need for teachers to exhibit increased awareness of social inequalities and a dedication to social justice by serving as role models for their culturally diverse students.

Relationships or connections between these components

Research has indicated that student-teacher race matches affect their behavior and course grades (Baker Jr, 2024). There is an underrepresentation of African American male teachers whose presence in classrooms could significantly enhance students' attention and gains by providing a positive role model. This aspect would enable Black students to perceive themselves in positions of authority, inspiring them to adopt similar paths (Baker Jr, 2024). Educators could also help students develop self-efficacy by giving them opportunities for mastery and success. They should provide positive feedback and assist students to attain realistic goals and desired behaviors. Educators would effectively guide students in achieving such behaviors in their actions and interactions, enhancing their self-efficacy.

References