“Because I Learn!”: An Exploratory Note on the Academic Identity of African American Children

• Main Authors: Matthew Sheptoski, Janice Tucker
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: North Carolina Sociological Association 2019-05-01
• Series: Sociation Today
• Subjects: Academic identity; Achievement Gap
• Online Access: http://sociation.ncsociologyassoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/sheptoski_final_05032019.pdf
• ISSN: 1542-6300; 1542-6300

Academic identity refers to the extent to which one identifies or defines the self in terms of academic-related experiences and can motivate one to engage or disengage from school. Most research on the academic identity of African American students has focused on adolescents; high school students in particular. The primary concern has been academic dis-engagement as an explanation of low African American academic achievement relative to other racial and ethnic groups, white students specifically; the “achievement gap.” As a result, relatively little is known about the subjectively experienced academic identity of African American elementary-aged students: How do they make sense of and understand the student role and what does being “smart” mean to them? Data were drawn from two third grade classes at an African American k-5 charter school on the campus of a prominent HBCU in a small town in the Deep South. Aligning with, yet extending in important ways, the thirty-plus year dialogic tension with the work of Fordham and Ogbu, data presented here clearly indicate this small sample of African American third graders define themselves as intelligent and capable students who identify strongly and positively with the student role. At this stage of their lives, their academic identity is robust; they are engaged, achievement-oriented, and they seem to be saying “School is for me!” Results suggest the school’s proximity to a prominent HBCU in the Deep South may have had a protective effect on student academic identity.