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Underachievement among gifted students of color: implications for educators
Theory Into Practice, Spring, 2005 by James L. Moore, III, Donna Y. Ford, H. Richard Milner
In his Afrocentric model, Boykin (1994) identified nine cultural styles commonly found among African Americans, namely, spirituality, harmony, oral tradition, affect, verve, communalism, movement, social time perspective, and expressive individualism. Movement refers to many African Americans being tactile and kinesthetic learners who show a preference for being involved in learning experiences. They are often active learners who are engaged when they are physically and psychological involved; otherwise, they may be easily distracted and off-task. Harmony refers to an ability to read the environment well and to read nonverbal behaviors proficiently. Thus, students who feel unwelcome in their classes may become unmotivated and disinterested in learning. Communalism refers to a cooperative, interdependent style of living and learning such that competition (especially with friends) is devalued. Hence, students with this learning preference may be unmotivated in highly individualistic and competitive classrooms, preferring instead to learn in groups. Communalism and harmony may explain why an increasing number of African American students (especially middle school and high school students) are choosing not to be in gifted programs. They recognize that such programs are primarily comprised of White students and, thus, express concerns about alienation and isolation (Ford, 1996; Moore, Ford, & Milner, 2005). Furthermore, communalism may result in some African American students shunning participation in gifted programs and equating high achievement with "acting white" (Fordham, 1988; Fordham & Ogbu, 1986).
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Accordingly, these characteristics suggest that teachers should learn to modify their teaching styles to accommodate different cultural styles. For example, to accommodate African American students' preference for communalism, teachers can use cooperative learning strategies and place students in groups. To accommodate oral tradition, verve, and movement, teachers can give students opportunities to write and perform skits, to give oral presentations, and to participate in debates. More examples appear in Ford and Harris (1999) and Shade and colleagues (1997).
How does culture impact achievement? Research and theory suggest that teachers who understand and integrate the cultural needs and styles of African Americans into the curriculum promote and enhance achievement among these students (Ford & Harris 1999; Ladson-Billings, 2002; Shade et al., 1997). Table 1 presents teaching strategies that align with the cultural styles proposed by Boykin (1994).
Psychological Needs and Underachievement
We now turn to a discussion of variables in the psychological or individual context. A plethora of work has focused on the relationship between students' self-concept and achievement. It is widely accepted that students who have higher self-concepts tend to do better academically. Related to the discussion of self-concept is racial identity. We propose here that students of color who have a low, poor, or negative racial identity are less likely to perform well academically than students of color who have a high or positive racial identity. In other words, racial identity development (RID) is positively related to achievement among gifted students of color--individuals with high RIDs often have high achievement; students with low RIDs often have low achievement (Ford, 1996; Ford & Harris, 1999).
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