Dissertation
Mentoring matters: augmenting academic success for African American students enrolled in a predominately White institution : a qualitative phenomenological study
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Drexel University
Apr 2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00001565
Abstract
This study examined how mentoring services offered at a predominately White university (PWI) aid its African American students in achieving academic success. The low success rate of African American students at PWIs is well documented. African Americans face many sociocultural challenges, such as family structure, cultural deprivation, discrimination, and lack of access to education and resources. Because of these challenges, these students are often not academically prepared, affecting their chances of college success. Research has suggested that PWIs are aware of this population's challenges and are mindful of the significance of offering academic programs and services that will help African American students to prevail. As a result, PWIs offer academic services such as mentoring programs to assist their students in accomplishing their educational goals. African American students who have guidance from a mentor perform better academically than those who do not have this guidance. Research suggests that although all academic services help with educational growth, mentoring is the most effective academic support service in aiding this population to achieve academic success. Informed by streams of scholarly literature concerning the history of African American students in U.S. higher education, the general practice of mentoring, and mentoring specifically for African American students at PWIs, this qualitative phenomenological research study explored African American students' lived experiences and perspectives of how mentoring services augmented their educational success at an urban PWI in a large city in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. This study included in-depth interviews of 10 African American students to gather a well-rounded picture of their thoughts and perspectives on how mentoring has affected their educational growth. The interview data were analyzed, and the findings suggested that mentoring is a needed resource for African American students at PWIs. Furthermore, the data revealed that many of the African American participants do not feel that they would have succeeded in college without mentoring.
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Details
- Title
- Mentoring matters
- Creators
- Eisha Smith
- Contributors
- Joy C. Phillips (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- xii, 120 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Education (1997-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991020234114704721