Spaces to (Re)imagine Community Consciousness for Students in Detroit

Sustaining spaces that foster community consciousness inside and outside of traditional public school settings is important for school/community ties. African-centered education and community-centered learning spaces are two examples of spaces that foster community consciousness for students in Detroit

African Centered Education, The Maji Shujaa Online Academy: A Descriptive Case Study

The purpose of this descriptive case study framed by African centered theory, is to advance the knowledge about the online African centered educational programming, Maji Shujaa Academy. The researcher is the Chief Executive Officer( CEO) and lead teacher/lead developer of online educational media for the Academy. Considerable private African-centered educators with enterprenueural spirit have advanced and created online African centered global educational programming for the students of Africa and African Diaspora population groups today. Yet the available literature is shallow with regard to the workings of online African centered educational programming. This study explores in which the online Academy makes use of technology enhanced programming within an African centered cultural and ideological context aimed at social/cultural transformation and reconstruction. The study aims to describe how African centered educational parental involvement, intergenerational community bridges, social capital, and the building of information capital, make use of web based social networking and social media in an African Centered platform. This social networking and media have been utilized to understand the ways in which the Maji Shajuaa Academy incorporates a dialectical and dialogical stance. Such stance will counteract Eurocentric cultural hegemony and facilitate self-determined, critical- creative examination, and discovery. All in all with a commitment towards cultural self reflection through an incorporation of personal experience of students, parents, and community in an online African centered Academy were included

Examining the potential efficacy of an independent African-centered school in Atlanta, 2020

This study examines successful independent, African-centered education during the 1960s-1970s and present-day assimilation. SNCC’s freedom schools and the Black Panther Party’s liberation schools offered meals, protection, and quality education. This study seeks to discover what happened to such programs and the efficacy of re-establishing independent, African-centered education. Qualitative data based on case study analysis, interviews, website research, and survey questionnaires was collected. Seven African-centered shule were examined. Out of approximately 1,200 invitations, thirty anonymous participants from the Atlanta metropolitan area responded to the nineteen-question survey. Results revealed confusion as to what are genuine African values and how they should be represented in African-centered education. Although, results demonstrate the need for African-centered shule as safe havens, planning for financial sustenance and institution-building is necessary. In addition to the implications and limitations discussed, this study provides strategic suggestions for future research and recommendations for hybrid independent, African-centered programs and curricula

African-centered education in middle schools: the decision-making process in a parental engagement model

ABSTRACT AFRICAN-CENTERED EDUCATION IN MIDDLE SCHOOLS: THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IN A PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT MODEL by LATRICE N. HICKS DUNN May 2012 Advisor: Dr. David Whitin Major: Curriculum and Instruction Degree: Doctor of Education The ways in which key stakeholders influencing decision-making processes in African-centered schools in urban areas are qualitatively different from that of parental involvement in mainstream schools; these perceived differences influence decision-making in various ways. The purpose of this research is to investigate ways in which parents, teachers and administrators of African American middle-school student\u27s talk about the decision-making aspect of parental engagement in African-centered school settings. Parental involvement significantly impacts student achievement. Therefore, identifying beliefs about parental roles at the school and home level provides some insight into ways in which parents are a part of the decision-making process in curriculum and instruction. Increasing parents\u27 ability to negotiate the education of their children is the goal of this research. An ethnographic research approach was utilized in this study. This pragmatic approach was chosen because of the interest in understanding the effect of the actual role of parents and perceptions about the role of parents in the decision-making process. Three data sources were established for this study; they included interviews of parents, teachers, and administrators. The findings of this study suggests that the ways in which the parents, teachers, and administrators interviewed talk about parent participation in African-centered schools include forms of traditional parental involvement and parental engagement as defined by the research; the extent of parent decision-making varies and is not an isolated form of participation but rather exists at all levels on the continuum from involvement to engagement

Using an African Centered Educational Model and Technology to Improve African American Children\u27s Performance in School

A literature review was performed to understand the ways that African Centered Education can be incorporated into technology integration for the improvement of African American children. With the five components of the Murrell model of African Centered Education, which are identity development process, community integrity practices, practices of inquiry and reappropriation, making meaning practices, and engagement and participation practices, technology integration can become an integral part of improving the education of African American children. Within the model, the focus of building on prior knowledge, reaffirming the positive aspects of African and African American history, and applying knowledge learned to real life situations is discussed often, and is a major component of success. It is concluded that the Murrell model and technology integration could be an asset in a school that educates large numbers of African American children

Africentrism, Leadership, and Human Rights at Indiana University’s African American Dance Company

The need to prepare students to lead in a multicultural, global economy is high; yet there is scant research on the right to culturally relevant education and its potential to foster the requisite dispositions. Human rights, distributed leadership, and critical race theories provided the conceptual framework for this interpretive qualitative study. Interview data were collected from members of the first such university academic and dance performance course. Results identified leadership and shared responsibility as key to participants’ development as artists and global citizens. Social change implications include increased understanding and collaboration across races and cultures through sustained African-centered education. Recommended Citation Casanova-Willis, V. M. (2020, October 1-2). Africentrism, leadership, and human rights at Indiana university’s African American Dance Company [Poster presentation]. Walden University Research Conference 2020 (online). https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/researchconference/2020/posters/43

Culture, Power, and Education: The Philosophies and Pedagogy of African Centered Educators

The low academic performance of African American children has become a staple of the American educational system. At this point, conversations about Black children and failure are merely good ‘coffee talk’ for many. Afrocentric (Africentric / African centered) education is the only culturally centered comprehensive approach to addressing problems of miseducation, but there are complications: often African centered efforts are given short shrift in school systems, ignored in educational research, and most interestingly those asked to discuss or lead Afrocentric efforts are often opponents of the theories. While all of the aforementioned complications still exist, a band of African centered teachers continue to make a difference for students. This article focuses on the philosophies and pedagogies of three African centered teachers who are well-known for their impact on African American students. Descriptive vignettes are used to provide thick, rich descriptions of these African centered teachers

Students\u27, teachers\u27, and parents\u27 perspectives of an African centered program : ÃŽle Omode

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African Centered Curriculum and Teacher Efficacy: Contributors to African American Student Achievement

Recognizing African American students still perform academically at lower levels than their White counterparts, they maintain lower grades in school, and perform lower on standardized tests; educators and policy makers continue attempts at addressing these disparities. One remedy is implementing culturally specific material into curriculum to be reflective of the cultural diversity of students in the classroom. Although research indicates the use of material related to the student’s cultural origin can create a learning environment conducive to greater academic achievement particularly with minority children, few studies investigate the inclusion of culturally specific material in the classroom in relation to its effect on teachers. This study investigates the relationship between teacher’s view of culture’s role in the educational process and teacher efficacy and how this may be related to academic achievement. ANOVA’s and Correlation statistics were used to analyze the data. Results show statistically significant academic achievement differences but no significant differences in teacher attitudes towards multiculturalism and the teacher self efficacy variable