The purpose of this study was to allow students to make meaning of and understand their positionality within an academic setting while providing teachers and instructional staff with insight into personal experiences of African American middle school male students within the context of eligibility. Student voice was the primary form of description for this research. Each individual had a different perspective based on class, culture, age, religion, and environment, among other factors. The individual differences impacted the students’ and my own construction of meaning. The paper is organized as follows: (a) Chapter One: Introduction; (b) Chapter Two: Review of the Literature; (c) Chapter Three: Methodology; (d) Chapter Four: Results; and (e) Chapter Five: Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations. The phenomenological method was utilized in order to conduct interviews and observations of the students within a school setting
