Overcoming Adversity: High-Achieving African American Youth's Perspectives on Educational Resilience.

Across the United States, millions of public (K-12) school students from low-income urban, suburban, and rural communities overcome dire circumstances, such as poverty, inadequate housing, food instability, and financial insecurity, to succeed academically (Wyner, Bridgeland, & DiIulio, 2007). They defy the stereotype that poverty precludes academic success and that low income and low academic performance are inextricably linked. They demonstrate that children and adolescents from the most challenging backgrounds can succeed in school, despite sometimes improbable circumstances (Wyner et al., 2007). These students are often referred to as educationally resilient (i.e., students who succeed in school despite the presence of adverse conditions) and constitute an important segment of the public (K-12) school population (Waxman, Gray, & Padron, 2003). Unfortunately, they often go unnoticed, unless they are no longer making satisfactory academic progress (Wang, Haertel, & Walberg, 1997). As a result, high-achieving, lower income students are less likely to graduate from high school, to attend selective colleges, to graduate from college, and to receive a graduate degree than their high-achieving peers from higher income families (Wyner et al., 2007). These circumstances are especially true for high-achieving, low-income students from urban areas, where resources are few and frequently distant. Previous research has consistently shown that children living in urban areas are much more likely to face financial, social, and other barriers that place them at risk for school failure and other problems in comparison to their suburban and rural peers (Chau, Thampi, & Wight, 2010). Yet, despite these obstacles, many public (K-12) school students from low-income, urban areas go on to succeed academically (Waxman, Gray, & Padron, 2004; Wyner et al., 2007). It is important that counselors and other school personnel understand why some students succeed despite difficult circumstances while others fail. Without such understanding, well-intended school policies, programs, and counseling services to improve outcomes for low-income urban students will likely be ineffective (Fraser, 2004). Relatedly, little attention has been directed to the resilience of African American youth. Much of the research on the academic performance of African American youth focuses on both the causes and the consequences of underachievement (Obidah, Christie, & McDonough, 2004; Ogbu, 2003). Although few people would argue the importance of this research, such research ignores African American students who beat the odds and succeed at school. Consequently, relatively little is known about the protective factors or processes that operate in the daily lives of African American youth. Over the last 2 decades, only a few studies on resiliency have focused on African American children and adolescents (Braddock, Royster, Winfield, & Hawkins, 1991; Clark, 1983; Cook, 2000; Ford, 1993, 1994). The present study potentially adds to this small but emerging body of literature by investigating the contextual factors that contribute to the educational resilience and success of urban African American youth. This is not to say, however, that individual factors (e.g., affect, self-efficacy, and self-regulation) do not matter or matter less, but the current study focused on the home, school, and community protective factors that mitigate against school failure, particularly among African American students from low-income, single-parent families (for more comprehensive reviews of the risk and resilience literature, please see Benard, 2004; Fraser, 2004; Williams, 2012). The purpose of this study was to identify the factors and processes that contribute to the academic success of urban, African American high school graduates from low-income, single-parent families. The following broad research question was addressed: What experiences do African American high school graduates from low-income, urban backgrounds report as contributing to their academic success? …