1Chapter 2. Literature Review
Introduction
The literature review contains an overview of theories and empirical studies
related to (a) the achievement gap between Black and non-Black students, (b) parental
involvement among Black families, and (c) Black-Hispanic educational differences in theVirgin Islands. Collectively, these three research domains offer various forms ofexplanatory leverage on the problem of why Black students do not tend to do as well as
non-Black students in the Virgin Islands, subject to the limitations discussed below.
It should be acknowledged at the outset of the literature review that there is apaucity of educational literature on the U.S. Virgin Islands. With their low population,and given their unique status in the framework of both U.S. and Caribbean education, theVirgin Islands have not been an attractive research site for scholars. On the other hand,the volume of educational research on the United States, and in particular on Blackstudents and Black contexts in the United States, is vast. This body of research is highly
likely to be applicable to the Virgin Islands because the larger forces shaping the Black
educational experience—poverty, cultural differences, family struggles, structuraldisservice under school systems with Eurocentric pedagogy and approaches, and otherfactors—are common to Black people throughout both the United States and theCaribbean. As such, the literature on the educational experiences and contexts of Black
students in the United States is most probably relevant to Black students in the VirginIslands.

2An Overview of the Achievement Gap
The achievement gap is the name given to the phenomenon of differential
academic achievement in the American educational system. Achievement gaps have been
observed between various groups of students, and are typically measured by scores on
standardized tests. Achievement gaps exist between boys and girls, students fromwealthier families and students from poorer families, disabled students and able-bodied
students, African Americans and White Americans, and many other groups of students(Torff, 2014). For purposes of this study, the relevant achievement gap is the one
between Black students and non-Black students of any race.
Five decades of research have revealed that African-American students
consistently do worse than White American and Asian students on standardized
mathematics and English tests. Current data on the achievement gap is provided by theNational Assessment of Educational Process (NAEP). In particular, NAEP tracks theracial achievement gap for both fourth- and eighth-graders, in the subjects ofmathematics and reading. In 2012, the average Black score in mathematics achievement
was 224, compared to 249 for White students (Appel & Kronberger, 2012). The gap has
closed slightly; in 1990, the average fourth-grade Black scored 188 in mathematics, ascompared to 220 for White fourth-graders (Appel & Kronberger, 2012). However, there
is still a statistically significant gap. One reason why it is important for researchers toaddress the root causes of the achievement gap among younger students is that, once
established, the gap widens. Appel and Kronberger noted that, by the time students
reached the eighth grade, the difference in mathematics scores between White and Blackstudents had widened to 31 points, six points greater than in fourth grade.

3
The achievement gap data for reading are comparable to the mathematics data.
According to NAEP, the national average reading score for fourth-grade Black students
was 205, whereas their White peers scored 231, and their Asian peers scored 235 (Appel& Kronberger, 2012). The reading point differential between Black students widened by
the eighth grade, when the average African American reading score was 249, the WhiteAmerican score was 274, and the Asian score was 275 (Appel & Kronberger, 2012).
Mathematics and reading are foundational academic skills, which is why it isnecessary to devote special attention to them. However, NAEP has also established theexistence of a statistically significant gap between Black and non-Black students in arts,civics, economics, geography, science, U.S. history, and writing. These statistics, which
are based on national data, should be considered as conclusive proof of a racial
achievement gap between Black students and students of other races.
Theories Explaining the Achievement Gap
The previous section of the literature review contained a description and statistical
exploration of the achievement gap between Black and non-Black students. The purposeof this section of the review is to examine theories that attempt to explain theachievement gap. These theories not only examine the root problem of the achievement
gap, but also create a context for examining the role of parental involvement and student
achievement in Black families.
Discredited genetic-biological theories.
The 19th century saw the emergence of scientific racism, which construed Blackpeople as inferior to White people on the basis of inborn biological factors. Support forscientific racism lessened given scientific proof that innate intelligence, or g, was no4
different between Black and White people (Borg, Mary, & Harriet, 2012). In addition,scientific racism was weakened by scientific discoveries that the concept of race isweaker than once thought; for example, there are many people with stereotypically Blackfeatures of European descent (Cooley Fruehwirth, 2013). These two developments—
psychometric proof that innate intelligence does not vary across races, and thediscrediting of racial typology—reduced most of the support for scientific racism. Even
though scientific racism has no genuine support in recent scientific literature, scientificracism should be acknowledged as the first theory that attempted to explain theachievement gap between African-American and White American students (Davis,2012).
The school failure explanation.
In the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement, educational researchers argued
that the academic differences between African-American and White American students
were due to the existence of a separate and unequal system of education. Between thefirst arrival of Black people on the American continent, as slaves in the 16th century, andbetween 1863, Blacks had no legal right to education in the United States (Kaniuka,2012). Two years after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, the United States
Congress created the Freedmen’s Bureau, which for the first time created a formal systemof education for Blacks (O'Sullivan, 2013).
During Reconstruction, there was a brief period of time during which 17 states
had a single educational system (O'Sullivan, 2013). However, starting in 1876, the socalled Jim Crow laws institutionalized segregation in the American school system, and in
1896, the Supreme Court’s decision of Plessy v. Ferguson created a nationwide basis for5school segregation (Rojas-LeBouef & Slate, 2012). It was not until 1954, with theSupreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, that formal school
segregation came to an end (Rojas-LeBouef & Slate, 2012). During the 1950s and 1960s,
scholars argued that, when schools were integrated and reformed, Black students would
no longer have an achievement gap with White students (Rios, 2012). This hypothesis
was, at least in the minds of some researchers, disconfirmed when the achievement gap
continued to persist into the 2000s (Kinsler, 2013). In response to statistical data about
the achievement gap, some researchers abandoned the school failure explanation,
whereas other researchers argued that schools, although integrated, were still failingBlack children (Meyers, 2012).
In the contemporary literature, school failure theorists place emphasis on anumber of crucial facts. First, although schools are integrated, curricula remain
dominated by textbooks, teaching methods, tests, and assumptions that are aligned withWhite majority culture (Jeynes, 2014). Second, there is a national disparity between thenumber of White teachers and the number of Black teachers (Hartney & Flavin, 2014).
Researchers have emphasized that Blacks tend to enter school in need of mentors and rolemodels who might have been absent from their homes and communities, and that Blackteachers inspire and support Black students (Hall Mark, 2013). Thus, by not hiring Blackteachers in proportion to the Black population, schools might be depriving Black childrenof much-needed mentorship and guidance (Griner & Stewart, 2013). Third, the quality ofschools is associated with funding, and poorer schools are often located in urbanneighborhoods of color (Condron, Tope, Steidl, & Freeman, 2013). Given the various
obstacles to busing students out of their districts, there is a high statistical likelihood that

6Black students, who are poorer than White and Asian students, will attend a budgetchallenged school that cannot provide as high a quality of education (Condron et al.,2013).
Another factor often cited by school failure theorists is that White teachers are notas invested in their Black students (Hyson, 2008). This claim ought to be considered
distinctly from school failure theorists’ viewpoints about cultural bias, school funding,and teaching hiring issues, for all three of which there is sound evidence (Borg et al.,2012; Davis, 2012; Durham, 2012; Jeynes, 2014). The claim that White teachers do notcare as much about their Black students is a more controversial one, and has been
circulating in various formats for quite a while. Some theorists suggest that there is anactive racial animus between White teachers and Black students; this animus need not beovert, but can manifest itself in subtle, sometimes unconscious assumptions about the
intelligence of Black students (Cooley Fruehwirth, 2013). Other researchers have argued
that, if such an animus is widespread among White teachers, then it is a self-fulfilling
prophecy (Diette, 2012). Research has demonstrated that teachers’ opinions of theirstudents shape their performance, for both good and ill (Dodson, 2012). A widespreadargument in the literature asserts that, even if White teachers are devoid of any overt or
subtle racism targeting Black students, Black teachers are still better motivators andteachers of Black children (Ispa-Landa, 2013; Julie, 2012; Marsh, Chaney, & Jones,2012; Theron, 2013).
The sociocultural explanation.
The sociocultural explanation of the achievement gap takes social and culturaldifferences between the Black community and other communities as its starting point.

7For example, researchers have observed that non-Black families are, in comparison toBlack families, more likely to have two parents who function as role models in the life of
the child (Chaney, 2014). Research has also demonstrated that, when both parents
interact with their children in a consistent fashion, children learn vocabulary more
quickly. In addition, two parents can provide better pre-school preparation by reading totheir children, co-playing, and imparting knowledge (Cokley et al., 2014; Gibson,Wilson, Haight, Kayama, & Marshall, 2014; Marsh et al., 2012). Thus, according tosociocultural theorists, one of the roots of the achievement gap arises from family
differences (Cokley et al., 2014; Gibson et al., 2014; Marsh et al., 2012).
Another aspect of the sociocultural explanation involves educational values. Some
theorists have argued that Black parents are more cynical about, or indifferent to, thevalue of education than are non-Black parents (Reid, Golub, & Vazan, 2014). Some
Black parents have told researchers that education is unlikely to raise the status of theirchild; others, especially under-educated parents, have expressed the concern that
education will somehow turn their children against them (Reid et al., 2014). Finally,scholars have noted that other cultures in the United States prioritize early childhood
development, such that children are systematically exposed to learning opportunities
from an early age and expected to do well (Reid et al., 2014). Black families might lackthe money to purchase educational materials for younger children, and parents in broken
Black families might also lack the time for interaction, because many single Black fathers
and mothers are working multiple jobs solely to survive (Dodson, 2012; Durkee &Williams, 2015).

8According to social dominance theory, subordinate group children are less likely
to be exposed to the cultural aspects of the world they live in. Without the capital toenrich their children’s lives, field trips, museums, and experiences outside of the home
are less likely to occur (Ispa-Landa, 2013). Social capital results in higher levels ofintellectual and academic proficiency, greater general stores of knowledge about thepolitical and social world, and highly useful social networks. Higher-status parents—whoare statistically more likely to be White—can negotiate educational institutions and are
more able to support their children’s various educational needs (Schaefer, 2004; Tischler,1999).
The psychological explanation.
The cultural values explanation of the achievement gap assumes that, to someextent, Black students are influenced by their social environment. However, thepsychological explanation of the achievement gap suggests that Black students’ personal
thoughts and motivations are just as important as their social environment. For example,
some scholars have argued that Black students are aware that they have reduced chances
to succeed economically in American society, and therefore act to minimize theirinvolvement with school (Cokley et al., 2014; Condron et al., 2013; Grantham & Biddle,2014). The essence of this argument is that Black students make a rational cost-benefit
calculation about school, and realize that being better students makes them unlikely tosucceed after school. There is in fact statistical evidence that education level, regardlessof race, is highly predictive of economic success in American society (Dodson, 2012;Durkee & Williams, 2015; Tambra & Tyrone, 2014); however, according to some
psychological researchers, Black students remain genuinely convinced that school9achievement will not avail them in later life (Marsh et al., 2012). Another type ofpsychological explanation of the achievement gap is rooted in social pressure. In somestudies, Black students have been observed to avoid doing homework, volunteering inclass, and taking other academically-productive actions because of their fear of acting
White (Grantham & Biddle, 2014; Julie, 2012).
The multifactorial explanation.
The multifactorial explanation of the achievement gap is a hypothesis that
African-American students perform less well than White American and Asian students
because of a combination of factors. Theorists who accept this hypothesis argue that eachof the hypotheses discussed in the literature review—school failure, cultural values, andthe psychology of Black students—explains the achievement gap (Anderson, 2012;Biswaro, 2012). Multifactorial theorists see the lagging results of Black schoolchildren as
indicating a systemic failure that encompasses American society, the school system,
Black cultural values, and the beliefs and attitudes of Black students. For example,
Milner and Howard argued that there are “important connections among Black teachers,
Black communities, [and] Black students” (Milner & Howard, 2004, p. 285), and that
weaknesses in Black communities and Black families have manifested themselves in theeducational underperformance of Black youth. According to Milner and Howard, allstakeholders need to work cooperatively, and to negotiate the challenges of the dominantAmerican culture for Black students to succeed.
The main implication of the multifactorial hypothesis is that Black student
achievement takes place in a complex environment, and that no easy method ofaddressing the achievement gap exists. Theorists who believed the achievement gap was

10
due to school failure were certain that, if schools became more equitable, theachievement gap would also vanish (Cooley Fruehwirth, 2013; Hall Mark, 2013; Hartney& Flavin, 2014; Jeynes, 2014; Tambra & Tyrone, 2014; Torff, 2014). However,multifactorial theorists argue that making an isolated change in the environment of Black
students is no guarantee of closing the achievement gap (Anderson, 2012; Milner &Howard, 2004). For example, multifactorial theorists have argued that, even if Black
students attend equitable and pedagogically exemplary schools, their academic
achievement can still be compromised if they live in a social and cultural setting that is
hostile to educational values (Chaney, 2014; Marsh et al., 2012; Reid et al., 2014).
The multifactorial explanation thus predicts that Black parental involvement is
one of many possible success factors for Black students; however, parental involvement
cannot be considered a panacea for the achievement gap. Multifactorial theorists haveargued the best approach is for Black parents to not only intensify their involvement intheir children’s academic lives, but also take more prominent roles in schools and among
the Black community (Chaney, 2014; Marsh et al., 2012; Reid et al., 2014). The
conclusion is that academic change with roots in a parentally-involved household, butalso in a setting of equitable schools and a concerned community, is more likely to last.
Parental Involvement
Parental involvement is one of the most overlooked aspects of American
education today, which is why it remains a problem for all communities and educational
leaders on a nationwide basis (Hayes, 2012). Many parents do not realize how important
it is to get involved in their children’s learning (Williams & Sánchez, 2012). As the child
grows older, for example, there is a tendency for parents not to be involved as much as11
they were in the elementary grade level (Williams & Sánchez, 2012). A misconception ingetting parents to remain involved is that they often perceive their involvement in school
to have to be a physical presence (Adamski, Fraser, & Peiro, 2013). Parents do not grasp
the fact that assisting students with homework and reading to students are ways ofmaintaining involvement in their education (Hampden-Thompson, Guzman, & Lippman,2013). Children who have little to no parental or family support often drop out of school,
become unemployed, or possibly get involved in criminal and illegal activities (Stacer &Perrucci, 2013).
If parental involvement in a child’s education is so beneficial, it is not clear why it
is not being stressed as a fundamental need at schools to a greater extent at the presenttime. There are many reasons for this lack of involvement that are linked to the parents
themselves, and also to the schools. The typical Black family is struggling to deal withmany factors that affect every member of the family, and it is evident that the needs ofBlack children are very complex (Cokley et al., 2014; Davis, 2012; Durkee & Williams,2015; Hunn, 2014; Theron, 2013).
Parental involvement can take the following forms: (a) Working within school
systems, for example, in parent-teacher associations and school boards, to create an
educational culture that is more mindful of Black students’ needs (Abdul-Adil & FarmerJr, 2006); (b) exposing young Black children to educational and intellectual opportunities(Chaney, 2014; Reid et al., 2014); (c) serving as emotional pillars for Black students whoare unsure about the value of education (Cokley et al., 2014; Davis, 2012; Durkee &Williams, 2015; Hunn, 2014; Theron, 2013); and (d) working within the community to
try to spread pro-education values (Milner & Howard, 2004). The literature thus suggests

12that Black parents have many domains for involvement, from trying to initiate socialchange in schools and communities to being full partners in their children’s education.