Perceptions of East Laurens High School Black senior students toward the achievement gap

Addressing the achievement gap of Black students is both a challenge and a focal point of education reform. Experts have identified numerous contributing factors affecting the academic achievement of Black students as well as strategies and practices for diminishing the achievement gap. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative research study was to explore the perceptions of Black senior students who had failed one or more of the content areas of the Georgia High School Graduation Tests towards factors contributing to their underachievement and towards strategies for diminishing the achievement gap. Data collected included transcriptions of audio-recordings from the focus group interviews and the interview surveys. One of the major themes threaded throughout this study was the effect of one's academic track on students' achievement. This study found that the underachieving Black senior high school students believed that they would have been more successful if the school provided more transportation, more opportunities to study, a counselor to keep them on task, communicated the importance of success early on, and eliminated the career or technical track.