Does Caring Matter?: A Qualitative Study of Urban African American Alternative School Students Perceptions of Their School Experiences, Past and Present

A cultural mismatch among African American school students and their teachers, due to diverse values, norms, and expectations, often provokes inappropriate teacher response to student conduct, thereby inciting disruptive student behavior. The management of this diversity when the environment is devoid of a teacher's sensitivity to the student's life can impact students' behavior, and ultimately, initiate an alternative school referral. This study examines such student-teacher interactions through the lens provided by the analogous dynamics of iatrogenic harm, wherein an intervention by a medical or other specialist results in additional impairment or disease. This study intends to reveal, through the voice of the urban African American alternative school student, how a teacher's response to student behavior can inadvertently create a condition in the student that spurs problematic behavior. What is crucial to positive environment maintenance is the teacher's understanding of how culturally motivated actions can be construed as negative. Their choice to respond in a way that creates positive interaction can help strengthen the student/teacher relationship. Through stories of the researcher, participants, and other students, this study will qualify the unspoken, and glorify the lives of those who might otherwise not be heard.

Name thesis:degree_name

EdD

Level thesis:degree_level

Worldwide Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program for Education Leaders (IDPEL)

Year dc:date.available

2006

Author dc:creator

• Berger, Victoria

Contributors dc:contributor

• Rodney Hopson
• Connie M. Moss
• Daniel Morrow
• Jerome Taylor

• alternative school
• cultural mismatch
• iatrogenic harm
• urban education

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/17

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-1016