Yes, I Can: Perceptions of African American Students Regarding Their Academic Performance in Ninth-Grade Advanced Mathematics

This qualitative case study investigated and described the perceptions of successful African American students who gained and sustained access to the advanced mathematics pipeline. This study applied the self-efficacy framework to examine the beliefs of students regarding their motivation and academic performance in mathematics. The perceptions of teachers were also investigated. Data collection included eight student and two teacher interviews as well as analysis of student transcripts. These data were analyzed to answer the following research questions: 1) What are the comparisons between the perceptions of successful gifted and non-gifted, African American students regarding their performance in ninth-grade advanced mathematics? 2) What are teachers’ perceptions of the self- efficacy beliefs of African American students who are successful in ninth-grade advanced mathematics? Results of the study revealed that the majority of students attributed their success to the overarching theme of mastery experience. Additionally, both students and teachers referenced the value of peer interactions during instruction, which serves as evidence that vicarious experiences and social persuasion were also important contributors to students\u27 successful performance. Finally, the findings overwhelmingly indicated that students and teachers perceived the healthy combination of high teacher support and high student accuracy as important contributors to students’ success in ninth-grade advanced mathematics