Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the racial identity of selected successful and unsuccessful eleventh- and twelfth-grade African-American high school students as perceived by the students themselves in accordance with Helm's (1990) stages of Black racial identity development and to determine if there is a significant difference in racial identity between successful and unsuccessful students. An additional purpose of this study was to determine if the difference varied by gender. Methodology. The researcher used descriptive and ex post facto research. The population consisted of African-American eleventh- and twelfth-grade high school students enrolled in six schools in Fresno Unified School District during the period August 2000 through December 2001. The Black Racial Identity Scale (RIAS-B) was utilized to collect data. The data were tabulated and analyzed to determine differences between the perceptions of successful students and unsuccessful students as identified by their GPA. Finally a difference was also studied between the perceptions of successful and unsuccessful female students with that of successful and unsuccessful male students. Findings. It was determined that there is no significant difference between the perceptions of successful and unsuccessful African-American high school eleventh- and twelfth-grade students in accordance with Helm's (1990) stages of Black racial identity. It was further determined that there is no significant difference between the perceptions of successful and unsuccessful African-American eleventh- and twelfth-grade high school students by gender. Conclusions. Findings show that there is no difference between the racial identity of successful and unsuccessful African-American high school students, even by gender, in regard to their academic success. There is an inference that successful and unsuccessful students handle how others perceive them differently and this deserves further study.