Date of Award

12-2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Executive Leadership

First Supervisor

Jeannine Dingus-Eason

Second Supervisor

Chinwe Ikpeze

Abstract

Despite an increase in college enrollment for all racial groups over the past three decades, the rate at which Black students attend college continues to significantly trail that of White students. A contributor to this gap includes Black students inadequate access to college-going and financial aid information. The purpose of this study was to understand how access to school counseling activities impacted Black high school students college choice decisions. this study included, seventeen 12 th Participants for grade Black male and female students who attended two high schools in an urban school district in New York state. Eight of the participants were non college-bound while nine were college-bound. Utilizing a counter-narrative methodology, data were collected triangularly through interviews, demographic questionnaires, field notes, and school district documents. Data were analyzed using multiple rounds of coding and findings were considered in relation to Hossler and Gallagher’s (1987) three phase conceptual model of college choice and the critical race theoretical framework (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). Findings revealed three major themes. The first suggest that Black students perceive having decreased access to college-going information. Second colorblind college-going messages communicate to students of color that they have less collegegoing potential than their White peers, and the final theme indicated that the level of access which Black students had to college-going information depended upon their level of initiative in the process. Implications for school counseling and administrative practices as well as for future research are addressed.

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