In many cases, AVID on the transcripts impresses by itself, as does the college and advance placement courses in the program. The other significant benefit in the advanced programs is that it tends to foster better decision making outside of the classroom, as the students have a more clear picture of their future and are travelling on the road with like-minded peers. (Hubbard, 1999).
Erin McNamara Horvat and Kristine S. Lewis, in Reassessing the "Burden of 'Acting White'": The Importance of Peer Groups in Managing Academic Success, examine the phenomenon of negative peer pressure associated with academic success among African-American students and strategies to combat it. Horvat and Lewis restate a relatively well-known trend among black students to feel that excelling in school can lead to an image of them being considered not African-American, or certainly in not having 'street cred.' Being able to withstand these pressures to 'conform' can have a profound emotional impact on a student's desire to excel (Horvat & Lewis, 2003).
Peer discussion groups offer a great outlet valve for African-American students caught in the emotional chess match of succeeding in school and maintaining their image with friends. The authors' study revealed that students would manage their success with unsupportive peers and that they would share their success with supportive peers within their group. (Horvat & Lewis, 2003). The students in the peer groups often develop long-term relationships, allowing them to chart their progress through school against their 'peers,' develop extracurricular activities together (such as charity drives and peer counseling) and to form a new
(Horvat & Lewis, 2003). Members of the peer group need not 'camouflage' their academic achievement or goals, rather they have created a new society for themselves which does not devalue their experiences.
One strategy that has been proven to be successful in and among African-American students is the concept of the group dynamic in the classroom. Whether the dynamic applies to the actual act of learning (cooperative learning), the curriculum as a whole (accelerated programs), or navigating through social waters that are academically unfriendly (peer discussion groups), for the past thirty years, educators and sociologists have looked to the group as a means to ensure academic success for large numbers of African-American students.
References/Work Cited
Horvat, E.M., & Lewis, K.S. (2003). Reassessing the "burden of 'acting white'": The importance of peer groups in managing academic success . Sociology of Education, 76(4), 265-280.
Hubbard, L. (1999). College aspirations among low-income African
American high school students: gendered strategies for success.
Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 30(3), 363-383.
Vaughan, W. (2002). Effects of cooperative learning on achievement and attitude among students of color. The Journal of Educational
Research, 95(6), 359-364.
Horvat, E.M., & Lewis, K.S. (2003). Reassessing the "burden of 'acting white'": The importance of peer groups in managing academic success . Sociology of Education, 76(4), 265-280.
