How do Higher Education Administrators and Leaders Perceive Academic Persistence and Achievement of Afro Caribbean Immigrant Students?

Dissertation

Public Deposited

Abstract

This research looked at Higher Education Leaders’ Perceptions of Persistence and Achievement of Afro Caribbean Immigrant Students. The research was qualitative and took a phenomenological, narrative approach. Sixteen administrators, across three campuses, one private for-profit and two public nonprofits were interviewed. The participants consisted of one President, one Senior Vice President, three Vice Presidents, one Assistant Vice President, three Deans, two Assistant Deans, two Directors, one Department Chair, and one Special Assistant to the President. The participants were also multiethnic, comprising eight Black leaders, five white leaders, two Latino leaders, and one Asian leader. The research found that leaders at private for- profit institutions along with some leaders at public nonprofits perceived differences between how Afro Caribbean students persist and achieve. These leaders perceived Afro Caribbean students as being high achievers, persisting and graduating in comparatively greater numbers than their African American counterparts. Leaders in the private institution perceived a reversed achievement gap between Afro Caribbean students and White students, where Afro Caribbean students persist and achieved at higher rates than White students. The findings of this research also challenged the dominant epistemologies of the Black students being under achievers.

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