The role of anticipatory images in the academic success of low-income, inner city students
Description
TitleThe role of anticipatory images in the academic success of low-income, inner city students
Date Created2018
Other Date2018-10 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (221 pages) : illustrations
DescriptionLower levels of academic achievement and educational progress of low-income, inner city students is an affront to human dignity, a waste of human capital, and a threat to our democracy. Despite structural teaching and learning reforms, which have improved the academic success of low-income, inner city students in recent years, large numbers of urban students fail to graduate from high school (NCES, 2018f). Because poverty contributes to low academic achievement, some advocates argue that the academic achievement and progress of poor, inner city students will never improve unless and until structural reforms are enacted to address the effects of poverty and the social and economic inequalities they and their families face (Anyon, 2005; Berliner, 2006; Duncan & Murnane, 2014; Putnam, 2015). While the fight for structural change continues as it should, we must also include in the “family of ideas” (C. Anderson, Turner, Heath, & Payne, 2016) innovative approaches to improving the academic achievement and progress of low-income, inner city students. This study examined the role anticipatory images play in the academic achievement of such students. The anticipatory principle (Cooperrider, 1990) and theory of prospection (M. E. P. Seligman, Railton, Baumeister, & Sripada, 2013) suggest that humans project images ahead of themselves and then use them to guide their actions and behavior. Predicated on the notion that lessons that can be learned from high academically achieving urban students, ten students who graduated from the Newark Public Schools at or near the top of their class and continued to excel in college, as well as the one person in each of their lives who most influenced their educational progress were interviewed to determine whether anticipatory images were integral to their academic success. This study found that high academically achieving students do engage in a psychological process of framing positive anticipatory images of the future with the help of key people in their lives and use them to progress in the direction of their dreams. From an early age, students should be taught anticipatory competence skills and techniques to improve their academic performance and achieve their educational goals.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby James M. Davy
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - Newark Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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