Educational Expectations that Low-Income African-American Mothers Have for Their Preschool-Aged Children

Abstract

Regardless of the limited resources that often exist in many urban
neighborhoods, research has documented high educational
expectations (i.e. completion of high school/post-secondary
school, admission to selective colleges, etc.) among many lowincome
African-American families. To better understand how
these families navigate their neighborhoods and identify resources
that can promote their child’s educational achievements,
this study will take an interpretive approach to explore the lives
of low-income African-American mothers with children entering
their first year of primary school. This study is significant because
it takes a resiliency, as opposed to a deficit approach to explore
the educational process of low-income African-American children.