Self-determination and Student Engagement Among Three Black High School Males

Extant research shows that self-determination skill promotion increases secondary students with disabilities' capacity to engage in general education classrooms. However, little research has investigated how self-determination skills interact with indicators of student engagement among non-disabled underachieving adolescents. Furthermore, even though the ninth grade is a critical transition year, no studies in this area of research have specifically focused on Black ninth grade males' educational experiences. The purpose of this study was to understand how self-determination skills interacted with three non-disabled, underachieving, ninth grade Black males' engagement in school. The participants were a part of a larger study, in which the first author recruited ten ninth grade males from a public laboratory school to understand their perceptions of classroom autonomy support. We employed qualitative case study methodology and used a deductive process to analyze the data. We found three self-determination skills as interacting with the participants' engagement in school: (a) self-awareness, (b) self-regulation, and (c) expressing preferences. This study shows that although understudied, Black male students' self-directed use of multiple self-determination skills may cultivate their engagement in school. We conclude this paper with a discussion of implications for practice, limitations, and future research directions.