Perspectives on Black & African American Doctoral Education

This study was designed to examine the factors that served to promote or retard the success of African American doctoral students within the Graduate School of Education at an Ivy League university. Guiding this examination was a conceptual framework that included the theoretical constructs of three widely tested theories of undergraduate student persistence and a student-based expertise model. This framework was used to investigate the belief systems that doctoral students ascribed to these constructs and how these belief systems influenced their behavior. Eleven African American students who completed their doctoral programs between 1994-2005 and who had held their degrees for no more than five years provided retrospective views of their experiences. This sample included both Ed.D. and Ph.D. students and excluded the mid-career and executive doctoral program cohorts.