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Access to quality supplemental educational programs for K-12 students in underserved communities

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Access to quality supplemental educational programs for K-12 students in underserved communities

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Access to Quality Supplemental Educational Programs for K–12 Students in Underserved
Communities
by
Simone Erica Dilisser

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education

August 2022

© Copyright by Simone Erica Dilisser 2022
All Rights Reserved

The Committee for Simone Erica Dilisser certifies the approval of this Dissertation

Eric Canny
Monique Datta
Cassandra Grady
Ekaterina Moore, Committee Chair

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2022

iv
Abstract
This organizational study employed a qualitative design approach, utilizing semi-structured
interviews, to understand the experiences of 13 participants from underserved communities who
attended a summer STEM program between 2015 and 2020 and examine whether their
experiences impacted their academic outcomes. The study, premised on Bronfenbrenner’s
ecological model and critical race theory, explored how the influences in children’s environment
impact their developmental outcomes, positive or negative. It also sought to understand how the
permeation of systemic racial barriers impacts access to salient educational resources for children
in underserved communities. Three questions guided this research into expanding access to
quality supplemental educational programs for K–12 students in underserved communities: How
do students from underserved communities who participated in Strive Academy’s summer
STEM program perceive their experience? Based on students’ perceptions, what role does Strive
Academy’s summer STEM program play in improving students’ academic outcomes? Based on
students’ perceptions, how does Strive Academy’s summer STEM program help students
overcome stereotyping related to race and class? The prevailing findings from the study revealed
the positive impact of the summer STEM program on the participants’ academic outcomes and
underscored the organization as offering an exemplar supplemental educational program to
students in underserved communities. Additionally, the study highlighted an opportunity for the
organization to reimagine its supplemental educational program in a move toward a culturally
inclusive design comprising antiracist and antibias components. The recommendations presented
aim to improve and expand Strive Academy’s summer STEM program to reach more
underserved communities. Finally, the study offered considerations for future research, salient to
addressing the problem of practice.
v

Keywords: supplemental educational programs, afterschool programs, ecological model, critical
race theory, academic outcomes

vi
Dedication
To Clementine Maragh, my beloved grandmother—words fail to express the depth and
breadth of the impact of your love and nurturing. I am at this milestone because of your
selflessness and sacrifices. How I wish you were alive to see me now.

vii

Acknowledgments
To God for the enabling grace to get to this milestone.
Special thanks to Dr. Ekaterina Moore, my dissertation chair, for your scholarly wisdom,
guidance and support during this journey. Your thorough and insightful feedback enabled me to
think deeper about my writing and the final product. To my committee members: Dr. Eric
Canny, thank you for your tutelage during two semesters of program that positioned me to
succeed through the rest of the program and for your guidance during the dissertation process;
Dr. Monique Datta, for being one of the best aspects of this program’s leadership. Your impact
has been felt since the first semester and throughout my dissertation journey, and to Dr.
Cassandra Grady, thank you for your guidance, support, and for being a part of this incredible
journey. Special thanks to Dr. Christopher Riddick for your review of my drafts and encouraging
feedback.
To my boss, spiritual leader, and mentor, Alton Trimble. You are etching an indelible
mark on my life with each new assignment, faith in my capability, the level of trust you place in
me, and for building a learning organization where I get to work and hone my leadership skills
daily. Thank you for your support, guidance and encouragement during this journey and most of
all, for giving me the flexibility in my work schedule to accommodate my academic schedule.
To Myella Leiba, my cohort 17 comrade. Seriously, I cannot imagine this arduous
doctoral journey without you. Your discipline and focus are unparalleled. I love our
comradeship, daily communication and the checking in on each other’s writing progress and our
pursuit to be the best version of ourselves. I am looking forward to our postdoctoral friendship
and the impact we will make as we continue standing on the shoulders of so many amazing and
strong women.

viii

To my Cohort 17 Sista circle, Christina Bachelor, Hayley Haywood, Lovesun Parent and
Shante Lampkin, your support and friendship helped make this journey bearable, especially
during the social and racial unrest, coupled with the COVID-19 exhaustion. Thank you for the
listening ears and for being a sounding board, making the racial innuendos and microaggressions
we encountered springboards to push harder and further. To the entire cohort 17, each of you was
an important nugget in my journey to degree completion, and those in cohort 16 who embraced
me as part of your group during the final leg of this journey; thank you. You have made a mark
on my journey that I will not forget.
To Julieatte Shamell, who mothered me during this laborious and demanding journey,
checking on me and loving me as your own child, thank you! To my friend, Gloria Harper, thank
you for the daily communications, the kind words of encouragement and your confidence in me.
To my extended family, my church family, and my friends, thank you for your words of
encouragement and unwavering faith in me. I could not have achieved this milestone without
you.
To all participants who willingly agreed to share your experiences so that this dissertation
could be brought to fruition. Each of you have forever impacted my life and my fight. I know
you are and will continue to be change makers. To the program directors and all staff of my
organization. Thank you for making my work enjoyable and rewarding daily.

ix

Table of Contents
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv
Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... vi
Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................... vii
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. xi
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... xii
Chapter One: Introduction to the Study .......................................................................................... 1
Background of the Problem ................................................................................................ 2
Context of the Study ........................................................................................................... 3
Purpose of the Project and Research Questions .................................................................. 6
Significance of the Study .................................................................................................... 7
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology .................................................... 8
Definition of Terms ........................................................................................................... 10
Organization of the Study ................................................................................................. 12
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature ........................................................................................ 13
Historical Context: Supplemental Educational Programs ................................................. 13
Impact of Access to and Participation in Quality Supplemental Educational Programs .. 15
The Disproportionality of Access to Quality Educational Resources .............................. 22
Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................... 29
Summary ........................................................................................................................... 37
Chapter Three: Methodology ........................................................................................................ 38
Research Questions ........................................................................................................... 38
Overview of Design .......................................................................................................... 39

x

Research Setting ................................................................................................................ 40
The Researcher .................................................................................................................. 41
Data Sources ..................................................................................................................... 42
Credibility and Trustworthiness ........................................................................................ 47
Ethics 48
Limitations and Delimitations ........................................................................................... 49
Chapter Four: Findings and Discussions ...................................................................................... 51
Participants ........................................................................................................................ 51
Findings for Research Question 1 ..................................................................................... 59
Discussion for Research Question 1 ................................................................................. 69
Findings for Research Question 2 ..................................................................................... 71
Discussion for Research Question 2 ................................................................................. 84
Findings for Research Question 3 ..................................................................................... 86
Discussion for Research Question 3 ................................................................................. 96
Summary of Overall Findings ........................................................................................... 98
Chapter Five: Recommendations ................................................................................................ 100
Recommendations for Future Research .......................................................................... 116
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 117
References ................................................................................................................................... 119
Appendix A: Interview Protocols ............................................................................................... 135
Appendix B: Email to Participants ............................................................................................. 140
Appendix C: Informed Consent .................................................................................................. 141

xi
List of Tables
Table 1: Data Sources ................................................................................................................... 40
Table 2: List of Participants and Background Information .......................................................... 52
Table 3: List of Participants and Their K–12 School Information ............................................... 58
Table 4: Organization and and Stakeholder’s Proposed SMART Goals .................................... 112

xii

List of Figures
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework ................................................ ……………………………….31
Figure 2: Participants’ Description of Their Experience at Strive Academy ............................... 60
Figure 3: Salient Attributes of Strive Academy’s Summer STEM Program as Shared by
the Participants ............................................................................................................ 101

Figure 4: Revised Model Promoting a DEI Centered Environment ........................................... 105
Figure 5: Kleinrock’s (2021) Identity Map ................................................................................. 107
Figure 6: New World Kirkpatrick Model Used in Designing and Monitoring the
Marketing Campaign .................................................................................................. 113

1

Chapter One: Introduction to the Study
Parents across the United States seek the support of supplemental educational programs
to provide an academically enriching and safe environment for their children during out-of-
school hours (Afterschool Alliance, 2017). Supplemental educational programs, also known as
out-of-school or afterschool programs, provide a safe, nurturing, and academically enriching
environment for children before school, after school, and during the summer (Strawhun et al.,
2014). Research indicates that what children do during out-of-school hours has significant
implications on their overall academic, social, and personal development (Durlak et al., 2010).
The authors posited that children benefit from structured programs promoting positive
engagement, improving academic performance, and providing a safe and enriching environment.
Kneebone et al. (2011) found that where children live impacts the quality of traditional education
they obtain and their access to quality supplemental educational programs influences the degree
of success they achieve in the future. Furthermore, children typically attend schools in their
neighborhoods, and for those living in underserved communities, these schools receive low
scores on standardized tests, have high dropout rates, and are of subpar quality. In many
underserved communities, the demand for and access to quality supplemental educational
programs are disproportionate compared to other communities.
Juxtaposed to students living in higher-income communities, students from underserved
communities do not have equal access to quality supplemental educational programs (Annie E.
Casey Foundation, 2012; Gentry et al., 2017; Malone & Donahue, 2017). When traditional
school systems do not meet children’s educational needs, parents look to supplemental
educational programs to compensate for the deficit (Afterschool Alliance, 2016). However, the
options are limited in underserved communities comprising predominantly Black and Latinx
2

students, contributing to higher high school dropout rates, greater barriers to college entry, and
limits placed on students realizing their full potential. The present research comprises an
evaluation study of a quality supplemental educational program that provides students with
educational resources typically lacking in underserved communities.
Background of the Problem
Students living in underserved communities have historically experienced
disproportionality in access to quality educational resources compared to their peers in other
communities (Scott et al., 2018). Research shows that participation in quality supplemental
educational programs improves learning and academic outcomes for K–12 students, accounting
for higher high school graduation rates and college acceptance and completion (Farmer-Hinton et
al., 2009; Shernoff, 2010). Nevertheless, in 2016, only 46% of students graduating high school
from underserved communities enrolled in postsecondary institutions compared to 78% of
students from higher-income families (Cahalan et al., 2018). This problem of practice addresses
expanding access to quality supplemental educational programs for K–12 students in
underserved communities. The evidence highlights disparity due to systemic racial barriers
present in underserved communities resulting in disproportionality in access to funding and other
resources needed to create and administer quality supplemental educational programs (Cornelli-
Sanderson & Richards, 2010; Gandolfi et al., 2021; McNamara et al., 2020).
Dorn et al. (2020) highlighted that the long-term effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on
the achievement gaps among students in underserved communities compared to higher-income
communities speaks further to the need for equal access to quality supplemental educational
programs. Afterschool Alliance’s (2020) research underscored the significance of supplemental
educational programs in offering academic resources and support to K–12 students during the
3

pandemic when traditional schools curtailed curriculum and face to face learning, impacting
families in underserved communities. Furthermore, systemic racial barriers exacerbated the
digital divide and inequality experienced by K–12 students in these communities limiting access
to required resources conducive to learning (Gandolfi et al., 2021). Gordon and Cui (2018)
revealed that the intersectionality of race and neighborhood has influenced academic outcomes.
Accordingly, the quality of education available to children and the opportunities contributing to
academic success are corollary to the communities in which they live, and as a result, those
living in underserved communities are at a disadvantage.
Context of the Study
This organizational study explored expanding access to quality supplemental educational
programs for students in underserved communities and employed a qualitative design approach
in understanding the experiences of students who participated in Strive Academy’s (a
pseudonym) summer STEM program. According to its website and promotional materials, Strive
Academy is a nonprofit community-based organization that provides supplemental educational
programs for students in the 1st through 12th grades, preparing them for academic success
through their K–12 school journey and acceptance to college. Strive Academy began offering
supplemental educational programs in the early 2000s as an affiliate to a local community church
that provides a significant portion of Strive Academy’s financial and management support, and
assists with recruiting students from its congregation and neighboring communities for the
programs. Additional funding for Strive Academy originates from grants, including an annual
partnership with a local university, and donations from individuals and corporations. Strive
Academy’s mission underscores bridging the achievement gaps in underserved communities,
comprising primarily Black and Latinx students, by providing access to quality educational
4

programs and resources that supplement the traditional school curriculum and creating a leveled
playing field for students in these communities.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Strive Academy served an average of 250
students annually through its supplemental educational programs, including a year-round after-
school tutoring and homework program, college preparation workshops, and a summer (science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics) STEM program. The primary foci of these programs
are to equip students with the skills and resources needed to excel academically through all grade
levels, build self-efficacy in mathematics, improve overall self-confidence, prepare for college
entry, expose them to a wide range of STEM related career paths, and enable them to become
good citizens of their communities. The student population comprises approximately 90%
Blacks, 9% Latinxs, and 1% other races from local elementary through high schools.
Organizational Structure
Strive Academy’s organizational structure includes a board of directors, an administrator,
program directors, teachers, tutors, and administrative support, with 100% of the staff employed
with part time status and holding full time positions at the affiliated church and at outside K–12
educational institutions and other organizations, bringing their experiences and expertise to the
organization’s supplemental educational programs. Additionally, the program directors hold
graduate degrees in education, counseling and related majors, and each has over 15 years of
experience working with K–12 students. The teachers are experienced and credentialed, bringing
their classroom management and mentoring experiences to their roles at Strive Academy. The
tutors are primarily current college students. Volunteerism is also a central part of the staffing
pattern, with experienced professionals in various supporting roles, enhancing the organization’s
capacity to administer the programs to underserved students. Recruitment of students for the
5

supplemental educational programs occurs in various forms, through parents sharing with other
parents, staff sharing information with their respective K–12 school systems, and through the
organization’s periodic marketing campaigns through its website and social media platforms,
promoting the benefits of the programs.
Strive Academy’s Summer STEM Program
Strive Academy’s summer STEM program is the organization’s premier program, offered
over a four to six-week period annually during the period when local schools are on recess for
the summer. Program classes are held five days per week for four to six hours daily. Each year,
an average of 70 rising 6th through 12th-grade students participate in this intensive yet engaging
summer program that delivers an interactive STEM focused curriculum, designed around
mathematics as the core subject. The program aims to mitigate the summer learning loss,
improve efficacy in mathematics, prepare students for the new school year, increase exposure to
STEM careers and role models in the field, and create a college going mindset through college
tours and related workshops, thereby enabling students, especially those from underserved
communities, to see others who look like them succeeding.
The program is fully sponsored through partnerships with a local university system, the
affiliated church, and other donors. In addition, parents may pay a minimal incidental fee to
offset some indirect program costs, further discounted to accommodate financial needs. Student
recruitment for the summer STEM programs is ongoing, with parents reserving spots at the end
of the previous year’s program or early in the school year. Student recruitment drive begins early
Spring with promotion materials shared through the organization’s website and social media
pages. Additionally, students are recruited from local middle through high schools through new
and established relationships with school administrators and counselors.
6

Organizational Goals
As the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic exposes the growing disparities in the
underserved communities, Strive Academy seeks to expand awareness to its program services, in
particular, its summer STEM program, to reach more underserved communities, increasing the
number of students who participate in its quality supplemental educational programs. Research
revealed the inequitable access to educational resources due to systemic racial barriers threatens
any recent gains made in closing the opportunity and achievement gaps for Black and Latinx
students in underserved communities (Gandolfi et al., 2021). Thus, the results of this evaluation
study into Strive Academy’s summer STEM program stand to benefit the organization's
leadership, families seeking quality supplemental educational programs, and K–12 school
administrators looking for community partnership in closing achievement and opportunity gaps
existing in underserved communities. In addition, the study of students who participated in Strive
Academy’s summer STEM program enables the organization to glean insights into its program’s
strengths and opportunities for improvements as it positions itself as an exemplar supplemental
educational program and expand its reach to more students in underserved communities, a move
toward closing the achievement and attainment gaps.
Purpose of the Project and Research Questions
The purpose of this evaluation study was to understand the experiences of students from
underserved communities who participated in Strive Academy’s summer STEM program and to
examine whether their experiences influenced their academic outcomes. The findings generated
from this study will be used to create recommendations for improving and expanding Strive
Academy’s supplemental educational programs, increasing the reach to more students in
7

underserved communities. The questions that guided research into expanding access to quality
supplemental educational programs for K–12 students in underserved communities are:
1. How do students from underserved communities who participated in Strive Academy’s
summer STEM program perceive their experience?
2. Based on students’ perceptions, what role does Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program play in improving students’ academic outcomes?
3. Based on students’ perceptions, how does Strive Academy’s summer STEM program
help students in overcoming stereotyping related to race and class?
Significance of the Study
Addressing the problem of expanding access to quality supplemental educational
programs in underserved communities is paramount for several reasons. First, research revealed
that participation in quality supplemental educational programs positively impacts children’s
behavior, improves academic performance, reduces dropout rates, and strengthens the
community in which they live (McCombs et al., 2017; Newman, 2020). Second, when children
participate in supplemental educational programs, they are more likely to excel through high
school and are better prepared academically to secure acceptance to college (Philp & Gill, 2020).
Third, Philp and Gill’s (2020) study showed that parents in higher-income communities invest
their resources and use their influences to ensure their children’s academic success from
preschool to college graduation. Conversely, many parents in underserved communities lack
adequate quality educational resources to guide their children from preschool to college
graduation with fewer choices and limited resources. Fourth, Dorn et al. (2020) revealed that the
learning loss exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted
students in underserved communities, already experiencing gaps in achievement, compared to
8

students living in higher-income communities. Finally, despite progress toward racial equity in
the United States, systemic racial barriers continue to impact underserved communities,
preventing or limiting access to salient educational resources needed to close achievement and
attainment gaps for Black and Latinx students (Dorn et al., 2020). When children are exposed to
a positive and enriching environment early, they excel through high school and enter college
with a mindset to succeed and become productive citizens, regardless of their socioeconomic
status. This evaluation study situated Strive Academy’s summer STEM program as an exemplar,
providing much needed supplemental educational resources to K–12 students in its surrounding
communities with the goal for expansion.
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and critical race theory (CRT) were used in this
study to explore expanding access to quality supplemental educational programs for K–12
students in underserved communities. The Bronfenbrenner model demonstrates the importance
of the five nested layers of environmental influences surrounding children, shaping their
behavior and development through to adulthood. Bronfenbrenner (2009) defined the
microsystem as the first layer of influences and comprises relationships and resources in
developing children’s immediate environment, directly impacting their experiences and
outcomes. The mesosystem is the second level of influences that interconnects the relationships
in the immediate environment, or microsystem, with those external to the developing children,
illustrating how decisions and behaviors in one or more settings impact children. The exosystem
comprises influences and relationships, including policymaking, that are external to the
developing children but impact the decisions made concerning them. The macrosystem
encompasses the cultural values and beliefs impacting the developing children. These layers of
9

environmental influences continue through to the chronosystem, which comprises the changes
across time spent in the environment.
The CRT framework postulates that racism is not an isolated and random act by
individuals, but rather it is the standard order of how society functions, systemically influencing
policies and access to resources for underrepresented communities (Ladson-Billings, 2013),
comprising primarily families of color. Additionally, the CRT framework suggests race and
racism originate from a position of dominance and dispels the notion that people of color
function from deficit thinking and are solely responsible for their poor academic outcomes
(Yosso, 2005). Understanding the environment and influences that impact K–12 students in
underserved communities enables Strive Academy to seek resources to address the disparities
and move toward closing the existing opportunity and achievement gaps.
The Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model illustrates a salient understanding of the
environment and interconnected influences that impact K–12 students in underserved
communities. The reciprocating relationships encountered enable an evaluation of resources
available and needed in K–12 students’ environment to address the inequality in access to quality
supplemental educational programs and move on a trajectory toward closing the opportunity and
achievement gaps. Applying CRT as a framework provided the lens for critical analysis of
systemic racial policies and practices that impact access to supplemental educational resources
for students in underserved communities. It also provided a deeper understanding of White-
dominant historical thinking that students of color, especially those from underserved
communities, enter the school system with cultural deficiencies (Yosso, 2005). Additionally, the
concept of converging interest enables the CRT framework to promote mutually beneficial
10

approaches to addressing education barriers that impact students of color, especially those in
underserved communities (Ladson-Billings, 2013).
This evaluation study employed the qualitative inquiry approach, using semi-structured
interviews, in understanding how students who participated in Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program interpreted and made meaning of their experiences. The qualitative research approach
comprised the purposeful sampling method, defined as non-probabilistic (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016), allowing the researcher to gain understanding and insight from the sample selection.
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) also described qualitative research as premised on the belief that
people construct knowledge to make meaning as they engage in an activity, experience, or
phenomenon. Accordingly, the researcher analyzes words as data and interprets them to
understand participants’ experiences. Utilizing semi-structured interviews enables the researcher
to hear the participants’ experiences and analyze how their stories shaped their academic
outcomes. McIntosh and Morse (2015) highlighted semi-structured interviews as a data
collection strategy that utilizes open-ended questions to engage the participants and facilitate
responses regarding the phenomenon under study. Thus, the semi-structured interview, known
for its flexibility, enabled me to probe further the participants’ responses resulting in an
information-rich data collection, leading to the recommendations pertaining to expanding access
to quality supplemental educational programs at Strive Academy.
Definition of Terms
The definitions clarify key concepts enhancing the readers’ understanding of the problem
of practice and the current literature underscoring the impact of access to quality supplemental
educational programs for K–12 students in underserved communities.

11

Academic performance is synonymous with academic success or achievement. Farooda et
al. (2011) underscored academic performance in their study as understanding “the factors that
benefit and hinder the academic progress of an individual's education” (p. 10).
Deficit thinking comprises the belief that the cultures, languages, and families and
communities’ influences are blamable for the low academic performances of students of color,
especially Blacks and Latinxs, and not the systemic racial barriers, resulting in inequities
(Valencia, 2010).
Equal access refers to eliminating structural inequities in society, including disparities in
financial and social capital (Culver & Aziza, 2020) that primarily impact Black and Latinx
students living in underserved communities.
The quality of the supplemental educational programs comprises attributes such as caring
adults building warm and supportive relationships and a space that offers physical and emotional
safety for developing children to feel at home (BGCA, 2017; Kataoka & Vandell, 2013).
Stereotyping holds negative perspectives toward members of a race, class or group based
on their membership or association with that race, class or group (Brown, 1995).
Systemic racism encompasses the systematic oppression embedded in institutions and
social structures through laws, policies, and practices that inhibit or limit crucial resources to
people of color, resulting in sustained inequalities (Feagan, 2006).
Underserved communities, also referred to as low-income, marginalized, or
underrepresented communities, are areas where the average family income is 80 percent or less
than the benchmarked areas or where the poverty rate is at least 20 percent (Benzow et al., 2020)
and comprise a majority of Black and Latinx neighborhoods.
12

Organization of the Study
This evaluation study comprised the five-chapter dissertation model. This chapter
introduced the readers to the problem of practice for this study, the importance of the study, the
theoretical frameworks and methodologies, and the definition of concepts used in the study.
Chapter Two provides a review of current literature underscoring the scope of the study and will
address current research congruent to the study and the conceptual framework undergirding the
study. Chapter Three describes the methodologies used in the qualitative design to select the
participants and the collection and analysis of data, the ethical underpinnings and the limitations
and delimitations of the study. Chapter Four details the findings of the study. Chapter Five will
summarize the recommendations for improving and expanding Strive Academy’s supplemental
educational programs.
13

Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
This chapter encompasses a review of relevant literature related to the importance of
access to quality supplemental educational programs in shaping the academic outcomes of K–12
students living in underserved communities and the conceptual framework used to develop the
research and data collection process. The chapter commences by examining the historical context
of supplemental educational programs, followed by a study of the impact of access to and
participation in quality supplemental educational programs on K–12 students living in
underserved communities. It then discusses the disproportionality of access to educational
resources in underserved communities compared to higher-income communities by exploring
how racial barriers, costs, and availability preclude Black and Latinx students from maximizing
these programs’ benefits. Finally, it introduces the conceptual framework premised on
Bronfenbrenner ecological theory and critical race theory (CRT) to understand this problem of
practice.
Historical Context: Supplemental Educational Programs
Supplemental educational programs have become an integral contributor to providing a
safe, nurturing, and academically enriching environment for children during out-of-school hours.
Parents look to these programs beyond simple childcare needs and seek programs that offer
academic support in preparing students for college and careers (Philp & Gill, 2020). While the
attention to and demand for these programs have increased over the last two decades, research
revealed that they have been a significant part of American culture for at least a century (Kleiber
& Powell, 2005; Maloney et al., 2009; Vandell et al., 2005). As the studies indicated, during the
1930s through 1960s, changes to the adult labor force, reduction in child labor, and the concern
for children’s nurturing, safety, and social development during out-of-school hours led to the
14

emergence of afterschool programs (Maloney et al., 2009; Toomey, 2019). Furthermore, during
the 1980s, afterschool programs began defining the quality standards of the programs as they
address juvenile crime prevention, gaps in academic achievements, and changes to the family
structure with the influx of mothers and primary caregivers in the workforce (Kremer et al.,
2015). The United States (U.S.) Department of Labor’s 2005 report found that, in 2004, 78% of
mothers with children under 18 years old were in the workforce compared to 46% in 1965
(Maloney et al., 2009), and in 2019, 76% of mothers with children under 18 years old were in the
workforce (Pew Research Center, 2015). Additionally, the report highlighted that 46% of
households have both parents working full-time compared to 31% in 1970. As parents and
guardians spend more time out of the home, they look to supplemental educational programs to
provide their children an enriching and safe environment.
Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development’s (1992) report examined the risks and
opportunities associated with out-of-school hours, positing that children are impacted by the
influences in their home environment and those in their neighborhoods and broader
communities. The report revealed that while many American children experience healthy support
from their families, schools, and communities, it is not the same for other children who face
inequities in access to fundamental support and resources. Halpern’s (2002) study on the history
of afterschool programs emphasized how the ethnic and racial changes in low-income
communities impact the number and quality of programs available to Black and Latinx children
during the 20th century. As more parents work outside the home, juggling myriad personal and
professional challenges, and as low-income communities become less safe, the demand for
afterschool programs increases. This program demand competes for the limited financial
resources available to provide quality enriching programs (Halpern, 2002) in these communities.
15

Thus, notwithstanding the passage of time, underserved communities continue to experience an
increased yet unmet demand for supplemental educational programs.
The demand for structured out-of-school school programs that support social-emotional
learning and provide a supportive environment for children gave rise to organizations such as the
YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, 4-H Club, and other community-based programs
(Hurd & Deutsch, 2017). While the earlier programs offered academic support, the primary focus
was to provide a safe and nurturing environment to aid children in building social and emotional
competencies and self-expression (Hurd & Deutsch, 2017). However, as the testing and
academic requirements for schools placed a demand on students and parents, afterschool
programs were also pressured to expand their activities to include academic support for their
students (Halpren, 2002; Hurd & Deutsch, 2017). Likewise, studies illustrated children attending
high-quality childcare and afterschool programs demonstrated higher achievements in
mathematics and reading throughout adolescence, leading to higher income in adulthood
(Dearing et al., 2009; Roth et al., 2010). Students in higher-income communities utilize
supplemental educational programs as enrichment resources for college and career preparation
and not merely for providing a safe environment (Philp & Gill, 2020). Conversely, the needs in
underserved communities encompass addressing the achievement and attainment gaps while
providing a safe and nurturing environment. As students’ achievement and attainment gaps in
underserved communities continue to widen, parents look to supplemental educational programs
to compensate for the deficit.
Impact of Access to and Participation in Quality Supplemental Educational Programs
There is disproportionality in access to quality supplemental educational programs for
students living in underserved communities impacting their development and academic
16

outcomes. Parents rely on supplemental educational programs to provide supervision and
academic and developmental support for their children during hours that they would generally be
unsupervised (Afterschool Alliance, 2014). The study found that 23% of families depend on
supplemental educational programs to provide an environment where their children are safe,
engaged, and feel supported during out-of-school hours when parents are at work. Moreover,
83% of these parents believe that participation in supplemental educational programs helps to
reduce academic and behavioral problems associated with unsupervised children. As the demand
grows, so does the need for quality programming, a lack evident in underserved communities.
Quality supplemental educational programs create an environment where children thrive, feel
safe, build meaningful relationships with nurturing adults and peers, develop academic and social
skills that reinforce positive behavior and success through their K–12 school years and beyond
(Strawhun et al., 2014). The limited availability of quality supplemental educational programs in
underserved communities contributes to higher high school dropout rates and significant barriers
to college entry, placing limitations on Black and Latinx students’ realization of their full
potential.
A Safe and Enriching Environment for Students
Bronfenbrenner and Ceci (1994) examined the importance of the interconnected layers of
influences surrounding children shaping their development, behavior, and outcomes.
Supplemental educational programs are located in the microsystem of the Bronfenbrenner
ecological model and provide education and social resources that are crucial to the development
of children. The relationships experienced in these environments impact both the service
providers and developing children, thereby fostering connections (Guy-Evans, 2020) that
transcend childhood years. According to Hayes et al. (2017), these relationships and systems
17

impact children’s learning and development through a holistic approach. Furthermore, the
effectiveness of high quality and regular interactions of reciprocating relationships between
nurturing adults and developing children shape who they become. Using the framework of
nurturing environments, Biglan et al. (2012) emphasized the role environments play in
influencing children’s developmental outcomes. This study showed that nurturing environments
mitigate adverse biological and psychological problems impacting children’s successful
development and accentuated the need for targeted programs and public policies as interventions
to promote such environments. Consequently, there is a compounded effect that lack of access to
educational resources has on the development of children in the neighborhoods in which they
live.
Kataoka and Vandell’s (2013) study highlighted that the quality of the supplemental
educational programs correlates with the impact of participation and outcomes students
experience. The study conducted on 186 sixth and seventh-grade students over a two-year
period, 78% of whom were from low-income communities, revealed that students reported
improvements in prosocial behavior and tasks completion in programs with emotionally
supportive staff. According to Kuperminc et al. (2019), the relationships between nurturing staff
and students in enhancing the students’ experience contribute to positive development through
adolescence. While the quality of supplemental educational programs is subjective, the authors
illustrated the relational practices of the staff in establishing nurturing relationships with the
students as a critical component of assessing the programs’ quality. BGCA (2017) and Kataoka
and Vandell (2013) also asserted that the quality of the supplemental educational programs
comprises salient attributes such as caring adults who foster warm and supportive relationships
in a space that offers physical and emotional safety where the developing children feel at home.
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Consequently, children benefit from environments that provide supportive and nurturing
relationships, especially those lacking strong support from their family structure or underserved
communities.
Academic Importance and Impact
Access to and participation in quality supplemental educational programs benefit students
socially and academically regardless of the communities in which they live. Gentry et al. (2017)
conducted a qualitative study that assessed the effects of participation in supplemental
educational programs on high-achieving students from underserved communities. This three-year
study evaluated the participants through standardized testing and included 44% of high-
achieving students from underserved communities sponsored through a grant. The result
emphasized that, when given access to the same quality supplemental educational programs,
students from underserved communities excelled academically, similar to students from other
communities who have easier access to these programs. While research on the relationship
between participation in supplemental educational programs and academic outcomes offers
mixed results (James-Burdumy et al., 2007; Leos-Urbel, 2015), a longitudinal study of nine
afterschool programs revealed that students who consistently participated in the programs
reported a positive impact on their academic skills and achievements (Grogan et al., 2014). As
children grow and develop, they excel socially and achieve academic success when exposed to
academically enriching environments.
Springer and Diffily’s (2012) research underscored that the programs’ quality and
frequent participation contribute to students’ engagement and academic achievement regardless
of their socioeconomic status. This six-week study of 719 students in 2nd-grade through 8th-
grade during the 2009-2010 academic year, comprising variables such as regular participation,
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students’ demographics, academic reports, and attendance records, demonstrated that frequent
participation in quality supplemental educational programs positively affects the students’
overall academic performance. The results affirmed that students who consistently participated in
quality supplemental programs reported grade improvement. Furthermore, Hurd and Deutsch
(2017) expounded that the social-emotional learning environment created for children who
participate in these programs, enables them to build nurturing relationships with caring and
supportive adults. The study showed that children’s relationships with programs’ staff provide an
avenue for self-expression and mentorship, empowering them to build psychological safety and a
sense of belonging. Supplemental educational programs provide extended family structures for
K–12 students regardless of where they live.
Supplementing Traditional Education Systems
Supplemental educational programs play a central role in student’s academic
development and outcomes regardless of socioeconomic status. However, students in
underserved communities face greater barriers to receiving quality education due to
underfunding and low-quality K–12 public school systems, widening the achievement and
opportunities gaps experienced by Black and Latinx students (Bridges et al., 2012; Leachman et
al., 2017; McCombs et al., 2019). Therefore, addressing education inequity through providing
access to quality academic preparation resources will prepare students for academic success
(McCombs et al., 2019). Furthermore, Bridges et al.’s (2012) research revealed that parents from
underserved communities look to community-based organizations to provide supplemental
educational support for their children to offset the deficit of neighborhood school systems. The
survey of 753 Black parents illustrated that 43% of the parents seek support from supplemental
educational programs in their communities to aid their children in performing well in school and
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preparing for college. When neighborhood schools fail to meet academic expectations, parents
seek schools outside their neighborhood to give their children better access to quality education.
However, there are limitations for low-income students.
McCombs et al.’s (2017) research emphasized that students from low-income
communities experience widening achievement and opportunity gaps during the summer months
when they are out of school as family income impacts access to summer programs. This study of
43 summer programs examined the effectiveness of supplemental educational programs in
mitigating summer learning loss, especially for K–12 students in low-income communities, and
found that 75% show promising intervention in improving academic outcomes. Likewise, studies
further demonstrated that supplemental educational programs complement traditional school day
learning to support and improve students’ academic, social and emotional development
(McCombs et al., 2017; McElvain et al., 2014; Newman, 2020). Additionally, Afterschool
Alliance (2017) conducted a two-year study of 3,000 students from eight states living in
underserved communities, demonstrating that the students who consistently participated in
supplemental educational programs showed low absenteeism, improved attitude toward learning,
and reduced dropout rates. The study also underscored that consistent participation in
supplemental educational programs reduces the mathematics achievement gap between students
from low-income communities and their peers from higher-income communities. Given
educational resources and support, students from underserved communities excel socially and
academically, positively influencing the achievement and opportunity gaps.
Exposure to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)
The National Research Council (2011) examined the positive effect of science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and STEM-related jobs on
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people’s lives and offered STEM as the driving indicator of economic expansion in the 21st
century. Conversely, while there is a direct connection between economic expansion and an
increase in K–12 STEM learning, about 75% of students in the 8th grade in the United States
schools are not proficient in mathematics, the majority of whom are Black and Latinx students.
Moreover, the study illustrated that the United States trails most industrialized countries in
STEM learning and achievements. Brown et al.’s (2020) examination of a nationwide STEM
enrichment program led by scientists and serves over 4,000 middle and high school students
annually emphasized the prevalence of educational inequity in the United States, resulting in
barriers to access for students living in underserved communities. The study asserted that access
to quality STEM education, including well-trained teachers, is disproportionate for students of
color, limiting the realization of their full potential.
Chittum et al.’s (2017) research demonstrated that a leading characteristic to engaging
children in STEM career fields is garnering their motivation and interest before they reach the
8th grade. This mixed-methods study found that participation in quality STEM-related
afterschool programs impacts students’ motivational beliefs about STEM. Furthermore, studies
showed that investments in STEM education result in high returns in promoting group
collaboration, critical thinking, positive academic outcomes, and increased interest in STEM
fields, among other achievements, for students (Allen et al., 2019; Sahin et al., 2014).
Accordingly, introducing and exposing K–12 students from underserved communities to STEM
education create a pathway enabling competitiveness and sustainability beyond the 21st century.
Quality supplemental educational programs create a foundation for K–12 students’
ecological development, cultivating their interests in STEM education (Krishnamurthi et al.,
2014). In addition, the study postulated that students who participated more frequently in STEM-
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based programs reported higher scores in science and improved critical thinking skills compared
to those who participated with less frequency or not at all. Moreover, supplemental educational
programs provide greater access to STEM-related activities, offsetting the constraints of
traditional school day learning (Noam & Shah, 2013). The authors underscored that expanding
supplemental educational programs to include STEM-focused activities contributed to narrowing
the achievement gaps for students in underserved communities who participate in the programs.
The jobs of the 21st century require skills that speak to the importance of early exposure to
STEM education (Krishnamurthi et al., 2014). Conversely, majority of the schools in
underserved communities continue to be underfunded and poorly resourced, thereby not
equipped to meet the needs of students often left behind in the STEM revolution.
The Disproportionality of Access to Quality Educational Resources
There is an unmet demand for quality supplemental educational programs in underserved
communities as parents seek academic support and safety for their children during out-of-school
hours. However, compared to students living in higher-income communities, students from
underserved communities do not have the same access to quality supplemental educational
programs, impacting their academic outcomes (Gentry et al., 2017). When children are given
access to needed educational resources to aid in their social and educational development, they
thrive and succeed academically, irrespective of their socioeconomic status. Nevertheless, in
underserved communities, these resources are scarce, further widening the achievement and
opportunity gaps.
Cost and Availability of Supplemental Educational Resources
As families seek quality supplemental educational programs for their children, the cost,
location, and availability determine their course of action. The cost of not investing in quality
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educational programs for children, especially those in underserved communities, becomes a
burden on society, including the impact on the justice system through an increase in juvenile and
adult crimes and the economy through lower employment rates, higher healthcare, and welfare
costs (Strong Nation, 2019). Notwithstanding these discoveries, there remains a disparity in
access to quality supplemental educational programs in underserved communities due to high
program costs and limited options. McCombs et al. (2017) found that supplemental educational
programs in underserved communities rely on federal, state, and local governmental agencies for
78% of their funding; however, budgetary cuts and changes in funding priorities of these
agencies adversely impact the amount allocated annually. Leachman et al.’s (2017) study
demonstrated that the formula allocation for K–12 school funding in the United States reflected
45% from local government revenue, 47% from State revenue, and 8% from federal revenue,
with local revenue primarily generated from property taxes, resulting in the incommensurate
allocation of resources to underserved communities. Thus, budgetary cuts and changes in
funding priorities of these agencies impact the amount allocated annually to needed educational
resources in underserved communities.
Ushomirsky and Williams’ (2015) analysis of school funding posited that schools in the
highest poverty districts receive approximately $1,200 less per student than those in the lowest
poverty or higher-income areas. Additionally, school districts serving predominantly students of
color receive approximately $2,000 less per student than other districts. The authors further
emphasized that the widening disparities in school funding translate to disparities in access to
support and resources needed for underserved students’ academic success. Afterschool Alliance
(2014) asserted that higher-income communities have access to quality educational resources
benefiting their residents; however, families in underserved communities experience the
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opposite. Consequently, the options are limited in underserved communities, leading to higher
dropout rates, greater college entry barriers, and widening achievement and attainment gaps.
Strong Nation’s (2019) research demonstrated that $1 is saved and returned to the
community for every $3 invested in supplemental educational programs. The effects include
increased graduation rates and college enrollment, contributing to improved future earning
potential, crime reduction, and lower welfare-related costs. The study showed that the high costs
of quality supplemental educational programs dissuade parents in underserved communities from
pursuing supplemental educational resources. Instead, they seek less expensive alternatives,
including leaving their children unsupervised or placing them in programs of subpar quality
(Afterschool Alliance, 2017; Gersick et al., 2009). Furthermore, the recession of 2007 continues
to have a lasting impact on funding allocation to K–12 schools, curtailing the efforts to eliminate
disparity in access to quality education in underserved communities (Baker et al., 2014). As a
result, the decentralization of the U.S. Education system spawns uneven funding across school
districts, with the highest poverty areas impacted the most. Likewise, McCombs et al.’s (2017)
analysis of the economic benefits of quality supplemental educational programs on students from
underserved communities found that access to and participation in these programs lead to
increased high school graduation rates and financial returns for taxpayers from increased
employment and income. When children are exposed to a positive and enriching environment
early, they excel through high school and enter college with a mindset to succeed and become
productive citizens, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
The Poverty Impact
Examining the impact of poverty on children’s mental, physical health, behavioral and
academic development, Yoshikawa et al. (2012) underscored that it exacerbates stress, producing
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detrimental outcomes. This study offered that the cumulative effects of poverty, when present in
early childhood, can impede development and outcomes through later stages in life. The U. S.
Census Bureau reported that while the annual poverty rate is consecutively declining, about 34
million or 10.5% of people in the United States live in communities of poverty, of which 14.4%
are children under age 18 (Semega et al., 2020). The report further highlighted that Blacks and
Latinxs’ poverty rates were 18.8% and 15.7%, respectively. Moreover, the Annie E. Casey
Foundation’s (2021) study illustrated that Black and Latinx children collectively represent 58%
of children in all racial groups living in poverty, compared to the national average of 18%. This
revelation underscored disparities in access to high-performing schools, among other salient
education and support resources for children living in poverty, impacting the development and
realization of their full potential.
The U. S. Bureau of Labor data revealed that, in 2020, the national unemployment rate
was 9.8% compared to 4.9% in 2019, and included in the 2020 data are the unemployment rates
for Blacks and Latinxs of 13.4% and 14.3%, respectively, while the unemployment rate for
White was 9% (U.S. Department of Labor, 2020). According to Macartney (2011), children
living in poverty are more likely to complete fewer years of school and exhibit cognitive and
behavioral problems compared to children in other communities. The author posited that these
children’s transition to adulthood is further impacted by higher unemployment, perpetuating a
cycle of privation. In addition, Scott et al. (2018) disclosed that schools in underserved
communities lack access to quality educators providing foundational knowledge and role models
for children to emulate. The study illustrated that the wealth gap impacts childhood development
and college preparation and acceptance, impeding future upward mobility of those living in
underserved communities. Likewise, as the U.S. economy thrives, the U.S. Census Bureau
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showed that almost 28% of individuals under the age of 24 live below the poverty threshold
exposed to mental, physical, and economic disadvantages (Matthews, 2020). Consequently,
Black and Latinx students living in poverty continue to face barriers to a trajectory leading to
college access and higher-paying jobs, a contradiction to addressing and achieving educational
equity.
There is a high risk of exposure to drug use and other juvenile behavioral problems for
children in underserved communities during out of school hours when they are typically left
unsupervised (Afterschool Alliance, 2016; Durlak et al., 2010; Strong Nation, 2019). According
to Strong Nation (2019), 70% of juvenile crimes are committed during out-of-school hours.
While there has been an increase in supplemental educational programs enrollment, more than 11
million children are left unsupervised during the out of school hours (Afterschool Alliance,
2016). Hence, participation in quality supplemental educational programs during these hours is
one of the causative factors in reducing juvenile crimes and increasing graduation rates among
students living in underserved communities. When children have access to quality supplemental
education, regardless of their socioeconomic status, the barriers impeding success are reduced,
giving them opportunities to excel through school and beyond.
COVID-19 Pandemic Impact
The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has pervaded families worldwide and impacted
the delivery of traditional K–12 education. Current studies examined the long-term effect on
students, particularly those in underserved communities where the learning deficit was already
ubiquitous, and found that the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the disparities in learning and
achievement gaps between high-income and low-income students (Adams & Todd, 2020;
Afterschool Alliance, 2020; Dorn et al., 2020). Working families with K–12 students face
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challenges of maintaining a safe and academically enriching environment amidst working from
home or managing an out-of-home schedule during the pandemic (Adams & Todd, 2020).
Additionally, supplemental educational programs face COVID-19 related impact posing
challenges to the programs offered, staffing, and the number of students served. Dorn et al.
(2020) evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. economy and offered that
while the average student will experience approximately seven months of learning loss, Black
and Latinx students will experience at least nine months of learning loss, resulting in higher
dropout rates and adding to the existing education inequity. Furthermore, the study emphasized
the increase in lifetime earning loss for Blacks and Latinxs, contributing to Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) decline over the next two decades. Thus, students in underserved communities
face persistent challenges to access to quality education, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Burgess and Sievertsen (2020) posited supplemental educational programs as pivotal to
lessening the learning loss experienced during the 2019–2020 school year; however, access to
funding and resources has decreased, heightening concerns about continuing programs.
Consequently, Afterschool Alliance’s (2020) nationwide study of supplemental educational
programs reported a decrease in the number of students served. The study examined the impact
of the COVID-19 pandemic on afterschool programs and found that at least 78% of program
providers are concerned about losing connection with vulnerable children. Additionally, more
than 80% of program providers need additional funding to avoid laying off program staff. Adams
and Todd (2020) highlighted that as the COVID-19 pandemic prevails, women of color face
added workplace barriers, fueled biases, and stereotype threats due to the intersectionality of
their race and gender. A 2018 survey showed that women of color comprise a majority of
households as primary breadwinners, with 67.5% for Black and 41.4% of Latinx mothers,
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compared to 37% for White mothers (Frye, 2020). Furthermore, women of color experience
higher and longer unemployment than their White counterparts, contributing to the disparities in
providing needed resources for their children.
The Impact of Systemic Racial Barriers
Despite progress toward racial equity in the United States, underserved communities
continue to experience systemic racial barriers that inhibit or limit access to resources needed to
close achievement and attainment gaps for Black and Latinx students. Ladson-Billings’ (2013)
study on critical race theory (CRT) underscored racism as the regular order of society imbued
with disparities in policies and access to crucial resources, primarily impacting Black and Latinx
families. Research showed that governmental policies and historical and societal attitudes
promote racial inequities toward citizens of color, creating normalization of racism in
organizational, social, and cultural settings (Gerlach et al., 2018). Likewise, the U.S. Census
Bureau reported that, in 2019, 14.4% of children under age 17 live in households with income
below the threshold of poverty (Matthews, 2020). The study showed that the disparity resulting
from systemic racism anteceded the COVID-19 pandemic with 26.4% of Black and 20.9% of
Latinx children compared to 8.3% of White children living in poverty. As a result, Black and
Latinx students continue to be left behind as the equity and achievement gaps widen, worsened
by changes in the economy.
Gordon and Cui (2016) examined the role race plays in children's academic achievements
and asserted that regardless of the socioeconomic status of the community, Black students
performed lower academically than White students. Additionally, students living in communities
of poverty encountered greater racial disparity in academic performance when compared to other
communities. Although far removed from the Brown v. Board of Education’s (1954), research
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highlighted that academic achievement and attainment gaps persist between White and Black
students and offered that the intersectionality of race and community determine the quality of
education available to students, impacting academic outcomes (Gordon & Cui, 2016).
Notwithstanding the community in which they live, Black students underperform White students
in academic achievement with a wider achievement gap in communities of poverty.
While the lack of resources in communities of poverty impacts academic outcomes for all
ethnic groups, Carter (2008) showed that Black students experience greater discrimination
because of their race. The author’s qualitative study of nine high-achieving students examined
how race informs their belief in self and achievement and found that students who demonstrated
strength in racial and achievement identities tend to develop resilience and adaptive behaviors
when faced with race related challenges. Furthermore, Umaña-Taylor et al. (2012) offered that
Black students who attend schools in higher-income neighborhoods achieve lower academic
outcomes compared to their White peers resulting from systemic racial factors undermining their
academic achievements. Black students face racial discrimination regardless of the community
in which they live; however, for those living in underserved communities, there is a historical
lack of quality education leading to low academic outcomes.
Conceptual Framework
This research study utilized Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and critical race
theory (CRT) to derive a conceptual framework that examines the interconnected relationships
between environmental influences and systemic racial barriers impacting the academic outcomes
for Black and Latinx students living in underserved communities. The key concepts explore the
influence children's environment and exposure to quality educational resources have on their
academic outcomes. Bronfenbrenner (2009) postulated that the interconnected relationships
30

between the individual and their ecological systems have an enduring impact on children’s self-
perception as they traverse their environments. Bronfenbrenner and Morris’ (2006) study
examined how the relationships between developing children and those in their immediate
environment are sustained over time through reciprocity and affect their social and
developmental outcomes.
As a foundation for the conceptual framework, CRT enables the understanding of racial
inequity that permeates the K–12 educational systems through promoting and implementing
race-neutral policies and laws (Dixson et al., 2017) that disproportionately serve students of
color. CRT frames the normalization of racism in U.S. society to explain the racial inequities
prominent in organizations and social structures (Ladson-Billings, 2013), including K–12
education systems that impede access to crucial educational resources for students of color,
especially those living in underserved communities. Ladson-Billings (2013) revealed that the
design of the educational system positions Black and Latinx students as academically and
culturally inept and viewed from a perspective of failure with the need to apply remediation to
their educational plans. Furthermore, the intersection of race and racism with other social
constructs, such as gender, sexuality, and class, result in different forms of oppression and
subordination of marginalized individuals (Crenshaw, 1995). The intersecting axes of privilege,
domination, and oppression (Cooper, 2017) illustrate how the combination of individuals’
identities provides the prescription for the lens through which they operate. Omi and Winant
(2014) asserted that race as a mastery category has not only shaped culture in the United States
but has also become the model for inequality and difference.
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The conceptual framework outlined in Figure 1 illustrates the pervasive impact of
systemic racism, denoted by the red arrow, seen through the symbiotic relationships and
influences that directly and indirectly impact K–12 students living in underserved communities.
Figure 1
Modified Bronfenbrenner Ecological Model Reflecting Inclusion of Systemic Racial Barriers

The first or innermost circle represents K–12 children living in underserved communities
surrounded by relationships and resources that can enable or limit the development and
maximization of their full potential. Children, as learners, explore and reflect the values of their
environment and those around them (Hayes et al., 2017). As the developing children navigate the
complexity of their environment, they form long-lasting relationships that influence multifaceted
outcomes, both positive and negative. Bronfenbrenner (2009) demonstrated that as children
develop, adults in their immediate environment are simultaneously experiencing changes that
may affect the children’s development and processing of events in their environment. Adults in
these dyadic relationships, including parents, guardians, relatives, caregivers, and teachers,
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become salient contributors to the developmental continuum of the children. The dyadic
relationships expand to include other relevant interpersonal and professional relationships that
are either disruptive or enhancing to the developing children (Bronfenbrenner, 2009). As
children grow and navigate their environment, self-perception and self-efficacy are central
factors in determining their outcomes.
The theory of self-perception, introduced by Daryl Bem, describes how individuals
develop attitudinal or emotional responses based on observing their behaviors and concluding
what particular attitudes may have motivated the behaviors (Bem, 1967). Developing children's
perception of their environment, rather than the objective reality, creates an enduring factor in
their development and behavioral outcomes (Hayes et al., 2017). Children’s perceptions of others
in their immediate environment and interaction with said individuals influence their development
(Bronfenbrenner, 1995). Thus, the perception of oneself is connected to influences in the
environment. Likewise, self-efficacy, another salient attribute in children's development and
academic outcomes, accentuates an individual's belief concerning his or her capabilities in
accomplishing specific tasks (Stajkovia & Luthans, 2002). According to Bandura (2001), self-
efficacy determines how the individual approaches life, including the decisions made, goals set
and accomplished, and the effort exerted to produce desired outcomes. The author further
revealed that individuals live in concert with interdependency on others, working together to
accomplish desired outcomes. Consequently, perceived efficacy influences how developing
children respond to factors directly or indirectly in their environment.
The second circle in Figure 1, the microsystem, encompasses relationships, roles, and
activities experienced by developing children that directly influence them, providing resources
and relationships to support their well-being and development. The interconnectedness between
33

the relationships and resources available in this setting is pivotal to the developing children.
Bronfenbrenner (2009) highlighted the ecological transitions throughout the lifetime of children
that are potent to their behavioral and developmental outcomes. In this environment, the parents
or guardians' roles are either supported or hindered by access to resources or lack thereof
emanating from the immediate or external settings. Supporting systems in this environment
include workplaces, K–12 schools, churches, community organizations, like Strive Academy,
and other agencies. As a result, children develop the feeling of belonging and connection to
people and entities that directly influence their development and behavioral outcomes (Hayes et
al., 2017). Notwithstanding the gaps in access to resources evident in underserved communities,
parents seek support from groups and other influences to meet the developmental needs of their
children.
When groups or communities exhibit collective efficacy, they become motivated to
complete tasks, showing resilience in the face of adversities. Bandura (2001) defined collective
efficacy as a shared belief that individuals can accomplish desired outcomes through combined
efforts. Regardless of race or community identification, children improve in their academic
abilities when adults, especially educators, demonstrate belief in their capabilities to achieve
successful outcomes (Donohoo et al., 2018). Additionally, Hattie and Zierer (2018) posited
collective efficacy as the paramount factor influencing students’ academic achievements.
Conversely, when educators believe that they do not have influence on students’ behavior and
academic success, the lack of collective efficacy infiltrates the students’ environment with a
ripple effect, impacting their academic achievements and outcomes (Donohoo et al., 2018). As
children navigate their environment, their relationships with adults determine their trajectory to
outcomes, positive or negative.
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Yosso (2005) introduced community cultural wealth as a counterstory or alternative
narrative in refuting that communities of color function as environments of deficits devoid of
social and cultural richness, compared to the dominant White communities. The author proposed
that by accentuating the multifaceted cultural depth and strength of communities of color,
educational institutions can move toward a model that no longer views students of color entering
the classroom as at a disadvantage and instead embrace their under-utilized assets. Deficit
thinking blames students of color for poor performance, ascribing it to lack of parental support
for the value for education. Conversely, CRT enables the exploration of the cultural wealth in
communities of color that students employ in developing persistence in the face of racial and
economic adversities. Yosso (2005) defined cultural wealth as the combination of talents,
capabilities, and connections that communities of color deploy to overcome systemic racial
barriers.
The third circle in Figure 1 represents the mesosystem, which connects the developing
children with processes and resources across one or more circles of influence in the ecological
model. Bronfenbrenner (2009) defined the mesosystem as interconnections established between
two or more settings in which the developing children actively participate, becoming the primary
link that brings the settings together. Hayes et al. (2017) postulated that interconnectedness is a
dynamic concept showing the correlation between behavior and experiences in one or more
settings. The academic and developmental outcomes resulting from participation and
connections across the settings in the developing children’s lives rely on the availability of
quality resources and nurturing relationships existing in their environments. Furthermore, the
mesosystem transmits information or attitudes from one setting to the others through direct and
35

indirect links that define the nature of the relationships the developing children experience,
whether supportive or destructive (Bronfenbrenner, 2009).
The fourth circle is the exosystem reflecting relationships and activities between one or
more settings that do not require the active participation of the developing children.
Bronfenbrenner (2009) highlighted that the events and decisions that transpire in this circle of
influence affect the developing children even though they were not present, including decisions
impacting adults connected to the developing children. Likewise, events in the exosystem and
outcomes in the microsystem affect the developing children. In the context of quality
supplemental educational programs, the exosystem includes policymaking and funding entities
that determine access for K–12 students in underserved communities. While children do not
directly participate in creating and implementing educational policies, these policies impact the
quality of their experiences and academic outcomes (Hayes et al., 2017).
The fifth circle is the macrosystem, comprising sociocultural beliefs, values, and other
influences impacting access to crucial resources that directly and indirectly affect the developing
child's environment. Bronfenbrenner (2009) showed that decisions made predating the birth of
the developing children can affect them throughout their lifetime. These decisions may include
systemic racial practices in the medical system that deprioritize critical services for Black
mothers who may resort to alternative health care means impacting childbirth and childcare
(Shippee et al., 2012) or changes to the federal budget that retract funding from or limit funding
to underserved communities (McCombs et al., 2017). Thus, the availability and quality of
support and resources are a function of the culture, public policies, and practices enacted that
obstruct or are conducive to the outcomes experienced by the developing children. Finally, the
chronosystem is the sixth circle, embodying changes that occur over time, influencing the other
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settings and impacting the developing children. Hayes et al. (2017) underscored children’s
transition through the different stages of the school system and the historical timeframe during
development impacting the quality of the children’s experiences. Children encounter transitions
daily, whether from home to daycare or from preschool to elementary school, and so forth, with
each move having different impacts, positive and negative. Accordingly, exposure to influences
and individuals inside and outside the home increases vulnerability, risking or enabling healthy
social and academic development in children during pivotal times in their lives.
In addressing racial inequities, the CRT tenet of interest convergence speaks to the
alignment of those who control the power and resources with marginalized groups to release
access to consequential resources and enact equitable policies and practices (Ladson-Billings,
2013). Analysis of the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) case illustrated the importance of
interest convergence in a move toward equal access to quality education for Black and other
students of color (Bell, 1980). By highlighting the economic and political goodwill of the
desegregation of public schools to those in power, policymakers acquiesced to policies and laws
signaling racial equality in educational access for all students of color (Bell, 1980). Achieving
interest convergence aligns the racial equality pursuits for people of color with satisfying the
interests of policymakers of the dominant White race, where both groups attain mutual benefits.
Moreover, these systems or layers, chronologically ordered from the microsystem, closest to the
developing children, to the macrosystems and chronosystem, furthest from the developing
children, encompass influences salient to their social and academic development (Hayes et al.,
2017), the full impact of which may not be evident until later in their lives. Consequently, an
understanding of the interconnectedness of the multilayers of influences in the developing
37

children’s lives, along with the systemic racial barriers through the lens of CRT, provides deeper
insight into the problem of practice outlined in this study.
Summary
The foregoing literature review explicated the importance of expanding access to quality
supplemental educational programs for K–12 students in underserved communities. It expounded
that by exposing children to a safe, nurturing, and academically enriching environment, they
thrive socially and academically, regardless of the communities in which they live. The study
premised Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and CRT to examine the impact of environmental
influences on children's development, self-perception, and outcomes, socially and academically.
The literature highlighted that the achievement and attainment gaps between White and students
of color, especially Blacks and Latinxs, continue to widen, worsened by systemic racial barriers
(Gordon & Cui, 2016) and the COVID-19 pandemic (Dorn et al., 2020). Families living in
underserved communities, especially Blacks and Latinxs, have historically experienced
disproportionality in access to fundamental resources, including quality supplemental
educational programs. Therefore, the disclosures from the literature provided insights to
organizations, like Strive Academy, in expanding access to quality supplemental educational
programs, enabling Black and Latinx students to realize their full potential.
38

Chapter Three: Methodology
The purpose of this evaluation study sought to understand the experiences of students
from underserved communities who participated in Strive Academy’s summer STEM program
and to examine how their experiences influenced their academic outcomes. Chapter Two
examined literature encompassing previous research in this area of study. Figure 1, in Chapter
Two, represents the conceptual framework premised on Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model
and critical race theory (CRT) and illustrates the interconnectedness of the influences in K–12
students’ environment, impacting behavior, development, and academic outcomes. This chapter
comprises the restatement of the research questions, explains the research design, participants,
and methods used in the collection and data analysis processes. It also provides an overview of
the researcher’s positionality and outlines the study’s credibility, trustworthiness, and ethical
considerations. Additionally, the study’s limitations and delimitations are covered. The findings
from this study, outlined in Chapter Four, will guide the recommendations for expansion of
Strive Academy’s summer STEM program in reaching more students living in underserved
communities and further contribute to emerging research in this crucial area of study.
Research Questions
The research questions, informed by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and CRT,
directed the study into exploring expanding access to quality supplemental educational programs
for K–12 students in underserved communities. The research questions were:
1. How do students from underserved communities who participated in Strive Academy’s
summer STEM program perceive their experience?
2. Based on students’ perceptions, what role does Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program play in improving students’ academic outcomes?
39

3. Based on students’ perceptions, how does Strive Academy’s summer STEM program
help students in overcoming stereotyping related to race and class?
Overview of Design
This study employed a qualitative design using semi-structured interviews to understand
how students who participated in the summer STEM program at Strive Academy interpreted and
made meaning of their experiences. As outlined in Chapter One, the qualitative research
approach is non-probabilistic and utilizes purposeful sampling, enabling the researcher to gain
understanding and insight from the sample selection in addressing the research problem
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The study included the purposeful selection of 13 participants for
one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The interview with each participant lasted 40–60
minutes, with enough time allotted for them to share their experiences and enabled the gathering
of information-rich data for the study. In addition, the probing questions included prompted the
participants to clarify or expound on certain parts of their responses, thereby enabling member
checking. After completing each interview, the data gathered from audio recording and
notetaking underwent transcription, facilitating the identification and analysis of thematic coding
(Sutton & Austin, 2015) connected to the conceptual framework and research questions.

40

Table 1
Data Sources
Research Questions Interviews
RQ1: How do students from underserved communities who
participated in Strive Academy’s summer STEM program
perceive their experience?
X
RQ2: Based on students’ perceptions, what role does
Strive Academy’s summer STEM program play in
improving students’ academic outcomes?
X
RQ3: Based on students’ perceptions, how does Strive
Academy’s summer STEM program help students in
overcoming stereotyping related to race and class?
X

Research Setting
This qualitative study explored the experiences of alumni of Strive Academy who
participated in the organization’s summer STEM program. Strive Academy, known in its local
community as an organization offering quality supplemental educational programs to students in
1st through the 12th grade, including the summer STEM program for rising 6th through 12th-
grade students, was central to this research. As a senior leader in the organization, I believed that
exploring the experiences of alumni would provide information-rich data suitable to assess the
program’s effectiveness and offer recommendations for improving and expanding access to the
organization's supplemental educational programs for students in underserved communities. The
13 participants who are alumni of the summer STEM program culminated during 2015–2020,
and were considered promising students (those who showed potential and excelled academically
during their time in the program), shared and ascribed meaning to their experiences. The 2015–
2020 timeframe was considered appropriate for this study as alumni would be in a degreed
program, with more recent connections and memories of being students at Strive Academy. In
41

light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the interviews took place via Zoom video platform
instead of the traditional face-to-face format, yet still allowed me to see the participants and build
rapport with them as they shared and ascribed meaning to their experiences.
The Researcher
As the researcher, my positionality enabled me to identify with the need for expanding
access to quality supplemental educational programs for children in underserved communities.
As a Black female professional who grew up in a developing country, my low-income familial
childhood experiences shaped my worldview and informed the importance of addressing this
problem of practice. I credit a stable school system with caring staff, along with a community of
nurturing adults, for providing a safe and enriching academic environment that prepared me for
college entry and completion and, ultimately, a successful and eclectic professional career. In
addition, the intersectionality of meritocracy and access to quality educational resources enabled
me to overcome systemic racial barriers that often hinder Blacks and Latinxs’ upward mobility.
While my experience may parallel the participants’, I approached this study understanding that
each participant’s experience is personal and to be interpreted uniquely. To maintain a level of
objectivity, none of the participants were employees of Strive Academy, were ever under my
supervision, or were connected to me directly.
Biases and assumptions are inherent to qualitative research design where the researcher is
the primary instrument in collecting and analyzing the data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). As such,
I asserted the facilitator’s role in this study, giving space for the participants to share their own
stories and make meaning from their lived experiences participating in Strive Academy’s
summer STEM program and living in underserved communities. To further mitigate biases and
42

assumptions, I engaged the assistance of the program director to aid in the participants’ selection
process.
Data Sources
This qualitative study utilized semi-structured interviews as the primary source for data
collection using criterion-based purposeful sampling, defined as selecting attributes that are
salient to the study, followed by finding the participants that fit the attributes (LeCompte and
Schensul, 2010). This sampling selection enabled the gathering of information-rich data for the
study. After receiving the University of Southern California (USC) International Review Board
(IRB)’s approval to conduct this study, I convened a meeting with the program director of the
summer STEM program to discuss the study’s purpose, the criteria for the participants’ selection
and sought her help in reaching out to the selection. As a result, she generated a list of students
who had participated in the organization’s summer STEM program, culminating between 2015–
2020 and met the other criteria for the study. During the research study, the alumni in this group
were either enrolled in a degreed program at a post-secondary institution or recently graduated
from a university. The program director’s history with the organization, leadership, and
knowledge of the students who completed the program enabled her to select participants who
would provide information-rich narratives for the study.
The program director initiated communication with the selected alumni via email, text,
and phone, sharing the background of the study and requesting their participation. Upon agreeing
to participate in the study, the participants reached out to me via phone call or text message, after
which I coordinated the date for the interview, followed by an email that outlined the purpose of
the research, my positionality, and an informed consent form that explained the confidentiality
understandings and expectations for the interview. The informed consent form also included the
43

request to record the interview and take notes to capture the experiences they shared.
Additionally, the email had the meeting invitation with the agreed-upon interview date and the
link for the Zoom meeting. The one-on-one interview established rapport and created a safe
space for the participants to share their experiences, some of which were personal and sensitive.
After each interview, I requested a follow-up, if needed, to ensure complete data collection from
participants for the study.
Interviews
As the primary source of data collection, semi-structured interviews allow for open-ended
questions that guide the participants in uniquely defining their worlds and interpreting their
experiences (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). For this study, I designed 15 interview questions
(Appendix A) that included flexibility in wording and sequence to garner information-rich data
from each participant. In addition, member checking, done through probing questions,
encouraged the participants to expound on specific responses, giving clarity and completeness in
relaying their experiences. The interviews with participants were 40–60 minutes, with each
participant asked whether they would be available for a follow-up phone call should there be a
need to clarify details shared during the interviews. Each of the interviews resulted in complete
and clear information-rich data, warranting no follow up interview. Additionally, each interview
question connected to a key concept outlined in the conceptual framework and the research
questions (See Appendix A). The participants’ responses provided data that accentuated their
lived experiences and the impact of participation in Strive Academy summer STEM program on
their academic outcomes.
44

Participants
This study included the selection of 13 participants from the list of past students, utilizing
a non-probabilistic, purposeful sampling approach. The participants selected comprised alumni
who participated in Strive Academy’s summer STEM program, culminated between 2015–2020,
lived in an underserved community during their K–12 school years, and were either currently in
a degreed program or recently graduated from a university. At the end of the interviews, I sent
$15 gift cards to the participants to show my appreciation for their time.
Instrumentation
I employed 15 semi-structured questions for the interviews, each linked to the research
questions and conceptual framework. Semi-structured interview questions were better suited for
this study approach as they allowed for flexibility in the wording and sequence of the questions,
adding probes as follow-up questions that enabled the gathering of clear and complete details
from the participants (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Additionally, at the end of each interview, I
reviewed the questions to determine whether to slightly modify them, accommodating the flow
of the responses to avoid repetition of details, any gap in connection to research questions, and
divergence from central themes. Appendix A reflects the interview protocol comprising the 15
questions used that were sufficient to achieve data saturation in collecting information-rich data
for the study.
Data Collection Procedures
Upon receiving IRB approval, I informed the program director of the summer STEM
program, who then selected the participants from a list of alumni who met the criteria for the
study. The program director commenced communication with the selected alumni, and those
who self-elected for the study confirmed by sending me a text message or via a phone call. I then
45

reached out to the participants via text message or phone call, acknowledging their confirmation
and requested their email addresses to which I sent details reiterating the purpose of the study
and related protocols (Appendix B). The email to participants informed them of the request to
record the interviews and take notes during the process to capture their complete responses. An
informed consent form (Appendix C), attached to the email, outlined important protocols,
including confidentiality of information shared during the interviews. At the start of the
interviews, I reiterated the importance of confidentiality to the study and emphasized that any
details shared were privy only to the participants and me and would be stripped of any
identifiable attributes. I also reminded the participants of the recording request and obtained their
verbal approval to proceed. None of the participants declined the request or reneged on the
interview. During the interviews, I gave the participants enough time and space to share their
experiences. By utilizing the semi-structured interview approach, I collected information-rich
data reflecting the lived experiences of the participants and the meaning they ascribed to their
experiences. The 13 interviews, conducted via Zoom video platform, were then transcribed using
a mix of Zoom and Sonix transcribing systems with pseudonyms assigned to each participant to
preserve anonymity. The transcripts and audio files formed the bases for data analysis and,
ultimately, the generation of findings for this study. The data files were password-protected and
will remain stored electronically for three years after thesis submission, as required by USC’s
IRB.
Data Analysis
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) underscored data analysis as a nonlinear process, salient to
qualitative research, that occurs in conjunction with the data collection process. Since the
qualitative research design is emergent, I lacked foreknowledge of the participants scheduled for
46

the interviews, the questions asked, and the impending responses. As a result, there is prudence
in commencing the data analysis process during the first interview as the researcher develops
insights and identifies themes and patterns from the responses (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This
approach directed subsequent interviews and other aspects of the study, enabling me to build on
collected data, adjusting questions to improve the ongoing data collection and analysis processes.
Due to the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, I conducted all interviews via Zoom video
conferencing platform with transcripts and audio files generated for data analysis. I utilized
Sonix transcription service for transcribing for nine of the 13 interviews and Zoom service for
the remaining four interviews, ensuring the verbatim reproduction of the participants’
experiences. Data analysis comprised the use of Atlas.ti Scientific Software that enabled
automation of the descriptive and axial coding processes. The data analysis process utilized three
levels of coding, ensuring rigor of the process. First, the descriptive coding phase included the
use of a priori codes (Gibbs, 2018), formulated using keywords or phrases selected from the
conceptual framework and literature review in Chapter Two, along with open coding to capture
words or phrases from the participants’ interviews related to the research questions. Second, after
the completion of the descriptive coding process for all transcripts, axial or secondary level
coding followed (Gibbs, 2018). This process comprised the categorization of codes capturing
similar words or phrases and identifying emerging themes that connected to the research
questions. Third, the final level entailed analyzing codes with the highest occurrences for similar
themes then grouped into thematic categories per research question for inclusion in the findings
for this study.

47

Credibility and Trustworthiness
The qualitative research design considers credibility and trustworthiness as leading
characteristics, enabling the researcher and others to have confidence in the rigor and
authenticity of the study and related results (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The focus of a qualitative
inquiry study using semi-structured interviews is to relay the interpretation and meaning
participants attached to their experiences. Credibility and trustworthiness extend to my role in the
study and my relationship with the participants. The qualitative research design positions me as
central to the process, so clarifying how my biases, worldview, background, culture, and
experiences influence the interpretation of the research adds further validity to the research
(Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
During each interview, I performed member checks of relevant information disclosed,
ensuring that the accuracy of meaning conveyed during the interview was not misinterpreted
because of my positionality (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Member checking also included
replaying each audio recording and matching it against the generated transcript. I created a
summary memo of the first seven interviews, sharing each with the respective participants to
garner feedback from a majority of the participants on the accuracy and completeness of their
experiences before performing the final data analysis. Additionally, Lincoln and Guba (1985)
underscored choosing a sampling that results in data redundancy. Therefore, the 13 participants’
interviews and the member checking steps contributed to the gathering of information-rich data
and achieving data saturation. The interview protocols underwent peer review, tested through a
pilot study before this research study, and modified to incorporate feedback, thereby increasing
the credibility and trustworthiness of data collected and subsequent results. Furthermore, records
48

of the interviews, related notes, and memos will be stored to allow for an audit trail of data used
in the study.
Ethics
The confidentiality applied to data collected from participants was paramount to this
study and included in the informed consent form emailed to participants in advance of their
interviews. While the participants’ stories were central to the study, they had the option to
discontinue the interview and commitment to the study during the process. I reiterated the key
clauses of the informed consent agreement before each interview, including the permission to
record and take notes. I also used pseudonyms for all the participants and omitted any
identifiable attributes from the transcripts and audio files, preserving anonymity of the
participants. The $15 gift card, given to each participant at the end of the study, was not a pay-
for-service but a token for enabling this study to move forward. While my position in the
organization places me in a senior leadership role, none of the participants are employees and
had no direct connection to me. Therefore, there was no concern for conflict of interest, coercion,
or issues impacting any employee or affiliate of the organization. Additionally, I exercised
transparency with the participants regarding the purpose of the study and its role in expanding
access to supplemental educational programs at Strive Academy, aligning with the ethical
standards established for researchers by USC’s IRB and adhering to protocols set by Strive
Academy.
Making ethical decisions is a central part of the research design and guides the researcher
in navigating the various epistemological systems that may trigger ethical concerns (Glesne,
2011). The author posited that the qualitative research approach gives rise to ethical
considerations that are “inseparable from your everyday interactions with research participants
49

and with your data” (p. 162). The outcome of this research is to expand access to supplemental
educational programs for students in underserved communities, comprising primarily Blacks and
Latinxs. The stakeholders who may benefit from this research include students in underserved
communities, K–12 school administrators and counselors seeking supplemental programs for
students, companies seeking a more diverse workforce, STEM-related employers, college
admission personnel, and community organizations that provide similar supplemental
educational programs. While this research may harm Strive Academy and its staff with any
unfavorable information shared during the interviews, the study results will improve equity and
change throughout the organization. I will disseminate the results gleaned from the research to
the participants, upon request, and the organization leadership for evaluation and use in
designing organizational change efforts.
Limitations and Delimitations
Limitations, defined as factors such as design constraints that the researcher cannot
control (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016), are inherent to this study. Several limitations were identified
for this study. First, the study’s sample size of 13 participants represented a small percentage of
over 2,300 students who culminated from Strive Academy programs since inception in the early
2000s. Therefore, their responses to the interview questions may not have reflected the entire
group or phenomena under study. Second, the researcher as the primary instrument of data
collection and analysis, may result in biases and assumptions inherent to my lived experience
and critical realist worldview, that, according to Saunders et al. (2019), looks for the underlying
causes and associated mechanisms that shaped our experiences and social structures. Third, the
study relied on responses from participants who may not be as transparent and truthful because
of the nature of their experiences. Fourth, the criteria utilized for selecting participants could
50

have excluded others who may have had more profound and impactful experiences participating
in the programs at Strive Academy.
Delimitations encompassed boundaries established for the study (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016), aligning with the purpose of the study to explore the experiences of students who have
participated in Strive Academy’s summer STEM program. In addition, the study focused on
alumni who participated in the program and culminated during a defined timeframe (2015–
2020), thus, purposely excluding minors from consideration and alumni who participated in
earlier years who may be less likely to recall their experiences participating in the summer
STEM program. Member checking was employed to validate participants’ responses, mitigating
misunderstanding, or misinterpretation of the information shared as the participants ascribed
meaning to their experiences (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In addition, I reiterated some of the
experiences, shared during the interviews, to the selected participants, confirming the
completeness of the analysis, and ensuring my biases and own experiences did not obscure the
meaning participants ascribed to their stories.
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Chapter Four: Findings and Discussions
Chapter Four comprises the findings related to the study of expanding access to
quality supplemental educational programs for K–12 students in underserved communities.
Postulated on the conceptual framework that combines Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and
critical race theory (CRT), this qualitative study sought to understand the experiences of students
from underserved communities who participated in Strive Academy’s summer STEM program
and to examine whether their experiences influenced their academic outcomes. The chapter
begins with a synopsis of the participants, including information about their upbringing and
academic journey, providing a salient backdrop to the problem of practice. It then underscores
the prevailing findings relevant to addressing each research question, followed by the discussion
of findings connecting them to the literature review and conceptual framework detailed in
Chapter Two.
The prevailing findings from the study position Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program as an exemplary supplemental educational program for K–12 students in underserved
communities, contributing to improved academic performance during middle through high
school and providing college preparation and acceptance support. While the findings varied on
whether participation in Strive Academy’s summer STEM program enabled the participants to
overcome stereotyping related to their race and socioeconomic backgrounds, participants
reported a positive impact on self-perception and self-efficacy in achieving academic success.
Participants
As established as criteria for this study, the 13 participants interviewed are alumni of
Strive Academy, who attended its summer STEM program, culminating during 2015–2020, and
lived in underserved communities during their K–12 school years. The background information
52

of the participants excluded any identifiable and confidential details, aligning with the ethical
underpinnings for this research, and instead, included information that illuminated the
participants’ upbringing and academic journey, relevant to the study. At the time of the
interviews, 12 of the participants were current undergraduates in colleges and universities across
the west and east coasts of the United States and one participant recently graduated from a
university. The participants included 11 females and two males. Additionally, 12 of the
participants self-identified as Black, three of whom emphasized their biracial identities, and one
participant identified as Latinx. Table 2 summarizes the participants’ background information
salient to the study with each assigned a pseudonym to preserve their anonymity.
Table 2
List of Participants and Background Information
Participants
(Pseudonym) Racial Identity

Sex

Family Structure
Callie Black Male Two-parent household
Cleve Black Male Two-parent household
Dava Black Female Two-parent household
Eva Black Female Two-parent household
Gavin Black Female Two-parent household
Gem Latinx Female Two-parent household
Helen Black (Biracial) Female Two-parent household
Josie Black Female Two-parent household
Keena Black Female One-parent household
Lacy Black Female Two-parent household
Riley Black (Biracial) Female Two-parent household
Ruth Black (Biracial) Female One-parent household
Sonia Black Female Two-parent household
53

Upbringing and Community Experience
The interviews with the 13 participants revealed the accounts of different lived
experiences growing up in various underserved communities. The neighborhoods of all
participants were identified as underserved communities, demarcated between areas that they
described as “nice” and “safe,” and others considered as “unsafe” and “less than desirable.” For
example, six of the participants (46%) spent their K–12 school years living in the same
community, three of whom used words such as “nice,” “quiet,” and “safe” as they reflected on
childhood memories in their neighborhoods while the other three participants referred to theirs as
“kind of rough neighborhood,” “not the best,” and “unsafe.” Overall, eight participants (61%)
described their communities as “unsafe” and “not an ideal” neighborhood. Josie shared, “I grew
up in a pretty rough neighborhood.” Lacy said that her community, “wasn’t the best environment
to live in.” When asked about her least favorite memory about her community, Sonia expressed
that for safety concerns, she “wasn’t drawn to going outside and being in the environment with
other people.”
Conversely, five participants (38%) shared more favorable opinions about growing up in
their communities. Of her community, Riley offered:
I live on the nicer part…I’m not sure how they came up with that but the environment I
am in there’s not much violence on my side than it is on some parts. So, I always felt safe
when things happened.
In sharing memories of childhood in her community, Eva stated that even though she attended
K–12 schools in other areas, there was “nothing bad about the community and it was a nice
childhood… everyone over there was very uplifting, at least to the children that were in the
neighborhood.” All 13 participants, except for Cleve, grew up in communities that were
54

predominantly Black and Latinx. Cleve shared that his community was diverse with people of
different races and ethnicities. The interviews revealed the connection of each participant to the
concept of reciprocating relationships (Bronfenbrenner, 2009), fostered with adults and their
peers, some of which may have been nurturing, yet all impacted their developmental outcomes.
Family Structure and Parental Involvement
During the interviews, participants reflected on life at home as they transitioned through
their K–12 school years. All participants grew up with at least one supportive parent who
provided nurturing and structure for them, encouraging academic achievement. Eight participants
(61%) grew up in a two-parent household where both parents were actively engaged in every
aspect of their upbringing, including their academic journey and supportive of extracurricular
activities. Three of the participants (23%) had both parents present in the home; however, only
one parent was directly influential in providing consistent support and encouragement through
their K–12 school years. Two participants (15%) grew up in single-parent households, headed by
mothers who provided nurturing and support that enabled their academic outcomes.
Notwithstanding the varied family dynamics, all 13 participants credited at least one parent for
being very supportive, providing a safe space for them, and encouraging the pursuit of academic
excellence. For example, Cleve offered, “my parents were very, very supportive of me achieving
academic success. They always wanted me to get to that next level. Always pushing me in
college direction.”
Each participant referenced extended family members and friends who were involved in
their upbringing, further impacting their development. Keena reflected on what she called her
“village” that included her grandmother, uncle, and friends who were there for her during times
when her mother was very busy. Gem recalled her childhood as one with “a lot of mothers
55

helping mothers.” She shared, “we made friends through other moms who would give my mom
jobs, who would tell each other like, hey, I’m going to the grocery store to pick this up. Do you
want anything for the kids or yourself?” The supporting parents, friends and family members are
in the microsystem of the Bronfenbrenner ecological model, providing relationships and
nurturing that influenced developmental and behavioral outcomes for the participants.
Another salient aspect of their upbringing that the participants underscored was
commuting to and from school and various extracurricular activities. Eleven participants (85%)
elaborated on their childhood as being very busy with parents transporting them and siblings to
different schools, located outside their neighborhoods, and managing schedules of extracurricular
activities. When asked about life at home during her K–12 school years, Helen, who was also an
athlete, said that during high school she “wasn’t at home a lot.” She elaborated:
If I am going to be completely honest, I was just there to sleep. I was getting up at 5:30
a.m. for workouts, then we’d come home and shower and get ready to leave for school by
7:30 a.m. to get to school at 8:15 a.m., and then there is practice from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00
p.m. You know, I’m getting out at 7:30 p.m, then go home, do homework, shower up and
then go to sleep. That was my day on a typical basis for Monday, Wednesdays and
Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays when I was playing club volleyball, I was
practicing from 7:30 at night to 9:30 at night.
Cleve shared a similar upbringing with a busy weekly schedule of school and extracurricular
activities. While he emphasized his involvement in various activities as part of his “goal-oriented
family,” and his parents’ aspiration for him to achieve academic success, in his reflection, he
noted the lack of family time as having a negative impact on his upbringing: “As a family, we
could be a little more connected, a little more, you know, deeper or spend some more time to get
56

to know each other better,” a reference to the impact of dyadic relationships present in the
developing children’s microsystems that can be enhancing or disruptive.
K–12 School Experience
The K–12 school years elucidated the academic journey of the participants while living in
underserved communities and framed the trajectory for college entry and beyond. Table 3
provides a summary of the K–12 schools of the 13 participants.
Table 3
Participants and Their K–12 School Information

K–12 School Journey
Participants
(Pseudonym)

Elementary
In
Community?

Middle
In
Community? High
In
Community?
Callie Public No Public No Public No
Cleve Public Yes Public No Public No
Dava Private No Private No Public No
Eva Public No Public No Public No
Gavin Public No Public No Public No
Gem Public Yes Public Yes Public Yes
Helen Private No Private No Private No
Josie Public No Public No Public No
Keena Public Yes Public Yes Public Yes
Lacy Public Yes Private No Public No
Riley Private No Private No Private No
Ruth Charter No Charter No Charter No
Sonia Public No Public No Public No

There were similarities between the majority of the participants’ K–12 school journey. Of the 13
participants, 11 of them (85%) shared that they commuted daily to schools outside of their
neighborhoods during middle to high school. The participants further shared that these schools
57

included charter, private, and public schools in other communities, some of which are considered
underserved but better neighborhoods, and others, higher-income communities based on the zip
codes shared. Ten participants (77%) shared similar experiences of attending K–8 schools that
were either diverse or had a predominantly Black and Latinx population, and nine participants
(69%) attended high schools that were predominantly White, where they were the only or one of
few Black or Latinx students in their classes.
When asked their understanding of the reason they did not attend school in their
immediate communities, the 11 participants’ responses converged around their parents wanting
the best education for them, implying the schools in their immediate underserved communities
did not meet that expectation. Gavin, who commuted about 16 miles daily to public schools in
higher income communities throughout her K–12 school years, approved through a school
voucher certificate, stated that her parents said, “no” when asked about attending a school in her
community. She continued, “so, my parents, would always make sure we either take the school
bus or they would drive me to school; it was about an hour drive.” Likewise, Riley, who
commuted about 18 miles daily during high school, expressed that, “I’ve always gone to private
school in my life because my parents wanted me to have the best possible education I could
have.”
Two of the 13 participants (15%) attended K–12 schools in their immediate communities,
and their reflections revealed the different dynamics in the underserved communities for parents
who do not have the financial means to consider more suitable options, acquiescing to their
children attending schools in their neighborhoods. Keena and Gem attended K–12 school in the
neighborhoods in which they lived, painting pictures of less-than-ideal environments yet making
the most to maximize the education they received, alluding that their participation in the summer
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STEM program at Strive Academy offered the educational resources and environment needed to
supplement what was missing from their traditional school systems. Gem shared that, “apart
from school, I didn’t have much going on. I’d come home to not a very healthy environment and
I would try and do my homework to the best of my ability.” She added, “going to the academy
was very refreshing for the summer.”
One participant’s high school experience stood out from the rest of the participants.
Sonia, who attended public schools in higher-income communities during her K–8 school years,
had to attend a public high school in another underserved community because of her sibling’s
involvement in sports at that school. She reminisced on her reluctance of starting a new school:
I was forced to go to the same high school with him because my mom didn't want to
drive around to multiple places to get us… It didn’t start off well for me because I didn’t
really want to go there. I wanted to continue to go to like the performing arts magnet high
school with everybody else from my elementary school and middle school…ninth grade
was a rough year for me.
However, once Sonia got settled and more serious about school, she was able to make new
friends, got involved in various extracurricular activities, had nurturing and supportive teachers
and excelled in her academics, leading to acceptance to a prestigious university. She credited her
parents who instilled the importance of education as the way for a brighter future for Black
people, the exposure to quality education during her K–8 school years, participation in Strive
Academy’s summer STEM program, her teachers, and athletic coach who exposed her to
academic and social opportunities that enabled her current academic success of being a
sophomore at a prestigious university.
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Using the lens of a critical realist, looking for the underlying causes and associated
mechanisms that shaped the participants’ experiences and our social structures, I analyzed the
participants’ interviews, extracting the salient findings aligned with each research question. The
following findings reveal whether Strive Academy’s summer STEM program represented a
suitable option for students from underserved communities, enabling them to participate in a
quality supplemental educational program, a move toward closing the achievement and
opportunity gaps in education, and creating a greater pathway to college entry.
Findings for Research Question 1
The first research question sought to understand: how students from underserved
communities who participated in Strive Academy’s summer STEM program perceive their
experience? The findings revealed prevailing themes generated from analysis of the participants’
responses. The four prevailing themes that emerged from the study were safe and enriching
environment, sense of belonging, self-perception, and exposure to culturally relevant teachings.
When asked to describe their experience participating in the summer STEM program, the
participants reverberated words such as “nice,” “great,” “cool,” “refreshing,” “safe,” “fun,” and
“welcoming” as they each gave meaning to their experience. Figure 2 represents the compilation
of frequently occurring phrases that the participants used throughout the interviews as they
ascribed meaning to their participation in the summer STEM program.
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Figure 2
Participants’ Descriptions of Their Experiences at Strive Academy

Safe and enriching environment
When asked to share what it was like participating in Strive Academy’s summer program,
the 13 participants (100%) had positive reactions, using phrases like “great experience” and
“made learning so much fun,” among others, as represented in Figure 2. They described an
environment that they enjoyed being a part of and where they thrived to be their best. Seven of
the participants (54%) used the phrase “safe space” as they reminisced about their time in the
summer program. For instance, Gem explicitly used the phrase “safe space” when asked about
the most beneficial aspect of the summer program. Josie also shared that not only did the
“teachers made it a safe space,” but “the students made it a safe space, too.” The analysis of the
interviews showed that 11 of the 13 participants (85%) expressed that the program staff was
supportive and caring. Eva spoke of one of the program directors who, “was so nice, and she was
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always encouraging and making sure that you were okay, not only academically, but just as a
person.”
Ten participants (77%) shared that even though the focus was on learning during their
time in the summer program, they also had fun. Cleve reflected, “I remember having fun in the
classroom, not just learning, but really being excited to understand the concepts that we were
going over, understanding algebra and the math behind everything. I remember being excited to
understand it.” When asked what were the best memories growing up in her community, Josie
stated that attending the summer program at Strive Academy “is probably one of my best
memories.” As one of the youngest students in the program, she attended over several summers.
She continued, “and so growing up with Black kids in my community at such an early age, and
being exposed to this program was always like a great thing. I’m very happy my parents
encouraged me to do [it].” Gem, who described her home life as “not a very healthy
environment” saw the summer program as an outlet that was nurturing and safe. She recalled her
experience smilingly, ruminated then uttered that “the environment was positively
reinforcing…very refreshing for the summer and I could still interact with kids my age and have
a place where I could pick up new skills and information.”
Riley was also unstinting with her approbation of the staff, especially of the tutors. She
shared:
The tutors are like super nice. They weren’t like drilling sergeant tutors. They were more
like comforting, compassionate tutors and that really helped a lot, because I rather have
someone that I can talk to that’s gonna help me right rather than someone that’s gonna
get mad at me if I don’t do it right or like you’re frustrated with me.
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Lacy underscored the impact of the summer program on providing access to resources not
readily available in her community. She expressed, “I felt like it was probably an important part
of my life at the time because it was something like a kind of a buffer between school. It gave me
a place to go in the summer.” When asked what was her least favorite memory growing up in her
community, she shared:
It wasn’t like there was much access… you know how in other communities there’s so
much access to different things. And in those programs, there’s good influences,
everybody’s positive and stuff like that. I know growing up we don’t get access to much,
or much positivity like you have in those other communities.
A safe and enriching environment is one in which developing children thrive resulting from the
positive influences of adults and peers. Children benefit from environments that provide safe,
supportive and nurturing relationships that enable them to thrive, a need evident in underserved
communities.
A Sense of Belonging
The participants used several interchangeable terms denoting their sense of belonging
during their time in the summer program. Participants offered phrases such as “felt comfortable
in my skin,” “around people who looked like me,” “smart students who looked like me,” “the
staff cared about me,” “felt comfortable going to class daily,” and “formed bonds there,” among
others. Eleven the 13 participants (85%) referenced a word or phrase symbolizing they
experienced a sense of belonging during their time attending the summer program. Gem shared,
“um, it was a very tight knit community, even if I didn’t see these students throughout my fall
semester, I would see them the next summer break… I didn’t want it to end.” Josie, who attended
predominantly White K–12 schools and did not live in a neighborhood that offered safety in
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playing with other children outside, stated that while she disliked waking up early for the
summer program:
At the end of the day, surrounded by nothing but Black students is always great and
learning from them. Having Black teachers was even more like amazing. The fact that I
probably had more Black teachers [there] than I have at my [Historically Black College
and University] HBCU right now is kind of crazy. It made me feel comfortable seeing
others like me thriving.
Josie also spoke about the program director who made:
Each student feels special in their own way… I mean, she would know the names of
every single student, which is crazy…, she really made every student feel that she really
deeply knew them. She knew their parents, their interests, what they’re struggling with,
what they’re really good with, and things like that. So, she made you feel like you were
the only student in the program.
Gavin appreciated spending the summer in an environment where there were other
students from underserved communities, who like her, “were striving to be better, and go to
college and have a future.” She remarked about attending a predominantly White high school in
a higher income neighborhood where:
There’s nobody there like me but when I went to [Strive Academy] I was like, I have this
girl right here she’s smart like me. I have other people next to me that are just like me,
and their parents want them to succeed, and we are all trying to be college-bound.
The interconnectedness between the relationships and resources available in the developing
children’s environment is fundamental to their behavioral and academic outcomes. Riley alluded
to the feeling of belonging she experienced during her summers participating in the program at
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Strive Academy. She recalled that the staff and program director were “nice and comforting” to
her. Lacy also shared that:
They had a whole agenda and you get to bond with other people daily. And you also meet
really nice teachers and mentors and people that just talk to you and just give you
positivity and just to be around.
Attending the summer program resulted in the formation of long-term friendships among
the students. Cleve talked about the friends he made during his time in the program who are still
his friends, keeping in touch with them frequently through social media. Dava attended the
program with her best friend from elementary school. Ruth reflected on her summers in the
program and the connections she still maintains with some of the students, who, like her, attend
the church affiliated with Strive Academy. Of her experience, she expounded, “it was very, very
cool and nice to make memories because I still have good bonds with those people today.”
Quality supplemental educational programs provide social and emotional learning and support
for students, a predicative factor for positive development, behaviorally and academically, and
leading to a sense of belonging. Having a sense of belonging enables students to thrive in spite of
the hardship faced in their immediate environments.
Self-Perception
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model shows that influences in developing children’s
microsystem impact the way they perceive themselves. Based on the analysis of the interviews,
all of the participants grew up with at least one parent who instilled confidence and self-worth in
them; however, seven out of the 13 participants (54%) shared memories of feeling lost or
isolated while attending predominantly White high schools. Accordingly, attending the summer
STEM program became a place of respite for them. Riley emphasized the impact of the program
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on how she began to see herself and her capabilities. Having been bullied, she was very shy and
self-conscious; however, while attending the summer program, the director encouraged her to
write an essay to express herself and share it publicly during the program’s culmination
ceremony. As she reflected on the experience, she reminisced that “the program actually helped
me not be self-conscious, as well as improved my skills in public speaking.” She further offered
that the program director was:
Very positive…you could really tell she wanted the best for the kids, to see us thrive,
especially seeing that most of the kids that went were African American. She knows the
struggle, how hard it can be being Black, and how hard it is just because of the color of
your skin. So, she really wanted us to succeed, and she tried to help us see that we’re
more than just our body. We’re more than just a face…we have a beautiful brain and we
need to use that brain to see like where we’re going.
Gavin, reflecting on attending predominantly White K–12 schools, recounted instances
when being the only Black student in her classes made her feel like an outsider and
contemplated, “whether something was wrong with me.” She marveled when she began
attending the summer program at Strive Academy and was in a classroom with students who
looked just like her and were as smart as her. Gavin’s recollection dispels the notion that students
of color, especially Blacks and Latinxs, enter the classroom at a deficit but instead are as
academically competent as their White counterparts. Likewise, Lacy spoke about not being able
to make many friends during her K–12 school years, being bullied by students who did not look
like her. She evoked that she felt “like an outcast and not appealing to the eye because I wasn’t in
the majority of the other race. It’s been like that for most of my life.”
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While some participants came to the summer program exuding confidence, others built
theirs during their interaction with the staff who encouraged them to be their best, and being
around peers who struggled with the same issues. Josie offered that the summer program was
“definitely an influence in mak[ing] me feel more comfortable in my skin.” She expressed being
able to wear different hairstyles during the summer without being placed “under the
microscope,” referring to her experience during high school when her White counterparts and a
certain teacher frequently bought attention to her hair whenever she changed the style.
Keena, who grew up feeling “disadvantaged,” also had much to contribute about the
impact of the summer program on how she began believing in herself. She shared:
I didn’t have high expectations for myself. So, I would say leaving [Strive Academy], my
expectations were, you know, it’s like taking the limits off what you think you can do,
knowing that you can do more and can achieve more. I should want more, not just settle
for what’s being offered to you, but knowing that you can be pushed, you can be
motivated to want to dig deeper, you know, to be pushed a little harder.
For Sonia, the summer program enhanced the self-confidence instilled by her mother. She
articulated that:
Growing up and how I saw myself, I guess I could say I’ve always been aware of my
blackness… and my mom would say, it’s okay for you to be the first Black person to do
whatever you want to do. So, I’ve always been okay with seeing myself succeeding in
non-Black atmospheres, I guess. But the way I see myself, I’m proud to be Black. And I
think being around Black people at a young age, I think that helps me be comfortable
because we all wanted to get the highest grades.
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Cleve, who was initially reluctant to attend the summer program, wanting to rather
hangout with friends and play, shared that, “in hindsight, I’m really appreciative of it.” He
referenced a male math teacher in the program who “was influential in changing my outlook on
my history and how I saw myself. I’m really glad that he was able to share that wisdom with me
and help me to think from a Black lens.” Additionally, Dava expressed how she saw herself as
being able to fit well in any environment. She knew from the second grade what career she
wanted to pursue and cited various instances of her father introducing her to female professionals
in her aspired career field. She credited her parents, who are her role models, and extended
family for creating the supportive environment that allows her to thrive. Self-perception, in
students, reflects a salient attribute of their ability to achieve academic success. Bronfenbrenner
(1995) associated children’s self-perception as connected to the influences in their ecological
systems, impacting their developmental outcomes. Accordingly, interactions with adults and
peers in the participants’ microsystem and beyond influence their self-perception, positively and
negatively.
Exposure to Culturally Relevant Teachings
Another salient theme that emerged from the analysis of the interviews centered around
students being exposed to culturally relevant teachings. For the participants this meant, the
summer STEM program’s curriculum incorporated content connected to their cultural
backgrounds and related history. When asked what aspect of the program they liked the most,
seven of the participants (54%) underscored their exposure to culturally relevant content that
included learning about Black and Latinx historians in STEM fields. Gem offered, “I loved the
end of the week when we would all come together, each class, and learn about the historical
figures that were pertinent to what we had been learning.” Gem who is Latinx, elaborated that:
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It wasn’t until I went to [Strive Academy] that I made a lot of Black friends, and not for a
lack of trying, but mostly because I never felt comfortable approaching them but after I
went to [Strive Academy] that I felt more comfortable being in an environment with
predominantly Black students and learning about their history and mine.
The seven participants (54%) shared that the cultural component was an important part of their
weekly learning during their time at the summer program. Cleve recalled:
My teacher introduced me to a lot of prominent African American figures and I just
soaked it all in from there. It’s very curious, and I’m very glad that he was able to share
that wisdom with me and help me to think from a Black lens.
When asked what was his favorite memory of participating in the summer program, Cleve
added:
I think the Black experience was my favorite part because it wasn’t learning just for the
sake of learning, it wasn’t doing math just to get ahead. It was like it was math with
history behind it. It was math with backing behind it. It was understanding why our
ancestors had to fight for us to sit in these classrooms and learn and all that. So, it was a
lot more than just getting a head start on the next grade for me, it was learning where we
came from, how we can apply that to the future. So, hands down my favorite part was
learning how Black is beautiful.
The inclusion of the culturally relevant component as part of the summer STEM
program’s curriculum reinforced counterstories that exposes Black and Latinx students to
successful individuals who looked like them, thereby enabling them to see themselves as capable
as their counterparts from the dominant race. Gavin offered:
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Learning more about the African Americans that were successful like Benjamin
Banneker, I didn’t know about those people at first. So just learning more about the
history, and then adding in the math to that. So, it just really helped learning math and
then learning more about the history of African Americans, just all entwined helped in a
lot of ways.
Two participants shared about learning pieces of African languages and dances during their time
in the program. Josie shared:
I have a lot of memories of my relationships with the teachers and with the students, and
it was always a fun environment. My teacher teaching us some African terminologies,
and different languages like Swahili [an African language]. I still remember a few terms
that they’ve taught me here and there, and I just randomly say them to my friends here [in
college], who are from Africa. It was definitely a great experience.
The participants’ reflections on being exposed to learning that incorporate culturally relevant
components provided frames of success that they used to guide their academy journey through
their K–12 school years and into college, ultimately adding their own stories to community
cultural wealth often overlooked in the White-dominant school systems. Students thrive and
achieve academic success when they have relatable role models to pattern.
Discussion for Research Question 1
The environment in which children grow up, the resources available to them, and the
relationships they form shape their developmental outcomes, socially, behaviorally and
academically (Bronfenbrenner & Ceci,1994). The findings related to the first research question
suggested that all 13 participants benefited from one or more aspects of participating in Strive
Academy’s summer STEM program. The analysis of data indicated that participants perceived
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they were in an environment with supportive and caring staff where they felt safe and nurtured,
enabling them to develop connections with the staff and other students that gave them a sense of
belonging. For example, this experience led one of the participants to select an HBCU as her
college choice, sharing that, “ever since I attended an HBCU, I’ve always felt safe and
included.” Harris III’s (2012) study reverberated a similar discovery in examining the feeling of
isolation Black students experience when they transition from a predominantly Black high school
or environment to a predominantly White university. This contrasts the feeling of being in a
village, enabling a sense of warmth and belonging, that Black students experience when they
transition from a predominantly Black high school to an HBCU, a sentiment that the participants
resounded describing their time at Strive Academy.
Additionally, the participants emphasized that being exposed to culturally relevant
learning, salient their identities, contributed to their improved self-perceptions and motivated
their pursuit of academic excellence. For the Black participants, their reflections illustrated the
positive impact of being around other students and staff that looked like them, exposing them to
role models and an environment where they were less concerned about differences relating to
racial identities and instead being able to thrive socially and academically. Reflections from the
sole Latinx participant indicated that, while she was one of few Latinx students in the program
during her time, she was able to thrive in an environment that was warm and welcoming, giving
her an opportunity to closely interact with Black students, getting to know them and forming
continued friendships with some of them.
The environment created at Strive Academy, as depicted from the interviews, aligns with
salient influences in the microsystem of the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model that support
positive behavioral and academic outcomes, thereby contributing to the participants exceling
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through their K–12 school journey leading to college acceptance. The review of literature in
Chapter Two highlighted that children thrive in environments where there are caring and
supportive adults (Hayes et al., 2017), and the analysis of data from the participants’ interviews
indicated that the staff at Strive Academy fostered an atmosphere that offered physical, social,
and emotional safety for the participants. The relationships between nurturing staff and students
influence positive development (Kuperminc et al., 2019), transcending beyond their K–12 school
years.
The findings outlined for the first research question reaffirmed previous research that
environments promoting social-emotional learning facilitate self-expression and self-confidence,
leading to positive developmental outcomes for students (Deutsch, 2017), behaviorally and
academically. A safe and nurturing environment has more to do with the people than the
infrastructure and is a place where caring adults foster warm and supportive relationships with
developing children (Kataoka & Vandell, 2013). Children develop a feeling of connection and
sense of belonging in environments that comprise supportive adults who are caring, directly
influencing their behavioral and developmental outcomes (Hayes et al., 2017). Consequently,
when exposed to nurturing adults and environment, developing children thrive, leading to them
to excel socially and academically, regardless of their socioeconomic status. The findings
indicated that Strive Academy’s summer STEM program provided an environment for the
participants to thrive socially and excel academically through their K–12 school years and
ultimately achieved college acceptance.
Findings for Research Question 2
The second research question was: based on students’ perception, what role does Strive
Academy's summer STEM program play in improving students’ academic outcome? The
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question explored the impact of Strive Academy’s summer STEM program on the 13
participants’ academic journey from K–12 schools to their current context as college students
and college graduate. The participants described the various influences in their microsystems that
impacted their academic pursuits and outcomes, underscoring the summer STEM program as a
salient aspect of their academic journey. The findings from the analysis of data revealed four
prevailing themes that aligned with the second research question. The themes that emerged were
academic enrichment, college preparation and acceptance, collective efficacy, and self-efficacy.
Academic Enrichment
Supplemental educational programs play an important role in children’s development,
behaviorally, socially and academically. The analysis of the interviews with the 13 participants
revealed that Strive Academy’s summer STEM program offered them an environment that not
only mitigated the summer learning loss but also introduced them to new mathematical concepts
they would encounter in the new school year, in addition to providing academic support as they
navigate their learning capabilities. When asked to share their experiences participating in Strive
Academy’s summer STEM program, the 13 participants (100%) stated that the program exposed
them to mathematics they would cover in the fall semester of the new school year. Eight
participants (62%) shared that the program helped them to be ahead in mathematics during the
school year, five of whom underscored learning unique techniques that made it easier to solve
difficult mathematics problems. Additionally, three of the participants referenced that during
their time in the program they created a five-year academic plan that prepared and motivated
them to begin planning for college early.

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Next Grade Level
The interviews with participants illuminated Strive Academy’s summer STEM program
as focusing on academic enrichment, preparing students for the new school year as they enter a
higher grade level and face more difficult mathematics classes. Josie noted:
I feel like they did a really great job with the whole program in preparing us for the
following school semester. Like if you’re going to take algebra next semester, they place
you in the algebra class or a higher class, based on how you performed on the pre-test.
You wouldn’t be placed in a math class that you have already taken.
Gavin conveyed that the program helped her to accelerate in her classes. She shared, “it just
helped me know what I needed to work on, it helped my comprehension. It helped me focus on
what I need work on the next [school] year.” Helen also reflected on her experience and offered
that the summer program prepared her for the next level of mathematics so she did not, “go in
blind when I went into high school for math.”
Sonia expressed her appreciation of feeling prepared for the new school year. She
offered:
I like that I was able to have a place to go to during the summer and actually do stuff
because most students they don’t continue with their studies during the summer break. So
summer is a time when your mind gets foggy and you don’t remember things when you
go into the new semester. I really appreciated that.
Sonja’s recount referred to the learning loss students experience during the summer months
when traditional schools are on recess. Summer learning loss impacts all students, especially
Blacks and Latinxs in underserved communities who may not have access to educational
resources when traditional schools are not in session. Strive Academy’s summer STEM program
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provided the participants an environment that fosters academic achievement, mitigating learning
loss and enabling them to excel.
Ahead in Mathematics
In addition to being prepared for the next grade level, eight participants (62%)
emphasized that when they returned to school in the fall semester, they were ahead in their
mathematics classes. Josie, who started the program when she was a rising sixth grader, shared
that as a result of the program she was ahead in her math class by two years. She noted:
At the time when I was in fifth grade, going in sixth grade and we weren’t doing algebra
or anything like that. So, it wasn’t until my seventh-grade year that I would be taking pre-
algebra. So that summer, I was taking pre-algebra. So, I was like ahead by two years.
For Josie, Strive Academy was a diversion from a predominantly White school environment,
where she expressed feeling isolated, to a place where she felt comfortable being around peers
that looked like her, focusing on learning and excelling academically, advancing in mathematics
above that of her grade level when she returned to school in the new school year.
Gem spoke of not understanding the gravity of the experience she had during the summer
program until she went back to school the following fall semester. Attending Strive Academy
was a better alternative to being at home in her community during the summer even though she
initially pondered the reason why she had to do mathematics during the summer break. She
added, “I realized that I was being put into a class with students maybe two or a year older
because I tested at a higher level than most of my other classmates or people in my age range.”
She continued, “[in the fall] we were in pre-algebra and I had already progressed into algebra the
summer before, so it definitely helped me with my math during the fall semester. I was told I was
way ahead of my classmates.”
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Ruth’s experience at the summer program paralleled participants who expressed they
were ahead in their math class when they returned to school in the fall semester. She spoke of
being at an accelerated pace in mathematics when she was in high school because of exposure to
the materials during her time in the summer program. She reflected:
I remember taking the pre-exam to see whether we would be having to be held in general
algebra, or we can move up to the more accelerated classes a month. I remember I went
in there and I killed it because I got placed in Algebra Two instead of Algebra One with a
lot of my other classmates. So that was very cool because of the practicing and just
having a better understanding from early on, I just feel like it was it was very nice to be
able to go into high school already knowing key math concepts and being able to handle
the challenges that came my way until I had to like learn the new material.
Analysis of the interviews revealed that participation in Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program enabled the high-achieving students to be ahead in their mathematics class when they
return to school in the fall, and, overall, prepared all the participants to be ready for the next level
mathematics class.
Unique Techniques to Solve Difficult Mathematics Problems
Five participants (38%) shared that during their time in summer program they learned
different techniques that made it easier to solve difficult mathematics problems. Eva expressed
that she had trouble working out problems and assignments in mathematics in school but during
the summer program she learned to apply “different techniques to get to the right answer as
opposed to just trying to figure out what my teacher is doing or copy what my teacher is doing. I
learned other ways to do it, which was nice.” When asked about the most beneficial aspect of the
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summer program, Ruth answered, “I think having a better understanding in math and learning
easier ways to do certain functions.” She elaborated:
I don’t do much math anymore but I would say it impacted me by just, knowing the basic
functions of how math works and being able to adapt to any challenges and not being
afraid to ask questions and seek out for help whenever I’m struggling.
Keena explained that the most beneficial aspect of her participation in the summer
program was the repetitive approach the teachers used to help the students understand solving
mathematics problems that allowed it to stick with her. She expounded, “you’ll never forget it,”
referring to the techniques she learned. Gavin also expressed her appreciation for being
introduced to different techniques to solve math problems that were difficult for her which
helped her accelerate in her classes, adding, “because, if I did not have that, I would be so lost.”
The participants’ recollection of their experiences in learning different techniques in solving
difficult mathematics problems illuminated Strive Academy’s summer STEM program as an
environment aligned with dispelling the notion that students of color, especial Blacks and
Latinxs, enter the classroom at a deficit and are needing remedial help to compete with their
White peers, especially those in higher-income communities where access to quality
supplemental educational programs are more readily available.
Five-Year Academic Plan
Gem, Riley, and Helen recalled that their experience during the summer program
included creating a five-year academic plan which motivated and helped them to begin thinking
about and planning for college. Gem reminisced on working on a project during the summer
program where she had to write about life after high school and where she saw herself in the
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future, in five years, including what was needed to get into her desired college or university. She
added:
We had to build an argument as to like why it was beneficial to go to attend the college I
chose, what I had to do to be admitted and get through there. We talked about life after
high school, like college and our expectations and where we will be after like two years,
five years, and so on.
Riley recounted:
They help me prepare for my five-year plan. I remember they had these speakers come in
and tell us like you need to have this certain plan like five years from now, and you can
start building on that plan and achieving that goal, or start practicing for what you need to
do to succeed in high school and be ready for college. So, knowing that being so young
and knowing you can create a five-year plan has really, really helped me.
Helen echoed the same reflection as Riley and highlighted preparing a five-year academic plan.
When asked what it was like participating in the summer program, she responded, “they did
prepare me when it came down to writing out your future, like your five-year plan and prepared
me in the sense of college and stuff like that.”
The participants’ experiences underscored the academic enrichment they received from
their participation in Strive Academy’s summer STEM program, preparing them for the new
school year and improving their academic outcomes. Furthermore, the participants’ experiences
regarding their time at Strive Academy speak to the interconnected layers of influences
surrounding children in the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems that shape their developmental
outcomes, socially, behaviorally and academically. Strive Academy’s awareness of the
disparities in educational policies and access to resources available to Black and Latinx students
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in underserved communities and the deficit thinking mindsets they face emanating from the
influences in the exosystem and macrosystem drives the organization to provide quality
educational resources to its students.
College Preparation and Acceptance
The participants had a lot to say about Strive Academy’s summer STEM program’s role
in exposing them to the college process, underscoring the academic preparation aspects and the
college tours that took place at the end of each week. Eleven of the 13 participants (85%) shared
that their participation in the summer program was pivotal in their college preparation and
acceptance journey. Six participants (46%) emphasized the college tours they participated in
during their time in the summer program. Dava, who is currently attending one of the
universities she visited as a student in the summer program, shared, “it’s just nice, especially
then, to imagine what it is going to be like when you come here… to think about what you would
major in.” Callie remembered visiting different colleges during his time in the summer program
which helped him envision being able to attend one day. He added that the college tours, “just
gave me that hope knowing if I keep working hard, doing necessary steps like coming to this
program, you know, doing good in school, all this other stuff then I could get here one day.”
Gavin emphasized the workshops for parents and students held during the summer
program, where speakers from different universities came and spoke on various topics including
college preparation, applying for scholarships and financial aids, and money management. She
added, “it was important to go to those because I learned how to manage my credit cards and
actually pay them off like right away, which is helping me now in college.” She also shared the
involvement of her parents in her academic goals. In addition to attending the summer program,
she took college courses while in high school, earning her enough credits resulting in her being
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able to complete her undergraduate studies in two instead four years. Gavin further recounted
that when she was ready to begin the college application process:
I just pulled out all the papers from [the workshops], a stack of them, that had
information on the colleges and scholarships to apply to. So, it really helped me because I
received so many scholarships. I’m basically going to school for free now because of the
summer program.
Gem offered a similar account that when it was time to apply for college, she had a packet of
materials about the college application process that she had gathered during the summer STEM
program. Having attended the summer program beginning in middle school, she reflected that
she had begun gathering college materials then.
Preparing for college can be a daunting and overwhelming task for students regardless of
their socio-economic background or K–12 school experience. When asked what was the most
challenging part of the college preparation process, Riley spoke of deciding which college to
attend, an utterance echoed by several of the participants. Their concerns were not limited to
having the required academic grades or SAT scores but rather choosing a college or university,
from the many options they had, that would be best suited for them. Cleve, who credited the
summer program for providing access to college tours that exposed him to different prestigious
universities, also faced the daunting task of deciding which university to attend, a decision that
eludes some students in underserved communities who do not have access to a supplemental
educational program like the summer STEM program at Strive Academy. Of his experience at
the summer program, Cleve shared:
I was exposed to the college process in general. I remember going to [the university] and
falling in love with the campus. I remember seeing 20-year-olds, you know, just walking
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to class and I remember feeling like, wow, it’s going to be me one day. Just to know what
a college student looks like, and I just remember wanting to strive to be that.
Sonia recounted her mother instilling the value and importance of education in her and
her brother. She expressed:
Because of our race, she knows that it is more difficult for us as Black people to get into
higher education systems, to become successful to feel like equals with our non-black
counterparts. So, I always knew, if I wanted to have a good job, I need to go to college
because a Black person without a college degree, if you’re not like applying yourself
well, you’re not really going to get anywhere far.
Through its summer STEM program, Strive Academy exposed participants to a college-going
culture, encompassing college tours and college preparation resources that enhanced related
resources some participants may have received at their respective high schools, and providing
needed resources to other participants lacking the same at their schools. As the achievement and
attainment gaps in underserved communities widen, parents seek the support of programs like
Strive Academy’s summer STEM program to offset the deficit.
Collective Efficacy
The participants highlighted the support they received from the staff during their time
participating in the summer STEM program, impacting their academic outcomes signaling the
impact of collective efficacy in action in their ecosystems. Collective efficacy, defined as a
shared belief that individuals can achieve success through combined efforts (Bandura, 2001),
encompasses program staff, parents, and others working together with the participants to ensure
that they maximize their full potential. The interviews with participants revealed many instances
of collective efficacy, whether or not the parties were aware, from parents supporting each other
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to the coordination with program staff and students building relationships with the staff and each
other. Ten of the 13 participants (77%) referenced instances of adults and peers believing in them
and encouraging them to be their best as they pursue academic excellence. When asked what was
her favorite memory about growing up in her community, Eva shared about the supportive adults
in her community, noting, “if something was wrong, you can always go to any of the adults on
our street, and they would help you with anything.” She also mentioned that teachers in the
schools she attended, “they were really pushing the kids, towards making sure that we were
always on the right path… so that was really nice and they believed in us.”
During her time attending the summer program, Eva encountered caring adults who
believed in her and encouraged her to be her best. She shared regarding the program director,
“she really just encouraged everyone to do their best and strive for that success and that
greatness. So, it was really nice to have her support.” Josie reflected on the impact of the teacher-
student relationship on ensuring that the students were prepared for the new school year. She
stated:
Honestly, I remember the teacher-student relationships the most and how much they
made sure that we were prepared to go back to school in the next year. If we didn’t have
those relationships, we would be lost going back to school.
Gem spoke of the staff, including the program director. She shared:
They would always check in [on] us making sure we were doing well, not only at the end
of the week but several times each day. They believed in us and encouraged us. I will
remember their lessons for years to come, even if I forget their names.
Keena’s account echoed what some of the participants articulated about the collective efficacy
experienced during the program. She recalled being scared to speak up and participate in class at
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her school but during the summer program, the teachers dissuaded that habit and instead offered,
“let’s learn this together,” and had the students come to the whiteboard to solve the math
problem alongside him. She continued, “it made me have a different mindset, a good attitude
toward school and solving problems.”
Gavin spoke of her relationship and interaction with the tutors that were also helpful. She
shared:
The TA’s were very helpful, because they were also past students of [Strive Academy] so
they also were able to give us feedback, tell us like what to expect, and tell us that we
will do well. They also shared their experience when they were students in the summer
program; like you don’t want to do this, you want to focus more on this problem.
Cleve also reminisced on the impact of the staff. He said, “I do remember feeling very warm,
like just greeting the staff and seeing them every morning. I do remember feeling positive
feelings towards them.” Referring to one of the teachers, he continued, “he definitely had a
positive impact on me for everything that he taught me. He believed in the students.” Ruth
reflected on the patience of the program staff:
I like the patience of the program staff because it was like everybody worked really well
with each other, taking time to try to help you better understand the concepts if you were
struggling, and I really appreciated that a lot because sometimes I was just getting
frustrated and wanted to give up. But then, you know, they give you that extra push to
keep going. That was very beneficial.
The collective efficacy of supportive adults in the developing children’s ecological systems is
fundamental to their upbringing, enabling them to thrive and, to not only see their potential but,
believe in themselves and pursue academic excellence. Strive Academy fostered a culture of
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collective efficacy where the staff not only expressed their beliefs in the participants capabilities
but they helped them to achieve academic competence, some attaining self-efficacy in
mathematics.
Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy comprises the participants’ belief in their capabilities to accomplish specific
tasks and, according to Bandura (2001), impacts the goals they set and accomplish. The analysis
of the 13 participants’ interviews accentuated the impact of Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program on their performance in mathematics, with some participants highlighting their
improvement in the subject and, for others, advancement ahead of their peers when they return to
traditional school. Seven of the 13 participants (54%) mentioned that the learning and the work
they did during the summer helped them have a better understanding of mathematics, even
advancing to higher levels in their math classes. Eva offered that “it made me just more
confident and more prepared for when I went back to actual school. I didn’t feel like I was lost.”
Josie stated:
I guess [the program] always taught me to kind of push myself further than anyone else
because it's like at the end of the day, enough isn’t necessarily always enough when it
comes to your academics. You had to devote those extra hours outside of class to go to
the library and sit down and really go back over the material that you covered… I feel
like that’s what [Strive Academy] taught and how they really impacted my academic life.
Five of the participants (38%) shared that they also became a student tutor while
participating in the program, inferring an increased understanding of the content, leading them to
be able to tutor other students. Dava expressed, “I loved that the teacher let the students who
finished their work early to move around the classroom and help other students, instead of sitting
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there. I was able to help other people.” Gem offered that during the summer program, when other
students needed help:
Instead of giving them my paper because I was already done with the work by the time
class was over. Instead of giving them my paper to copy, I’d be like, okay, let’s go
through this and I’ll explain it to you. So, it’s much more understandable, you know, you
get something out of it. I feel like that did help my social skills a little bit, at least helping
them as well.
Josie was a student tutor during her time in the program. She shared, “when I got to high school,
I became a tutor for the after-school program. So, when it came to that experience, it helped with
getting those extracurricular activities noticed for colleges.” Eva also became a student tutor
during her summers in the program and reflected, “not only did I just attend the summer program
as a student, I was a student tutor also, so that was nice.” Achieving self-efficacy in a subject
matter is proven in various ways, including helping others understand the same subject matter.
For Josie and the other four participants, their roles as tutors demonstrated their self-efficacy in
mathematics, enabling them to help other students succeed.
Discussion for Research Question 2
The review of literature in Chapter Two highlighted supplemental educational programs
as environments that not only provide social and emotional support for developing children but
also academic enrichment during out-of-school hours (Afterschool Alliance, 2017). The findings
related to the second research question affirmed the contribution of Strive Academy’s summer
STEM program to the participants’ academic outcomes, enabling them to successfully complete
high school and secure acceptance into a college or university. While some of the participants
attended K–12 schools in higher income communities where the education is of higher quality or
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other private and charter schools, their summer converged at Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program where they experienced an environment that was welcoming with supportive and caring
staff who empowered the participants to achieve academic success.
Majority of the participants expressed that the program provided them with a space where
they were comfortable to be themselves, allowing them to focus more on learning. The
participants’ experiences align with Afterschool Alliance’s (2017) study that when students from
underserved communities are exposed to quality educational resources, they excel academically
compared to their counterparts in higher income communities who have easier access to these
resources. For all participants, Strive Academy’s summer STEM program provided equal access
to quality supplemental educational resources irrespective of their socioeconomic status.
Additionally, the findings reaffirmed Gentry et al.’s (2017) study that when exposed to
environments and resources conducive to growth and development, students from underserved
communities excel similar to their peers in higher-income communities. Furthermore, during
their time in the summer STEM program, the participants experienced the collective efficacy of
adults in their ecological systems who believed in them and worked in concert enabling their
academic achievements. When collective efficacy is present, students excel in their academic
pursuits regardless of race or socioeconomic status (Donohoo et al., (2018).
The participants, located at the center of the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model,
navigated the complexities of their family, social and cultural structures as they form connections
to influences in their environments that enabled their learning and development (Hayes et al.,
2017). Moreover, the participants affirmed that Strive Academy’s summer STEM program
fostered an environment that incorporated culturally relevant content with its academic
enrichment curriculum, thereby providing Black and Latinx students with portraits of positive
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and relatable role models who look like them and possibly have traversed similar experiential
paths as the participants. Exposing the participants to culturally relevant teachings that
comprised salient aspects of their cultural heritage introduced them to the cultural wealth, a
multifaceted richness of the depth and strength people of color, acquired through years for
resilience in the face of tyranny and disparate treatments (Yosso, 2005), as they persevere in
overcoming systemic racial barrier. Consequently, participating in Strive Academy’s summer
STEM program enabled the participants to excel academically, some achieving self-efficacy in
mathematics, a move toward closing the achievement and opportunities gaps existing in
underserved communities and recently exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Findings for Research Question 3
The third research question was: based on students’ perceptions, how does Strive
Academy’s summer program help students in overcoming stereotyping related to race and class?
The question sought to understand the participants’ perspectives on whether their participation in
Strive Academy’s summer STEM program contributed to them overcoming stereotyping and
race related issues they faced during their K–12 journey and beyond. The three prevailing themes
that emerged from the analysis of the findings were racial identity and impact, overcoming
stereotyping and deficit thinking, and navigating racism in America. In addressing the third
research question, the analysis also revealed the impact that participation in Strive Academy’s
summer STEM program had on helping the participants overcome stereotyping related to race
and their socioeconomic status.
Racial Identity and Impact
The race of an individual is a salient attribute of their identity and historically has been a
determining factor in access to resources. The participants had varying responses when asked
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about the first time they became aware of their racial identities. While majority of the
participants (69%) attended predominantly White high schools, their K–8 school journey
included schools with diverse populations, contributing to when they became aware of their
racial identities and the impact on their upbringing and academic journey. Two participants
stated that they were always aware that they were Black and could not pinpoint a time when that
awareness happened. Dava expressed:
I feel like once you’re Black, you have to know, you notice when you’re the only one
that's Black in a class or like when you notice there's so little of people that look like you.
It’s never like affected how I see other people.
Cleve, Lacy, Riley, and Helen stated they became aware of their racial identities when they were
in elementary school. Cleve recalled:
I remember learning about Birmingham 16th Street Church bombing in elementary
school, and just the reasoning behind it. And I felt everything, I just felt very defeated…I
just felt that pain that came along with that moment, and I remember resonating with that.
I became fully aware of my blackness then.
Lacy reflected on being made to feel like she was different from everyone and had a difficult
time making friends. She shared:
I remember that school was never a problem for me I guess, but the experience between
everything else was different, because that was when I dealt with my first racial
experience. This White girl didn’t want to play with me on the playground. And she
would always act like she just didn’t want to be near me, or just didn’t want to touch me
at all. And she had brought up because it’s the way that I look.
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Eva, Gem, and Helen became aware of their racial identities during middle school. Gem
reflected:
In middle school, there were suddenly cliques that weren’t formed in elementary school.
You know, there was suddenly this unspoken habit or rule that you stick to your own
kind, I guess, and that was something I never really got either. And then I went back to
my old home with my grandparents and realized that things were suddenly different and I
no longer had my old friends and couldn’t speak to them as freely because their parents
didn’t approve of the fact that I wasn’t like them. So, it was jarring to say the least, but it
wasn’t something that emotionally kept me back. If anything, I found my own people and
made friends with them.
Riley spoke of being biracial and becoming aware that she was Black during the seventh grade in
middle school. For Josie, Keena and Callie, it was during high school when they had that
awareness that being Black meant they were looked at differently. Josie explained, “I became
aware of my racial identity during high school. That’s when I started watching movies, reading
books, things like that. I became more aware and started kind of picking up on things more in
high school.” Callie, who attended diverse K–8 schools but a predominantly White high school
in a higher income community, added that it was in high school that he became fully aware of
being Black. He shared, “it’s not like I didn’t know before but when I started high school, I
became aware because of the area I was in. It was majority of White people and rarely anyone
that looked like me.”
The participants’ varied experiences about awareness of their racial identities highlighted
the differences in perceptions and treatment encountered in their pursuit of academic success.
The disparities in access to quality educational resources in their respective communities led to
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majority of the participants attending predominantly White schools for better education,
increasing the racial discrimination they experienced. Each participant’s account has some
components of systemic racism that has permeated communities of color, especially the
education systems, ultimately impacting the academic outcomes of Black and Latinx students
residing in these communities.
Stereotyping and Dispelling Deficit Thinking
Stereotyping and deficit thinking create an image of minoritized individuals or groups
that is less than favorable compared to other individuals or groups (Ledesma & Calderon, 2015;
Quadflieg et al., 2009). The participants were asked whether they perceived their race being a
factor in how they saw themselves and how others treated them growing up. Two participants
noted not being personally aware of any instances where their race was a factor in how they were
treated, whether good or bad. Conversely, 11 of the 13 participants (85%) revealed experiencing
instances of stereotyping and deficit thinking mindset from adults and peers toward them during
their K–12 school journey and during college, associating the treatment to their race. Sonia, who
attended a predominantly Black and Latinx high school, is currently attending a prestigious
predominantly White university, and expressed:
People see me and they think, oh, she’s just a Black girl. She got into [college] because
they wanted to meet a diversity quota. You know, like sometimes I think the imposter
syndrome gets me a lot here, like you’re not supposed to be there and maybe other people
know that you’re not supposed to be there, either. So, sometimes I do feel that imposter
syndrome being here and I know I stand out in the crowd more than other people, not
because of my knowledge, not because of my skills, but because of my race.
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The imposter syndrome, represented as a feeling of fraud, failure and not belonging in relations
to ones’ success and accomplishments (Slank, 2019), may result from internal and external
factors impacting high-achieving individuals of a certain group based on gender, race or class
(Holden et al., 2021). The feeling Sonia expressed may also be related to stereotype threats, the
risks of confirming a negative stereotype associated with one’s race or social group (Edwards,
2019), that Black students in predominately White institutions experience that may discourage or
motivate her academic performance.
Eva’s account of her experience highlighted some of the stereotypical traits ascribed to
Black girls that she encountered. She shared:
People are always shocked at the fact that I am not your stereotypical Black girl, being
like I’m not, you know, for lack of better words, not ghetto. I’m not loud, I’m not
obnoxious, like they have put that stereotype on us. I’m more reserved, I speak ‘more
white’ so to speak, you know. I speak like that, not because I want to be White but
because I am educated.
Eva’s reference to speaking ‘more white’ represents a stereotype trait assigned to Blacks or
people of color who speak fluent Standard English, most times by people of the same race,
confirming the deficit thinking mindset associated with minoritized groups. The synonymous
phrase ‘acting white’ accompanied orators like President Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr.,
Booker T. Washington, and other people of color, referencing their eloquent articulation
(Christie, 2010) or how they presented themselves. These phrases also contribute to stereotyping
threats that Black and other students of color encounter in fear of being labeled as such (Christie,
2010), sometimes inhibiting said students’ motivation to excel academically.
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Josie juxtaposed her experience of being treated differently during high school because
she is Black with being at an HBCU where the population is predominantly Black and a place
where she has a sense of belonging, similar to her time at Strive Academy. She added that:
I really look back and see how much it impacted me and how people kind of treated me
differently growing up, especially in school. And I didn’t even realize the impact at the
time until I got to college and was like, oh, nobody treats me like that way here, the way
they treated me during K–12.
Josie’s experience, previously discussed, underscored the impact of stereotyping and deficit
thinking Black and Latinx students experience as they attempt to assimilate in predominantly
White environments. Frequently scrutinized for the changes to her hairstyles, Josie credited her
time at Strive Academy, “learning in a classroom environment with nothing but African
American kids,” for introducing her to HBCUs and enabling the continued experience of being
around students who looked like her. She added, “ever since I attended an HBCU, I’ve always
felt safe and included.” Students thrive in environments where they are less concerned with
stereotyping and deficit thinking mindset, especially being around others that share similar
backgrounds.
Navigating Racism in America
Critical race theory (CRT) premises racism as a normal occurrence in the United States,
infiltrating the education system, influencing policies and practices, and interwoven in everyday
culture. When asked their perceptions and feelings about racism in America today, the
participants’ responses varied. Three participants (23%) mentioned that they either avoided
talking about, reading or watching anything related to racism because of the pain they feel.
Seven participants (54%) explicitly stated that racism exists in American society today, five of
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whom recalled their parents having the race talk with them, a talk typical for most Black families
in the United States. Ruth said:
I would say probably when I was a young age my mom gave me that talk about, you
know, the color of my skin. She sat me down and told me that I would be looked at a
certain way and that I would just have to prepare to hold myself together when it comes
to certain situations and I would be judged and I couldn’t really act on it how I wanted to
because the outcomes may not be good.
Cleve shared, “I remember my parents giving me the talk, you know, saying, you have to be on
your best behavior because you’re Black and some people don’t like people that look like you.”
He continued:
I would say my experience validates my feelings about racism. I do feel like I’m looked
at differently, especially in such a diverse city. In such an economically diverse city I
sometimes feel that if I’m in the more well-off area, I’m under more surveillance,
whereas if I was in an average economic area, I wouldn't have as many eyes on me. In my
experience, I’m not exempt from it because of my education or my ability to code switch.
I do feel like the effects of racism in my life.
Cleve’s reference to “code switch” reflects the practice of individuals of different ethnic
backgrounds alternating between two or more languages or dialects in one conversation (Auer,
2002) to accommodate the understanding and acceptance of others in the conversation. Similar to
other ethnic groups and their related cultural languages or dialects, African Americans alternate
between African American English (AAE) and Standard American English (SAE) as they
navigate conversations between mixed groups (Kendall & Wolfram, 2009). One’s ability to code
switch helps with adapting to and navigating mainstream social and cultural settings.
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Helen also added her perspective on racism in America. She shared that her mother had
the talk about race with her and presented obtaining a college degree as a mandatory pursuit for
her. She stated, “[my mother] told me, as a Black woman, nothing will be handed to me so I have
to work harder than anyone else for it. So, she put that mindset in me to work harder, work
hard.” Gem also reflected, “there’s an abundance of racism in America. Unfortunately, people
will dislike people for being any sort of way, the way they look, the color of their skin, for
having a certain mindset, for being a certain type.” Dava expressed that racism today is:
More subtle, like microaggressions, at least, from what I’ve seen. I know there are more
outright stuff even in the media. But like I said, I’ve never experienced it, but I do think
America hasn’t like really changed or really made a difference because there are people
who are still speaking out against and still having to deal with that just with like
anything… there’s Black people who have to deal with racism. There’s Asian people who
deal with racism because of COVID-19.
Lacy shared:
Racism today is just like history repeating itself. You have situation where cops are
killing people, and so many things are so racially inclined. It’s just kind of like you know
this because people are starting to realize that this exists and it’s sad because it should
have never been where things get so bad for people to realize that this is going on.
The participants’ varied perspectives on racism in America speak to its complexities and impact
on the affected individuals. As they navigate the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems, they
adopt coping mechanisms, like “code switching” between their cultural dialects or native
languages and socially accepted language, and the parental “race talk,” enabling assimilation into
social settings as they contend with systemic racism in their pursuit the academic excellence.
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Strive Academy’s Summer Program Impact
The participants’ responses to awareness of their racial identities and perspectives on
racism in America revealed their lived experiences that impacted their perception of self,
contributing to their pursuit of academic success during their K–12 school year to their college
preparation and acceptance journey. The participants were asked whether their participation in
the Strive Academy’s summer STEM program helped them to navigate racial issues they
encountered during their K–12 school years and in their current college journey. Ten of the
participants (77%) expressed that their experience did not directly help them navigate the racial
issues they faced at school or in society. Josie shared that while she appreciated spending the
summer around predominately Black students and not having to encounter microaggression or
stereotyping comments, the environment was more of a shield from the real world during the
summer months, and looking back she still had the feeling of isolation and encountered racial
issues, including microaggression, through the remainder of high school. When asked what could
have been done to make her experience at Strive Academy one that achieved greater results for
her, she offered that the program should consider adding:
Workshops and things like about how to navigate through the world and being in the
ethnicity or the race that you’re in. I don’t remember any type of things like that. So, if
they had any type of workshops [with] successful Black people who would come in and
teach on how to navigate the world and your skin. You know, being around just Black
students isn’t always enough. So especially if you’re going to go from like being around
Black students to going back to school with being around other students of other colors,
it’s like then what was the point? So, yeah, definitely incorporating workshops to help
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Black students navigate racial issues they face in school. Yes, that would have helped a
lot.
Josie also added, “but that’s also a reason why I attended an HBCU because it is a safe space for
everyone. And, you know, ever since I attend an HBCU, you know, I’ve always felt safe and
included in a way.” Homogeneous environments, comprising students of a predominant race and
culture, may result in the feeling of isolation and disconnect for students who are the minority in
numbers (Wong et al., 2021). For Josie, choosing an HBCU over a predominantly White
university continued the sense of belonging she experienced at Strive Academy. Furthermore,
while Josie’s reflection illuminated an area of growth for Strive Academy as it seeks to expand
its summer STEM program to reach more students in underserved communities, not all
participants shared the same experience.
Three participants (23%) credited their participation in the summer program for helping
them to navigate racial issues they faced. Cleve said:
I really feel like I developed a sense of self-confidence from attending the program. I
remember [the teacher] talking to us about Harriet Tubman. And he broke down her full
name. He turned it to an acronym. He told us to have a heart that’s courageous and just
gave us all these very encouraging words that really stuck with me, and I was able to see
my worth. In that lecture, I was able to see who I was based off of what he said about my
ancestors and people that came before me. And I really felt like that that stuck with me.
So as far as the racism related experiences, I never felt like they were a hindrance to me
more than they should have been because I knew who I was personally.
Likewise, Riley reflected on her experience attending the summer STEM program and how it
helped her navigate race related issues. She expressed:
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It really helped me because [in the program] they really taught against violence among
each other and instead to use your mindset, use your intelligence to really shut someone
being racist or don’t like engage with them. Yes, use your intelligence as your voice. You
have a voice. Let it be known your intelligence speaks highly of yourself.
The participants’ experiences navigating racism and race related issues during their K–12
journey and beyond resounded the fortitude they developed in pursuit of academic success. Their
lived experiences dispel historically deficit thinking that Black and Latinx students from
underserved communities are academically inept and needing remedial academic support
compared to their White counterparts. Furthermore, the participants’ experiences highlighted a
need to address the culture of systemic racism that continues to permeate the education systems,
primarily impacting Black and Latinx students, limiting the realization of their full potentials.
Discussion for Research Question 3
Race, at the center of systemic racism, not only shaped culture in the United States (Omi
& Winant, 2014), but its intersection with other characteristics of individuals influenced their
identities and sense of self-worth (Todd, 2020). The findings related to the third research
question highlighted the participants’ varied perspectives about race related and stereotyping
issues they encountered during their K–12 school years and into their college journey. The
findings also underscored the degree to which participating in Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program helped them navigate or overcome racial issues. The different perspectives accentuated
the issue of race and racism in the United States as a complex conundrum impacting Black and
Latinx students attending predominantly White schools while seeking to obtain the best
education (Yosso, 2005). Furthermore, the findings illuminated the racial inequity that continues
to pervade society and the effect of racism and stereotyping on students’ self-perception during
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their upbringing and academic journey, affirming Ladson-Billings’ (2013) study on critical race
theory that premised racism as a normal day-to-day occurrence in American society.
Black and Latinx students in underserved communities face racial discrimination,
through stereotyping and deficit thinking mindset, impacting their academic outcomes. In
overcoming the hurdles resulting from systemic racism, Black and Latinx students develop
resilience that motivate their academic achievement (Carter, 2008). The finding related to the
third research question revealed that Strive Academy’s summer STEM program provided
culturally relevant teaching for the participants, enabling a better understanding of themselves.
However, majority of the participants did not connect their participation in the summer STEM
program with helping them overcome race related, deficit thinking mindset of others toward
them, and stereotyping issues they continued to face during their K–12 school years and into
college.
Furthermore, the findings revealed that majority of the participants attended schools
outside of their communities, resulting in an experience that may have been academically
beneficial yet rendering a feeling of isolation and disconnect in their school environments devoid
of culturally relevant or inclusive teachings salient to the participants’ background.
Consequently, students from underserved communities face the double-edged sword of subpar
quality education in predominantly Black and Latinx K–12 schools or the raw exposure to
stereotyping and race related issues in predominantly White K–12 school in pursuit of quality
education. In seeking to bridge the gap in access to quality supplemental educational, the
findings revealed that Strive Academy’s summer STEM program unintendedly did not help
students prepare for the isolation they would continue to feel in their external environments,
revealing the need to explore ways to remedy the concerns.
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Summary of Overall Findings
This qualitative study sought to understand the experiences of students from underserved
communities who participated in Strive Academy’s summer STEM program and examine
whether their experiences influenced their academic outcomes. The prevailing findings affirmed
Strive Academy’s summer STEM program as an exemplary supplemental educational program
providing academic enrichment and support for the participants. The findings illuminated salient
attributes of Strive Academy’s summer STEM program, including nurturing environment, safe
space, supportive and caring staff, college-going culture, and a place exposing participants to
STEM curriculum and culturally relevant teaching. The relationships between the staff and
participants enabled their behavioral, social, and academic development and established
connections that transcended the participants’ K–12 school journey. Additionally, the
participants reported improved self-perception and a sense of belonging during their time in the
program, surrounded by staff and peers from similar cultural and social backgrounds who looked
like them and experienced similar issues they encountered in their K–12 school journey.
Likewise, the participants underscored exposure to culturally relevant teachings that
introduced them to role models and content reflective of their heritage, providing them with
counterstories that dispelled deficit thinking about their academic capabilities. The prevailing
findings also illuminated Strive Academy’s summer STEM program as providing the
participants with access to college preparation support, including college tours that exposed them
to college campuses and college preparation workshops that provided resources pivotal to their
college acceptance journey. Furthermore, the findings unveiled the collective efficacy the
participants experienced in their communities, K–12 schools, and during their time participating
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in the summer program, emphasizing that when adults express a belief in children’s abilities to
accomplish tasks, they excel in goal achievement.
Analysis of the prevailing findings accentuated the participants’ self-efficacy in
mathematics, with all participants revealing that the summer STEM program prepared them for
the next level of mathematics when they returned to school after the summer break. Achieving
self-efficacy enhanced the participants’ learning and shaped their approach to goal
accomplishment. The participants also revealed awareness of their racial identity and its impact
as they navigate racism in America and work to overcome stereotyping and deficit thinking
mindset of others toward Black and Latinx people. Notwithstanding, the participants continued
to experience isolation and disconnect when they returned to their predominantly White K–12
school environments, exposing the pervasive influence of systemic racism embedded in
education policies and practices. Consequently, the findings signal an opportunity for Strive
Academy to reimagine its operating model for its programs, creating a curriculum premised on a
diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) centered model encompassing antibias and antiracist
teachings. This approach incites a proactive move toward lessening the racial and stereotyping
problems Black and Latinx students encounter as they traverse the K–12 educational systems in
pursuit of academic success. Chapter Five will explore three recommendations addressing the
findings, positioning Strive Academy to address the problem of practice. It will also propose
future research to broaden this salient area of study.
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Chapter Five: Recommendations
This Chapter presents the recommendations associated with the prevailing findings for
this research study of expanding access to quality supplemental educational programs for K–12
students in underserved communities. Chapter Four comprised the prevailing findings that
emerged from the research and discussion aligning with the three research questions, revealing
the impact of Strive Academy’s summer STEM program on the participants’ academic outcomes
as they ascribed meaning to their experiences. The findings related to the first and second
research questions affirmed Strive Academy’s summer STEM program as an exemplary
supplemental educational program for K–12 students living in underserved communities. In
addition, the findings showed that Strive Academy provides an environment that is warm and
welcoming with caring and supportive staff who work with the participants to motivate them as
they pursue academic success.
Conversely, the findings related to the third research question revealed that majority of
the participants did not credit their participation in the summer STEM with empowering them to
overcome stereotyping and race related issues when they were back in the K–12 school or other
external environments. Thus, the finding related to the third research question presents an area of
growth for the Strive Academy in providing tools to its students that will enable them to
overcome the stereotyping and race related issues they face as they navigate their academic
journey. The recommendations outlined in this Chapter offer improvement to the organization's
summer STEM program, aligning with its goal of expanding access to more students in
underserved communities. Additionally, recommendations for future research are presented,
followed by the conclusion that summarizes and culminates this study.
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During the interviews with the 13 participants, they highlighted several salient attributes
of Strive Academy’s summer STEM program, as they ascribed meaning to their experiences
participating in the summer program. Figure 3 captures the attributes that position the summer
STEM program as exemplary program.
Figure 3
Salient Attributes of Strive Academy’s Summer STEM Program as Shared by the Participants

The findings, generated from the analysis of the participants’ interviews, were assessed against
the respective research questions to determine alignment and identify any variations or gaps,
leading to recommendations for practice and future research in this area of study. Accordingly,
the three recommendations for practice, as outlined, represent strategies for improving Strive
Academy’s summer STEM program by providing tools to its students, enabling them to
overcome stereotyping and race related issues they may face in the outside world. The
recommendations also encompass strategies for expanding program access to reach more
underserved communities, moving toward closing the achievement and attainment gaps. The
three recommendations are:
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1. Redesign the culturally relevant curriculum to incorporate a diversity, equity, and
inclusion (DEI) centered operating model.
2. Expand access to the Strive Academy’s programs by establishing formal partnerships
with local public and charter middle and high schools.
3. Increase awareness of Strive Academy’s summer STEM program through a strategic
public marketing campaign.
The recommendations presented stand to benefit the organization’s stakeholders including the
organization’s leadership team, school administrators, and parents in underserved communities
seeking quality supplemental educational programs for their children.
Recommendation 1: Redesign the Culturally Relevant Curriculum to Incorporate a
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Centered Operating Model
The findings from the present research unveiled the gap between two contrasting
environments that the participants experienced during their academic journey from their K–12
school years to college and the environment they experienced during their time at Strive
Academy. Based on the majority of participants’ experiences, Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program comprised caring and supportive staff who fostered a safe and enriching environment
that provided them with a sense of belonging. The program also offered culturally relevant
teachings that exposed the participants to Black and Latinx historical figures enabling them to
improve their self-perception, become more comfortable in their skin, and exposed to successful
adults who looked like them. The program provided the needed, yet temporary, summer escape
from the White-dominant academic environment, marred with microaggression, stereotyping,
and race-neutral policies, and from the underfunded and under-resourced predominantly
minoritized K–12 environment in their immediate neighborhoods. Contrariwise, the program did
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not help them overcome the feeling of isolation or combat microaggression and stereotyping they
experienced when they returned to their incongruent K–12 environment for the new school year.
For example, when asked about what could have been done to make the experience at
Strive Academy one that achieved greater results for her, Josie expressed that while her time in
the program helped her to be more comfortable in her skin, it didn’t provide tools to navigate the
outside world where she faced stereotyping and race related issues, leading to the feeling of
isolation. The identified gap in Josie’s reflection, and that of other participants, presents an
opportunity for Strive Academy to reimagine the operating model for its summer STEM program
and seek to create a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) centered environment. Such an
approach would continue to promote and foster culturally relevant teachings but incorporates a
multicultural and inclusive teaching model that comprises antibias and antiracism components,
covering salient topics such as microaggression, overcoming stereotyping, and strategies to
thrive in any environment in which the participants find themselves. Antibias and Antiracism
move teaching toward policies and practices that foster racial equity and inclusion, and away
from those that are race-based or race-neutral (Blake et al., 2019; Kleinrock, 2021).
Critical race theory (CRT), as a framework, posited that the design of the traditional
educational systems presents Black and Latinx students as academically and culturally inept,
viewing them from lenses of failure and as individuals needing remedial education (Ladson-
Billings, 2013). The findings of this present research dispelled that notion and instead showcased
the lived experiences of Black and Latinx participants who exceled through their academic
journey while faced with racism, stereotyping, and deficit mindset thinking of those around them
in the academic environment. Strive Academy originally designed its summer STEM program to
redress the void created by traditionally White-dominant adequately resourced schools where
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minoritized students experienced the feeling of isolation and lacking a sense of belonging. It also
sought to address the deficit caused by underfunded K–12 school environments that leave
promising Black and Latinx students behind or cause a financial burden for parents in
underserved communities seeking the best education for their children. Accordingly, the design
of the curriculum dispelled deficit thinking and highlighted counterstories of the under-
recognized prominent Black and Latinx figures who made significant contributions to the STEM
fields, giving Black and Latinx students visuals of accomplished role models who look like them.
However, based on the findings of the third research question, Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program unintendedly fell short of equipping the students to successfully process the racism,
microaggression, and stereotyping they encountered during their academic journey and in their
current context.
CRT, a salient foundation for this study’s conceptual framework, postulated that racism is
customary in American society and has infiltrated policies and practices that impact underserved
communities (Yosso, 2005), comprising primarily Black and Latinx people. Therefore,
understanding the systems that influence education for K–12 students in underserved
communities will enable Strive Academy to reframe its culturally relevant teaching component
and incorporate strategies for students to thrive in homogeneous or heterogeneous environments.
By reframing its curriculum to incorporate this holistic approach, Strive Academy will empower
its students to confront and overcome racial issues, and ultimately enabling them to add their
own counterstories. Figure 4 outlines a revised model for Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program that reimagines its program as a DEI learning environment while preserving the salient
attributes that made it an exemplary supplemental educational program.

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Figure 4
Revised Model Promoting a DEI Centered Environment

As the population in the United States becomes more diverse and leading organizations
move toward embracing cultures that promote DEI in their policies and practices (Wiggan &
Watson-Vandiver, 2019), the recommendation is for Strive Academy to be a leader in the
supplemental education arena by incorporating DEI practices into its culture, specifically those
addressing strategies to counteract race related innuendos and stereotyping. For example,
Kleinrock (2021) outlined a guide to developing an antibias and antiracist teaching curriculum
comprising salient DEI topics for educators to consider in creating more inclusive spaces for
students. The curriculum detailed the following steps that the organization’s leadership can adapt
and customize:
1. Create an Identity Map, unpacking the background knowledge and experiences
salient to the student. The educator should consider creating their own map as an
example for the student and assurance that the classroom is a safe space for self-
expression. Figure 5 represents a template of an Identity Map that the educator can
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adapt to help the students to build their own. Kleinrock (2021) offered that this
concept helps educators know their students, enabling them to formulate a
culturally responsive lesson plan, bringing in community cultural wealth relevant to
their identities.
2. Create the space for students to share their stories and process through emotional
and challenging experiences, especially those they face outside of Strive Academy.
Kleinrock (2021) recommended that the educator consider different approaches to
successfully navigate the process of creating and maintaining the students' social
and emotional health.
3. Align antibias and antiracist topics with the curriculum and not as separate
components. Kleinrock (2021) suggested that antibias and antiracist teachings
become the lens through which the educators teach and not separate components,
being cognizant of content perpetuating stereotyping and race related issues.
4. Build a culture of trust through honest and open communication that fosters
vulnerability in educators and students. This approach may include assessing how
the students are doing through check-ins (Kleinrock, 2021) and giving them space
to share.
5. Discuss difficult topics relevant to social justice and the current context. Kleinrock
(2021) underscored creating surveys or questionnaires to help assess topics that are
difficult for students to discuss.
6. Engage parents, so they know what their children are learning and invite their
participation and contribution in creating and sustaining a DEI-centered
environment.
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Figure 5
Kleinrock’s (2021) Identity Map

Implementing a DEI-centered program enables Strive Academy to provide the needed
support for Black and Latinx students navigating environments that are not always inclusive. It
will also open the door for the inclusion of students of other races who may reside in
underserved communities, allowing them to be in an environment where academic excellence is
the norm and not the exception for children in those communities. As more organizations
embrace DEI initiatives, training organizations and materials continue to evolve, resulting in
various approaches for consideration. For example, Kleinrock (2021) offered a multifaceted
approach to a DEI curriculum design that STEM-based programs can incorporate, providing
students with the learning and tools needed to thrive in their K–12 school environments and
beyond.

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Recommendation 2: Expand Access to Strive Academy’s Programs by Establishing Formal
Partnerships With Local Public and Charter Middle and High Schools
The findings emerging from the first and second research questions illuminated the
attributes of Strive Academy’s summer STEM program that position it as an exemplary
supplemental educational program for K–12 students in underserved communities. Figure 3
captured these salient attributes, with Figure 4 representing the incorporation of a DEI-centered
environment. The findings also revealed that majority of the participants attended K–12 schools
outside of their immediate neighborhoods, including charter and private schools and public
schools in higher-income communities. Research showed that when parents are unable to find
quality K–12 schools and quality supplemental educational programs in their communities, they
look outside for better educational resources (Afterschool Alliance, 2016). However, this is not a
practical alternative for Black and Latinx parents in neighborhoods where the income equity gap
is pronounced. While the participants attended various K–12 schools, their summers brought
them to Strive Academy, located in and serving students in underserved communities.
Further analysis of the findings presents an opportunity for the Strive Academy to
consider expanding its program to reach more students in these communities. Research
supporting this recommendation includes Raia-Hawrylak et al.’s (2021) study positing evidence-
based partnerships between K–12 schools and universities that create opportunities for
collaboration with external consultants to support school leadership teams in improving and
promoting changes in schools, a model that community-based organization, like Strive Academy,
can employ. Additionally, Furco (2013) illustrated the positive impact of partnerships between
community-based organizations and K–12 schools that focus first on learning and understanding
the needs of the schools, to garner mutually beneficial outcomes for both parties. Thus, by
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expanding its summer STEM program, Strive Academy will move toward leveling the education
playing field, giving students living in underserved communities the supplemental educational
resources needed to enhance traditional K–12 school learning.
As it expands access to its supplemental educational programs and moves toward
achieving education equity for students in underserved communities, Strive Academy could seek
to establish formal symbiotic partnerships with local K–12 schools. For example, Murry et al.
(2021) outlined the benefits of partnerships between community organizations and K–12 schools,
including access to community resources to offset the gaps in schools’ learning and support.
Strive Academy would establish the partnerships through memoranda of understanding (MOUs)
detailing the mutual benefits of the partnership between the organization and the respective K–12
schools. Strive Academy would provide an academically enriching environment with caring and
supportive staff that includes credentialed teachers and college students as tutors, enabling
students to thrive academically as they prepare for the next grade level. The K–12 schools would
in turn share information about the summer STEM program and Strive Academy’s other
afterschool programs with the parents and school staff, promoting the organization as a quality
supplemental educational site. Furthermore, the MOUs, customized using boilerplate templates,
will comprise:
1. Background information on the organization highlighting its history of success in
underserved communities.
2. Terms and conditions to include, but not limited to, the scope of the services being
offered, and the responsibilities of each party.
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3. Duration of the agreement; for example, a two-to-four-year renewable agreement will
enable enough time for the entities to build a working relationship and begin to realize
the success of the partnership.
4. Point of contact for both the K–12 schools and the organization.
5. Any special provision, applicable to the K–12 schools and the organization.
Establishing these salient partnerships, via MOUs, with local K–12 schools, provides a formal
transparent understanding of the commitment between Strive Academy and the respective K–12
schools to pursue equity in education for students in underserved communities. To this end,
Strive Academy will contribute enabling more equitable access to quality supplemental
educational programs for students in underserved communities.
Recommendation 3: Increase Awareness of Strive Academy’s Summer STEM Program
Through a Strategic Public Marketing Campaign
The findings related to this current research, aligning with the second research question,
affirms Strive Academy’s summer STEM program as an exemplary program that fosters a warm
and welcoming environment with caring and supportive environment and where the participants
consider a safe space. As past research showed, supplemental educational programs provide
academic, social and emotional support for students during out of school hours when parents are
typically unavailable (Hurd & Deutsch, 2017). Additionally, research highlighted that there is
disproportionate access to quality supplemental educational programs in underserved
communities, limiting Black and Latinx students realizing their full potential (Afterschool
Alliance, 2016). The demand for quality programming and the lack of access to such resources in
underserved communities, worsened by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, provide an
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intersecting opportunity for Strive Academy to expand the its summer STEM program to reach a
wider radius of its current service areas.
This recommendation proposes that Strive Academy’s expand its summer STEM
program through the implementation of a formal marketing campaign, ran over a three-year
period, at minimum, and centered around promoting the benefits and successes of the summer
STEM program, gleaned from the participants’ interviews. Research supporting this
recommendation encompasses Alves et al.’s (2016) study encapsulating the impact of internet
and social media marketing on consumers’ usage and influence in decision-making and
perceptions. Yeik Koay et al. (2021) also highlighted the relationship existing between achieving
brand equity and social media marketing, enabling organizations to reach a wider base of
consumers. The organization should consider hiring a marketing firm or consultant to work
alongside the leadership team to design and implement the marketing campaign as training
program. This approach enables the organization to design a sustainable marketing campaign
that would expand its current target population to a wider breadth of underserved communities. It
would also create a culture in the organization where the leaders and staff are trained to become
promoting agents of the summer STEM program, moving away from marketing being an isolated
function administered by specific individuals.
The recommendation proposes that the leadership team, the key stakeholder, establishes a
performance goal aligned with the organization’s goal of expanding its summer STEM program
to reach more students in underserved communities. Accordingly, the leadership team would
outline the specificities of the marketing campaign goal including descriptions of tasks and
timelines for task deliverables, making it a SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic,
and timely) goal (Lawlor & Hornyak, 2012). For example, Table 4 reflects a proposed SMART
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goal for the organization and the leadership team, forming the premise for the marketing
campaign.
Table 4
Organization and Stakeholder Proposed SMART Goals

Organizational Goal
By June 2025, the organization will expand its summer STEM program by 200%,
to reach underserved families within a 20-mile driving radius of its location.
Stakeholder (leadership team) Performance Goal
By January 2023, the leadership team will implement a local marketing campaign
to promote and expand awareness of the benefits and successes of the summer STEM
program, targeting families of middle and high school students within a 20-mile radius of
its location, thereby resulting in a 100% increase in student enrollment by June 2023.

The leadership team is salient to the organization’s goal attainment and includes individuals with
many years of organizational management and classroom and educational leadership experiences
who understand the widening achievement gap and disparities facing students in underserved
communities. The marketing campaign, designed as an organization-wide training program, will
involve training the leadership team and staff who will work with the marketing consultant to
implement and evaluate the campaign through the key stages, ensuring goal alignment and
accomplishment.
The recommendation for expanding the summer STEM program further proposes that the
organization utilizes the New World Kirkpatrick Model (NWKM) to design an implementation
and evaluation plan that will monitor the goals of the proposed marketing campaign to expand
the summer STEM program. The NWKM is used globally as an integrated implementation and
evaluation plan to improve training processes in organizations across various industries
(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016) and comprises a reverse order four-level systematic
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framework used to design and evaluate the effectiveness of training programs that prioritizes
Level 4, which focuses on the results, as the most salient aspect of the program. This
unconventional approach to the training and evaluation plan starts with the end in the beginning,
underscoring the importance of assessing the practicality of the organization’s desired outcomes
before implementing training programs. Accordingly, the organization would only pursue the
marketing campaign upon assessment of its feasibility in meeting the goal of expanding the
summer STEM program. Figure 6 represents the NWKM showing the four levels of evaluations
that the leadership team would employ in monitoring the goals of the marketing campaign.
Figure 6
New World Kirkpatrick Model used in Designing and Monitoring the Marketing Campaign

When implemented according to design, the four interconnected levels of the NWKM
result in the actualization of value to the organization and its stakeholders. Accordingly, Level 4,
Results, represents the desired outcomes resulting from the training program and would align
with the organization’s mission and purpose. Level 3, Behavior, denotes the extent to which the
employees integrate the learning gained from the training into their job. During this phase,
behaviors critical to the organization’s success and related processes and systems to accentuate
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these behaviors are analyzed and incorporated. Level 2, known as Learning, indicates whether
the leadership team and staff have acquired the “intended knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence
and commitment” (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016, p.10) after participating in the training
program. Finally, Level 1, Reaction, measures the employees’ feedback to the training program
to include its relevance, engagement, and satisfaction. Principally, the NWKM would simplify
the design and implementation of the training program associated with the marketing campaign
by focusing first on the results expected by the organization and working in reverse building the
strategies to accomplish the organization’s goals. This approach allows for the assessment of the
return on expectations (ROE) evaluated at different stages of the marketing campaign and
training program, giving the leadership team the opportunity to revise both the training program
and the marketing campaign to properly align with the organization’s goal achievement.
The training program’s alignment with the expected outcomes upon evaluation and the
degree to which it will actualize value to the organization and the leadership team underscore the
importance of employing NWKM (2016) for delivering the marketing campaign. This integrated
implementation and evaluation plan would function as an accountability mechanism supporting
the organization’s goal to reach more underserved communities as it seeks to expand its summer
STEM program. During the planning phase, the organization would not only identify the
expected outcomes but would also engage stakeholders, internal and external, regarding the
return on expectation (ROE) for the summer STEM program. Achieving a high ROE is
indicative of a value-added training program and that the stakeholders’ role in creating and
implementing a successful training program is crucial to achieving the expected outcomes
(McLinden & Trochim, 2007).
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As represented in Table 4, the marketing campaign would be established over a three-
year period, at minimum, with enough time to create consistent messaging for staff to
communicate, materialize growth on social media platforms, increase website traffic, improve
and expand brand recognition, and recruit and acclimate new staff. The campaign would
comprise three phases, with the first focused on training the leadership team to ensure they have
the necessary knowledge and skills to lead and monitor the campaign successfully. Training
sessions could include interactive workshops and webinars that the leadership team will
complete in the first two months of the campaign. Training and collaboration would continue
throughout the campaign, aligning with the design of the NWKM implementation and evaluation
plan for achievement of the organization’s goal of increasing awareness of its summer STEM
program.
At each level of the marketing campaign, the organization would identify important
factors that contribute to improving ROE. First, Level 4 would measure the external and internal
outcomes critical to keeping the marketing campaign on target to meet the goal of a successful
expansion. Level 3 would outline behaviors critical to the campaign’s success while promoting
building relationships among internal and external stakeholders. Level 2 would establish the
learning goals pivotal to implementing a marketing campaign. Finally, level 1 would capture the
leadership team and staff’s reaction to the training program focusing on engagement, relevance,
and satisfaction. While Level 4 is undoubtedly the most important of all four levels, each level
relies on factors and resources from the preceding level, creating an implementation and
evaluation plan that successfully delivers the organization and stakeholder’s interconnected
goals. The recommendation to utilize the NWKM (2016) creates an accountability framework
enabling STEM Academy to achieve its organizational goal of expanding the Summer STEM
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program and its stakeholder’s goal of a successful marketing campaign to promote the program’s
benefits and successes, ultimately, reaching a wider radius of underserved communities.
Recommendations for Future Research
The findings gleaned from this present research and those entailed in the review of
literature support improving and expanding access to supplemental educational programs to
reach more students, especially those in underserved communities. There are several
considerations for further research into this salient area of study. First, future research could
focus on expanding the study to include current students participating in Strive Academy’s
summer STEM program and its other afterschool programs to gather insight into how students
are perceiving the impact of the programs as they actively navigate their K–12 school journey,
especially during this COVID-19 era. Second, the research could be extended to understanding
parents’ perspectives on the impact of students’ participation in Strive Academy’s supplemental
educational programs on their lives, personally and professionally. Third, future research could
seek to explore K–12 schools or supplemental educational programs that are considered
promising practices in creating an environment for students and staff that is diverse, equitable
and inclusive while achieving academic success for its student body. Fourth, the analysis of data
from the current study revealed information-rich data from the participants’ interviews that could
have resulted in a narrative study of one participant to obtain a deeper understanding of the
meaning he or she made of their full lived experiences through childhood, K–12 journey and into
their current context. Finally, future study could seek to perform a quantitative study of all the
alumni of Strive Academy who culminated during the same period, 2015–2020, to garner their
feedback on their participation in the summer STEM program, enabling the generalizability of
the research findings.
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Conclusion
This research study, premised on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model and critical race
theory (CRT), examined the lived experiences of 13 alumni of Strive Academy’s summer STEM
program and explored how their experiences impacted their academic outcomes. Supplemental
educational programs, like Strive Academy’s summer STEM program, provide needed academic
resources and support for K–12 students. However, as the literature review and current research
showed, there is disproportionality in access to these programs for those living in underserved
communities. The prevailing findings underscored Strive Academy’s summer STEM program as
an exemplary supplemental educational program that bridges the disparities and counteracts the
deficit thinking mindset Black and Latinx students encounter as they traverse their K–12
academic journey. In addition, the participants’ interviews revealed salient attributes of the
summer STEM program, including a sense of belonging, caring and supportive staff, and a safe
space, among others, giving the participants access to quality supplemental educational programs
not traditionally available in underserved communities.
The recommendations outlined aim to improve and expand Strive Academy’s summer
STEM program, providing students in underserved communities with access to quality
educational resources, and placing them on a trajectory toward closing the existing achievement
and attainment gaps. As the COVID-19 pandemic moves into an endemic stage and parents in
underserved communities search for quality and affordable supplemental educational programs,
Strive Academy seeks to reach more students by expanding access to its summer STEM
program. In addition, as Black and Latinx students in underserved communities navigate their
interconnected ecological systems, they look to supplemental educational programs to remedy
the deficiencies of their neighborhood K–12 schools. Finally, parents also look to these programs
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to provide a safe, positive, and enriching environment with caring and supportive staff, where
students can excel academically through their K–12 school years and into college.
Nelson Mandela’s (1990) famous quote, “education is the most powerful weapon that
you can use to change the world.” aligns with Strive Academy’s pursuit of equity in education
for students living in underserved communities. The quote profoundly speaks to the impact equal
access to quality supplemental educational programs has on catalyzing the breaking down of
systemic racial barriers and alleviating disparities that have historically plagued and limited the
potential of Black and Latinx students. As I reflect on this research study and the participants’
experiences during their time at Strive Academy, I noted the parallelism between my K–12
journey from a low-income familial upbringing in a developing country to my current context as
an advocate for education equity. The intersection of access to educational resources and
meritocracy created the trajectory for my academic and career successes, not being hindered by
the same systemic racial barriers as the participants encountered. Accordingly, without programs
like Strive Academy’s summer STEM program, Black and Latinx students in underserved
communities will fail to realize their full potential. Therefore, I believe that as a leader of Strive
Academy, I am in a position to champion systemic changes to current thinking, educational
policies, and practices that hinder access to quality supplemental educational resources for
students living in underserved communities.
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Appendix A: Interview Protocols
Overview and Introduction
Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed as part of my research study regarding
understanding the experiences of alumni of Strive Academy. As shared in my email to you, I am
a student at the University of Southern California pursuing a doctorate in education with an
emphasis in organizational change and Leadership. This interview will be about 60 minutes in
length and recorded to capture your complete experience as a student. I will also take notes
throughout and may ask follow-up questions to some of your responses for further clarity to
ensure I capture your full experience correctly.
The information you share today will be kept confidential and privileged to you and me
and used only to contribute to the improvement and expansion of programs at Strive Academy.
The transcript will be available for your review, should you request it. All identifiable attributes
and information unique to you will be scrubbed from the transcript and notes, including omitting
your name from the Zoom video display. Please note that you may decline to answer any
question or withdraw from the interview at any time. Do I have your permission to record the
interview to have an audio file and transcript to review? Before we begin, do you have any
questions for me?
Interview
There are 15 questions that I have prepared; however, I may ask additional follow-up inquiries
for further clarity or expansion of your answers as I seek to capture your complete experience.

136

Interview Questions

Potential Probes

RQ
Addressed

Key Concepts
Addressed
1. How would you define
success after graduation from
high school?
1 Self-perception,
self-efficacy
2. Tell me about the
community in which you grew
up?
● What was your
experience growing
up in this
community?
● What are your
favorite memories
about community?
● What are your least
favorite memories
about your
community?
3 Community
cultural wealth,
deficit thinking,
systemic racial
barriers
3. Walk me through your K–
12 school journey as you best
recall.
● What grade schools
did you attend?
● What was each of
those school
experiences like for
you?
1 Sense of
belonging, self-
perception, self-
efficacy,
collective
efficacy
4. What was it like
participating in the summer
STEM program at Strive
Academy?
● What aspect of the
program, if any, did
you like the most?
● What did you find
most beneficial to
you?
● What aspect of the
program did you like
the least?
1 Sense of
belonging, self-
perception, self-
efficacy,
collective
efficacy
5. What had the most impact
on your academic goals?
School, home, or Strive
Academy?
● Tell me more about
this impact.
● What impact, if any,
did Strive Academy
1 Sense of
belonging, self-
perception, self-
efficacy,
collective
efficacy
137

Interview Questions

Potential Probes

RQ
Addressed

Key Concepts
Addressed
have on your
academic outcomes?
6. Let’s talk about life at
home. Can you share what
your home life was like during
your K–12 years?
● What aspect of your
home life had the
most impact on you?
● What had the least
impact on you?
1 Sense of
belonging
7. What were other factors in
your life, community, family
that impacted your academic
outcomes?
● In what way did they
impact you?
● Was there any
experience that had a
positive or negative
impact on you? If so,
can you share?
1, 2 Sense of
belonging,
Community
cultural wealth
8. What role, if any, did Strive
Academy play in your college
preparation and acceptance
journey?
● If Strive Academy
did not play a role,
what helped you to
navigate the
planning and
preparation process?
● What was the most
challenging part of
the college
preparation process?
● How did you
overcome the
challenge/s?
1, 2 Self-perception,
self-efficacy,
collective
Efficacy
Community
cultural wealth
9. Tell me about your
experience with the staff such
as the directors and teachers at
Strive Academy.

● How did they help
with your academic
journey?
● Can you talk about a
specific person from
Strive Academy who
was the most
1, 2 Self-perception,
collective
Efficacy, sense of
belonging
138

Interview Questions

Potential Probes

RQ
Addressed

Key Concepts
Addressed
influential in your
academic journey?
10. When did you first become
aware of your racial identity?
● What are your
thoughts about your
race and how others
viewed you?
3 Self-perception,
deficit thinking
11. Tell me about your friends,
what are their racial identities?
● How were these
friendships formed
and maintained?
● If you don’t have
friends from other
racial groups, can
you share the reason
why?
3 Self-perception,
systemic racial
barriers, deficit
thinking
12. As Black/Latinx students,
did you feel your race
impacted how you saw
yourself growing up?
● If so, in what way
did it impact you?
● If not, what would
you consider the
reason why your
race did not
influence how you
saw yourself?
3 Self-perception,
systemic racial
barriers, deficit
thinking
13. Reflecting on your K–12
school years, do you recall
your race being a factor in how
others (peers or adults) treated
you, good or bad?
● How does this
experience impact
your feelings about
racism in America
today?
3 Systemic racial
barriers, deficit
thinking
14. Is there anything else that
could have been done to make
your experience at Strive
Academy one that could
achieve greater results for
you?
1, 2 Self-efficacy,
self-perception,
sense of
belonging,
collective
efficacy
139

Interview Questions

Potential Probes

RQ
Addressed

Key Concepts
Addressed
15. Is there anything else you
would like to share with me
about your time at Strive
Academy or about your overall
journey to where you are
today?
1, 2, 3

Thank you
Thank you for your time today. It was such a pleasure meeting and interviewing you. Your
contribution to my research study is greatly appreciated. Should I have follow-up questions or
need clarity on some of your responses, may I contact you? In the meantime, should you think of
any additional details you would like to share, please email or call me using the contact
information I have provided in the letter. Have a great day!
140

Appendix B: Email to Participants
Dear Participant,
Thank you for electing to be participate in this important research study on understanding
the experiences of students who attended Strive Academy’s supplemental educational program.
My name is Simone Dilisser, the Administrator at Strive Academy. I am also a doctoral student
at the University of Southern California. You are one of 12–15 participants who will share your
experience about your K–12 journey and the impact of Strive Academy on your academic
outcomes. Your contribution to this research study will enable the improvement and expansion
of programs at Strive Academy. Below is a link for you to select the day/time combination for
the (1) hour interview that will be held via Zoom video platform. Alternatively, you can email,
call or text me using the contact information below to schedule the interview. Should you have
any questions about the enclosed information, feel free to contact me.
[Link to schedule interview]
Thank you,
Simone E. Dilisser
Doctoral Student
Email: dilisser@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 446-1158
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
Doctor of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership

141

Appendix C: Informed Consent
INFORMED CONSENT FOR RESEARCH
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
3470 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089

Access to Quality Supplemental Educational Programs for K–12 Students in Underserved
Communities

You are invited to take part in a research study conducted by Simone Dilisser under the
supervision of Ekaterina Moore, Ph.D. Please take as much time as you need to read the consent
form. If you find any of the language difficult to understand, please ask questions. If you decide
to participate, you will be asked to sign this form. A copy of the signed form will be provided to
you for your records.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to understand the experiences of students from underserved
communities who participated in Strive Academy's supplemental educational programs and to
examine how their experiences influenced their academic outcomes. You are invited as a
participant because you are a past student of the organization, who attended afterschool or
summer programs during 2015–2020, lived in an underserved community during your K–12
school years and are either now in college or a working professional. You are one 12–15
participants who will take part in the study. This research is NOT being funded.

STUDY PROCEDURES
If you decide to take part, you will participate in the following:
● You will be asked to participate in a one-hour face-to-face interview via Zoom.
● You will be asked to allow recording of the interview and note-taking to enable the
complete recapturing of the details shared.

CONFIDENTIALITY
We will keep your records for this study confidential as far as permitted by law. However, if we
are required to do so by law, we will disclose confidential information about you. Efforts will be
made to limit the use and disclosure of your personal information, including research study, to
people who are required to review this information. We may publish the information from this
study in journals or present it at meetings. If we do, we will not use your name. The University
of Southern California’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Human Subject’s Protections
Program (HSPP) may review your records.

142

Your responses, which are also called “data,” will be stored electronically on a password-
protected Google Drive and kept for three years to support the study’s findings and
recommendation, should access needed. All identifiable attributes will be removed.
Subsequently, all records will be destroyed. Your data collected as part of this research will not
be used or distributed for future research studies, even if all your identifiers are removed.

ALTERNATIVES
There may be NO alternative(s) to participating in this study.
PAYMENTS / COMPENSATION
You will not be compensated for your participation in this research.

POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS
There are no anticipated risks or discomforts from participating in this study.
POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS AND/OR TO SOCIETY
You may not receive any direct benefit from taking part in this study. However, your
participation in this study may help improve and expand access to supplemental educational
programs.

VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION
It is your choice whether to participate. If you decide not to participate, or choose to end your
participation in this study, you will not be penalized or lose any benefits that you are otherwise
entitled to.

WITHDRAWAL FROM STUDY
You may withdraw your consent at any time and discontinue participation without penalty. You
are not waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies because of your participation in this research
study.

CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions or concerns about the research, contact:

Simone E. Dilisser Ekaterina Moore, Ph.D.
(213) 446-1158 (562) 257-8945
dilisser@usc.edu ekaterim@usc.edu

University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
3470 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, CA 90089

143

This research has been reviewed by the USC Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB is a
research review board that reviews and monitors research studies to protect the rights and
welfare of research participants. Contact the IRB if you have questions about your rights as a
research participant or you have complaints about the research. You may contact the IRB at
(323) 442-0114 or by email at irb@usc.edu.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This organizational study employed a qualitative design approach, utilizing semi-structured interviews, to understand the experiences of 13 participants from underserved communities who attended a summer STEM program between 2015 and 2020 and examine whether their experiences impacted their academic outcomes. The study, premised on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model and critical race theory, explored how the influences in children’s environment impact their developmental outcomes, positive or negative. It also sought to understand how the permeation of systemic racial barriers impacts access to salient educational resources for children in underserved communities. Three questions guided this research into expanding access to quality supplemental educational programs for K–12 students in underserved communities: How do students from underserved communities who participated in Strive Academy’s summer STEM program perceive their experience? Based on students’ perceptions, what role does Strive Academy’s summer STEM program play in improving students’ academic outcomes? Based on students’ perceptions, how does Strive Academy’s summer STEM program help students overcome stereotyping related to race and class? The prevailing findings from the study revealed the positive impact of the summer STEM program on the participants’ academic outcomes and underscored the organization as offering an exemplar supplemental educational program to students in underserved communities. Additionally, the study highlighted an opportunity for the organization to reimagine its supplemental educational program in a move toward a culturally inclusive design comprising antiracist and antibias components. The recommendations presented aim to improve and expand Strive Academy’s summer STEM program to reach more underserved communities. Finally, the study offered considerations for future research, salient to addressing the problem of practice.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Dilisser, Simone Erica (author)

Core Title Access to quality supplemental educational programs for K-12 students in underserved communities

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Degree Conferral Date 2022-08

Publication Date 08/06/2022

Defense Date 05/25/2022

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag academic outcomes,afterschool programs,critical race theory,ecological model,OAI-PMH Harvest,supplemental educational programs

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Moore, Ekaterina (committee chair), Canny, Eric (committee member), Datta, Monique (committee member), Grady, Cassandra (committee member)

Creator Email dilisser@usc.edu,sdilisser@glorychristian.org

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC111376209

Unique identifier UC111376209

Legacy Identifier etd-DilisserSi-11115

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Dilisser, Simone Erica

Type texts

Source 20220806-usctheses-batch-971 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu