Urban High School Students' Academic Communities and Their Effects on Mathematics Success

Abstract

This article reports findings from a study exploring the roles of peer influences in cultivating urban high school students' academic success in mathematics. While the literature describing family/school influences on the academic achievement of students of color is compelling, much of it suggests that urban students' peer groups do not support academic achievement. This study of high school students sought to link their academic behaviors to a historical tradition of intellectual networks within their communities. The ways in which students' peer groups, families, and school communities fostered their mathematics success are discussed with the aim of helping researchers and educators gain a more complete vision of urban students' achievement.