Over the course of four decades, African American males have continued to underachieve and to be underserved in our nation's public schools. The research data indicates that there is a disparity in academic performance between African American males and white and Asian students. This disparity of academic achievement or “racial achievement gap” produced innumerable discussions on closing the racial achievement gap, but with very limited success in this effort. The writer's concern is whether African American males receive the required degree of academic attention for this population to greatly improve academically. The federally legislated “No Child Left Behind” has engendered school reform and state curriculum standards; yet, it has failed to close the racial achievement gap. Ironically, some schools achieve high accountability and achievement ratings despite underachievement of minority populations within the school. According to Ohio's Closing the Racial Achievement Gap Task Force; school districts can achieve an excellent rating while maintaining dramatic racial achievement gaps between black students and other racial groups. Furthermore, the research indicates that the racial achievement gap starts before students enter school. Statewide Kindergarten Readiness Assessments-Literacy (KRAL) results for the past two years revealed that an alarmingly high percentage of black children enter school with deficient literacy skills, ensuring immediate submergence into the racial achievement gap.
School principal leaders must create a sense of urgency that focuses on the everyday actions of educators to generate high academic performance from African American students, and to close the racial achievement gap. The research indicates that the school principal is the most influential individual in any school. He or she is the person responsible for all activities that occur relative to the school site. The principal's leadership sets the school's educational environment: its professional climate for teaching and its vision and commitment concerning what students may or may not become. If students are performing to the best of their abilities, one can usually point to their principal's leadership as key to their academic successes (U. S. Congress, 1970). Based on these criteria, school principal leadership must focus indefatigably on the “starting gate” or the earliest school experience. They must intently work to overcome the initial obstacles that cumulatively and subsequently prevent African American male students from excelling academically. This research study examines school principal leadership and its capacity to significantly improve the academic achievements of African American male students in Preschool through Third Grade.