Factors contributing to students' self-beliefs pertinent to academic achievement: A grounded theory study

Personal Academic Learning Systems (PALS) is an educational enrichment program designed to empower Black students from diverse ethnic/cultural backgrounds to become actively involved in their learning process by emphasizing "agency" in personal educational outcomes. Despite much effort in helping PALS students improve their academic achievement, the yearly results are not commensurate with the efforts given to running the program. The emphasis on personal responsibility/accountability inherent in the design of the program is especially significant in confronting "victim mentality," an issue that has had much focus in minority education. The Jikomboe uelimike theory is a substantive theory of academic achievement grounded in data collected from 8 high achieving PALS students through in-depth interviewing. The research question, "What factors contribute to the development of PALS students' self-beliefs regarding educational attainment?" guided research following grounded theory principles of data collection and analysis. The theory proposes a process of "becoming" that helps explain PALS high academic achieving students' journey with regard to their perception of academic ability.