Motivation for school success among students is a major issue for educational stakeholders. Additionally research has shown that school success among many students such as African-American students is in jeopardy (Hooks, 1989). In order to increase school success among African-American students, many researchers have suggested effective strategies that are specifically designed to increase school success of African-Americans. Ladson-Billings (1999), for example, suggests that building strong teacher/student relationships is key to school success among African-American students.

Within this qualitative Case Study, the researcher has explored at-risk secondary African-American students' perceptions of current motivational strategies within a specific advocacy classroom. This focuses on the classroom experience both teacher and students as it relates to motivational strategies that are conducted within the classroom. Data has been obtained through interviews and observations of 14 African American secondary students and their advocacy classroom teacher.

In order to provide data for the research question, "What are some effective motivational strategies that will increase school success among 15 to 17 year old secondary at-risk students?" the researcher has observed first hand as well as has examined the students' and the teacher's perceptions of identified motivational strategies. This unit of study for this research consists of one advocacy classroom and the data collected has been analyzed within the context of established practices for Case Study design (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2003).