The rise of accountability for the academic success of all students brought on by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and corresponding state laws has made educators more aware of the need to reach every student. One sub-group of students often fall behind their Anglo counterparts, African Americans, in particular, males. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that contributed to the academic success of six African American males who were high school seniors. The goal was to examine the commonalities through a lens of democratic practices to give voice to African American male students.

Academic factors that contributed to the success of six African American males were examined in one rural high school located in northwest Louisiana. A qualitative case study design was employed, and data that were collected from personal interviews, a focus group interview and classroom observations were coded and analyzed for commonalities. Five distinct themes emerged as factors contributing to the academic success of the six student participants at Hillsdale High School. High expectations, democratic practices, open minds, a caring community, and constructivist instruction were the identified themes. Conclusions from these results showed that teachers, students and classroom operations all proved these five factors contributed to the academic success of African American male senior students at this site.