Research about student involvement and engagement suggests that student participation in purposeful educational activities during college is linked with desired outcomes. However, identifying which factors are more apt to affect student success is challenging, and even more so for African American and other underrepresented minority college students because fewer studies focus on their experiences. Students do not arrive on campus as blank slates, but rather with a host of prior perceptions, expectations, and experiences that shape their curricular and cocurricular choices in college. Using a nationally validated survey, this study examined the ways in which student background, racial identity, and engagement affect select indicators of student success for 253 African American students at a predominantly White institution. Data sources included student responses to the 2006 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS), a respondent demographic profile survey, and student records maintained by the university.

The findings indicate that student background and certain constructs of racial identity are, to a degree, positively related to engagement in educationally effective activities and subsequent desired educational outcomes. This research contributes to knowledge about higher education and student development by: (1) creating a conceptual model for understanding the African American college student experience; (2) integrating multiple theoretical perspectives that account for the factors that influence student performance in college; and (3) providing a practical means by which faculty and administrators can better serve African American students at predominantly White postsecondary institutions.