Administrators’ and Teachers’ Work in a New Age of Reform: Understanding the Factors for African American Students’ Success 

Floyd D. Beachum, Ed.D., Audrey M. Dentith, Ph.D., and Carlos R. McCray, Ed.D.  

Abstract:  This study focuses on the school practices and relationships among educators that foster success among African American students. In the spirit of renewed opportunity, the researchers examined the perspectives of teachers and administrators relative to the teaching and learning success with African American students in an urban middle school (sixth through eighth grade) program in a Midwestern school district. More specifically, the study employed a hybrid design that uses ethnographic strategies to develop a comprehensive case study.  As a result, four preliminary themes emerged: (a) tough love or discipline with dignity; (b) shared culture; (c) disparate perception (between Black and White educators); and (d) student achievement (especially within the era of high-stakes testing and accountability). 

Introduction

Current reforms in education promoted by the federally mandated and reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as the “No Child Left Behind Act” of 2001 (NCLB), has forced increased attention on state-level standards, curriculum frameworks, assessment measures, and teacher accountability. This increased attention has led to greater examinations of specific student populations and their academic achievement (or lack thereof) in schools throughout the United States. Furthermore, new state and federal mandates demand that districts improve teaching and learning, raise student achievement, and offer more parental choice in schooling decisions (Glickman, 2004).

Such efforts have potential to support the resumption awareness of persistent achievement gaps among Black, Hispanic and White student populations. Indeed, the provisions for addressing these achievement gaps might well be found in the federal government’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Given the new demands to improve teaching and learning, a more focused analysis of teaching and learning for success among African American students seems to be a timely and judicious endeavor.

The Achievement Gap

Much has been written and discussed about the achievement gap (Ferguson, 2004; Ford & Harris, 1996; Green, 2001; Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Viadero & Johnston, 2000). “It is most often used to describe the troubling performance gaps between most African, American and Hispanic students, at the lower end of the performance scale, and their non-Hispanic white peers, and the similar academic disparity between students from low-income and well off families” (Deutsch, 2003, p. 1). The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a federal testing agency, found that only 14% of African American eighth-grade students were rated as proficient or better in reading as compared to 45% of their White peers. In addition, the NAEP found that the achievement gaps between White and Black eighth graders to be greater in Wisconsin than any other state in the U.S. (Borsuk, 2004).

The National Urban League utilized an index that rated the overall White educational situation at 1.00 while rating the overall black educational situation at .76 (National Urban League, 2004). Furthermore, data trend reveal that academic gaps were closing in the 1970s and 1980s but, for unexplained reasons, has not moved much since this time (Borsuk, 2004). Student placement in school programs, lack of access to challenging and high quality school programs for urban African American and Hispanic youth are some of the many explanations given for the persistent achievement gaps. In many public schools across America, African American males are three times more likely to be in a special education class (Harry, 1992; Harry & Anderson, 1994; Kunjufu, 2002). African American students are half as likely to be in a class for the gifted and talented (Ford, 1996). Moreover, financial allocations for schools in high poverty districts compared to these allocations in affluent or middle-classed school districts are highly variable. Finally, teacher expectations continue to be lower for poor students, urban students and students of color (Flowers, Milner, & Moore, 2003; Kunjufu, 2002; Payne, 2001, Perry, 2003).

Differences of opinion on the factors that contribute to these disparities dominate the extant literature. Many scholars have focused on these topics as well as others related to African American school achievement (Beachum & McCray, 2004; Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Kailin, 2002; Roach & Dervarics, 2002; Tatum, 1997; Viadero & Johnston, 2000). In general, current conversation about achievement gaps and African American students’ success paint a dismal picture and neglect to offer new perspectives or possibilities for educators and educational policy makers. Aligned with this notion, Perry (2003) asserted that: 

The conversation about African American achievement is problematic because it fails to begin with a careful examination of all aspects of the school, with an eye toward understanding how the school’s day-to-day practices participate in the creation of underachievement. (p. 9)  

This particular study focuses on the school practices and relationships among teachers and students that foster positive outcomes for African American students. More specifically, using comprehensive ethnographic procedures, the researchers sought to examine teacher-student and teacher-administrator relationships relative to school outcomes for African American students in an urban middle school (sixth through eighth grade) program in a Midwestern school district.

The Context of this Study

Examining the economic and community plight in the Midwestern city involved in this study, Rogers (2000) lamented: “High unemployment, low wages, mental slavery, high statistics of black on black crime, poor educational system and internal strife are just a few indicators that all is not well in the African American community of [this city]” (p. 136). The African American community in this mid-sized city has a disproportionately high number of teen births, even as the overall trend in birth rates is decreasing on a national scale (Washington, 2000) and a more recent study revealed that African American males account for over half of the school district’s suspensions even though they only make up 27% of the school district’s population (Jones, 2002). Yet, another study found that African American males’ academic performance levels were significantly lower than other ethnic groups in the school district (Jones, 2002). In fact, as high as 80% of the African American males in this urban setting achieve less than a high school “C” average (Collision, 1991; Jones, 2002). The school system itself is home to approximately 105,000 students, 229 schools, and over 6,700 full-time, part-time, teachers and substitute teachers. The demographic makeup of the teacher population is 71% White, 20% African American, 6% Hispanic, and 3% Asian. With regard to administrators, the demographic profile is 50% White, 41% African American, 8% Hispanic, and 1% Asian.  The school district has rather interesting and notable demographics and ideology.

The urban middle school used in this study advances the tri-fold ideas of technology, trade, and college preparation and caters to grades sixth through eighth. Approximately 848 students were enrolled, with as many as 85 % receiving free or reduced-price lunch. The racial/ethnic breakdown for students was 88% African American, 7% White, 1% Hispanic, and 3% Asian. At the time of the study, the state Department of Education had not identified the school as “in need of improvement;” schools failing to meet adequate yearly progress for two or more years are identified as in need of improvement.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to identify the effective processes evident in the relationships among urban middle school teachers, administrators, and students. More specifically, this study examined the teaching practices that most contributed to the academic success of African American students. Increased attention was given to the dismal statistics that paint an overall hopelessness to the present situation. For this particular study, the researchers maintained that social scientists and educational policy makers must begin to forge a special emphasis on success stories and the intricacies of the stories that lend themselves to success. The researchers purposely sought to identify African American teachers and administrators who were familiar with the racial and cultural politics of African American education and shared a common cultural identity and experience with the students.

Education and African Americans: Historical Context

The Historical Context of American Slavery

The achievement gap and the resulting crisis in the education of African Americans are often situated as a contemporary phenomenon, not one that has a significant historical context. Yet, educational attainment has always been an important aspect of the African American experience. Educational attainment in African American families has historically been viewed as a way to assert independence, humanity, and political and social power (Asante, 2003; Douglass, 1968; Perry, 2003). During Antebellum slavery, African Americans were not only discouraged from learning, but also it was against the law in many places and carried harsh penalties for breaking these kinds of laws (Blassingame 1979; Wade, 1964). As an example, Cornelius (1991) used the following excerpt of a former enslaved African: “The first time you was caught trying to read or write you was whipped with a cow hide the next time with a cat-o-nine and the third time they cut the first joint often your forefinger” (p. 66). Even amid harsh penalties, enslaved Africans in America still desired education and risked their very lives to attain a miniscule portion. Moreover, these individuals somehow knew that education was the key to freedom. Aligned with this notion, Perry (2003) asserted, “For the slaves, literacy was more than a symbol of freedom; it was freedom. It affirmed their humanity, their personhood. To be able to read and write was an intrinsic good, as well as a mighty weapon in the slave’s struggle for freedom” (p. 13).

 The Historical Context of Segregation

After slavery, African Americans in the South found themselves still fighting for basic human rights under a system of segregation. Although the formal structure of slavery had been dismantled, its legacy lived on in a superstructure based on overt and covert racism (Loewen, 1995). During this time, racism was based primarily on a dominant philosophy of White superiority and Black inferiority. As a result, many African Americans viewed education as a way to counter the dominant ideology of the day that sought to humiliate, denigrate, and eliminate their mental and physical reserve. The result was a counternarrative that was characterized in the statement, “… freedom for literacy and literacy for freedom, racial uplift, citizenship, and leadership” (Perry, 2003, p. 6).  

The Historical Context of Post-Civil Rights America  

In the post-Civil Rights era, the issue of African American success in education has grown in complexity. First, the laws and customs of segregation were now gone, but the legacy of presumed Black inferiority still lives in the minds of many Whites (Asante, 2003; Dyson, 2003; Tatum, 1997). Inevitably, this same attitude has an effect on educators working with African American students (Ford, 1996). Second, (our) society is now characterized (or understood) as open, equal, and fraught with abundant opportunities if one works hard enough (ideology of individuality exemplified in the success of a few African Americans, e.g., Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby). This ideology is disingenuous at best and insidious at its worst because it masks the presence of and continued persistence of discrimination that people of color (still) face in a sea of overwhelming odds (related to their race and other differences) precisely because of their difference; difference (e.g., language, attitudes, and culture) is many times viewed as a deficiency within the dominant culture (Asante, 2003). This attitude also undermines the perspective and possibilities of African American students (and leads them to understand their own struggles purely in terms of individual abilities and disabilities). Since schools do not offer a counter reality or a narrative for coded messages that many African American students receive, African American students are left to their own to figure out for themselves the causes of their disenfranchisement in our schools. In contemporary America, the media and other communication outlets disseminate information at an alarming rate. Perry (2003) asserted that:

Today, the ideology of Black intellectual inferiority is expressed…in the media, which inserts itself into all aspects of our lives. The ideology of African American inferiority is perhaps more robust today, in terms of its impact on students, than it was in the pre-Civil Rights era…Today, few individuals, organizations, and institutions pay attention to the reproduction of the ideology of Black inferiority and its potential impact on African American students. After all, we live in the post-Civil Rights era. The society is now open. Few respectable people will publicly assert that Black people are intellectually inferior. The visible, in-your-face manifestations of oppression have been mostly eliminated. But you can scarcely find a Black student who cannot recall or give you a litany of instances when he or she was automatically assumed to be intellectually incompetent. (p. 97)

The researchers took a position that honors the desires of educational attainment as one in which independence, full humanity, and political and social power are central to the goals of education among African Americans. Based on the researchers’ assumptions, they postulated that little had been done to highlight the success of African American students and the work of skilled and dedicated school personnel who are effective in countering dominant discourse and supporting African American students to view themselves as intelligent, capable, and creative in their school experiences. This study highlighted a middle school in an urban setting that actively works toward and is committed to the highest standards of achievement for Black youth.            

Method  

This study used ethnographic strategies of data collection within a case study approach. Beginning with the research question, “What is going on here in this context?”(Morse & Richards, 2003), this study sought to better understand cultural phenomena through observations conducted over a period of time that might produce rich descriptive data within one successful urban school. The initial observational data have been organized into themes as described in the next section of this article. These themes have provided initial categories for subsequent data collection. From this point, a grounded theory approach in the analysis of subsequent data within a constant comparative process was used. New data collected were compared and analyzed in relation to the identified themes reported in this initial phase of the study in an effort to test the saliency of emergent concepts (Strauss & Corbin, 1998; Patton, 2003) This on-going research effort has implications for generating new theories for culturally and racially specific phenomena used to explain African American students’ success in urban school settings.   

Ethnographic research procedures tend to be naturalistic because they seek in-depth description of complexity through an acknowledgement of reality as socially constructed (Glensne, 1999, p. 6) and the everyday revelations of the intricacies of individual’s perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors in a larger social context (Hammersely & Atkinson, 1995; Wolcott, 1994; LeCompte & Schensul, 1999). The ultimate aim of the study, however, was to generate theory and offer particular explanations of phenomena that might, in fact, lead to new instructional and leadership strategies for school reform for African American students. This study employed a hybrid design that used ethnographic strategies to develop a case study for the first phase of the research reported here. From this point, a more systematic process of data generation and analysis hereafter in order to meet this ultimate objective (Strauss & Corbin, 1994). The following strategies for this study were employed: (a) on-going observations of classrooms and school hallways, (b) student and faculty meetings (e.g., formal and informal), and (c) teacher and administrator face-to-face interviews (Schensul, LeCompte, Trotter, Cromley, & Singer, 1999).  

Observations of teachers, school administrators, students, and other school personnel (e.g., hall monitors, counselors, and paraprofessionals) in hallways, classrooms and faculty meetings constituted the first phase of this project. The initial data, organized into emergent themes, were based on the first wave of observations at this school. Extensive research field notes were developed based on these observations and have been used to help the researchers not only describe the richly intricate activities of everyday life in this school but also to serve as emergent themes of subsequent study. The researchers have tentatively forged some categories that might lead to a theoretical understanding of the practices in this school that explain and contribute to the school success of African American students.

The initial observational data collected were done over the course of six months.  At a minimum, one member of the research team spent one day per week at this school, during the data collection period. Seven of these observation days were spent observing key school personnel conducting their daily activities over a period of several hours, during a school day. Approximately 40 hours of observation were recorded. 

Findings

As a result of the ethnographic data collection, four preliminary themes emerged around African American student success. These themes were: (a) tough love or discipline with dignity, (b) shared culture, (c) disparate perception (between Black and White educators), and (d) student achievement (especially within the era of high-stakes testing and accountability).

Discipline with Dignity

The principal of the school, an African American female, insisted on order and discipline in the building. Her high expectations in this regard were well known among the staff and students. She was constantly in the hallways of the school monitoring students, checking other floors by means of walkie-talkie, and stopping students who were wondering without a hall pass. Her tone with students was firm, yet understanding (almost motherly). In one instance, a group of students were loud and rowdy in the exchange between classes (in this school, teachers must escort students to the next class in a line), the principal appeared from behind and had one of the loudest students step out of line, while simply giving a cold stare at the rest of the students. The students immediately got quiet. She placed her arm around the student who was misbehaving as she led her to the office saying: “Now, you know that is not how we act here.” In another instance, an African American woman, who “underfills” as an administrator, had three boys in the office for calling each other names in class and swearing. She allowed them to each tell their side of the story. The more they spoke, the deeper in trouble they found themselves. By the time they were completed their stories, they realized just how wrong their behavior was and readily accepted the punishment. The administrator remained calm throughout the situation and firm in the decision, careful not to demean the students.

In yet another instance, the principal asked a student the following: “What did you do to end up here?” She stressed her personal disappointment in the student’s behavior. However, she listened to the student’s explanation and really gave the student a chance to speak. In her comments, the principal remarked, “Don’t you understand the teacher’s ‘system’ in the classroom? You must learn each teacher’s system.” Thus, the principal’s handling of the situation exemplified genuine empathy while at the same time maintaining order.

Shared Culture

African American educators appeared to rely on a shared cultural experience when interacting with students. Shared culture is based on the idea that African Americans have a common social and cultural experience in the United States. This experience is similar to the term “fictive kinship.” For example,

Fictive kinship is an anthropological concept. It signifies a kinship-like relationship between persons not related by blood or marriage, who also have some reciprocal social or economic connection. In other words, fictive kinpersons are socially constructed. (Fordham, 1991, p. 472)

Although fictive kinship is socially constructed, shared culture is a lived experience. For instance, a science teacher admonished a student in her classroom who was talking during the lesson stating that, “Now, what would your mama say if she knew you were not paying attention right now?” In another instance, a teacher told a male student to take off the rubber band that he had around his wrist (because he was playing with it and not paying attention). For example, she stated: “You are not T.I. just yet” (T.I. is a hip-hop artist with a popular song called, “Rubber band Man”). In another case, a male teacher told a youngster: “Son, pull your pants up, what would Malcolm think?” These examples allude to the cultural and experiential realities and commonalities of African Americans.

The principal also relied on aspects of shared culture in her dealing with students. She remarked that she tries to use a familiar tone with students, much like their mothers’. In an interaction with a student who dropped some paper, she asserted: “Don’t let me have to tell you twice to pick up that paper.” In another case, she made note of the respect that should be given to adults as she whispered to a student, “now you know your teacher is grown.” This statement immediately reminded the student of the obvious roles and rules that exist in the educational context and how the students’ behavior was contradictory to these pre-established norms.

Disparate Perception

In this particular school, there was a major difference in the way in which many Whites and Blacks viewed the leadership and direction of the school. This school was once predominately White, but now is predominantly African American. Many of the White teachers have been at the school for several years and have witnessed the change. African American teachers claim that there is a contingency of White teachers that seek to undermine and sabotage the African American leadership in the building. African American teachers also asserted that these same teachers that resent the leadership covertly subvert student success by their preconceived racial notions about African Americans in general. One African American teacher claimed: “I support the principal 100% ... There are some people in the building who resent her leadership though.”

The principal also stated that when she first arrived, the front office staff was mostly White and would do things to undermine her authority. They would process paperwork slowly, delay the relay of phone messages, and exhibit rudeness to visitors, especially if they were African American. In classrooms, certain Caucasian teachers would inundate the administration with trivial discipline referrals and in other cases would not take the school’s educational improvement plan seriously. In addition, the principal stated that many of these teachers would not use culturally relevant materials, refuse to modify lesson plans for student with special needs (who primarily were African American), and “poisoned” the morale of the school with nostalgic reflections back to a time when students were respectful, diligent, studious, and coincidently, White.

Student Achievement

Today’s educational climate is one characterized by accountability, higher standards, and standardized test scores. These emphases provide the driving force behind much of educational policy, perspective, and practice. For students of color already in difficult educational settings, the added pressure creates another dimension of complexity. The middle school in this study was no exception. The language among many of the teachers and principal revolves around the state standards, proficiency testing, and learning targets. One teacher remarked: “Raising test scores has become a primary focus … It adds a certain amount of stress.” The emphasis on accountability also influenced administrators. “Today’s climate [the emphasis on testing and standards] has changed the task of leadership … many administrators have not been in classrooms teaching for so long that they are not well-versed in current/up-to-date pedagogy [many assistant principals mainly focus on discipline],” according to one administrator. This was a major problem because as this same administrator noted: “Data [and data analysis] were becoming a part of the normal conversation.” It was imperative that administrators become actively involved in the learning process. At the same time, the principal asserted, “We all have worked very hard to raise test scores and set high expectations.” She proudly exclaimed that, “We have never been on the failing list.” These comments highlight the paradox of today’s educational context, accountability forces schools to directly address student achievement but at the same time the additional pressure obfuscates an already dire situation in many instances.

Discussion

The aforementioned themes denote the combined sense of struggle and hope that exists in many urban schools. In a positive sense, discipline with dignity and shared culture provide means of coping and achieving. They are means of creating counternarratives that supports the legacy of education for liberation or freedom for literacy and literacy for freedom, racial uplift, citizenship, and leadership that has sustained African Americans through slavery and segregation (Perry, 2003). Both of these concepts are also insight into a kind of caring and compassion needed for teaching students (Starratt, 1991), urban students in particular (Kailin, 2002; Kunjufu, 2002). Aligned with this notion, Ginwright (2004) asserted that: “youth in low-income urban communities define themselves not only by race and ethnic culture, but also by the neighborhoods in which they live, the schools they attend, gang affiliations, and certainly hip-hop culture” (p. 6). Educators who utilize discipline with dignity and a sense of shared culture have a heightened sensitivity to these situations and complexities that the children of their school must deal with. This approach is both transcendent and empathetic. It is transcendent because it breaks away from traditionalist notions of discipline that encourage order at all costs (often with corporal punishment as primary tactic). Furthermore, it meets students “where they are” instead of having them try to measure up to the level of students in a past era that were supposedly always well-behaved and respectful. Today’s urban educators must be innovative, visionary, realistic, and optimistic. Similar to this notion, Dyson (1997) posited:

Instead of nostalgia, we need serious, rigorous analysis and critical appreciation of black youth…Black nostalgia must be replaced with an even stronger force: the historic black determination to remain undefeated by pessimism from within black culture, and paranoia from beyond its boarders. We must not be prisoners of our present circumstances, of current events. We must be prisoners of faith [and hope]. (p. 149)

Conversely, disparate perception and difficulties around student achievement will prove to be significant obstacles for urban schools. First, disparate perception has the ability to hamper student achievement. It is rooted in the socio-historical experiences of living in the United States. Essentially, different racial/ethnic groups who many times come from different communities, with varied perspectives interact with and react to each other in the workplace. These diverse groups clearly see the world and their places in it in stark contrast (Asante, 2003). Disparate perception not only hinders workers in a diverse setting, reducing organizational productivity (Cox, 1994), but also, in schools, it manifests itself in overt and covert behaviors that stigmatize, alienate, and stifle the educational growth of students of color. Delpit (1995) described “invisible racism,” where teachers avoid interactions and contact with students of color. These students clearly get the message. Another manifestation of disparate perception is cultural racism that can be defined as “the cultural images and messages that affirm the assumed superiority of Whites and the assumed inferiority of people of color” (Tatum, 1997, p. 6). Some of the attitudes and comments thus far, have given insight into how cultural racism effects the perception of the leadership and consequently the feelings towards students. Another underlying notion is that people of color are still being perceived as the “other” (i.e., those kids, those people) which also indicates a tacit belief in their inferiority (Kailin, 2002). Probably the most troubling aspect of disparate perception is when these educators set low expectations. These expectations are placed on districts, schools, other educators, and unfortunately, students. It is these low expectations that can ultimately deter higher student achievement (Ford, 1996; Ford & Grantham, 2003; Kunjufu, 2002).

In addition, the current emphasis on student achievement as viewed as primarily raising high-stakes test scores can be viewed as troublesome. On the one hand, the NCLB law and other accompanying state mandates are highlighting the achievement gap and the underachievement of all schools. At the same time, the added stress to educators and utilization of competition for educational success has not proven to be a cure-all (Glickman, 2004). The feeling among many educators at the school was one of skepticism at best and cynicism at worst. Another glaring contradiction was noted as educators expressed their resentment toward the idea of greater accountability on their part without greater fiscal responsibility on the part of state and federal leaders. To expect so much of schools without additional funds makes NCLB feel like the ultimate unfunded mandate.

Recommendations and Conclusion

The issue of African American student success is a major issue, especially in urban areas. This study illuminates the way in which African Americans continue to promote and encourage a philosophy of education (education for liberation) in a post-Civil Rights era. Discipline with dignity, shared culture, disparate perception, and student achievement all contribute to the ways in which student success is manifested both in positive and negative terms. As a result of the study’s findings, the researchers present the following recommendations which are conceptualized to help inform the discussion on understanding the factors that contribute to African American student success. The educational knowledge base stands to gain from serious inquiry into this kind of research that counters the ever-common discourse as related to the inhibitors of student success. Additional research is needed that addresses overall school practices, structural issues, and tacit assumptions. Educators should focus on comprehensive approaches that considers the entire child, including backgrounds and what that child brings to the school. The dominant educational ideology of excellence (e.g. NCLB) must be balanced with the enormous insights gleaned from an emphasis on equity. The usage of the term equity in this sense differs from that of equality. “Remedies based on equality assume that citizens have the same opportunities and experiences” (DeCuir & Dixson, 2004, p. 29). The lack of access to opportunities and qualitatively different life experiences are many times linked to issues of race/ethnicity, gender, and social class. Holistic approaches (which encompass discipline with dignity and shared culture) and an ideology grounded in equity (which addresses an excellence overemphasis and disparate perception), offer a great deal of promise for the plight of urban schools.

Ultimately, the field of education should be seeking to create the kind of schools and school systems where students can grow and develop in an environment of caring, equality, high expectations, and democracy. W.E.B. Du Bois once wrote: “Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for 5,000 years, the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental…The freedom to learn…has been bought by bitter sacrifice” (see Darling-Hammond, 1997, p. 1), his words are no less relevant today and no less a clarion call to action.   

About the Authors:  Dr. Floyd D. Beachum is an assistant professor in the Department of Administrative Leadership at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he teaches courses in organizational change, leadership in educational organizations, and leadership in multicultural organizations. His research interests include urban school leadership, organizational change, and moral and ethical leadership. Dr. Audrey Dentith is an assistant professor in Department of Administrative Leadership at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She teaches courses in instructional and curricular leadership, qualitative research, and women in leadership. Her current research interests include women’s issues in education and in leadership, teacher leadership, and leadership reform for social justice. Dr. Carlos R. McCray is an assistant professor of educational administration at Alabama State University, where he teaches school law and foundations of education administration. His research interests include organizational diversity, multicultural education, and the principalship. Address correspondence to the first author at the Department of Administrative Leadership, School of Education , Enderis Hall, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , Milwaukee , WI 53201-0413 USA ; e-mail fbeachum@uwm.edu.

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