In recent years, researchers have shifted from pathologizing Black youths, when investigating the Black-White achievement gap, to focusing on factors contributing to their resilience and success. A critical review was conducted of three widely cited asset-based theoretical frameworks that are used to examine African American students' academic achievement. The review delineates the contributions and limitations of each model when studying African American students. In doing so, a new framework, linking the strengths of all three existing models, is presented as a tool to challenge existing educational practices and foster new theoretical and methodological contributions to this area of research.