In the field of education, much of the research on Black student achievement focuses on cultural and/or structural explanations for the academic outcomes of these adolescents. A vast amount of the research on Black student achievement perpetuates a continuous discussion of Black underachievement. Race continues to remain central across discussions that include psychological, anthropological, and sociological analyses. While this research highlights individual, environmental, institutional, and societal factors that affect Black students' schooling experiences, there is a lack of in-depth examination of how these factors interact with students' individual identities to shape their attitudes and beliefs about schooling and subsequent school behaviors. This article does not focus on the schooling experiences of urban, Black high school students; rather, it illuminates students' attitudes about race and racism, achievement, and the utility of schooling for upward mobility. In the remainder of this article, the author first provides a brief overview of the literature connecting race to Black student "achievement." This overview incorporates a discussion of the theoretical frameworks that guide the analysis of this research: Oyserman's African American Identity Schema; the significance of racial centrality to academic achievement; and critical race theory. The author describes how connectedness to the Black community and awareness of racial discrimination prove significant to the development of Black students' critical race consciousness and shape their attitudes about the utility of school. Next, the author examines how study participants discuss a critical race consciousness and how this impacts their attitudes and beliefs about the utility of schooling. She then illustrates what factors contribute to a critical race consciousness developing in these youth by drawing on existing literature. Lastly, the author discusses strategies that parents, teachers and schools can employ to facilitate the development of a critical race consciousness in Black youth as a lever for enhancing their commitment to high academic achievement and life success. (Contains 1 table and 3 notes.)