(NAME-MCE) Program aims to raise achievement among Black males

[Anselmo Villanueva]

Program aims to raise achievement among Black males

Woodlawn High School in Maryland's Baltimore County is one of six schools
nationwide participating in a pilot program to raise achievement among Black
male students. The grant-funded initiative is part of the nationwide
college-preparatory program Advancement Via Individual Determination -- or
AVID -- and brings in Black male teachers and tutors who focus on students'
individual learning styles, provide lessons in organizational and
note-taking skills and incorporate culturally relevant information into the
curriculum.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.aami02jan02,0,6344418.story

January 2, 2010    Baltimore Sun

Preparing students for a brighter future
AVID college preparatory program at Woodlawn High aims to raise achievement
among black male teens

By Arin Gencer | arin.gencer at baltsun.com

The Woodlawn High students were divided into three groups stationed at
chalkboards, writing out questions. • What year was the microscope created?
• What do you view microorganisms on? • And finally: Describe the
similarities of prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

"That is an excellent question," said James Martin, drawing the attention of
the 25 students in his class. The teens - all black male freshmen - were
giving one another "critical thinking" problems in various subjects as part
of a semiweekly, in-class tutorial. "That's not just something you can look
in the book and get a direct answer to. ... That's the type of question that
we need to work toward."

Martin's class is a pilot project being conducted by Advancement Via
Individual Determination, or AVID, a national college-preparatory program
for students who are capable of more challenging work but need additional
resources to reach their potential. Woodlawn High in Baltimore County is
among six schools across the country participating in the AVID Center's
African-American Male Initiative, which aims to raise achievement among
those students.

"Being together every day, moving toward the same goal, is definitely going
to [have] an impact on going to college," said Maria Cobb, director of the
initiative. And the rigor of AVID's curriculum, which teaches skills such as
note-taking, organization and higher-level thinking, "will make them
college-ready."

"African-American males are talented but too often lost in the middle," said
Barbara Dezmon, assistant to the superintendent for equity and assurance,
whose office introduced AVID to the district. "This extension of AVID will
benefit them greatly."

Classes like Woodlawn's allow for incorporating gender instruction, Cobb
said, focusing on the youths' learning styles. A "culturally relevant
teaching strand," in development, would help acknowledge the various
cultures of students - such as discussing the role blacks played during the
Civil War. "They're not seeing themselves in the curriculum, and they do not
see where it is relevant outside of school ... and therefore do not see it
as an investment for their future."

As part of the initiative, funded by a grant from the Citi Foundation, the
schools had to recruit 25 black male students into AVID, Cobb said. They
also were required to recruit black male tutors and teachers.

The five other schools participating are in Arlington, Texas; Fresno,
Calif.; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; and New York City. Woodlawn and Las Vegas'
Mojave High School are the only ones piloting a gender-based classroom, Cobb
said. The others have created mentorships - with periodic lunches,
after-school meetings and field trips - to build relationships between
students and a role-model adult, she added.The initiative "can have a huge
effect," said Roxanna Harlow, a former McDaniel College professor
specializing in the sociology of education, race and ethnic relations.
Harlow recently launched Higher Learning, a Westminster-based nonprofit that
seeks to foster critical thinking and life success among minority students
in Carroll County.

"It's a very good strategy for these young men to build a sort of
camaraderie around similar experiences while creating an expectation of
educational achievement, making that a rational choice," said Harlow, adding
that an all-male class helps eliminate distraction. "If your peers expect
educational achievement ... then you're more likely to expect educational
achievement of yourself."

But even more crucial, she said, is the black male teacher.

"A lot of these young men do not have a consistent male adult presence in
their life, and they are starving for male guidance for what it means to be
a man," Harlow said. "So the question is, are they going to see something
positive before them every day or are they going to see other types of
images that, in the long run, could have a negative impact on them?"

The ability to relate to his students has fostered an environment that
enables "man-to-young-man talks" during class, Martin said. "Our
relationship is more personal. ... Just it being all males, we're a more
family-oriented class, because everything we talk about is as a whole.
There's nothing that's really secretive."

The teens offer a mix of opinions on the lack of girls in their class. Some
see it as a blessing; others less so. But one thing many agree on is the
bonds they have formed.

"We're all like a brotherhood," said Eric Muldrow, 14, adding that Martin
gives it to them straight, pushing them when their grades are low.

"We can participate more" and are more comfortable sharing, said Leon
Timmons, 14. "We don't have to worry about girls fussing. It's more
civilized."

Devin Swinton, 14, said he feels the class provides him with "more
educational opportunities, because there's no distraction" from girls. That
has been particularly helpful when they've done certain projects, such as
one describing what they liked about themselves, he said.

And without Martin holding him accountable for his work, he added, "my
grades would probably be slipping."

"The whole approach to the class is different," said Ari Jones, a senior and
AVID tutor, who himself has gone through the center's program. "It's not run
like your typical AVID class."

The group has taken time to talk about what it takes to be successful as
African-American men, about public speaking, about how to treat women, Jones
said.

They've also had very practical lessons: On a recent Monday, Jones was
teaching the class how to properly knot a tie, part of an effort to provide
real-world experience for them, Martin said.

Each teen followed Jones' step-by-step instructions, some more successfully
than others - and several of them with a tie from a large collection of
donated ones handed out by their teacher.

That session came after Martin went through a list of students whose
progress reports indicated they were making a "D" or "E" in a class.

"What's up with American government and math?" Martin asked one teen, who
shrugged in response.

"So, you'll be at a coach class this week," Martin said pointedly, referring
to after-school sessions that students can go to for additional help.

He waited until he got a nod before turning to the next student.

Martin's relationship with the class, and the sense of brotherhood, is what
Woodlawn Principal Brian Scriven said he'd had in mind when he first heard
about the pilot. He immediately thought of Martin, he said, a former student
who could now have the chance to "give back" and positively impact his
students.

"For me, it's just all about relationships," Scriven said.

AVID has already begun studying how the initiative is playing out, having
contracted Karen Watt, a professor at the University of Texas-Pan American,
who does research for the center. Ideally, teachers will be with the
students for four years, and AVID will track progress, Cobb said.

Watt said she's observed students responding to the mentor in their schools
during her early visits, whether it's a teacher or another black adult who
meets with them in a different setting.

The various class compositions among the pilot schools, as well as their
varied locations in urban, suburban and rural areas, make for a good study,
Watt said. "I think we can learn something from each school site."

For Scriven, the racial makeup of the class is secondary to the
opportunities and exposure the class affords the young men as it forges a
"mind-set of goal-setting."

"I think it's the relationships that are going to be formed in this class
[that are] going to make it special," he said. "It's a network that's going
to be formed internally with this class as they all aspire. Hopefully, that
support for one another is going to be there long after this high school
experience alone is
done."