Effective Schools Possess the Following...

http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/er/pntroub1.html

The Trouble with Black Boys:The Role and Influence of Environmental andCultural Factors on the Academic Performanceof African American Males

by Pedro Antonio Noguera, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Pedro A. Noguera, Ph. D is a Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, so you can imagine this is a very dense article. I pulled out some of larger ideas and then (in bold) pasted his ideas for improving/addressing the problem. While much of this study seems to focus on inner-city schools, there is still much to be learned in this dicussion. At the very least, scan the bullets and read the final passage. dk

• All of the most important quality of life indicators suggest that African American males are in deep trouble.
• Beset with such an ominous array of social and economic hardships, it is hardly surprising that the experience of Black males in education, with respect to attainment and most indicators of academic performance, also show signs of trouble and distress.
• Black males are more likely than any other group to be suspended and expelled from school.
• more likely to be absent from advanced placement and honors courses.(11) In contrast to the most other groups where males commonly perform at higher levels in math and science related courses, the reverse is true for Black males
• It is not surprising that there is a connection between the educational performance of African American males and the hardships they endure within the larger society
• There is considerable evidence that the ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds of students have bearing upon how students are perceived and treated by the adults who work with them within schools.(16) However, we know less about the specific nature of the perceptions and expectations that are held toward Black males and how these may in turn affect their performance within schools. More to the point, there is considerable confusion regarding why being Black and male causes this segment of the population to stand out in the most negative and alarming ways, both in school and the larger society
• This paper is rooted in the notion that it is possible to educate all children, including Black males, at high levels. This idea is not an articulation of faith, but rather a conclusion drawn from a vast body of research on human development and from research on the learning styles of Black children.(17) Therefore, it is possible for schools to take actions that can reverse the patterns of low achievement among African American males.
• Rather than serving as a source of hope and opportunity, schools are sites where Black males are marginalized and stigmatized.(27) Consistently, schools that serve Black males fail to nurture, support or protect them. In school, Black males are more likely to be labeled as behavior problems and less intelligent even while they are still very young.(28) Black males are also more likely to be punished with severity, even for minor offenses, for violating school rules;(29) often without regard for their welfare. They are more likely to be excluded from rigorous classes and prevented from accessing educational opportunities that might otherwise support and encourage them.(30)
• However, changing academic outcomes and countering the risks experienced by Black males is not simply a matter of developing programs to provide support or bringing an end to unfair educational policies and practices. Black males often adopt behaviors that make them complicit in their own failure. It is not just that they are more likely to be punished or placed in remedial classes, it is also that they are more likely to act out in the classroom and to avoid challenging themselves academically. Recognizing that Black males are not merely passive victims, but may also be active agents in their own failure, means that interventions designed to help them must take this into account.
• Changing policies, creating new programs, and opening new opportunities will accomplish little if such efforts are not accompanied by strategies to actively engage Black males and their families in taking responsibility to improve their circumstances. Institutionally, this may require programmatic interventions aimed at buffering and offsetting the various risks to which Black males are particularly vulnerable.
• Investigations into the academic orientation of Black male students must focus on the ways in which the subjective and objective dimensions of identity related to race and gender are constructed within schools and how these influence academic performance. Although psychologists have generally conceived of identity construction as a natural feature of human development(45), sociologists have long recognized that identities like social roles are imposed on individuals through various socialization processes.(46) The processes and influences involved in the construction of Black male identity should be at the center of analyses of school performance since it is on the basis of their identities that Black males are presumed to be at-risk, marginal, and endangered in school and throughout American society(47).
• However, children do not become aware of the significance attached to these physical differences until they start to understand the ideological dimensions of race and become cognizant of differential treatment that appears to be based on race(56). Name calling, including the use of racial epithets, serve as one way of establishing racial boundaries even when children do not fully understand the meaning of the words that are used(57). Similarly, school practices that isolate and separate children on the basis of race and gender also send children important messages about the significance of race and racial differences.(58) Schools certainly are not the only places where children formulate views about race, but because schools are often sites where children are more likely to encounter persons of another race or ethnic group, they play central role in influencing the character of race relations in communities and the larger society.(59)
• Similarly, when African American and Latino children are over represented in remedial classes, special education programs, or on the lists for suspension or expulsion, the idea that these children are not as smart or as well behaved is also reinforced. Such messages are conveyed even when responsible adults attempt to be as fair as possible in their handling of sorting and disciplinary activities. Because the outcomes of such practices often closely resemble larger patterns of success and failure that correspond with racial differences in American society, they invariably have the effect of reinforcing existing attitudes and beliefs about the nature and significance of race.
• For African American males, who are more likely than any other group to be subjected to negative forms of treatment in school, the message is clear: individuals of their race and gender may excel in sports, but not in math or history. The location of Black males within schools - in remedial classes or waiting for punishment outside the principal's office - and the roles they perform within school suggests that they are good at playing basketball or rapping, but debating, writing for the school newspaper, or participating in the science club are strictly out of bounds. Such activities are out of bounds not just because Black males may perceive them as being inconsistent with who they think they are, but also because there simply are not enough examples of individuals who manage to participate in such activities without compromising their sense of self. Even when there are a small number of Black males who do engage in activities that violate established norms, their deviation from established patterns often places them under considerable scrutiny from their peers who are likely to regard their transgression of group norms as a sign of "selling out".
• This example reveals a number of important lessons about the intersection of identity, school practices, and academic performance. Confronted by organizational practices, which disproportionately place Black students in marginal roles and groupings, and pressure from peers, which may undermine the importance attached to academic achievement, it will take considerable confidence and courage for Black students to succeed. The four Black students in this English class were already removed from their Black peers by their placement in this honors course. In such a context, one seemed to adopt what Fordham has described as a "raceless" persona (the student I was assisting) to satisfy the demands of the teacher, but this is only one of many available options. Two others responded by choosing to leave for a lower level class where the would be re-united with their peers with their identities intact but with diminished academic prospects. The option exercised by the female student in the class is perhaps the most enlightening yet difficult to enact. She challenged her teacher's instructions, choosing to write about race and racism, even though she knew she would be penalized for doing so. Yet she also had no intention of leaving the class despite the isolation she experienced to seek out the support of her peers.
• Her research findings have led her to conclude that some Black students experience what she refers to as an "attitude-achievement paradox." For Mickelson, the reason for the discrepancy is that while many Black students say they value education, such an expression is little more than an "abstract" articulation of belief. However, when pressed to state whether they believe that education will actually lead to a better life for them, the Black students in Mickelson's study expressed the "concrete" belief that it would not. Mickelson concludes that the contradiction between abstract and concrete beliefs toward education explains why there is a discrepancy between the attitudes expressed by Black students and their academic outcomes.(72)
• When the data from the survey was disaggregated by race and class, minority and poor students indicated significantly higher levels of distrust (47% of minorities and 53% of poor students stated that they trusted their teachers only a little or not at all) (73). Though it is still possible that some students will succeed even if they do not trust or feel supported by their teachers, research on teacher expectations suggests that these feelings have a powerful effect on student performance.(74) Moreover, there is research that suggests that the performance of African Americans, more so than other students, is influenced to a large degree by the social support and encouragement they receive from teachers.(75) To the extent this is true, and if the nature of interactions between many Black male students and their teachers tends to be negative, it is unlikely that it will be possible to elevate their achievement without changing the way in which they are treated by teachers, and the ways in which they respond to those who try to help them.
• However, there are schools where African American male students do well and where high levels of achievement are common. For example, a recent analysis of the academic performance indicators (API) of public schools in California revealed that there are twenty-two schools in the state where Black students comprise 50% or more of the student population and have aggregate test scores of 750 or greater (1000 is the highest possible score) (76). Most significantly, when the test score data for these schools was disaggregated on the basis of race and gender, there was no evidence of an achievement gap. Though schools like these are few in number, given there are over 2000 public schools in California, the fact they exist suggests that similar results should be possible elsewhere.
• Researchers who have studied effective schools have found that such schools possess the following characteristics: (1) a clear sense of purpose; (2) core standards within a rigorous curriculum; (3) high expectations; (4) commitment to educate all students; (5) safe and orderly learning environment; (6) strong partnerships with parents; and (7) a problem solving attitude.(77) ....The challenge before educators and policy makers is to find ways to build upon existing models of success.