Success for Black Boys

This month we interviewed Dr. Marcelle Haddix of Syracuse University.  She spoke with us about her recent article, Black Boys Can Write, that appears in the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.  Dr. Haddix provides insight on strategies teachers and parents can use to promote writing along with more useful ways of framing the discourse about the education of African American males.

Additional Resources Referenced by Dr. Haddix
Dr. Valerie Kinloch, The Ohio State University
Book:  Harlem on Our Minds: Place, Race and the Literacies of Urban Youth

Dr. Maisha Winn, Emory University
Book:  Writing in Rhythm: Spoken Word Poetry in Urban Classrooms

Ernest Morrell, UCLA
Multiple books dealing with the education of urban youth

Al Tatum
Book:  Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males: Closing the Achievement Gap

Jawanza Kunjufu
Books:  Multiple Writings

Successfully educating African American males is ground in two facts: (1) schools must ensure African American males are well connected to a positive educational experience and (2) African American males must be held to the highest academic standards.

For too long African American males have been connected to a negative schooling experience due to various factors, but primarily, high suspension/expulsion rates, overrepresentation for identification of special education services and high failure/dropout rates.

These negative indicators of achievement frame the black male schooling experience in a discourse of failure and serves to lower academic expectations for this student population as a whole.

Below are three concrete steps schools can take in developing a more positive schooling experience that promotes high academic standards for African American Males.

Establish Affinity Groups
Affinity groups are groups or clubs setup to address the unique needs of African American male students.  They should promote open, safe and honest dialogue, student accountability to one another, strategies for navigating the schooling environment and academic support.  Members of the affinity group should be expected to take on highly visible leadership roles in the school/classroom. 

Implement a Model that Builds-up Young African American Males
In the end kids are kids and they will do what kids do.  Unfortunately for African American males the consequences of their negative actions carry a much heavier penalty than those of their peers.  In addition, schools have done a great job of tearing down the esteem of young African American males and a poor job of building them up.  That’s why it’s imperative that African American males have access to an adult in the school they trust and holds them accountable – call them out when they are wrong and celebrate them when they accomplish great feats. 

Increase School Involvement
Extra/Co- Curricular activities provide a sure path to the heartbeat of a school.  For decades scholarly research has indicated that students who are involved in school activities outperform their counterparts.  Reviewing the number/percentage of African American males involved with two or more school activities is one way to gauge the health of a school for these students.  Schools can increase student involvement among African American males by aggressively recruiting them for participation in school activities, conducting a survey to determine extra/co-curricular interests and by making information available about school activities in student friendly formats (Facebook, texting, twitter, etc.).  One added benefit would be that as student involvement increases, so would parent involvement.

While these steps can’t be seen as the silver bullet, overtime they should begin to transform schools into a more positive culture for African American Males.

Dr. Rodney Trice
Success for Black Boys