Catch Up and Ketchup

 Historic implications aside, African American employment rates are dismally low. To add salt to an infected wound, high school graduation rates in America’s high minority urban school systems teeters around 50% when measured against a typical 4 year high school cycle. These truths being stated make for a hazardous potent cocktail that is drunkenly destroying the fabric of urban neighborhoods, school districts, and municipalities nationwide.

The focus of this blog entry is job preparedness and the development of workplace skill sets.

Too often, African American teenagers do not seek work until they are twenty years of age or older. This trend must be reversed if a young African American population is to realize their earning potential.   

If young African-Americans are waiting until 20 years of age to secure minimum wage employment, they have a late start when compared to the number of 15 year-old children who secure minimum wage employment upon eligibility. The 20-year-old is 5 years behind  in terms of marketability,  the acquisition of job skills, experience, and short and long-term earnings and taxable wages.

As a high school teacher and Assistant Principal, I encouraged young people to seek employment at the one place where there is unlimited potential due to high turnover: Fast food restaurants.

Now, I in no way am advocating for the many fast food giants that churn out food of questionable quality. However, a young male or female can earn a federally mandated  wage, gain work experience, learn to work cooperatively, gain time management skills, build references, and develop many day-to-day life skills. 

As a teenager working long hours in a fast food restaurant, I developed some very basic skills that have, in some form or manner, afforded me the privilege of gaining employment within several domains. Whether as a a hard hat at a coal facility through college, school district employee, or an elected official, I’ve secured any job I’ve applied for over the last 30 years. 

How can part time employment at a fast food restaurant assist the most at risk urban minorities in gaining an understanding of life and vocation? I came to understand workplace climates, protocols, and politics by the time I was 16 years of age. I gained invaluable knowledge related to team work, selflessness, and how to work on and within a winning team. If you win, then we all win was the mantra of fast food employment and exists within many corporate structures to this day.

How can part time employment at a fast food restaurant assist the most at risk urban minorities in gaining an understanding of life and vocation? 

My first day of work/orientation at the fast food restaurant informed me that uniformity in appearance and operations were vitally important to the success of the employee and business.

I learned that there are stages, levels, and steps within the simplest of operations and systems. Within this fast food establishment, a new employee starts at the dead bottom by performing duties such as refilling napkin and drinking straw canisters, emptying trash, hosing parking lots, unloading delivery trucks, and cleaning bathrooms. I was never too proud to say, “No, I don’t do that”.

Note: Fast food bathrooms may just be the filthiest public bathrooms on earth. 

Once an employee has performed these duties with regularity and within a certain performance rubric, food preparation was the next step  on the career lattice.  Hours of cutting onions, mixing sauces, prepping meat, and exchanging heavy CO2 bottles were just several of the duties performed. Although not glamorous, it was certainly better than cleaning toilets.

Once I was seen as an actively engaged and committed employee, I moved to actually cooking the food. I was responsible for delivering “the package”. The package contained the food items that made this fast food establishment millions of dollars per year. 

As my trustworthiness, performance, adaptability, timeliness, willingness, quick math computation skilks, and human to human contact were assessed to be adequate, I quickly moved from the fryer to the cash register. This was a time when the register person had to take a math test to gauge suitability to touch the money. The cash registers of the early 80’s did not compute change.  Eventually, I ascended to shift supervisor. This promotional track took all of one month and I was still a teenager. Best of all, I found my way to the money.

In essence, children must be raised with the understanding that work is as much a part of life, if not more so, than sleeping and jumping from social media platform to platform.  It is unfortunate that no matter the economic status of the family, we refuse to lay upon our children that hard work, early and often, reaps results and establishes a foundation by which America was built. 

No man or woman should be too proud to work an honest day for honest pay. 

This is important to note because as I told my students, one has to start at the bottom. You have to work hard, be on time, learn the job, develop customer service skills, deliver results, and treat each working day, whether sweeping floors, changing oil, or running a Fortune 500 company, etc., with pride and genuine effort. 

Throughout the summer of 1983, I received compensation at the rate of $3.35 per hour.  

Redemption, Return, and Recovery: The Future of the Three R’s

Intro

Several years ago, I was charged with the responsibility of supervising an urban school district’s online credit recovery program.   At first, I reasonably questioned the validity of such a program relative to authentic student achievement and the dedication of non-traditional and at-risk students who formerly exhibited a devalued sense of the educational process and the associated achievement that can be realized through rigorous commitment.

For those unfamiliar with a credit recovery program, they are generally grounded in disruptive innovation theory and provide non-traditional student populations with an opportunity to claim academic credits that were lost due to course failure or excessive absence and time away from the traditional learning environment.

There are myriad examples of credit recovery programs currently in operation in the nation’s public schools.  I’ve witnessed everything from watered-down summer school programs to thoroughly organized,  demanding, and standards aligned  programs providing an asynchronous technologically integrative platform.  Like the Promise Academy Charter School in Cleveland, Ohio, which serves upwards of 750 students in an online credit recovery program housed in a three story renovated bank located in the business district of downtown Cleveland, Ohio, I chose to model what I observed to be a very successful and well managed program.  I flew from central Pennsylvania to Cleveland, Ohio and embarked on a two day period of intense site immersion in an attempt to collect the most relevant data for analysis towards the construction of an authentic framework for implementation back at home.

The purpose of this particular entry is not to necessarily focus on online credit recovery programs, but briefly provide insight as to the benefits of such a program to a challenging minority student population.

School records, Communication, and Re entry

The school district of record was experiencing a significantly high number of credit deficient students.  Roughly 1 in 5 students was behind in course credits, not on grade level, and prone to two outcomes:  dropout or attend school for more than the traditional four years. Even more impactful was the 10% drop in student population over the course of eight years. This indicated a serious dropout dilemma in the school district.

With this data in hand, I immediately began to work proactively by advertising this opportunity to administrators, guidance counselors, frustrated parents, community leaders, and anyone who was willing to hear my story whether at church, the grocery store, or barber shop.

Once the word got out that we were making a valid attempt to offer a paved road void of the obstacle laden experiences of their past, students ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-one flooded my office for an application, consultation, and request for immediate enrollment.

In the very least, the groundswell indicated the want to secure a high school diploma.  The current and former students wanted to get their lives back on track beginning with the successful completion of high school.

Consultation

To understand the gravity of this experience, interviewing the students and collecting the necessary information related to their enrollment and academic plan, I must admit that I was often left with critically consuming emotions.

The potential student population served through the credit recovery program ran the gamut.  From students who had not attended school in over one hundred days to relatively new mothers to young men recently released from juvenile detention facilities and county prison, these were the students that were lost in the downward spiral of the system.  These students existed within a grey area that was often dismissed by educators.  They were the non-traditional, the at-risk, and those who experienced a less than favorable experience while in school.  These students represented a growing trend in American society.  I realized that we could not dismiss them, ignore them, or relegate them to a life of low stratification wrought with the cascading dilemmas of an adult life burdened by a lack of personal achievement and ancillary resources.

As I interviewed the students and family members, my administrative office morphed into a counseling center as I listened intently to stories filled with the sorrow, regret, and a legitimately overstated want for an attempt at academic redemption.  Kleenex™ was a standard desk item.

Students were experiencing such a dearth in course credits that a return to a traditional high school setting was not a consideration.  For example, a nineteen year old teen mother who amassed just twelve academic credits and had not been to school for two years was not a candidate for reentry into a traditional school setting.  Her needs eclipsed those of the typical junior in high school.  She needed daycare, employment, and housing.  The only way to successfully claim lost credits was through an online credit recovery program.

A Commitment to Recovery

During the course of the year, we successfully enrolled three hundred students with close to two hundred claiming a number of lost credits, returning to the traditional high school at grade level, and subsequently graduating eighty eight students who would have either dropped out or taken another year and a half to graduate.

As I frequented the two classrooms housing the credit recovery students, a phenomenon was occurring beyond that of the intended credit accumulation.  Students were attending with a higher frequency than at the traditional high school.  Students were developing an independent nature that somehow never developed prior to this progressive technological experience.   As students accumulated credits, a circularity developed that caused them to add credits at an alarming rate.  Again, many of these students were the castaways, push outs, and discipline problems.  They moved through the academic program modules that were aligned to state standards and district textbooks. They were given periodic online assessments.  If they did not score proficiently in the online assessment, the module automatically reverted to a tutoring module that emphasized the areas of low performance.  Once completing these tutoring modules, students were, once again, assessed for proficiency with an entirely different assessment set.  The ability to fail and not be permanently penalized helped boost the self-esteem of the students.  They were able to develop their own learning and evaluative processing style that transcended the learning environment to their lives outside of school in terms of situational evaluation techniques.  Further, they were able to exist as themselves in an unbiased setting that too often challenged their identity during the most intense moments of identity development, consideration, and commitment.

Success

As another school year came to a close, eighty eight students were getting sized for graduation gowns, drafting lists of announcement recipients, and planning for a life after high school graduation.  As the administrator of a program that was criticized by both teachers and administrative peers caught in the architecture of a century old traditional model, I stood before these students with adulation and pride.  Many had overcome situations that you and I would never want to endure.  Many parents and students alike never thought that this day would occur.  Thankfully, online learning has made this a reality for over two million of America’s children.

Outro

The successful completion of the credit recovery program increased the graduating class of 2009 by twenty five percent. 

Process Over Event: From Elementary Absenteeism to Secondary Dropout

Any given school day, across this vast landscape (USA), a kaleidoscope of urban minority school-aged youth are walking the street in various transitional states. Some children are huddled at the bus stop awaiting the arrival of the school bus while others are walking to school in small groups. However, many teenage males are congregating on street corners, females are sitting on porches, and both can be seen frequenting the neighborhood store for high calorie snack foods and drinks. For many, they are in the midst of transitioning from frequent absenteeism to truancy to dropping out.  You can witness this as one drives through any rapidly dilapidating neighborhood. The number of students seen in the neighborhoods while school is in session does not take into account the hundreds more who inhabit their residences without leaving for hours and perhaps days at a time. These children, of varying ages, are not in school during school hours.  Beyond being a compulsory policy, why are so many children absent from school, leaving school, and not graduating? What myriad factors are contributing to this dilemma? What policies and programmatic initiatives can reverse this skyrocketing trend (Rumberger, 2008; Steinberg, 2004)?

As a secondary public school student through the late 1970’s and 1980’s, my understanding was and remains that academic achievement is an active engagement that is accomplished through ongoing physical presence at an educational institution. Attendance enforcement in urban school districts has been a long-standing problem that affects school budgets, local law enforcement, and the judicial system.  Research has a divergent view of this quandary.  The existing complexities in urban communities and institutions coupled with a negative economic malady further contribute to the malaise associated with the graduation and dropout rates of inner city minority students (Orfield, 2004; Vartanian, 1999).

On the school front, things are not palatable either. Urban school districts are limited in their capacity to reach the thousands of students who are at risk for dropping-out.  Safety concerns, the lack of participant cohesion, high student-teacher ratios, dilapidated facilities, and performance pressures only inspire students to consider leaving school. Furthermore, programs earmarked for internal student support have inadequate funding and are vulnerable to elimination. Thus, these internal support programs do not receive the support necessary to assist a large number of students in overcoming the varying obstacles affecting their academic success, social and vocational development, mobility, and retention of those most at-risk for dropping out (Adelman, 2000; Gerwitz, 2009; Harris, 2007).

Gaps in the dropout research exist due to an absence of a standardized means by which to measure dropout rates nationwide as well as geographic and subgroup representation. Because the formulas used by school districts, state education agencies, and researchers vary, research has been conducted under the guise of different formulas.  Also, due to the No Child Left Behind Act, school district reports and associated achievement studies rely on graduation rates rather than dropout rates. 

Frequent absenteeism from school assuredly increases the amount of time students must officially enroll in school while acting as a gateway to dropping out of school.  Marino (2008) identified three prevailing instances of nonappearance:  Absenteeism, truancy, and school refusal.  Marino defines absenteeism as a period-of-time away from school legally approved by the parent while truancy is absenteeism without parental approval.  Too often, the assumed lack of adult supervision for potentially truant students leads to delinquency and anti-social behaviors.

Psychological research (Reid, 1999) indicates that truant students and unrelenting absenteeism  yield a population that has ” lower academic self-concepts, lower general levels of self-esteem, greater patterns of alienation from school over certain issues, higher levels of neuroticism and higher levels of antisocial behavior”.  Lastly, school refusal is an “inappropriate fear of leaving home” and/or an “inappropriate fear of going to school”.  The fear of leaving home can manifest itself through clingy behaviors used as a coping mechanism for adolescents who have a historically cultural dependence on the family for safety and support.  This parallels the fear of going to school which can eventually elicit separation anxiety and an overwhelming feeling of loss coupled with a fear of being alone (AACAP, 2008; Eisen, et al, 2006).  These behaviors, if not addressed, can promote social and educational problems throughout a student’s life. These problems are assuredly factors that further ensure academic failure. Unfortunately, there is not enough emphasis on studies relative to the possible link between truancy and psychological criteria such as anxiety (Brandibas, et al., 2004).

Absenteeism generally occurs at the elementary level when students have limited control and decision making capacity relative to their movement through the community.  Truancy develops from absenteeism, often evolves into anti-social behaviors, and are assigned to secondary students who are deemed responsible enough to care for their transport to and from school as well as their own supervision through the peak hours outside of school.

No matter the cause, academic failure can seriously malign a student’s ambition towards graduation.  The ongoing absence from school or class can result in academic failure, which is amongst the contributing factors for dropping-out (Mayer & Mitchell, et al., 1993; McCluskey, 2004). Reports (Ormrod, 2008; Rumberger and Lim, 2008; Schargel, 2007) have suggested that potential drop-outs can exhibit characteristics and risk behaviors as early as elementary school.  Elementary school aged children who demonstrate low attendance rates are at risk for academic failure for a variety of reasons.  These students do not have the opportunity to grow cognitively, socially, and academically due to increased time away from the structured learning environment.   The earlier in life a student exhibits such repetitive behaviors, the higher the likelihood for a student to be developmentally and academically behind their peers throughout their educational career. Thus, the drop out process can be set in motion by a variety of risk factors as early as elementary school (Alexander, 2001; Rumberger, October, 2008). Students entering high school are often several years older than their grade level peers due to prior retention and periods of high absenteeism. Age appropriateness along with course failure, retention, and developmental deficiencies are factors that contribute to dropping out (Rumberger, October, 2008).

Status Variables and Alterable Variables 

Lehr (2007) identifies two explicit tracks by which drop-outs are associated: status variables and alterable variables.  As an extension to Bloom (1980), status variables are comprised of standard factors that are unchangeable or a challenge to change due to complex dynamics.  Alterable variables consist of characteristics that are prone to flux and can experience a transformation with the application of appropriately aligned interventions.  Status variables and Alterable variables consist of a number of contributing factors:

Drop-out Status Variables and Alterable Variables

STATUS VARIABLES	ALTERABLE VARIABLES
Race/Ethnicity	Behaviors
Gender	Student Grades
Socioeconomic Status (SES)	Absenteeism
Parental Employment	School Policy
Family Structure	School Climate
School Size and Type	Retention
Age	Support Services
Region	Attitudes
Ability/Disability

(Lehr, 2007; Rumberger, 1995)

 Although influential, no factor in isolation can be assigned to dropouts without considering the presence and impact of other contributory factors as well as the impact from the other variable. Indicating all potential contributory factors further assists in the identification of those most at-risk for dropping-out.  In other words, an exhaustive investigation into multiple contributory factors reduces the possibility of under identification errors when identifying potential dropouts. With this, the combination of complex predictors is limitless as they play significant roles in the drop-out crisis.

Interventions to reverse dropout numbers have been instituted using both status and alterable variables as criteria. Recognizing what can be changed and what cannot be changed are important when designing intervention strategies and programs for at-risk students who have the propensity to drop-out of school. Although informative and influential in decision-making, status variables are comprised of factors that extend beyond the scope of school district interventions. Research (Christenson, 2004, page 36; Lehr, 2007) indicates that schools are best suited to address the alterable variables due to their “utility” and capacity to change.  Nevertheless, the convergence of status variables and alterable variables toward comprehensive policy development that positively affects the outcomes of student achievement is a topic for further investigation.

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Texas Miracles, [Online] Second Chances, and the Hidden Identity Development Curve

Pennsylvania’s Department of Education Secretary, Dr. Gerald Zahorchak (October 29, 2007), stated “boredom and a lack of challenges” as contributory factors in a student’s decision to drop out of school in Pennsylvania. In addition to the collection of whole group and sub group data, the Pennsylvania Department of Education attempts to collect relevant data to study the reasons for dropping-out. The Pennsylvania Department of Education catalogues the results within a data matrix. The matrix lists six reasons for dropping out (Academic problem, Behavioral problem, Disliked school, Pregnancy/Child care, Wanted to work, and Runaway or expelled) within four program categories (College preparatory, Vocational, Exceptional, and General).  The three most frequent responses in all program categories were disliked school (41%), wanted to work (21%), and academic problem (20%).  As is customary with quantitative studies, the survey did not delineate why students disliked school.  The Silent Epidemic (2007) stated that forty-seven percent of dropouts emanated from a lack of interest in school and the associated learning environment (Paulson, March 3, 2006).  Unfortunately, reporting has flaws because dropouts do not necessarily comply with a school district’s exiting process therefore creating a dilemma and inaccuracies in data collection and reporting.  Data based upon the documented responses provided by students who have conducted official exit interviews with the associated school district do not represent the vast numbers of undocumented dropouts. 

The Texas Miracle and No Child Left Behind

Linda McSpadden McNeil’s 2008 study of 271,000 students from urban districts in Texas indicated that the accountability associated with No Child Left Behind has had a significant impact on the number of dropouts nationwide.  Although the ‘Texas Miracle’ of achievement in the late 1990’s served as the impetus for No Child Left Behind at the federal level, research conducted over the last decade paints a different picture than that which was originally heralded as a great reform model for all to emulate. McNeil states that the pressure on schools to perform at a certain level has affected how schools are managed and how students are taught and serviced.  In essence, McNeil acknowledged that student value is based upon their being an “asset” or “liability” to the school’s success.  Further, No Child Left Behind’s increasingly stringent accountability measures only precipitate principals and administrators to group students by subgroups—identifying low performers, increasing disciplinary action for minor infractions, and beginning the process of moving a student out of school.  Thus, a policy initiative purportedly implemented to bring more equity to education has actually increased the susceptibility of minority subgroups to further adverse institutional practices and policy. 

Studies have shown that positive teacher-student relationships encourage student achievement and satisfaction (Bergin, June, 2009; Baker, 1999; Decker, February, 2007).  This is especially true with an urban at-risk population where secure attachment is contributory when addressing student satisfaction and the effects of a positive, non-threatening learning environment on student achievement (Baker, 1999). Many urban minority at-risk school age students do not possess the internal motivation to succeed.  As a result, students rely on strong relationships with their teachers for leadership and guidance (Marchant, 1990) as early as elementary school. For that reason, supportive and concerned school environments that smooth the progress of student learning and connection contributes to the academic success of at-risk minority school age students (Towns, et al., 2001; Waxman, Huang, & Anderson, 1997).

Push Out

The term ‘push out’ is drawn on to describe the means by which school districts utilize institutionalized practices to move the less desirable student population towards the exit door.  Lehr (2007) states that negative incidences within school leave students with feelings of isolation and discontent.  This pushing out can occur through repeated disciplinary action, standardized teaching methods, teacher attitudes, limited support, and even the pressure of high stakes testing (Oleck, 2008).  A study of the African American and Latino populations in the Denver (CO) Public Schools indicates that minority and low-income students are “taught down to”.  Using the excuse of stressors (adverse status variables) outside the school as a reason to lessen the amount of rigorous schoolwork, school districts ensure African American students enter each school year at an institutional disadvantage (Padres Unidos, 2006). 

Thousands of public school students experience a push out.  To the school district, these students are not representative of the dropout crisis.  School districts tend to rely on graduation rates based upon the number of students graduating in a given school year rather than address the number of students who started ninth grade and subsequently graduated in the traditional four- year cycle.  For example, the National Education Association’s lobbying agenda reported that in 2001, New York City schools graduated 34,000 students while discharging 55,000 high school students.  Although reports indicate that most students were transferring or moving, it is easy to bury thousands of push-outs into the transfer category.  Therefore, true indicators of the dilemma are not available or veiled behind a shroud of secrecy and inaccurate reporting.

Asynchronous Models:  Credit Recovery & Disruptive Innovation

It is safe to say that academic success rests among the intended outcomes of African American students (Lewis & Kim, 2008).  Still, students lacking course credits have few opportunities to accumulate credits in a time-period that will allow for full academic recovery and timely participation in graduation exercises.  Initiatives such as credit recovery programs allow the non-traditional student to realize graduation rather than turn to exiting the realms of academia by dropping out. Although not specific to race and gender, student motivation in e-learning/online programs has been studied (Blanchard & Frasson, 2004; Henry & Stone, 1999) to assess the value of motivational practices in e-learning networks to ensure success and reduce the anxieties of academic pursuits.  Studies on the use of online credit recovery programs report that this type of technological innovation helps currently enrolled students retrieve credits towards graduation and encourage dropouts to return to school (Watson & Gemini, 2008). 

Internal motivation is more easily recognized and acknowledged within an asynchronous credit recovery program due to the self-directed and independent nature of the program.  Because each student participant is engaged within their own specific coursework, they are the only person by which their success or failure is gauged.  Therefore, the independence of the asynchronous credit recovery program places the student participant in the center position.  When student success, motivation, and effort are ostensibly measured against the peer group, students have the potential to pull away from direct interaction due to a heightened level of discomfort within the learning environment. These passive behaviors can ultimately result in increased absences and disengagement from the learning environment altogether. The unfortunate result in too many instances is a student prematurely dropping out of school before realizing graduation. The asynchronous credit recovery program structure can enhance student self esteem and confidence in their pursuits because progress and success are not measured against their peer group or with any degree of subjectivity.  With this, a sense of personal ownership heightens motivation, confidence, engagement, and ultimately, student achievement.

A credit recovery program’s assessments are objective and do not rely on subjective assessments, evaluations, and personal critiques to determine the value of the individual. Further, the self-paced platform of the credit recovery program reduced the day-to-day pressures of performance anxiety (Cavanaugh, 2009). The reduction of performance anxiety increases the capacity of the non-traditional student to advance proficiency in collecting, assembling, and processing information as well as promoting investigative abilities beyond that of academic pursuits. The development of such expands the range by which the non-traditional student establishes resolution skills and negotiates conceptual struggles (Coleman, 2005). To this end, the independent nature of the student to computer interface model places the non-traditional student in a position of constant self-actualization that promotes confidence, growth, and self-esteem while enhancing personal value and identity consideration towards clarification and commitment.

Studies disclose aspects, affects, and characteristics of credit recovery programs that are associated with time schedules, commitment, independence, and isolation from influence that is antithetical to a traditional school model.   Further consideration on the applicability of credit recovery programs on non-traditional student populations beyond those that are credit deficient is necessary to ascertain the various affects and positive behavioral influences such programming has on a non-traditional student population.  It is possible that a wider audience can be served through participation in an on site technology based alternative non-traditional schooling environment (Waters, 2010).

Finally, a technology based asynchronous education model does not threaten the traditional schooling program within a traditional brick and mortar model. Nonetheless, the effects of such programming are undeniably beneficial to a segment of the population that has been confounded with dilemmas directly related to the school environment or external dynamics and complexities unrelated to the school environment.

CITATIONS

Baker, J. (1999). Teacher-Student Interaction in Urban At-Risk Classrooms: Differential Behavior, Relationship Quality, and Student Satisfaction with School. The Elementary School Journal. 100(1).  Abstract retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/pss/1002161.

Bergin, C. & Bergin, D. (June, 2009). Attachment in the Classroom. Educational Psychology Review. 21(2).  Abstract retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/m3843268880q0460/.

Blanchard, E., & Frasson, C. (2004). An Autonomy-Oriented System Design for Enhancement of Learner’s Motivation in E-learning. Retrieved www.iro.umontreal.ca/labs/HERON/art/blanchard_frasson_2004.pdf.

Cavanaugh, C. (May 18, 2009). Getting Students More Learning Time Online: Distance Education in Support of Expanded Learning Time in K-12 Schools. Retrieved on from http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/05/distance_learning.html.

Coleman, S. (2005). Why Do Students Like Online Learning? Retrieved from http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/benefits-of-online-learning.htm.

Decker, D., Dona, D, & Christenson, S. (February, 2007).  Behaviorally At-Risk African American Students: The Importance of Student-Teacher Relationships for Student Outcomes. Journal of School Psychology. 45(1), 83. Abstract retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ748944&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ748944.

Kim, M. (October 1, 2008). Women of Color: The Persistent Double Jeopardy of Race and Gender.  The American Prospect. Retrieved from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-37297262_ITM

Lehr, C.A., Johnson, D. R., Bremer, C., Cosio, A. (2007). What Do We Know About Who Drops Out and Why?  Retrieved from http://www.adlit.org/article/20795.

Lewis, M. and Lockheed, M. (2006). Inexcusable Absence:  Why 60 Million Girls Still Aren’t In School and What To Do About It. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development. Retrieved from www.cgdev.org/doc/books/Inexcusable%20Absence/Chapter%202.pdf .

Marchent, G. (April, 1990). Intrinsic Motivation, Self-Perception, and their effects on Black Urban Elementary Students. Paper Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/20/69/a5.pdf

McNeil, L. M., Coppola, E., Radigan, J., & Vasquez Heilig, J. (2008). Avoidable losses: High-stakes accountability and the dropout crisis. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 16(3). Retrieved from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v16n3/.

Oleck, J. (February 20, 2008). NCLB’s Accountability Feeds Drop-Out Rates. School Library Journal (online).  Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6533974.html

Padres Unidos (January 18, 2006). Drop Outs or Push Outs: Students Vote with Their Feet. CJRC Newsletter. 14. Retrieved from http://www.advancementproject.org/pdfs/cjrc/pushouts.pdf

Paulson, A. (March 3, 2006). Dropout Rates High, but Fixes Under Way. The Christian Science Monitor.  Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0303/p01s02-legn.html.

Towns, D., Cole-Henderson, B., & Serpell, Z. (2001). The Journey to Urban School Success: Going the Extra Mile. The Journal of Negro Education, 70, 4-19.

Watson, J. & Gemini, B. (June, 2008). Using Online Learning for At-Risk Students and Credit Recovery. NACOL/North American Council for Online Learning. Retrieved from www.nacol.org/promisingpractices/NACOL_CreditRecovery_PromisingPractices.pdf.

Waxman, H. C., Huang, S. L., & Anderson, L. (1997). Classroom Process Differences in Inner-city Elementary Schools. Journal of Educational Research, 91, 49-59. Retrieved from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-55500202.html.

Zahorchak, G. (October 29, 2007). Education Secretary Outlines Pennsylvania’s Efforts to Address Dropout Situation.: Multifaceted Approach Focuses on Prevention, Intervention and Re-engagement. Retrieved from
http://www.state.pa.us/papower/cwp/view.asp?Q=468835&A=11.

Building Capacity Through Peer to Peer Mentoring Programs

I had a significantly opportunistic and life changing experience while employed by an urban public school district in central Pennsylvania.  As a fourth year teacher in 2001, I overheard that the district had access to approximately $150,000.00 US to implement an in-house alternative school program for truant and excessively absent students.  As I sat idly in my apartment that weekend, I analyzed the larger dilemma and began to construct a proposal for the district’s first attempt at a night school since 1969. I recall working feverishly all weekend and printing the final proposal late Sunday night. I returned to work on Monday and submitted my proposal to the head principal who reviewed the document and was satisfied by the contents. She further stated that she would present the proposal when the principals convened for their weekly meeting at the Office of the Superintendent.  

Several days passed when I received a telephone call requesting my presence at the superintendent’s office.  At this meeting, and as occurs with most originators of a program or mechanism, I was asked to leave my teaching assignment and subsequently offered my first administrative assignment supervising five teachers and 150 at-risk students.  To this date, I have not looked back since.

Alternative education

The students/attendees of the program were provided a core course daily assignment within the minimum time required by the state department of education. Further, an on-site employment preparation program was made available by a local African American female* who possessed a 501c3 (non-profit) with a focus on job skills and fiscal responsibility.  To make a 6-month story short, whole group average daily attendance increased from thirty-one percent (31%) to ninety-two percent (92%) while more than thirty percent (30+%) gained employment through the support and efforts of the kind but ambitious lady with the 501c3. Bottom line, communicating our desire and the dire necessity for students to attend and actively participate served as the lifeblood of the program.

Despite feeling possessive of my first program, it was time to let it go and allow the lettered professionals nurture and expand a small idea into a fully functioning alternative education program.  I was truly happy with the level of participation, learning, and confidence building wrought over the previous six months.

Transition

The success of the program coupled with fiscal accountability and strong program dynamics helped me gain access to the ‘big house’, otherwise known as central administration.  As the newest and youngest member of the grant writing team, it was in this seven foot by thirteen foot room that a phenomenon was unfolding that would drastically alter my perception of public school education.

The initiative: Renaissance Program

Several months had passed before I was called to the Office of the Superintendent and informed that I was being given an assignment to meet with a local contractor turned banker turned philanthropist.  Using available state tax credits, the gentleman was interested in funding an after school program.  Understanding that he was limited in his ability to create such, I became the point man given great responsibility to create and supervise a successful program although I had no background relative to afterschool programs beyond knowledge of their existence.  The gentleman was willing to put forth $50,000.00 US dollars for the first year with an option for a three year commitment if the program exhibited results.  At the time, he was only concerned with the academic achievement aspect of the program and gave little consideration to the external influences and possible affects.  We didn’t know the externalities would eventually take center stage as influential components towards success.

First round draft picks

Although I would not consider myself scholarly at the time, I was able to work within budgets and create successful programs using researched theory.  I wanted to work with a state testing grade level that was mature enough to be actively engaged, but still required guidance and support. With this, I chose the fifth grade class of one elementary school.  I created an application that included general program information and several parental consent forms.  I received fifty-four completed applications from which twelve students would be randomly selected to participate.  As a marketing major in undergraduate school, I fully understood the importance of marketing hype; especially with a voluntary educational program. I held a thirty minute ooh and ahh session in the atrium of the school where a locally well known pastor reached into a container and randomly extracted twelve names.  Students were overwhelmingly excited when their names were announced.  Funny enough, to this day, I don’t believe all twelve elementary students even knew what they were excited about but what they did know, however, is they were finally chosen to be a part of something. Still, I was unsure whether the $50,000.00 US would be adequate to run a three hour per day, four days per week, thirty week program. Working within these limited parameters forced me to be creative in terms of curriculum and personnel choices.

Each one, teach one

I did not have enough funding available to hire teachers for part time work.  Therefore, I was inspired to look elsewhere for staff/personnel.I’ve always been a proponent of the ‘Each One, Teach One’ mantra and felt elementary students could benefit from a positive experience with high school students.  Growing up, we always looked up to and wanted to emulate the older kids.  This did not always transfer into appropriate decisions, but in a controlled environment, it had the potential to work.  I pitched the idea of having six of our most ambitious high school students become paid tutors (under adult supervision) to the elementary population randomly chosen to participate in the program.  Once I sold the idea to the philanthropist and senior administration, I immediately created an application to be distributed to the junior class at the local high school.   To my dismay, I received a paltry number of applications by the deadline, but the quality, not quantity, was of the utmost importance at this point.

I was able to reduce the number of high school applicants to a manageable number and began a vigorous interview period with the high school applicants. Fortunately, the six high school students were secured within several days and I was able to schedule an introductory training session by week’s end.

We were excited to see if the 2:1 mentee to mentor ratio would work. All fingers were crossed in hopes of success. 

Curriculum

I did not want to use the same texts and resources the students had access to everyday.  If I were to utilize the same ole, same ole, the program would surely be doomed to failure.  Additionally, I did not have the funding to purchase anything with a hard cover. Thus, I needed something fresh and affordable within the remaining $25,000.00 US dollars.  I began to search online and through every school merchandise mailer for a computer based math and reading curriculum that could be used through a twelve month licensing agreement.  With the help of a friend in the Information Technology Department, we were able to find, test, and purchase an affordable computer based math and reading curriculum. 

180 minutes

The three hour after school program incorporated an hour for homework, an hour for math, and an hour for reading.  This provided time for students to work within a hybrid context ensuring that traditional studies existed alongside the technologically progressive aspect of the program.  Further, opportunities for interaction and purposeful dialogue between the high school mentors and elementary mentees occurred.  After some time, I began to observe a type of older sibling-younger sibling relationship develop between the students.  We had, in essence, set the tone for a mentoring program within the existing tutoring component.

Final obstacle

Anyone who has had the opportunity to piece together field trips or programs for students knows transportation costs are often the make or break factor in the sustainability of a program. After some thought,  I decided the high school mentors/tutors would be transported to the elementary school across town by simply riding the high school bus that drops off in that section of town.  They were able to access the six o’clock athletic bus to get home at the end of the day.  Problem solved.

All in all, the success of the program was not limited to the academic success of the fifth grade mentees.  The aggressive application of a technology and computer based curriculum enhanced my perception of technology integration in the classroom. Although a hybrid model in the very least, a heightened sense of accomplishment was evidenced during site observations and informal dialogue. The young students were hooked on the technology.  Further, peer to peer student mentoring developed organically as positive relationships were formed and socially responsible practices emanated from the high school mentors.

Outcomes

High school student mentors

• Employment/work experience
• Teaching
• Mentoring
• Responsibility
• Letters of recommendation
• One hundred percent graduated to a four year college/university
• Several entered college as elementary education majors

Elementary school student mentees

• Averaged 178 points and 185 points above the districts fifth grade average on PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) math and reading examinations
• Most entered the districts advanced placement high school of science and technology
• Purposeful use of technology
• Reduction in disciplinary action
• Increased daily attendance
• Increased parent participation

And the rest, my friends, is history.

Literacy, ADHD, -isms, and the intersectionality that is Marvel Comics: 1973 – 1980

From the time I was five until twelve years old, I would spend every Thursday night from six o’clock until eight o’clock at the grocery store with my mother as we set forth on our weekly food shopping expedition.  This grocery store was the finest in the area in terms of product quantity and customer service. Of course, to anyone born after 1983, the thought of anything but expansively marketed products and consumer driven technological advancements seems Paleolithic in terms of efficiency and availability.  Nonetheless, this grocery store was not only the kingdom of all things Stauffer’s and Kellogg’s, but  housed a serious comic book section that only a visual learner, like myself, could truly appreciate to a point of adolescent homage. Remember folks, this is several years before Atari released PONG in home version and cable was limited to thirteen channels.  

As we entered the grocery store, my mother would reach into her purse for a single one dollar bill. This dollar was presented as payment for completed domestic chores. Each week, I would use this dollar bill to purchase four comic books.  Multiply that by four [weeks], by twelve [months], and by eight [years] and the final product exceeds one thousand.

Research has stated that boys are two to four times as likely as girls to be diagnosed with ADHD (Dulcan, 1997; Singh, 2008). As a precocious but restless young boy, comic books were the perfect cost-effective medium to provide an educational experience that did not require hours of direction, direct instruction, or numbing concentration.  Boys, as we know, have the attention span of…boys.  With this, Marvel Comics™ were the ideal remedy for a learned child [and parents] dealing with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder before current medicinal interventions were prescribed to a vast population of children. 

Marvel Comics™ were my comic of choice. Since I lived in one of the Mid-Atlantic States, I had an affinity for the northeastern quadrant of the United States and Marvel Comics™ stories was realistically set in none other than Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs of New York City.  The impact of these comics was more salient than DC Comics™ because artists at Marvel Comics™ used existing buildings, museums, and parks as the backdrop to the serial dilemmas and periods of identity flux and transformation. For example, the renowned Frick Museum located at Fifth Avenue and East 70^th Street was used as the template for Avengers Mansion.

Beyond serving as an instrument to quell my gregariously unfocused behavior, my vocabulary increased significantly during this period.  By third grade I was able to pronounce as well as understand and use such words as nefarious and loquacious in well constructed sentences.  I even expanded my knowledge of Greek mythology in 1977 while reading a comic book series of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes: The Avengers.  It was through this two comic story that I was introduced to the Oedipus Complex through the villainous exploits of the cyborg, Ultron as he set forth on a quest to claim his creator’s wife as his own.  People may argue that Greek mythology and Freudian references may not be the best discussion topics for a nine year old, but learning was occurring. My mother could never argue that.

Marvel Comics™, to a kid in the 1970’s, was akin to reading Time Magazine as an adult.  The social issues and very real politics of the time were explicitly weaved within every story.  It was during this time that a rise in sub-group representation occurred. African American, Hispanic (East Coast), and Native American characters began to appear more frequently.  Also, there was the emergence of socially conscious story arcs that referenced government manipulation of populations and resources while expanding capitalism and monopolies behind a veil of chaotic episodes and conspiracies. In essence, reading a comic book during this period was like taking a class on current issues, topics, and terrorism.

Beyond the aforementioned, I was introduced to other social and governmental –isms such as sexism (Wolverine), feminism (Phoenix and Storm), racism (Luke Cage/Power Man and Falcon), idealistic patriotism (Captain America), and political theories such as communism, socialism, fascism, and liberalism.

Finally, I learned about the value of investments.  Several years later, I was able to sell these very comics for thirty times what I paid.

The owners of Comix Connection have donated over one hundred comic books to my wife for distribution to her second grade classroom. 

Dulcan, M. (October 1997). Practice parameters for the assessment and treatment of children, adolescents, and adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 36 (10) 85S–121S. Retrieved from http://meta.wkhealth.com/pt/pt-core/template-journal/lwwgateway/media/landingpage.htm?issn=0890-8567&volume=36&issue=10&spage=85S.

Singh, I. (December 2008). Beyond polemics: science and ethics of ADHD. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience 9 (12): 957–64.

Disruptive Innovation Theory and Public School Education: A Futurist Perspective

Disruptive innovation is a theory founded by Harvard Business School professor, Clayton Christensen.  Disruptive innovation challenges the framework associated with sustainable innovations.  Sustainable innovations are internal improvements to an already existing system. Sustainable innovations can be referred to as periodic upgrades to systems.  Although considered innovative, change is slow and results reap only marginal improvements. A disruptive innovation, on the other hand, is an advancement that significantly alters the sustained delivery method or product.  This disruption eventually results into what can be interpreted as a natural evolution of a delivery method or product that ultimately displaces the formerly sustained method.

An early objective of asynchronous curriculum delivery models was to enhance the learning of advanced placement students through an independent study component.  This independent study component is asynchronous because the assignments and assessments are not bound by time and space as occurs with synchronous models within traditional brick and mortar institutions. As technological advancements emerged, asynchronous models became primarily associated with computer based media or online applications and software.  This independent approach to learning has become increasingly viable and accessible for all students through distance learning initiatives such as video conferencing, Blackboard ™, web casts, pod casts, blogs, Wikis™, Twitter™ and privatized online learning programs such as NovaNet™ and Plato™. These innovations allow students the freedom to access and respond to the information within a flexible timeframe and without the necessity for face-to-face synchronous experiences. Petroski (2008) states that there are existing colleges whose students never attend a course on a physical campus.

An interview transcription (Burkhardt & Duncan, 2008) notes Clayton Christensen as stating,

“Online learning, a disruptive innovation, is starting to take root in many areas in the United States—both in and outside of the public schools.
Home schooling is a big area where online learning is taking off, but so too are areas of non-consumption within public schools like AP courses, credit recovery, and alternative education. As they take root in these places, they will begin to improve, and as budget cuts eat at the existing offerings in public schools, online courses will take on more and more of the load as more affordable options for districts that offer an escape from the barriers of time of the school day and more one-on-one and customized learning. “(para. 39)

In the feature article How Do We Transform Our Schools?, Christensen and Horn (2008) support the customization of learning for the individual student by using computers to deliver a self- paced instructional model that offers alternatives to the expanding non-traditional population. The number of student enrollments in online programs has grown significantly over a period of seven years.  In 2000, there were approximately forty five thousand students participating in some form of online curriculum delivery model.  As of 2007, the numbers had grown by more than twenty times (Lagace, 2008). 

Credit recovery programs were established within urban public schools to support at-risk students in the accumulation of credits that were forfeit because of academic failure or during unstable periods resulting in lengthy absences from school. Further, these programs provided an avenue for the non-consumer, or in this case, the non-traditional student.  If administered ethically, a credit recovery program can provide an alternative to the traditional school setting while simultaneously reducing drop-out numbers [of the non-traditional student consumer] and increasing legitimate whole graduation numbers for the home school district.                     

On one hand, school district officials have supported credit recovery programs as a means to assist an at-risk student population in the academic reestablishment of themselves through online credit accumulation. On the other hand, potentially limitless implementation of such initiatives can be obstructed because “established organizations are trapped in the industry’s architecture” (Trotter, May 5, 2008) and use technology as a tool of efficiency rather than as a transformative tool. Program detractors question the validity of such online programs because, until recently, there were no evaluations on the quality and rigor of online credit recovery programs (Trotter, July 2, 2008).

A disruptive innovation initially offers an alternative option to a previously established method of delivery.  These innovations were not initially embraced by the masses due to a small population being recognized as a consumer.  In the larger, established delivery system, the population being served by the disruptive innovation is considered non-consumers.  This non-consumer is labeled as at-risk or non-traditional when compared to the traditional high school student.  As the disruptive innovation becomes increasingly efficient and the number of non-consumers grows, potential exists for the disruptive innovation to transform the organization (Christensen & Horn, 2008).  Initially, these online programs were structured to provide a substitution for advanced placement courses when a course or series of courses were unavailable in the traditional high school setting.  However, to the credit of the disruptive innovation theory, Keeping Pace With K-12 Online Learning (2006) states that more students are accessing the credit recovery program than the number of students enrolled in advanced placement courses.  This is, in part, due to the increased enrollment opportunities through “for-profit online schools, state-run virtual schools, non-profit groups, and homegrown district efforts.” (Davis, March 26, 2009, pg. 8)

Reports on public school systems state that the nation’s public schools are “trapped within existing architecture” (Wilson, 2008, para. 2) as they are experiencing a period of turbulence due to increasing demands for course availability and customized education plans against constrained budgets.  Advocates of online learning feel the current economic trend and the effect on school district budgets makes online learning an appealing consideration (Ash, March 18, 2009). Specifically, a quarter of America’s public schools cannot satisfy demands for advanced placement courses due to the deficient pool of certified instructors and the inability for school districts to offer these courses to the smaller population of non-consumers because of  budgetary constraints.  Additionally, the roughly fifty percent of students who have fallen behind in course credits are limited in their opportunities to reclaim credits due to course failure or time away from school (Horn, 2008).  The current economic trends should cause America’s public schools to reconsider the application of such technological innovations to a rapidly increasing service population at an affordable cost.

As the demand grows for alternatives to the traditional classroom setting, companies like Apex Learning, Pearson, and Plato Learning, Inc. have advanced the implementation of technology based course work for the advanced learner as well as the student in need of remediation and instructional interventions. The flexibility of such programming is embraced by an ever growing population that is within an ever changing social and domestic dynamic.  These programs hold particular value to school districts by retaining students on enrollment rosters as well as increasing graduating rates and reducing overall dropout numbers.

Disruptive innovation, through the application of an asynchronous curriculum delivery model, provides a considerable argument for the establishment of such curricula in the nation’s public schools.  Disruptive innovation may cause initial turbulence to an established organization. However, studies advocate for further investigation of such computer based programming as an enhancement to the educational process of the non-consumer. 

A technology based asynchronous education model does not threaten the traditional schooling program within a traditional brick and mortar model. Nonetheless, the effects of such programming are undeniably beneficial to a segment of the population that has been confounded with dilemmas directly related to the school environment or external dynamics and complexities unrelated to the school environment.  Subject response to inquiry discloses aspects, affects, and characteristics of the credit recovery program that are associated with time schedules, commitment, independence, and isolation from influence that is antithetical to a traditional school model.   Further consideration on the applicability of credit recovery programs on non-traditional student populations beyond those that are credit deficient is necessary to ascertain the various affects and positive behavioral influences such programming has on a non-traditional student population.  It is possible that a wider audience can be served through participation in an on site technology based alternative non-traditional schooling environment.

Ash, K. (March 18, 2009). Experts Debate Cost Savings of Virtual Ed. Education Week. 28(25), 9.            

Burkardt, V. & Duncan, G. (Interviewer) & Christensen, C. (Interviewee). (November 3, 2008).   Embracing Disruptive Change [Interview transcript]. Retrieved from http://www.ideaconnection.com/articles/00061-Embracing-Disruptive-Change.html.

Christensen, C. & Horn, M. (summer, 2008). How do We Transform Our Schools? Education Next, volume 8. Retrieved from  http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/18575969.html.

Davis, M. (March 26, 2009). Breaking Away From Tradition. Education Week, 28(26), 8.

Horn, M. (2008) Career College Association Competitive Workforce Report. Retrieved from www.career.org/iMISPublic/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=17292.   

Lagace, M. (Interviewer) & Christensen, C. (Interviewee). (August 18, 2008). How Disruptive Innovation Changes Education: Q & A with Clayton Christensen [Interview transcript]. Retrieved from www.hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5978.html.

Petroski, A. (December 7, 2008) ‘6 T’s’ Driving Fast-Paced Learning Evolution. Patriot News. Retrieved from  www.pennlive.com.

Trotter, A. (May 5, 2008). Online Education as Disruptive Innovation. Education Week.  Retrieved from  www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/05/07/36disrupt_ep.h27.html?r=1720235360.

Trotter, A. (July 2, 2008) Ed Dept Releases Guide for Evaluating Online Learning. Education Week. Retrieved from  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/07/16/43edonline_web.h27.html.

Watson, J. & Ryan, J. et al. (2006).  Keeping Pace with K – 12 Online Learning: A Review of State Level Policy and Practice.  Retrieved from http://www.evergreenassoc.com/documents/KeepingPace2006.pdf.atson.

Wilson, L. (2008). Disruption as Innovation. Message posted to www.guide2digitallearning.com/blog_leslie_wilson/disruption_innovation.

Ethnogender Stratification and High School Graduation

The National Women’s Law Center’s report, When Girls Don’t Graduate, We All Fail: A Call to Improve High School Graduation Rates (2007) discusses the short and long-term implications for females when high school graduation does not occur.  Women who do not complete high school have limited opportunities to secure employment and receive wages that allow for financial security (Barton, 2005; Britt, 2006). The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Governor’s Alliance, and America’s Promise Alliance indicate that dropouts are likely to be stricken by poverty, unemployed, have poor health, receive public assistance, and are often single parents with children who have an even higher potential to drop out of school. To stress this point further, a report prepared by Fogg (2007) for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry indicates that during the year 1979, dropouts earned seventy-five percent of what high school graduates earned and forty-one percent of those with a bachelor’s degree. By 2006, that number had plummeted to under sixty-six percent when measured against high school graduates and thirty-three percent when measured against those who had obtained a bachelor’s degree.

Statistics compiled by city-data.com (2009) reports that 47.9 percent of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania residents who did not graduate from high school live in poverty as compared to a 17.5 percent poverty rate for high school graduates.  Furthermore, female residents are more likely than males to be in poverty during peak working years (Jones-DeWeever, 2009).  According to a report published by the Pennsylvania State Data Center (2006), females earn 74.5% of what their male counterparts earn in similar occupations.  Moreover, the cost of childcare and the financial burdens on a female headed and single-parent household places females at an economic disadvantage.  Therefore, from statistical research, it can be implied that African American females have the most to gain by securing a high school diploma as we witness the feminization of poverty (Hilfiker, 2002).

Literature focusing on racial identity has grown in popularity as America has increasingly recognized diverse populations across the vast landscape.  Nonetheless, the intersectionality of race, gender, and class has been male focused while discounting the importance of the African American female. Moreover, Psychology textbooks have historically excluded ethnic females from their writings on female development (Santos De Barona, 1992) and the various tracks by which ethnic minority females must navigate.  

Historically, African American females have been relegated through various exclusionary social practices that exist as a part of the fabric of the United States (Lewis, 2006).  The media’s promotion of negative imagery through the denigration and portrayal of African American females as poorly educated mothers to illegitimate children affects the development of positive identity traits in African American female adolescents. Further, through the annals of interpretive commentary, African American females are overlooked for their contribution, self-determination, and ability to establish a sustainable balance through their efforts.  Furthermore, a study of African American females (Jones-DeWeever, 2009, page 16) indicates that their view of femininity “includes both hard work and perseverance; self-reliance and tenacity; care giving work and wage-earning work; along with egalitarian notions of sexual equality”. With minority race and gender status coexisting, the many exclusionary societal roadblocks that impede development, opportunity, and access to resources for African American females places their identity concerns and perceptions of their lives at the forefront for possible observation. Additionally, African American females are confronted with discrimination from an array of sources and directions. Discrimination in resources, education, and employment are primary discussion points when addressing the topic of exclusion.

The term double jeopardy has been assigned to African American females by creating two distinct and separate veins; one being race, and one being gender (Greenman, 2006; Kim, 2008; Robinson, 2001; Sanders, April, 1989). The Theory of Intersectionality (Knudsen, 2006; Morris, 2007; Nash, 2008) intertwines this stratum in an attempt to address race, class, and gender in the conceptualization of an African American female population.  Black Feminist Thought (Collins, 1990) as a juxtaposition to Critical Feminist Theory (Marshall, 2005) speaks to overwhelmingly oppressive patterns “by placing Black girls at the center of its analysis” (Jones-DeWeever, 2009, pg. 14) while advancing a clear theoretical comprehension of the intersectionality of race, gender, and class as aspects of a historically imposed system.  To this point, Evans-Winters’ book, Teaching Black Girls: Resiliency in Urban Classrooms (2005), places the African American female at the center while amalgamating several schools of thought including Black feminism.

Again, the voice of the African American female has been silenced and her experiences ignored. For years, the popularity of the Feminist Movement muffled the issue of race. This Progressive Era movement consisted of primarily white, heterosexual, Christian wives of the white middle and upper class. Black Feminist Thought (Collins, 1990; Holcomb-McCoy, 2005), as a reform movement and as a resistance to racial exclusion, emerged from the original Feminist Movement to advance a cause more specific to the legacy associated with the African American female population in terms of addressing not only gender, but race (Morris, 2007). The intersectionality of race and gender was able to exist under the broader female centered agenda of the earlier Feminist Movement. This inspired women to seek deeper meaning in their existence and prompted a level of consciousness that evoked an inner networking towards social justice for all women.  Through this, revealing a broader image of the African American female can significantly extend the range by which African American females are positioned within society.

In general terms, there is no doubt that self-concepts and identity awareness are impactful on the academic achievement of America’s public school students.  The degree to which these self-concepts affect student achievement and resilience cannot be assuredly quantified.  Evans-Winters’ (2005) ethnographic study of a group of African American female students residing in an urban school district over the course of three years identified support systems available through community, school, mentorships, and federal and state funded programmatic initiatives.  Jones-DeWeever’s (2009) study of 128 African American females in New York City is an insightful study that investigates their perceptions and attitudes as they navigate the urban terrain of New York City. Many of the responses within focus groups and through surveys gives way to further understanding of this vulnerable population of girls. Survey responses identified the people in their lives that have had the most impact. The most influential people in the lives of the female study participants have been mothers at forty-eight percent followed by female authority figures who play a significant role within the family structure. Unfortunately, fathers were at eight percent and teachers at three percent. The study did not identify the reasons for such a low percentage for fathers and teachers. The study concluded that simultaneous access to support systems such as mentorship programs, faith-based initiatives, community groups, and service providers aids in the resilience of Black [African American] female students. However, further investigation into the processes and stages of identity development for African American females remains valuable towards understanding the contributory relationships impactful on African American female values and attitudes towards academic achievement.

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