Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

Houston County School District

First Presenter’s Email Address

tina.jackson@hcbe.net

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Dr. Tina Nelson-Jackson serves as an Assistant Principal of Discipline at Houston County WIN Academy, an alternative school program in Houston County School District in Warner Robins, GA. She is the author of Mentoring Matters! An Evaluation Study of a Mentoring Program Designed for Misbehaving Black Boys. Dr. Nelson-Jackson is the founder of Dream Girls Mentoring Program and Guys with Dreams Mentoring Program designed especially for African-American female and male students with high disciplinary patterns that impede their academic progress. These students are provided with African American mentors who assist them through a “rites of passage” experience and facilitate educational advancement strategies, cultural relevance, dream/vision board development, communication skills, coping skills, and anger management. Dr. Nelson-Jackson received a Doctorate Degree in Educational Leadership & Management from Capella University; Educational Specialist degree in Leadership from Georgia College & State University; Educational Specialist degree in Curriculum & Instruction from Piedmont College; Master’s Degree in Education and Bachelor’s Degree in Career Occupations from Eastern Illinois University, and an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Danville Area Community College. She is a native of Illinois. Dr. Nelson-Jackson has served extensively in various leadership capacities in Danville, Champaign, and Chicago, Illinois and Macon, Warner Robins, and Perry, Georgia involving administration, teaching, consulting, training, juvenile delinquency prevention services, positive alternatives for youth, community development projects, and criminal justice services.

Location

Session Seven

Strand #1

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Strand #2

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Relevance

The research presentation is based on the "Head" strand as it discusses and provides effective strategies to educators, service providers, and community workers for closing achievement gaps among black boys through mentoring. Also, the "Heart" strand discusses and addresses the social and emotional skills necessary for Black boys, with high disciplinary referrals, who struggle with coping and managing anger in order to avert disciplinary problems and consequences.

Brief Program Description

Statistics indicate that Black males who continue to experience progressive disciplinary action in school eventually suffer academic failure, which inevitably leads to the school-to-prison pipeline. However, research proves that mentoring programs that are specifically designed for misbehaving Black males can be a viable option for improving behaviors, decreasing disciplinary occurrences, improving grades, and thereby increasing their chances of academic success in the classroom setting.

Summary

This presentation is based on action research that supports the need for mentoring programs that are specifically designed and tailor-made for African-American males (also referred to as Black boys) who repeatedly misbehave in the school setting. When it comes to disruptive behaviors in the classroom, rule violations in the instructional setting cause increased tension among teacher and student, broken instructional flow and clash with academic goals and learning processes. Additionally, the atmosphere of the classroom transforms from a learning environment to a distracted and unconducive classroom setting. Consequently, these disruptive behaviors oftentimes lead to disciplinary actions resulting in in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, and alternative school placement. Statistics indicate that African-American males who continue to experience progressive disciplinary action in school eventually suffer academic failure, which inevitably spirals into dropping out of high school and confirming the school -to-prison theory. Although research confirms that African-American males are still at a higher risk of receiving disciplinary reports and sanctions compared to their White counterparts, this session shows mentoring as a positive influence on improving the behaviors of African-American males and decreasing disciplinary occurrences, improving grades, and thereby increasing their chances of academic achievement and successful outcomes in the classroom setting.

This presentation shares the development of an effective mentoring program that was implemented by public school stakeholders who were guided by their organizational improvement plan referred to as the School Improvement Plan (SIP). Their SIP data revealed that there was a need to decrease the disciplinary problems among their African-American males in order to increase student achievement. Additionally, this presentation will focus on the involvement of African-American male school staff who voluntarily served as mentors to targeted young African-American boys during school hours, in which research suggests that it enhanced the self-esteem of the African-American male program participants. It also improved their social relationships with both peers and teachers, and it supported their emotional well-being. This is evidenced by the collective results from mentor interviews, teacher surveys, and the participant self-reflection surveys, which served to confirm the social and emotional growth of the African-American males who participated in the mentoring program.

Evidence

The presentation is based on research that I conducted for my doctoral capstone through Capella University titled “An Evaluation Study of a Mentoring Program for African-American Males in Middle School” in 2020.

Fortunately, when it comes to mentoring Black boys, research indicates positive mentors have a significant and direct impact on improving academic achievement among African-American middle school males. Therefore, it would not be a coincidence for positive mentors to have a direct impact on curtailing disruptive behaviors among African-American middle school males, thus shrinking the possibilities of insufferable high rates of juvenile delinquency, teen pregnancies, high school drop-outs, and crime among our African-American middle school male students (Alexander, 2010; Lewis et al., 2010; Kafele, 2009; Roach, 2004; Taylor, C., and Taylor, V., 2004; West-Olatunji et al., 2008).

Other research references:

Anderson, K. (2007). Mentoring and standardized achievement of African American males in the elementary and middle grades. Middle Grades Research Journal, 2 (1), 49-72.

Battle, S. (2002). African American males at a crossroad. Journal of Health & Social Policy, 15 (2), 81-91.

Bayer, A., Grossman, J., & DuBois, D. (2015). Using volunteer mentors to improve the academic outcomes of underserved students: The role of relationships. Journal of Community Psychology, 43 (4), 408-429.

Beaty-O’Ferrall, M., Green, A., & Hanna, F. (2010). Classroom management strategies for difficult students: Promoting change through relationships. Middle School Journal, March, 4-10.

Bradshaw, Pas, Bottiani, Reinke, & Rosenberg. (2018). Promoting cultural responsivity and student engagement through double check coaching of classroom teachers: An efficacy study. School Psychology Review, 47 (2), 118-134.

Converse, N., & Lignugaris, B. (2009). Evaluation of a school-based mentoring program of at-risk middle school youth. Remedial and Special Education, 30 (1), 33-46.

Day-Vines, N., & Day-Hairston, B. (2005). Culturally congruent strategies for addressing the behavior needs of urban, African American male adolescents. Professional School Counseling. 8(3), 236-243.

Day-Vines, N., & Terriquez, V. (2008). A strengths-based approach to promoting prosocial behavior among African American and Latino students. Professional School Counseling, 12 (2), 170-175.

Dickerson, S., & Agosto, V. (2015). Revising curriculum to mentor young Black men. Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, 17 (1-2), 85-101.

Ginwright, S. (2004). Black in school: Afrocentric reform, urban youth, and the promise of hip hop culture. New York: Teachers College.

Ginwright, S. (2016). Hope and healing in urban education. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Gordon, D. M., Iwamoto, D. K., Ward, N., Potts, R., & Boyd, E. (2009). Mentoring urban black middle school male students: Implications for academic achievement. The Journal of Negro Education, 78 (3), 277-289.

Grace, J., & Nelson, S. (2019). “Tryin’ to survive”: Black male students’ understanding of the role of race and racism in the school-to-prison pipeline. Leadership and Policy in Schools,18 (4), 664-680.

Higgins, K., & Moule, J. (2009). “No more Mr. nice guy”: Preservice teachers’ conflict with classroom management in predominately African-American urban elementary schools. Multicultural Perspectives, 11(3), 132-138.

Johnson, K., & Lampley, J. (2010). Mentoring at-risk middle school students. SRATE Journal, 19 (2), 64-69.

Kafele, B. K. (2009). Motivating Black males to achieve. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Kafele, B. K. (2012). Empowering young Black males. Educational Leadership, 70 (2), 67-70.

Kunjufu, J. (2000). The miseducation of the negro. Chicago: African American Images.

Lewis, C., Butler, B., Bonner, F. A., III., & Joubert, M. (2010). African American male discipline patterns and school district responses resulting impact on academic achievement: Implications for Urban educators and policy makers. Journal of African American Males in Education, 1 (1), 7-25.

McAllister, C., Harold, R., Ahmedani, B., & Cramer, E. (2009). Targeted mentoring: Evaluation of a program. Journal of Social Work Education. 45 (1), 89- 104.

Mitchell, K., Bush, E., & Bush, L. (2002). Standing in the gap: A model for establishing African American male intervention programs within public schools. Educational Horizons, 80 (3), 140-146.

Nealy, M. (2008). Black men: Left out and locked up. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, 24 (26), 20-22.

Noguera, P. (2008). The trouble with Black boys: and other reflections on race,equity, and the future of public education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Obiakor, Festus. (2021). “Black lives matter” in education and society. Multicultural Learning and Teaching, 16 (1), 81-96.

Opletalova, A. (2018). Evaluation of teacher education with a focus on its effective-ness. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 6 (11), 164-171.

Parsonson, B. (2011). Evidenced-based classroom behaviour management strategies. Kairaranga, 13(1), 16-23.

Reagan-Porras, L. (2013). Dynamic Duos: A case review of effective mentoring program evaluations. Journal of Applied Social Science, 7 (2), 208-219.

Ross, K., & Tolan, P. (2018). Social and emotional learning in adolescence: Testing in CASEL model in a normative sample. Journal of Early Adolescence, 38 (8), 1170-1199.

Sempowicz, T., & Hudson, P. (2011). Analysing mentoring dialogues for developing a preservice teacher’s classroom management practices. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 36(8), 1-15.

Shirley, E., & Cornell, D. (2011). The contribution of student perceptions of school climate to understanding the disproportionate punishment of African American students in a middle school. School Psychology International, 33 (2), 115-134.

Slack, R., Johnson, C., Dodor, B., & Woods, B. (2013). Mentoring “at risk” middle school students: Strategies for effective practice. North Carolina Middle School Journal Association, 27 (1), 1-11.

Smith, E., & Smith, P. (1986). The Black single-parent family condition. Journal of Black Studies, 17 (1), 125-134.

Spencer, R. (2007). “I just feel safe with him”: Emotional closeness in male youth mentoring relationships. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 8 (3), 185-198.

Taylor, C & Taylor, V. (2004). Reclaiming children and youth. The Journal of Strength-based Interventions, 12 (4), 251-253.

Tobin, T., & Vincent, C. (2011). Strategies for preventing disproportionate exclusions of African American students. Preventing School Failure, 55 (4), 192-201.

Utsey, S., Howard, A., & Williams, O., III. (2003). Therapeutic group mentoring with African American male adolescents. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 25 (2), 126-139.

Watson, J., Washington, G., & Stepteau-Watson, D. (2015). Umoja: A culturally specific approach to mentoring young African American males. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 32(1), 81-90.

Wells, C. (2015). Conceptualizing mindful leadership in schools: How the practice of mindfulness informs the practice of leading. Education Leadership Review of Doctoral Research, 2 (1), 1-13.

West-Olantunji, C., Shure, L., Garrett, M., Conwill, W., & Rivera, E. (2008). Rites of passage programs as effective tools for fostering resilience among low-income African American male adolescents. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development, 47, 131-143.

Wyatt, S. (2009). The brotherhood: Empowering adolescent African-American males towards excellence. Professional School Counseling, 12 (6), 463-470.

Learning Objective 1

utilize school disciplinary and achievement data to determine best improvement strategies for targeted populations

Learning Objective 2

understand the importance of designing mentoring programs specifically for misbehaving Black boys.

Learning Objective 3

learn how to develop an in-school mentoring program.

Keyword Descriptors

mentoring, in-school mentoring, disciplinary issues, cultural responsive, cultural relevance, school improvement, school effectiveness, student achievement

Presentation Year

2024

Start Date

3-5-2024 2:15 PM

End Date

3-5-2024 2:45 PM

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Mar 5th, 2:15 PM Mar 5th, 2:45 PM

Mentoring Matters! Designing Mentoring Programs for Misbehaving Black Boys

Session Seven

Statistics indicate that Black males who continue to experience progressive disciplinary action in school eventually suffer academic failure, which inevitably leads to the school-to-prison pipeline. However, research proves that mentoring programs that are specifically designed for misbehaving Black males can be a viable option for improving behaviors, decreasing disciplinary occurrences, improving grades, and thereby increasing their chances of academic success in the classroom setting.