MALE ACHIEVEMENT

Improving Achievement of Minority Male Students at North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School (NLCP). (click on the picture)


   Purpose of the NLCP Male Achievement Program
   Statement of the Issue to be Addressed and Benefit of Program
   Overarching Program Goals for 2006-07
   Timetable for Implementation
   Evaluation


Purpose of the NLCP Male Achievement Program
The purpose of NLCP’s Male Achievement program is to become a model program to improve the academic achievement of African-American and Latino male students. During the 2006-07 school year NLCP seeks to achieve goals and objectives in the following areas of improvement for our young men: Academic Performance, Leadership Development, Health and Well-Being, and Social Community.

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Statement of the Issue to be Addressed, Constituency Served and Benefit of Program
The high school academic performance of male African-American and Latino students is significantly lower than female students and the general standards of excellence at North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School (NLCP). This low level of performance impedes the ability of our young men to reach their full potential and to successfully compete for lifetime opportunities (academic, economic, and social) in the United States. That lack of success in turn significantly limits the positive contributions our young men can make to their current and future families, their communities, and our nation. Unfortunately, the lack of achievement by minority male students at NLCP is representative of an extensive and growing problem at urban high schools throughout the country.
At NLCP, in March 2005 we implemented a program known as Minority Men Exceeding the Norm (M2EN), to significantly improve the level of achievement of our male students. This innovative program directly benefits 32 members of M2EN and positively impacts the total male population of about 180 at NLCP. We believe that a successful male achievement program at NLCP will serve as a model for other high schools with similar characteristics.

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Overarching Program Goals for 2006-07

Academic Performance:
The goal in this academic area is to have our young men achieve the high grade point averages, high ACT scores, academic curiosity, study habits and skills, and the personal discipline and resiliency that will enable them to enter and graduate from competitive colleges and universities. A major barrier to high academic performance for many of our young men is a lack of awareness of the world of possibilities that can enrich their lives. Therefore, a focus of M2EN is to instill a value for the effort to achieve academically and a passion for education as a life-long pursuit.

Leadership Development:
Our goal is to instill in the male students the competence, commitment, and confidence to serve as effective leaders (and followers) at NLCP and in their communities. Students will receive training and experience in leadership skills such as listening, planning, team building, accountability, and delegation. To provide leadership development opportunities for the students in M2EN, the direct management responsibility for the organization will be shifted from NLCP staff members to the students. In the first year of the organization, a group of adult male NLCP faculty members (called “Elders”) provided most of the day-to-day guidance for M2EN. This year, a new set of processes and structures will empower student leadership of M2EN. The “Elders” will serve as caring coaches and advisors, rather than direct leaders.

Health and Well-Being:
The goal is to increase knowledge and practices regarding nutrition, exercise, and sexual activity so our male population will make wise and healthy decisions. Students must understand the life-long importance of maintaining healthy, responsible life styles. Professional nutritionists will teach healthier eating habits. The students will also learn which foods to select by understanding how to read product labels. Regular physical exercise will be incorporated into the weekly routine for members of M2EN by using the newly created NLCP fitness and weight room, the school gym, and other activities in the Chicago area such as rock climbing, swimming, bowling and other sports. The current lack of knowledge on the consequences of sexual activity will be addressed through educational sessions conducted and facilitated by professional counselors and health experts.

Social Community:
Our goal is to help establish mutual, positive support systems on “the rock of brotherhood.” M2EN is organized into a group of “houses” with five to six student members in each house and adult male “Elders” acting as house advisors. The membership of each house contains a combination of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors to provide continuity and student role models. The houses serve as sources of friendship, identity, mentoring, academic support, positive peer pressure, and inter-organizational competition. The level of achievement of the members of each house is tracked based on academic performance, behavior (attendance, detentions, dress code violations), acts of leadership (in school and in the community), and organizational participation. The houses and individual students with the highest levels of achievement for a given marking period receive awards for “exceeding the norm.”

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Timetable for Implementation
Beginning in September 2006, the M2EN program has become more fully integrated into the daily routine at NLCP. The regular class schedule at NLCP has been modified to include a daily 77 minute period devoted to implementing the M2EN program. This change is in recognition of the difficulty in establishing an effective male achievement improvement effort for our population based primarily upon ad-hoc, before and after school interactions. This significant investment in core school time and energy will permit substantial progress towards our goals during the 2006 –2007 school year that ends in June 2007.

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Evaluation
The following measures will be tracked to evaluate the effectiveness of the male achievement improvement program: grade point average, number of discipline referrals, attendance, number of male students eligible for the National Honor Society, number of male students prepared for and enrolled in Advanced Placement classes, “on-track” rate for high school graduation, dropout rate for male students, number of male students entering and graduating from competitive colleges and universities.
The grade point averages for the M2EN male students should increase. Also, that positive grade point average change should be higher for the M2EN students than a positive change that might occur for the other male students at NLCP. The level of behavioral problems for the M2EN students should be lower for the next school year than they were for the current school year. In the long term we will be successful if the:

• Proportion of male students who are eligible to join the National Honor Society increases
• Number of male students truly prepared for Advanced Placement classes increases
• Proportion of male students on track to graduate increases
• Dropout rate for male students decreases, and the
• Number of male students entering and graduating from competitive colleges increases.

The Chicago School Alliance has provided research material and valuable support for the NLCP male achievement effort. We will continue to share our results with the member schools of the Alliance, donors, and other interested individuals and organizations.

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