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
   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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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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