Desiging and Early College High School for African American Males Dissertation

Desiging and Early College High School for African American Males - Dissertation Example In many instances the latter may be an issue, especially when some teachers are afraid of young African American males (Brown, 2011). To this end, there are programs in the United States that provide mentoring for African American boys who need attention to help them prepare for college (Brown, 2011). The reason mentoring is so crucial is because public schools have traditionally misunderstood how to work with African American males to the point that they are not given the opportunities to partake in â€Å"classes offering enriched educational offerings† (Holzman, 2010, p. 4). For many African American males this means that they go to prison rather than college and they only find low wage jobs as a consequence of such tendencies (Holzman, 2010). This is not the intended plight of these students. They are viable students that can make a strong contribution to society if they are given a chance. Generally, African American males have a lower graduation rate than Caucasian studen ts and other minorities. According to the Educational Testing Service (ETS) (2011) African American males fail at a tremendous rate. ... In a regular high school this is well below the standard of Caucasian students who show 38 percent proficiency in reading by fourth grade and 44 percent proficiency in math by eighth grade (ETS, 2011). There is no doubt that something must be done to help African American males succeed. The New School Concept Across the United States, the development of new schools to provide parents with different choices for their children grew, because of the Now Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This Act created opportunities for schools to work with students in different ways, and it called for children to be proficient in certain areas at certain times in their education. This Act was to close the achievement gap between Caucasian students and minority students (blacks and Hispanics) but it but it created more of a gap for African American students instead of closing the gap (Knaus, 2007). Part of the challenge for many schools has been that they are given teachers who are unprepared to teach Afri can American students (Knaus, 2007). In large urban areas, where there is a large amount of poverty, schools may have â€Å"three times as many uncertified or out-of-field teachers of low-poverty schools† (Knaus, 2007, p. 1). When African American males become resistant to this type of schooling and choose not to attend, they can be subject to moves to other types of schools like â€Å"continuation† schools or alternatives schools, and then to the juvenile justice system (Knaus, 2007, p. 1). This is not the type of situation that society needs for its African American youth. Central to the success of any school and especially new schools is the quality of the educators who work with