Teachers As Mentors

Models for Promoting Achievement with Disadvantaged and Underrepresented Students by Creating Community

Aram Ayalon

• Publisher: Stylus Publishing
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781579226084
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Higher Education

The book describes two similar and successful models of youth mentoring used by two acclaimed urban high schools that have consistently achieved exceptional graduation rates. Providing a detailed description of their methods – based upon extensive observation, and interviews with teachers, students, administrators, and parents – this book makes a major contribution to the debate on how to reduce the achievement gap.Using similar teacher-as-youth mentor and youth advising models, these two inner city schools – Fenway High School in Boston, Massachusetts; and the Kedma School in Jerusalem – have broken the cycle of failure for the student populations they serve—children from underrepresented groups living in poverty in troubled neighborhoods with few resources. Students in both schools have excelled academically, rarely dropout, and progress to college in significant numbers (Fenway has 90% graduation rate, with 95% of graduates going on to college. Kedma outperforms comparable urban schools by a factor of four). Both schools have won numerous awards, with Fenway High School gaining Pilot School status in Massachusetts, a recognition the state only awards to a few exemplary schools; and Kedma School being declared one of the 50 most influential educational endeavors in Israel.The success of both schools is directly attributable to their highly developed teacher-as-a-youth mentor programs that embody an ideology and mission that put students at the center of their programs and structures. The models are closely integrated with the curriculum, and support the social, emotional, cultural, and academic needs of students, as well as develop close mentor-student-parent relationships. The model furthermore includes extensive support for the mentors themselves. Apart from the potential of these models to narrow the achievement gap, these two schools have a record of creating a school climate that promotes safety, and reduces the incidence of bullying and violence. At the heart of both programs is creating community—between departments and functions in the school; and between teachers, staff, students, and parents. Everyone in the school system should read this book.Research suggests that caring relationships between students and teachers significantly enhance Social Emotional Learning (SEL) -- defined as the process through which children develop their ability to integrate thinking, feeling, and behaving to achieve important life tasks -- which is recognized as an important factor in children's success in school. However, caring schools are usually the exception, especially at the secondary level where relationships between students and teachers seem to deteriorate significantly. This book provides a schoolwide model for establishing caring secondary schools and enhancing SEL using a teacher-as-a youth mentor model.

PART ONE

ESTABLISHING NURTURING SCHOOLS

1

YOUTH AT RISK AND STUDENT DROPOUT

Although there are important exceptions, as a group urban high schools fail to meet the needs of too many of their students. . . . Dropping out of school is but the most visible indication of pervasive disengagement from the academic purposes and programs of these schools. (Committee on Increasing High School Students’ Engagement and Motivation to Learn, 2004, p. 2)

In their book about youth at risk Brendtro, Brokenleg, and Van Bockern (2002) suggest that “contemporary society is creating a growing number of children at risk for relationship impairment” (p. 12). They further claim that the nuclear family is ill equipped to address youth problems and that it is the larger community that needs to create a nurturing environment for children. Schools, especially in urban areas, are communities that could provide the most support for children, because they engage in ongoing, long-term relationships with children.

However, schools, especially secondary schools, tend to deemphasize relationships between teachers and students and focus more on academic achievement and teaching the subject matter. Such an approach often leads to a high dropout rate, expulsions, and academic failure, especially in schools that serve minority and poor students (Balfanz & Legters, 2004; Steinberg, 2002). Each year about 1.25 million students drop out of school, more than half of them from minority groups. In 2008, while White and Asian American students had about an 80% graduation rate, Hispanic, African American, and Native American students had 58%, 55%, and 50% graduation rates, respectively (Editorial Projects in Education, 2008). Furthermore, over 50% of the dropout rate is concentrated in 2,000 urban high schools where only 60% of the 9th graders finish 12th grade (Balfanz & Legters, 2004).

No Child Left Behind further exacerbates the dropout rate. As schools emphasize high-stakes testing and base their curriculum decisions on test scores, teacher-student relationships tend to become more distant, and students’ affective aspects are further neglected (Akos, Brown, & Galassi, 2004; Chambliss, 2007; Gayler, 2005; Vogler & Virtue, 2007).

The high school dropout rate presents an enormous problem both for students and for society. The overwhelming majority of students who drop out of high school fall to the bottom 20% of family income. In 2005 the average high school dropout annual income was $17,299 as compared to $26,933 for a high school graduate. In addition, the likelihood of these youths being imprisoned or on public assistance increased dramatically (Amos, 2008).

A recent national study of 500 students who dropped out of school found that the major reasons students did not finish school were boring classes; teachers’ low expectations; academic failure; lack of sufficient structure; and personal hardship circumstances such as getting a job, becoming a parent, or helping family. Many of these reasons were linked to the lack of close and supportive relationships between teachers and students (Bridge-land, Dilulio, & Morison, 2006).

In the same study, when asked what could be done to reduce the likelihood of their dropping out, most of the students felt the schools should provide more academic support to struggling students, do more to protect students from violence and enforce classroom discipline, and provide more individual attention. Many students felt left out or ignored; only 56% of students said they could go to a staff member for help, and only 41% said they could talk to an adult in school about personal problems. In addition, fewer than half of the students said that their schools contacted them or their parents when they were absent or had dropped out (Bridgeland et al., 2006).

Research on interventions with at-risk students suggests that a key factor in reducing dropout rates is encouraging and facilitating student identification with school by providing for close connections among adults and students in the school, involving students in school policy and management decisions, and providing students positions of responsibility in managing school activities (Finn, 1989; Garibaldi, 1992; Newmann, 1981; Sanders, 1996). Similarly, research on student bonding with the school found that when students felt more attached to teachers, more committed to their school, and stronger about their school’s norms, they were more likely to have higher academic achievement and less deviant behavior (Payne, Gottfredson, & Gottfredson, 2003).

In the same way research on resilience in schools indicates that there are three elements that protect students against dropping out: “person-to-person connectedness, opportunities for participation and contribution, and high self expectations” (Brown, 2004, p. 83).

In sum, there is an urgent current need to establish school environments, especially in schools that serve primarily minority students, that enhances close relationships between teachers and students and that encourages student identification with and feeling of belonging to a school. This book focuses on creating such an environment through establishing the role of teachers as mentors to students. The next chapter reviews the literature on school conditions, especially in urban areas, that enhance as well as impede the creation of nurturing and caring schools.

2

CARING SCHOOLS

Suppose education had been planned and school systems constructed by people whose interests and responsibilities focused on the direct care of children. (Noddings, 1992, p. 44)

Generally, children perform better in nurturing environments. In discussing the factors that reduce youth violence, Prothrow-Stith and Spivak (2004) indicate that society needs to “create a protective and nurturing context in which all young people can grow and develop” (p. 65). They further specify that the way children are treated at home, at school, and within the community has a significant impact on their success in life. Recent research found that schools that establish a climate where students feel connected to adults, teachers, and peers may lead to a higher retention rate and better academic achievement (Anderman, 2002; Nelson & Debacker, 2008; Osterman, 2000). Furthermore, when students feel that their school is a caring environment they tend to perceive their relationships with teachers more positively (Fredriksen & Rhodes, 2004).

Supportive adults can enhance a youth’s social capital. Social capital is defined as “a product of the social environment that when present or available increases the probability that individuals will achieve desirable outcomes” (Woolley & Bowen, 2007, p. 93). Supportive adults also play a key role in the research-based Learner-Centered Model. This comprehensive model, aimed at increasing student motivation to learn, identified building positive personal relations and meaningful connections between students and adults in the schools as key in addressing students’ needs in today’s schools. More specifically, at the secondary level student motivation to learn was significantly enhanced by creating positive relationships between students and teachers and by establishing a caring climate (Weinberger & McCombs, 2003).

Closely related to the Learner-Centered Model is the concept of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). SEL is defined as the “process through which children enhance their ability to integrate thinking, feeling, and behaving to achieve important life tasks” (Zins, Bloodworth, Weissberg, & Walberg, 2004, p. 6) and is an important factor in children’s success in school. Research suggests that caring relationships between students and teachers significantly enhance SEL (Walberg, Zins, & Weissberg, 2004).

However, caring schools are usually the exception. Most students do not experience close and meaningful relationships with their teachers (Lempers & Clark-Lempers, 1992). Moreover, relationships between students and teachers seem to deteriorate significantly when students transition to middle school, where students report increased mistrust in teachers and decreased opportunities to establish meaningful relationships with teachers (Wentzel & Battle, 2001). The deterioration of student-teacher relationships also corresponds with a decline in students’ intrinsic motivation to achieve.

The transition from middle school to high school provides further barriers to creating caring schools. Increased class size, test-focused curriculum, and reduced contact between teachers and students all create barriers to teacher-student bonding (Fredriksen & Rhodes, 2004). These barriers are crucial, as the most important factor that affects adolescents’ school adaptation is the degree to which students believe their teachers are supportive and caring (Wentzel & Battle, 2001).

Because the concept of caring in schools is so important, it is worthwhile to examine the nature of this phenomenon and the research that has been done on this issue. Noddings (1992) indicated that caring is a basic need of humans and defined it as “a connection or encounter between two human beings” (p. 15). Benard (2004) identified a caring relationship as “conveying loving support—the message of being there for a youth, of trust, and unconditional love” (p. 44). She further portrayed a caring relationship between adults and youth as comprising respect, a sense of compassion, and active listening and getting to know young people in non-judgmental ways. Caring relationships were found to be key contributors to resiliency among children who survived trauma and sexual abuse (Benard, 2004). They are “the very bedrock of all successful education and . . . contemporary schooling can be revitalized in its light” (Noddings, 1992, p. 27).

Noddings (1992) identified several factors that contribute to creating caring school environments. First, schools should have a stable environment and should provide continuity of place, people, purpose, and curriculum. For example, she proposed that the school day be organized to focus on caring by using the lunch period, a time usually used to give teachers a break from students, as an opportunity for teacher-student bonding. Second, schools should be small enough to allow teachers and students to get to know one another. Third, schools should allocate part of the school day for learning about themes of caring such as how to treat one another ethically. In sum, Noddings believes that teachers need to be educators first and specialty teachers second.

Research on the impact of communal school organization confirms the importance of creating caring schools. Communal school organization refers to creating a caring and supportive relationship among teachers, administrators, and students; creating common goals and norms among these groups; and achieving a sense of collaboration and involvement among school members (Solomon, Battistich, Dong-il, & Watson, 1997). Schools with communal organization benefited both teachers and students. In such schools, teachers experienced higher satisfaction, morale, and efficacy, while students had lower dropout rates and less misbehavior, as well as higher academic motivation, self-esteem, and academic achievement (Payne, Gottfredson, & Gottfredson, 2003).

Research on student intellectual engagement also supports the idea that students need to feel connected to school. Intellectual or school engagement is defined as students’ psychological engagement through interest, motivation, and feeling of connectedness to school, as well as behavioral engagement through attendance, participation in educational activities, effort, and social interactions (Woolley & Bowen, 2007). Students, especially minority students, who feel connected to teachers and peers tend to view schoolwork as meaningful, have more positive academic attitudes, and are more satisfied with school (Committee on Increasing High School Students’ Engagement and Motivation to Learn, 2004). A large study of school climate based on how teachers rate the climate found that teachers in schools with higher academic performance in reading and mathematics reported positive relationships with students and lower levels of disruptiveness and safety problems. Furthermore, the study found that other measures of student academic achievement were consistently related to teachers reporting greater peer sensitivity, better teacher-student interaction, and a lower level of disruptiveness and safety problems (Brand, Felner, Seitsinger, Burns, & Bolton, 2008). Additionally, a survey of about 8,000 at-risk middle school students in 50 schools found that the number of supporting adults students had in their lives had a significant impact on their level of engagement. Overall, it is evident that a nurturing school climate and a community that fosters student engagement and bonding is essential to successful student development, retention, and high academic achievement.

A caring relationship between teachers and students is most important in urban schools. In a three-year study of five inner-city Philadelphia middle schools, most students indicated that caring teachers were key to their academic success (Wilson & Corbett, 2001). Students, all of who attended the lowest-performing schools in Philadelphia, almost unanimously defined caring teachers as those who refused to allow them to fail. These students wanted teachers who were willing to become deeply involved with their learning and who accepted no excuses for failure. These caring teachers, according to the students, pushed them to succeed, went out of their way to provide them with help, explained things until they understood, used a variety of activities, understood students’ circumstances and incorporated them into their teaching, and were able to control student behavior while also focusing on teaching.

Another study, which investigated small learning communities in urban schools in California and Massachusetts, found that schools with a culture driven by strong bonds or “personalized” relationships between students and teachers enhanced students’ academic achievement, respect for teachers and peers, and agency in shaping their status in school and future expectations. Furthermore, close and meaningful relationships between students and teachers helped students overcome personal and social problems and reduced racial tensions among various groups (Conchas & Rodriguez, 2008).

A third study investigated the experiences of 11th and 12th grade students attending a small alternative school created for the purpose of dropout prevention. The school had 127 students and 8 teachers and had a 90% attendance rate as well as a 90% graduation rate as compared to a 50% attendance and graduation rate in the district as a whole. Interviews indicated that students felt an affinity to their school in direct contrast to the alienation they experienced in the schools they previously attended. The major contributing factors to school bonding were the school’s small size, caring environment, and individual attention students received. Students felt that close relationships with teachers affirmed their academic ability and that the school offered them space to grow and feel ownership (Swaminathan, 2004).

Therefore, it is important to examine school models that have been successful in fostering a caring climate. One such model is the School Development Program (SDP) based on James Comer’s theory that assumes that interpersonal relationships within a school and its social climate must be cultivated before it can enhance academic achievement (Comer, Haynes, Joyner, & Ben Avie, 1996). SDP is a program that suggests a school structure reform that attempts to improve the school climate by forming three teams—the School Planning and Management Team, the Mental Health Team, and the Parent Team. All three teams must work together to promote children’s development with an emphasis on inner-city minority children. An example of such care was illustrated by an 18-year-old student in one of the schools that used Comer’s model where he had to miss several months of school because he was recuperating from a gunshot wound. The Mental Health Team at the school worked with the student and his family to provide ongoing support through the school’s counselors and psychologists as well as through at-home tutoring to enable the student to graduate on time (Haynes, 1996). The SDP model is now used in hundreds of schools and has been successful in raising numerous school success–related factors including academic achievement, and improving classroom behavior and attendance (Borman, Hewes, Overman, & Brown, 2003; Comer et al., 1996).

Overall, caring school models are characterized by teacher-student relationships that provide for support, respect, active listening, compassion, and getting to know students closely in a non-judgmental way. Furthermore, caring relationships play a pivotal role in enhancing student academic achievement, social capital, SEL, and intellectual engagement. A caring school climate is enhanced where the school is small and when there is continuity of people, place, and purpose; and where the curriculum provides for teaching about caring. Finally, caring school climate is especially effective in urban schools.

3

MENTORING AND TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS

Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction. (John C. Crosby, founding executive director, Uncommon Individual Foundation)

As previous chapters indicated, creating nurturing and caring schools is crucial to reducing student alienation and dropout. One of the most promising of the school programs that facilitate a nurturing school climate is teacher-youth mentoring, also called advisory. Advisory programs were initiated in the 1960s and have recently become more widespread among secondary schools (Bogen, 2007). Despite the widespread use of such programs, they rarely last. A survey of middle schools found that only about 20% of the schools fully implemented advisory programs (Galassi, Gulledge, & Cox, 1997). Furthermore, little in-depth research has been done on the efficacy of such programs (Anfara, 2006).

A mentor is defined as an adult who nurtures, supports, and cares for individuals or a small group of students (Rhodes, Bogat, Roffman, Edelman, & Galasso, 2002). The mentor acts as a parent figure to students by meeting with them to talk about social, personal, and academic issues; by working with parents to enhance their support for their children’s schooling; and by being an advocate for the students in the school. One of the mentors at Kedma, a case study in this book, described the essence of the mentor’s role in the school this way:

He [the mentor] comes home to visit them. He knows their parents. He knows their teachers. The teachers report to him. They [the students] feel that everything is centered on them. This gives them a feeling like an egg surrounded with cotton—with warmth, love, empathy, and a million other things.

Furthermore, mentoring is a very important role for teachers of color as they engage with students of color. Irvine (1989) suggested that Black teachers’ role should be that of mentors:

What seems to be a more appropriate and needed role for black teachers is that of mentors. . . . Mentors are advocate teachers who help black students manipulate the school’s culture, which is often contradictory and antithetical to their own. They serve as the voice for black students when communicating with fellow teachers and administrators; when providing information about the opportunities for advancement and enrichment; when serving as counselors, advisors, and parent figures. (p. 53)

In a large six-year longitudinal survey of about 15,000 students, including 1,700 African American students, Wimberly (2002) found that African American students were less likely than their White peers to form meaningful relationships with teachers and that those who were engaged in close relationships with teachers had higher educational expectations and post-secondary participation. The study recommended implementing programs, starting at the middle school level, to foster bonding between teachers and all students, especially African American students.

Regarding mentoring programs for disabled and at-risk students, the Check and Connect intervention program was found to promote school attendance, academic engagement, retention, and improved individual education plans by merely using mentors called monitors (Anderson, Christenson, Sinclair, & Lehr,...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• FOREWORD
• INTRODUCTION
• PART ONE: ESTABLISHING NURTURING SCHOOLS
• PART TWO: MENTORING CLASSES
• PART THREE: INDIVIDUAL TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS
• PART FOUR: MENTOR SUPPORT SYSTEMS
• PART FIVE: SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS
• APPENDIX
• REFERENCES
• INDEX