Recently developed school programs for African-American male students give strong gender and cultural identity; strengthen social skills, discipline, and self-esteem; and redefine the "manly" African American. Some programs have faced legal and political obstacles. Early evidence of modest success is clear, but the long-term efficacy is…

Describes a method used at Boston College (Massachusetts) to teach graduate students how to teach. Graduate students present a course prepared by a faculty member resource person. Makes extensive use of learning groups in the classroom. Observes groups help relieve teaching stresses and method provides a helpful transition from teaching assistant…

Addresses key factors that influence the academic and social performance of minority and at-risk youth, including lack of role models, societal expectations and realities, ineffective practices, and patterns of school organization. The article provides suggestions for what teachers can do and what schools can do through staff development. (SM)

Offers suggestions to keep girls interested and involved in digital technology. Highlights include role models; encouraging math and science courses; a computer club for girls; integrating computer activities into the curriculum; Web-based lessons; mentoring; appropriate software; designing with computer graphics; collaborative groups; and…

The aim of this research article is to investigate how pupils from Black Caribbean backgrounds are helped to achieve high standards in British schools and to identify a number of significant common themes for success in raising the achievement. It draws evidence of good practice from 13 case study schools in the local education authority (LEA).…

Recent research suggests that a youth development framework emphasizing youth assets may be a promising intervention strategy for preventing adolescent risk behaviors. Understanding how neighborhood and community resources relate to youth assets may aid in identifying environmental strategies to complement individually oriented asset-building…

The designation of district central-office administrators to operate as boundary spanners among the central office, schools, and community agencies can help with the implementation of challenging policy demands. However, educational research teaches little about central-office boundary spanners in practice. This article addresses that gap with…

The teacher and the librarian are key role models for students establishing reading habits. This paper describes various grant application projects developed in the Little Rock Public School District (Arkansas) to promote reading for pleasure by students and teachers. Discussion includes: student evaluation; developing a communication network of…

This paper summarizes the initiatives taken by the Women in Engineering Program at the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. Two programs are described - the Research Fellows Program and the Teaching Fellows Program. Both are designed to expose women undergraduate students in engineering to the challenges and rewards…

Learning can occur in a natural way when parents serve as models to their child, demonstrating how to learn, facilitating the learning process, and guiding the learner. With a teacher's guidance, parents can improve their understanding of their child's learning. Teachers can encourage parents to share wordless picture books, books with predictable…

The Positive Impact Program (PIP) is a program that involves the community through role models as mentors in striving to meet the needs of at-risk students. The program is directed by 16 black men who work every week with school-age black males (N=18) who have been identified as being "at-risk" by their teachers. The teachers identified…

Students need to see past heroes as real people who struggled with ordinary problems in order to see the relevancy of studying history and to act practically upon the lessons that each leader teaches them. This study attempts to answer two questions relating to Martin Luther King, Jr.: (1) What do we teach our children about King? and (2) Can we…

As girls face the serious emotional, physical, and developmental challenges during youth and adolescence, external support from a nonparental female role model is an essential, and too frequently ignored, requirement for healthy development. This book presents a process for mentoring young women and girls by providing guidance in five areas:…

This guide presents lesson plans, with handouts, biographical sketches, and teaching guides, which show ways of integrating African American role models into mathematics and science lessons in kindergarten through grade 6. The guide is divided into mathematics and science sections, which each are subdivided into groupings: kindergarten through…

In September 1992, a peer mentoring program was initiated at Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC), in California, to address the disproportionately low enrollment and retention rates of minority and disabled students. This handbook is designed for colleges considering establishing similar mentoring programs and provides background information on…