Boosting the Achievement of Black and Latino High-School Males

In this article in Principal Leadership, educators Alan Beitler and Delores Bushong (with sidebars by former students Michael Wanzer and Ivan Lopez) describe a program at their school (Wakefield High in Arlington, Virginia) aimed at improving the achievement of African-American and Latino boys. The program began when the school zeroed in on a depressing fact: only 15 of 514 black and Latino males in the school were taking AP classes (less than 3 percent of the AP population in the school).

The Cohort, as they called it, began in 1999 with 25 black and Latino boys being guided, pushed, and supported to take increasingly more-challenging classes throughout high school. Initially, there were three serious barriers: limited funding, skepticism among teachers, and students’ doubts about their own abilities. But by 2013, 114 black and Latino young men were taking 237 AP courses. Of the 199 students who have taken part in the program, 85 percent have gone on to 2- or 4-year colleges or additional professional training. 

Michael Wanzer was in the first Cohort and graduated from Wakefield in 2004. Originally he wasn’t thinking of college and wanted to work on cars. One of his Cohort mentors asked, “Do you want to be the person working in the garage full-time, or do you want to be the person who owns the garage, owns the tools, and has flexibility to work on cars when you choose to?” Wanzer began to think about college and ended up attending Old Dominion University and graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in electrical engineering technology. He is now working as a nuclear engineer for a defense company supporting the U.S. Navy. 

Ivan Lopez says that joining the Cohort subjected him to pressure by some peers. “I remember being teased by my ‘friends’ for being in intensified classes, staying after school, attending lunch labs – doing anything that signaled that I was invested in academics,” he says. But the Cohort “provided a safe, caring environment for me to gain support, ask questions, and be motivated to be successful.” During his junior year, the Cohort took him on a visit to Virginia Commonwealth University and he saw young men like him who were studying, eating lunch, and hurrying to class. Lopez ended up attending and graduating from VCU with a degree in criminal justice and a minor in psychology. He got a master’s in education and is now a counselor in the Arlington Public Schools.

Here are some details of how the Cohort has worked at Wakefield High over the last 13 years:

• Current membership: 165 black and Latino males (32 percent of that population);
• Qualifications: no grades below a C for one quarter; students may enter each quarter until the middle of their sophomore year;
• Expectations: Cohort members must commit to weekly grade-level meetings and attend at least seven of the nine meetings each quarter; wear a collared shirt and tie on Cohort meeting days; and strive for excellence in academics and co-curricular activities;
• Staffing: The minority achievement coordinator and the resource teacher for gifted education attend all Cohort meetings; the senior project coordinator assists with the freshmen and the school counselor helps with the sophomores;
• Key success factors: frequent, consistent meetings; leadership; responding to the needs and interests of each group; through individual meetings and counseling, supporting students as they take on increased academic challenges; teacher support in class, lunch labs, and before and after school; an outdoor team-building challenge course; ten college visits; an annual parent-son celebration; shared vision of sponsors and their commitment to building meaningful relationships to support and challenge Cohort members; consistent financial support from two community members.

“Stats Don’t Tell the Whole Story” by Alan Beitler and Delores Bushong with Michael Wanzer and Ivan Lopez in Principal Leadership, April 2013 (Vol. 13, #8, p. 30-34), www.nassp.org 

From the Marshall Memo #481