This article presents information that speaks of the disparity in academic achievement between African American males and other ethnic groups, male and female alike. It also shows how after-school programs could provide services that would address and decrease some of these disparities. The article is divided into three sections. The first section addresses policy issues affecting the targeted population. The second section presents four programs that have successfully improved the academic achievement of minority students. The four programs profiled in this article are generally offered during the nonschool hours. The third section addresses additional ways in which after-school programs can develop the talents of males above and beyond academic achievement.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Braddock, J. H. (1990). Hearing on the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
2.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1986). Alienation and the four worlds of childhood. Phi Delta Kappan, 67(6), 430, 432-436.
3.
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
4.
Cardenas, J. A., Montecel, M. R., Supik, J. D., & Harris, R. J. (1992). The Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program: Dropout prevention strategies for at-risk students. Texas Researcher, 3, 111-130.
5.
Clear, T. R. (1994). Hearing on the federal prison population: Present and future trends. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
6.
Confrey, J. (1991). Steering a course between Vygotsky and Piaget. Educational Researcher, 20(8), 28-32.
7.
Epstein, J. L. (1995). School/family/community partnerships: Caring for the children we share. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(9), 701-712.
8.
Fashola, O. S. (1998a). Review of extended school-day programs and their effectiveness (Center for the Education of Students Placed at Risk Tech. Rep. No. 24). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Social Organization of Schools.
9.
Fashola, O. S. (1998b, April). What Title I schools have to say about their after-school programs. Paper presented at the annual convention of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.
10.
Fashola, O. S. (1999a). The Child First Authority after-school program: A descriptive evaluation (Center for the Education of Students Placed at Risk Tech. Rep. No. 38). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Social Organization of Schools.
11.
Fashola, O. S. (1999b). Five promising remedial reading intervention programs. Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers.
12.
Fashola, O. S. (1999c). Here's how: Implementing effective after-school programs. National Association of Elementary School Principals Newsletter, 17(3), 1-4.
13.
Fashola, O. S. (2001). Building effective after-school programs. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
14.
Fashola, O. S., & Slavin, R. E. (1997). Promising programs for elementary and middle schools: Evidence of effectiveness and replicability. Journal of Education for Students Placed At Risk, 2(3), 251-307.
15.
Fashola, O. S., & Slavin, R. E. (1998a). Effective dropout prevention and college attendance programs. Journal on the Education of Students Placed at Risk, 3(2), 159-183.
16.
Fashola, O. S., & Slavin, R. E. (1998b). Schoolwide reform programs: What works? Phi Delta Kappan, 79(5), 370-379.
17.
Gallegos, G. (1995). Investing in the future: HOSTS evaluation for the Pasadena Independent School District. Vancouver, WA: HOSTS Corporation.
18.
Glass, G. V., McGaw, B., & Smith, M. L. (1981). Meta-analysis in social research. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
19.
Harris, A. J., & Jacobson, M. D. (1980). A comparison of the Fry, Spache, and Harris-Jacobson readability formulas for primary grades. Reading Teacher, 33(8), 920-924.
20.
HOSTS Corporation. (1994). Independent evaluations of the HOSTS structured mentoring program in language arts. Vancouver, WA: Author.
21.
Hudley, C. A. (1992). Attributions for pride, anger, and guilt among incarcerated adolescents. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 19(2), 189-205.
22.
Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence: An essay on the construction of formal operational structures. New York: Basic Books.
23.
Jones, J. H. (1995). Extending school hours: A capital idea. Educational Leadership, 53(3), 44-46.
24.
Morris, D. (1990). The Howard Street tutoring manual: Case studies in teaching beginning readers. Boone, NC: Appalachian State University Reading Clinic.
25.
Morris, D., Shaw, B., & Perney, J. (1990). Helping low readers in grades 2 and 3: An after-school volunteer tutoring program. Elementary School Journal, 91, 132-150.
26.
Muir, R. I. (1974). An analysis of a parent tutorial program for children with reading disabilities. Unpublished master's thesis, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.
27.
National Assessment of Educational Progress. (1999). Reading report card for the nation and states. Washington, DC: Department of Education.
28.
National Center for Educational Statistics. (1998). The condition of education, 1994. Washington, DC: Department of Education.
29.
Owens, M. R. (1990). Hearing on the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
30.
Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New York: International Universities Press.
31.
Pierce, K. M., Hamm, J. V., & Vandell, D. L. (1997). Experiences in after-school programs and children's adjustment. Madison: University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Center for Educational Research.
32.
Posner, J. K., & Vandell, D. L. (1994). Low-income children's after-school care: Are there beneficial effects of after-school programs? Child Development, 65(2), 440-456.
33.
Reid, E. M. (1989). Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction: Submission to the program effectiveness panel of the U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: Department of Education.
34.
Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. New York: Oxford University Press.
35.
Rogoff, B. (1995) Observing sociocultural activity on three planes: Participatory appropriation, guided participation, apprenticeship. In J. V. Wertsch, P. del Rio, & A. Alvarez (Eds.), Sociocultural studies of mind (pp. 139-164). New York: Cambridge University Press.
36.
Rogoff, B. (1996). Developing understanding of the idea of communities of learners. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 1, 209-229.
37.
Rosenthal, R., & Vandell, D. (1996). Quality of care at school-aged childcare programs: Regulatable features, observed experiences, child perspectives, and parent perspectives. Child Development, 67(5), 2434-2445.
38.
Ross, S. M., Smith, L. J., Casey, J., & Slavin, R. E. (1996). Evaluation of the extended day tutoring program in Memphis City Schools. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk.
39.
Sanders, M. G., & Herting, J. R. (2000). Gender and the effects of school, family, and church support on the academic achievement of African-American urban adolescents. In M. G. Sanders (Ed.), Schooling students placed at risk: Research, policy, and practice in the education of poor and adolescent minorities (pp. 141-162). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
40.
Schinke, S. P., Cole, K. C., & Poulin, S. R. (2000). Enhancing the educational achievement of at-risk youth. Prevention Science, 1(1), 51-60.
41.
Schlagal, R. C. (1989). Constancy and change in spelling development. Reading Psychology, 10(3), 207-232.
42.
Slavin, R. E., Madden, N. A., Dolan, L. J., & Wasik, B. A. (1996). Every child, every school: Success for all. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
43.
Tanksley, M. D. (1995). Improving the attendance rate for African-American male students in an after-school reading program through parental involvement, positive male role models, and tutorial instruction (Ed.D. Practicum). Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Nova Southeastern University, Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services.
44.
Tierney, J. P., Grossman, J. B., & Resch, N. L. (1995). Making a difference: An impact study of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures.
45.
Vandell, D. L., & Corasaniti, M. A. (1988). The relationship between third graders' after-school care and social, academic, and emotional functioning. Child Development, 59(4), 868-875.
46.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher mental process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
47.
Wasik, B. A., & Slavin, R. E. (1993). Preventing early reading failure with one-to-one tutoring: A review of five programs. Reading Research Quarterly, 28(2), 178-200.
48.
Wilbur, J. (1995). A gift of time: HOSTS, Help One Student to Succeed. Partnerships in Education Journal, 9(3), 1-5.
