Gilman Whiting and Donna Ford address a session of the Summer Scholar Identity Institute at Vanderbilt.

_{by Todd Vessel}

Approximately 100 black males from Metro Nashville schools are participating through July 21 in the Summer Scholar Identity Institute at Vanderbilt, a two-week program designed by Vanderbilt instructors Donna Ford and Gilman Whiting to address the growing problem of academic underachievement among this group.

The institute is part of the Vanderbilt University Achievement Gap Project, an endeavor that proposes to close the academic gap by developing a focused effort using theory, research and practice. The project comprises eight initiatives that include a fall lecture series featuring Vanderbilt officials, a seminar and a visiting scholar lecture series.

Ford, the Betts Chair of Education and Human Development and a professor of special education, developed the idea for the Achievement Gap Project last fall after meeting Whiting,  professor of African American and Diaspora studies and the director of undergraduate studies, during a function at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center.

“We decided to take our collective research interests and provide leadership at Vanderbilt on the topic of closing the achievement gap,” Ford said. “Vanderbilt is the premier institution not only in the state but certainly in this region, and if it’s not attacking this major educational, political, social, moral and ethical issue, then who can?”

Statistics from the 1999 National Assessment of Educational Progress tests, also known as “the Nation’s Report Card,” showed that 17-year-old black students were reading and solving math problems at the same level as 13-year-old white students. In Davidson County, the state’s Report Card for 2004 – the latest data available – showed that 40 percent of black high school students were considered below proficient in math compared to 24 percent of white students, and 20 percent of black students were below proficient in reading and writing versus 13 percent of white students.

The numbers also were alarming for black students in kindergarten through eighth grade, where 33 percent of black students were below proficient in math while 15 percent of white students were in the same category. In reading and writing, 25 percent of black students did not make the grade compared to 12 percent of white students.

“It’s not just a national issue, it’s a local issue, and our project is looking at it locally and nationally as well,” Ford said.

Whiting and Ford believe that many young black males end up fighting against a system that labels them as troublemakers and unwilling to learn at a young age due to a communication gap primarily with white female teachers, who make up the majority of instructors in classrooms across the country. Once the students are labeled, they are put in special education classes and gradually come to believe they cannot compete academically, and therefore act accordingly.

For example, in a school district that is 55.3 percent black or Latino, white students comprised just 9.4 percent of all suspensions, while black and Latino students were 30.4 percent.

“It starts with teachers’ perceptions of students,” Ford said, “and then whatever the behavior is, they misinterpret the behavior. It’s blown out of proportion; it’s misunderstood and given a negative label.”

“I think sometimes we actually create that negative behavior in the children,” Whiting said. “If in fact we’re teaching them math, what else are we teaching them with regards to behavior?”

The institute is being sponsored by Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Nicholas Zeppos, the Office of the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and the 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee. The participants are part of the 100 Kings program, in which Metro students in fifth through 12th grades are guided in personal growth, academic enrichment and vocational preparation through the 100 Black Men group. Upon graduation, the students can gain college scholarships of varying amounts up to about $20,000.

Students in grades seven through nine are attending the institute at Vanderbilt, which is based on Whiting’s research of more than 15 years that addresses underachievement among black males. Whiting has identified the nine characteristics of a student who sees himself as a scholar and strong student: self-efficacy, which includes self-confidence, personal faith and a sense of self-responsibility; the willingness to make sacrifices to reach one’s goals; the internal locus of control, or a belief that the black male can control his own destiny; aspirations and long-term goals; self-awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses; the need for achievement being greater than affiliation need, meaning the student wants friends but is not obsessed with being popular; academic self-confidence; racial identity and pride; and masculinity, in which being intelligent or studious is not equated with being “feminine” or “unmanly.”

Whiting also believes that while the students are on campus, they will have opportunities to interact with Vanderbilt students and faculty, providing additional mentors and role models who are academically successful and have education set as a high priority.

“We’re invoking a number of theories from the ivory tower, if you will, and attempting to put them into lay terms for students where they actually recognize they have choices,” Whiting said.

During the 10 half-days of the institute, the focus will be less on pure academics and more on the mindset and behaviors needed for young black males to be successful in the classroom and in life.

“We’re not trying to teach reading and math, or remediation of any sort. You can be well-prepared but have the wrong attitude, so we’re trying to enhance their attitudes and behavior so that attitudes match behavior,” Ford said. “We think those might be the missing ingredients, the psychological and social pieces.”

“We try to keep them entertained and sneak some information into their heads at the same time,” added Whiting.

Austi Taylor, a ninth-grader at the Nashville School of the Arts, said the program is showing him that he can be successful if he sticks to the principles being discussed during the institute.

“It’s focusing more on your life and personal business as much as academics,” Taylor said. “You learn skills that you can use for life.”

Whites Creek High School freshman David Mitchell said the institute is helping him learn what to do away from the classroom.

“It teaches you the necessities, such as lifestyle, how to get through tough situations, peer pressure and things like that,” he said.

Both professors plan to continue holding the institute at Vanderbilt indefinitely, along with doing anything else in their power to close the achievement gap of black males within the framework of the Vanderbilt Achievement Gap Project.

“It’s my time – it’s our time – to try to have an impact,” Whiting said. “I have seen issues around under-representation and over-representation all my life, and now’s the time when I feel like I have all the things in place where I can do something about it.”

For both Ford and Whiting, the issue is one of a lifelong commitment.

“As long as I’m around, this will be my project, our project,” Ford said. “For us it’s personal and professional. We think Vanderbilt has the resources and the power to address this issue. We have a hard time seeing how anybody on campus could ignore the issue and not see their role in it. We are really optimistic and think that we can make a difference.”

_{Posted 07/17/06}