Student 77
Mentorship Programs: Attendance and Graduation Rates
College/University
Dissertation/Meta-Analysis
Contents
Mentorship Programs and College Attendance Rates for African American Men 6
Introduction 6
Statement of the Problem 6
Purpose of the Study 7
Background 10
Nature of the Study/ Meta-Analysis 14
Research Questions 15
Critical Race Theory 15
Historical Development 16
Class Issues and Education 18
Teacher Quality 19
Education and White Supremacy 21
Criticism of Liberal Antiracism 22
Criticism of Whiteness in CRT 23
CRT and Re-envisioning Race and Society 24
Transformational Leadership Theory 25
Peer Mentorship Program Evaluations 26
The Program 27
Skills Development 28
Other functions 29
Evaluation 29
Quantitative Data 30
Qualitative Data 30
Overview of participants’ perspectives 32
Learning environment 32
Career planning 35
Relationship building 35
Skill Development 35
Faculty retention 36
Definition of Terms 38
Mentor programs 38
College Admission Rate 38
Racial Disparity 39
Correlation 39
Mentorship 39
African-American 40
Assumptions 40
Limitations 41
Chapter Summary 41
Chapter 2: Literature Review 45
Title Searches, Articles, Research Documents, and Journals 45
History of the Lack of African American Men at Home 47
The 1600s 47
The 1700s 49
The 1800s 51
The 1900s 53
The 1980s to 2000s 55
Origin of Mentorship Programs 60
Mentorship Challenges for African American Males 62
What Are the Goals of Mentorship Programs? 66
Pros and Cons of Student Mentorship Programs 69
Are African Americans Attending College more Due to Mentorship Programs? 74
Positionality Statement 74
Are Mentorship programs Reducing Incarceration for African-American Males? 78
What Are the Shortcomings of Mentorship Programs? 81
Goals and Aspirations of Students 82
How Can Mentorship Programs Be Improved? 84
Retention and academic progress 84
Educational Leadership Theoretical Framework Literature 85
Transformational Leadership Theory 90
Servant Leadership 94
Servant leadership 96
Integrating Good Training Practices 100
Experiential Learning 100
Emotional Leadership 101
Altruistic Calling 102
Emotional healing 102
Wisdom 102
Mapping Persuasion 103
Organizational Stewardship 103
Conclusion 104
Chapter Summary 104
Chapter 3: Methodology 106
How the 81 Articles will Be Placed in Categories 106
Step by Step Process 108
Article Search Strategy 110
Analysis of Articles 114
Step 1: Formulating a Research Question 115
Step 2: Performing a Search of the Literature Indices 116
Step 3: Selecting of the Articles for Meta-Analysis 116
Step 4: Extracting Information from These Articles 116
Step 5: Evaluating the quality of information of these articles. 117
Step 6: Determining the extent to which the articles are diverse. 117
Step7: Evaluate the Effects 118
Difference between a Meta-Analysis and a Literature Review 120
Chapter 4: Results/ Findings 121
Research Design 121
Mentorship Programs and Career Guidance and Choices 132
Improving the Relationship between Faculty and Students 134
Transitioning to College Education 135
Chapter 5: Discussion 148
Mentorship Programs 154
National Mentoring Resource Center 154
The Blue Heart Foundation 155
MENTOR 156
100 Black Men of America 158
100 Black Men of London 159
References 160
List of Figures
Figure 1…………………………………………………………………9
Figure 2…………………………………………………………………11
Figure 3……………………………………………………………..….13
Figure 4…………………………………………………………………23
Figure 5…………………………………………………………….…..75
Figure 6………………………………………………………………..130
Mentorship Programs and College Attendance Rates for African American Men
Introduction
College attendance is one of the leading problems that affect African Americans. African Americans, for example, continue to register lower attendance compared to White Americans. Indeed, in the United States, African American males record low attendance and graduation statistics. At national levels, African American male students’ graduation rates remain as low as 42%. While this figure has improved phenomenally over the last ten years, high-ranking universities and colleges still have a high underrepresentation of African American males (Department of Education, 2020).
Additionally, African American women outpace the men peers in college attendance and graduation rates. From 1990 to 2000, for instance, the community witnessed a 1% reduction in men’s graduation rates compared to women’s colleagues (Cheung,2019). The attendance rate is useful in assessing whether affirmative action programs are effective in bridging the differences. Many critics of affirmative action programs argue that they are ineffective in reducing college dropout rates. However, they overlook that African American students’ graduation rates are adversely affected by race-sensitive admissions.
Statement of the Problem
Mentorship programs play an important role in improving student educational attainment. Despite their importance, there is still a scarcity of studies that explore their significance in promoting college and university admissions among African Americans. On the contrary, most studies only focus on their immediate importance in promoting intellectual achievements. Such studies only focus on mentorship initiatives with respect to the graduation pipeline. Thus, study gaps still exist with respect to their importance in increasing post-secondary school participation. For instance, Green et al. (2016) focuses on mentorship as an approach to mending the cracks in the education pipeline for African American male graduate students. In their study, they assess the African American Mentoring Program (AAMP) mode and assess the distinct model that it utilizes to support the retention and graduation of African American students from an institution of higher learning and their transition to the workforce (Anumba, 2015). The model operates from a transitional cultural framework and seeks to bridge the gap between the learners’ culture and that of their target universities. Its distinctiveness is improved in its deep roots in culture, history, collectivism, as well as the intergenerational sharing of knowledge. In view of the above problems, there is a need to explore the efficacy of mentorship programs in increasing college admission rates among African American males.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of mentorship programs in increasing the college admission and attendance rates of African American males. While the impact of such programs on students’ performance are widely studied by education scholars, there is still a paucity of literature that are specific to the African American population in general as well as African American males. As such, the existing study attempts to fill this gap by using a meta-analysis to examine the effects of such initiatives on African American males’ college admission rates. Additionally, many studies only focus on African American male graduation rates, thereby leaving out their college admission rates. Gibson (2014), for instance, observes that the admission, retention, and graduation rates of African American male community college students are problems that have received significant scholarly coverage in the last few years. African American male students often enroll in community colleges at a steady pace, yet their graduation and retention rates are the lowest among this group. Using a systematic literature review method, the researcher defines mentorship programs, explore major arguments associated with them, and address the implications regarding mentoring African American males. According to him, low admission, graduation, and retention rates of African American students is a problem because the educational underachievement among them not only adversely affects society but also impacts their social positioning. This problem also increases their likelihood of incarceration and reduces their life expectancy.
Approximately 50% of African American males are enrolled in community colleges. However, they struggle to obtain an academic degree or graduate. Additionally, their academic success rates, such as grade point averages, course completion, attendance, and graduation rates are also worrying when compared with their male groups from other races. In this respect, they have the lowest GPA mean among male students in colleges and universities. According to a survey conducted by the U.S Department of Education, African American males score an average GPA of 2.64. In contrast, the average GPAs of other races include 2.9 for White males, 2.75 for Hispanic-Latino males, and 2.84 for Asian males. Thus, they have the lowest college retention and persistence rates, which are barring them from obtaining a degree. Additionally, about 67% of African American male students who begin their college never complete their studies. This problem demonstrates that there is a major potential growth for increased degree conferral rates among African American male college students. There are many factors that negatively influence admission and retention rates for them. These factors include destructive campus racial environment, insufficient financial support, lack of college funds for intervention programs, as well as lack of institutional studies on minority student admission, retention, and achievements.
Figure 1
Low percentage of black male students in top colleges (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019).
The study also investigates how some of the wider benefits of mentorship programs can have on African American high school males, with a focus on those gains that can be linked specifically to their educational improvements and college enrollment. Moreover, this study is meant to assess if mentoring can be used as an effective strategy to support African American male students’ information regarding college, increase their interests in applying and attending universities, support them in the application and course selection, and ensure that they gain skills that are needed to generate a positive transition from high school to college studies. The extent to which such mentoring programs have been efficacious in specifically supporting the high school students and senior participants is another important area of focus that the study will investigate. In as much as young men are accepted into many high school mentorship programs from as early as their seventh grade, special initiatives have been established for those who are in their junior or senior years of high school to encourage them to pursue college after graduation. Such initiatives are aimed at supporting them to complete their high school years as positively as possible and increase their participation in extracurricular and leadership programs. Moreover, the initiatives aim at enabling the students to develop their college participation plans.
Background
From the mid-1980s, the educational performance and profession of African American boys and men have received significant local and national scholarly attention. This pattern is highly attributed to the fact that African Americans have been singled out because in most national and local metrics, African American boys as a group are often underachieving significantly (Banks & Dohy, 2019). This pattern is attributed to them registering high rates of suspensions, expulsions, non-promotions, dropouts, special education placements, as well as lowest rates of secondary school graduation and gifted and talented assignments (Banks & Dohy, 2019). Currently, very few selective colleges in the country report a higher graduation rate for African Americans than for Caucasians. Five of the country’s highest-ranking institutions of higher learning have a higher graduation rate for African American students than for whites. According to the recent figures from Mount Holyoke College, Pomona College, Smith College, and Macalester College, an African American student in these institutions is more likely to complete their four-year course of study and receive a diploma than a white learner. Existing studies have not been able to determine the reason for this anomaly at the institutions, which are remarkably inconsistent with countrywide statistics. However, it is interesting to note that three of these colleges only host women students.
Figure 2
Race gaps in attendance of quality colleges (National Centers for Education Statistics, 2019)
In some colleges and universities, the variations in black and white graduation rates are minimal. Washington University, for instance, has about 90% graduation rate for both African Americans and whites (Stout et al., 2018). In institutions such as Wake Forest and Wesleyan universities, the White student graduation rate is only one percentage point higher than the rates for African Americans. The difference is only two percentage points for Harvard, Amherst, and Oberlin universities. From 1990s to early 2000s, African American males recorded some of the lowest educational attainment rates in the United States (Johnson & Stage, 2018) This problem was largely attributed to high school dropout rates, suspensions, expulsions, and school-to-prison pipeline. From the 1980s, the academic performance and progression of African American boys and men have received an expansive degree of local and national attention.
The main reason for this group is that they on most local and national metrics, of academic attainment, African American boys as a group were under achieving significantly. Moreover, their performance strongly correlated with those low scores of academic performances, and that they often had the highest rates of suspensions, non-promotions, and dropouts, and special education placements. They also recorded low rates of secondary school graduation and gifted and talented assignments in most of the 16000 school districts across the nation. Unfortunately, this problem has not changed considerably in the first decade of the 21st century despite African American males being modest in academic progress (Robertson & Chaney, 2017).
While African American male students perform better than their female counterparts in SAT and ACT, they still face the challenge of low admission and graduation rates (Farmer & Hope, 2015). The number of women enrolled in and graduating from colleges is often significantly higher than males across all racial groups. Nonetheless, it is important to note that despite the smaller number of males in institutions of higher learning, SAT and ACT data suggest that males have performed better than women in such tests and attained higher average scores from 2005 to present. Moreover, African American males continue to obtain higher scores than their female peers despite having the highest school dropout rates. When it comes to ACT, which is also taken by many learners across the nation, and specifically in the Midwest, the South and in the West, the average scores for African Americans have also been the lowest among all racial and ethnic groups. In as much as the national average on the ACT in 2007 was 21.2, African Americans’ average score was 17.0, which is more than four points lower than the national average.
Many researchers, such as Wolf et al. (2017) have attempted to explore the strategies that are efficacious in increasing the college admission rates for African American males. Most of such research normally focus on promoting policies that reduce socioeconomic inequalities in the education sector. Indeed, many organizations and groups, ranging from national leaders to think tanks and policymakers, have attempted to establish strategies that seek to increase the participation of African American males in colleges and universities. However, the goals that are often articulated by stakeholders are less likely to be attained in the absence of a major policy focus on supporting students from different demographic populations with the highest college dropout and admission rates. One of the most widely acknowledged example is African American men. Indeed, two-thirds of African American undergraduate men who begin their studies at public colleges and universities rarely graduate within their six years of studies, thus raising concerns about their future job prospects. Studies in the past have called to attention low admission rates and other troubling problems regarding African American male collegians. To reduce such patterns, policymakers in the education sector and school administrators at all levels have utilized many approaches to improve African American men’s pathway to postsecondary education.
Figure 3
College gap attendance rates by race and gender (Reeves & Guyot, 2017)
Many philanthropic organizations have funded such initiatives generously. For instance, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), The United Negro College Fund (NCF), and the College Board (CB) have engaged in profound conversations about ending this widespread inequality in college admission rates. However, such a multidimensional landscape is deprived of important initiatives such as a complimentary policy agenda that improves African American male students’ preparedness to go to college, the outcome in post-secondary, and attaining degrees (Suurmond, van Rhee & Hak, 2017). Considering racial attainment’s systemic nature and gaps in educational opportunities and their disproportionate effect on African American men, using post-secondary organizations cannot address the problems. Although there has been greater involvement by federal and state agencies to reduce this worrying trend, policymakers are yet to attain the desired objectives. Therefore, other alternatives such as mentorship programs have been proposed. There is a need to explore the efficacy of mentorship programs in increasing college admission rates among African American males.
Nature of the Study/ Meta-Analysis
The study will use meta-analysis of existing published literature, or a document analysis methodology, to investigate the relationship between high school mentorship programs and college admission and attendance rates among African American males. A meta-analysis of existing literature encompasses a systematic approach, which combines different studies within a single design. It involves a clear research question and protocol for answering that question using existing literature. Thereafter, the studies that have been published related to the topic are then assessed for their eligibility. As a result, the studies that will be included are likely to showcase a diversity on the populations, calendar period, or the settings. The meta-analysis will aim at appraising and synthesizing the available evidence that address the research question. This will go a long way in providing a valid answer if the incorporated studies are invalid. The judgment of the validity of the studies will also be taken into consideration.
Research Questions
1. How are mentorship programs increase college attendance rates among African American males?
2. Are mentorship programs effective in providing career guidance and choices for African American males?
3. Are our mentorship programs helpful in improving the relationship between faculty and students?
4. Do mentorship programs support African American students as they transition to a college education?
Critical Race Theory
Critical Race Theory (CRT) refers to the academic movement consisting of civil rights scholars, activists, and people who seek to examine the intersection of the law and the race with the aim of challenging the mainstream liberals and the approaches to racial justice. The main aim of the race theory is to study and transform the relationship between race, racism, and power. The CRT movement is based on legal scholarship although it spreads beyond the confines of law making it much broader above one discipline (Ogbonnaya-Ogburu et al., 2020). The critical race theorists have two major goals. The first one is to determine how the establishment of white supremacy and the subordination of the people of color has created and maintained America. The second goal is to change the relationship between the law and racial power.
According to Sleeter, the critical race theory analyzes the impacts of the school curriculum as an artifact that was designed to maintain white supremacists master script (2017). This is because through this, there are multiple voices that are silenced whereas those of the male whites who dominate the upper class are legitimized. They have become the standard body of knowledge that the students should be taught. It means that the other voices especially of the minorities are excluded from the master script and disempowered through misrepresentation. Any subject matter not depicting the original ideas of the master script must be mastered and controlled before it is incorporated. Therefore, the main aim of CRT is to ensure that the discrepancies in different areas caused by the controversies in law are identified.
Historical Development
Different scholars such as lawyers and activists developed critical Race Theory in the 1970s. The sluggish and slow process the civil rights movements were taking was frustrating these people. The main concern was that the progress in the civil rights movement made in the 1960s was slowly eroding as they took off their guard. Some of the earliest scholars in the CRT movement included derrick Bell, Alan Freeman, and Richard Delgado (Garcia et al., 2018). They held their first conference in 1989 in Madison Wisconsin. Prior to the development of the CRT movement, these scholars were involved in the interpretation of the legal doctrines in to expose the inconsistencies that were present. These were referred to as the ideologies that had helped America to attain its present class structure. Some of the inconsistencies revealed included the continued racism, silences, and the inconsistencies on different treatments in the society.
This is what led to legal scholars to be discontented with the development and come up to criticize them. This is the reason why Bell is seen as the father of the CRT since he was the most influential source of the critical thought in the traditional civil rights discourse. He consistently challenged the liberal and conservative positions when it came to civil rights, race, and the aspects of law (Gillborn et al., 2018). Freeman who was also involved in the CRT movement explained that Bell gave an approach of assessing the success of civil rights movements that is assessing the results. Therefore, his contributions to the CRT movement cannot be questioned. Therefore, the contributions of the civil societies in enhancing the life of the people especially the minorities explain their commitment.
In the development of CRT, Bell was consistent about three major arguments. These issues were constitutional contradictions where the framers were focused on rewarding property over justice. He was also interested in the convergence of the principles where the whites promoted the racial advances for the minority ethnic groups, specifically African Americans (Dixson & Rousseau Anderson, 2018). They also promote self-interest on their matters. The third issue was the price of racial remedies, as many individuals will not support the policies of the civil societies since they threaten the current social status . The original focus of the CRT was on legal discipline. However, this idea changed, and it has been increasingly distinguished in the educational arena. This is because it has played an important role in establishing structures that were race-neutral structures such as truth, objectivity, and good education. The main aim was to understand the best approaches to achieve education for the African American children. Bell in 1954 stated that the victory of the African Americans was not related to the moral consciousness and empathy but rather on the serving of political purpose for the elite whites (Annamma et al., 2017). This is because for a long time the school court cases had failed. However, in this year, a school case had passed and hence this raised suspicion.
The scholars and CRT advocates identified two characteristics of the anti-discrimination law, which were expansive and restrictive. The expansive properties identify the issues of equality as dependent on the courts to eliminate the negative effects of racism (Annamma et al., 2017). On the other hand, the restrictive properties depend on the equality process and hence it is strict on ensuring that the inequality issues do not arise in future. Crenshaw who was one of the activists stated that there were 21 principles that coexist to make the anti-discriminatory exist. This meant that the restrictive property laws that were established to address the racial injustices only perpetuated the status quo.
Audrey Thompson who argued that the characterization of childhood as colorblind in the white culture was incompatible with racism made another influential impact in CRT. He stated that the African American children were unable to enjoy an innocent childhood because they are faced with a major fall whenever they experience racism. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. in his early years was playing with a little white boy in the neighborhood (Anyon et al., 2017). However, when they were school aged, the white boy was barred from playing with him. This shows the connotation that the African Americans children are harmless but becomes a threat when they grow older. The danger of the colorblind approach that is taken is that it denies the truth about racism only to become a reality later on in life.
Class Issues and Education
The problem of educational inequality and poverty are the major contributing factors to educational injustices in the United States. However, racial issues have intersected with the class issues making it hard for one of them to be separated from the other. The evidence of low socioeconomics affects the educational opportunities. Poverty has contributed to more one in every five children growing up with inability to attend school effectively. Majority of these children are African American, and their rates are double that of the whites. The African American children face other challenges in their education. According to López et al., the African American children are three times likely to be murdered than to be admitted in the University of California (2018). It is clear that several African American children come from poor backgrounds and this affects their engagement in schools. As a result, they are less likely to perform well when it comes to standardized tests. Poverty affects nutrition, housing, and self-concept. The education experience of the African American is thus different due to challenges of poverty. Poverty causes a ripple effect on the students of color.
The lower socio-economic status boys from the African Americans are chosen disproportionately for earlier retention. This is coupled with the fact that the retention decisions are made by the teachers’ beliefs that are based on the racist, classists and sexists’ approaches. The main problem with these approaches is that the African American males are unable to receive quality education and choose college prep tracks because they are viewed negatively based on racism and classism. The contributions of CRT were used to criticize its negligence on matters of educational, political and economic differences. Thompkins however, explained that racism is the major classification used by the dominant group before others such as gender and class. However, it is important to consider whether addressing racial issues adequately results to solving of the injustices in the educational sector.
Teacher Quality
The major aspect in teaching has been for the teachers to endure teaching in the inner school until they find a position in the affluent district schools with few African Americans. For example, out of 100 students graduating from education programs, 51 are white females who have an eye on teaching (Annamma et al., 2017). However, teaching has become more than imparting knowledge on the students. It includes need for accountability due to the stipulations of No child Left Behind. The act has led to more children of color flooding the urban public schools because they are from poor backgrounds. The effect is that they face higher levels of violence due to their poor living conditions. The issues brought to the schools are a hindrance to effective delivery of education.
Teaching complications come from the lack of cultural knowledge in relation to the children as individuals or teach in a culturally competent manner. This leads to lack of understanding of the assumptions and the meanings with development of behaviors such as ability grouping and unfair tracking (Anyon et al., 2018). The main aim of these practices is to ensure the schooling reflects the middle-class values and aspirations. This aims to maintain the status quo and the power of culture remains with those that have already acquired it. The problem with this approach is that there is lack of teacher understanding of the students and parents. The students are judged based on the assumptions that are common in the white female teachers especially when it comes to the care given by the parents. Lack to attend the open houses and helping the children with their homework is seen as lack of interest in children education. The older children assist the younger ones with their homework. On the other hand, the middle-class white children have the privilege of being assisted by the professional parents in their homework. It leads to criticism of the African American children’s homework that was assisted by the siblings. Therefore, teacher qualifications are a major source of the problems affecting performance of the minorities.
A greater challenge with performance in African American is lack of teacher certification. Schools in high poverty areas have more numbers of unqualified teachers especially in areas of math, science, and special education. The teachers are also moving, seeking to be in better schools. This leaves majority of the students with a problem of having to cope with a new teacher every time. The lack of stability affects the teacher-student relationships that can be said to be the major cause of the low performance in the African American students.
Teaching the African American males effectively requires that one develop a caring spirit. This is because the students who believe their teachers care are able to perform well academically. According to López et al., most African American children value education (2018). However, the inconsistencies in the help the teachers render to the students diverts their attention. The practice of tracking the results is imbalanced in the classroom. This is because it results to classification of the classes into two areas that are high-ability classes in different subject areas. The whites are overrepresented whereas the African Americans are underrepresented. On the other hand, the low-ability classes have the majority as the African Americans. The problem is that the students are not tracked on ability. These are range of assessments that determine the qualifications to advanced courses. The assessments meant for the African Americans are overlooked and they are placed in basic classes. The white students faced the assessment measures on placement of low-ability classes on the advanced levels of education. This has led to fewer educational opportunities.
Education and White Supremacy
Three levels intersect with education and white supremacy in the United States. The first level is the connection between the education and the society. The second one is the connection between the ideologies of white supremacy and racism especially in the United States. The third intersect is the white supremacy ideology and the racial society that intersects with the curriculum (López et al., 2018). This means that the problem of epistemological racism that affects curriculum and white supremacy. Therefore, the cultural, economic, and the political dynamics affect the educational disparities.
Critical race theories combine progressive political struggles for racial justice with critiques of the conventional legal and scholarly norms that are themselves viewed as part of the illegitimate hierarchies that need to be changed. Scholars, most of whom are themselves persons of color, challenge the ways that race and racial power are constructed by law and culture. One key focus of critical race theorists is a regime of white supremacy and privilege maintained despite the rule of law and the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the laws. Agreeing with critical theorists and many feminists that law itself is not a neutral tool but instead part of the problem, critical race scholars identify inadequacies of conventional civil rights litigation (Anyon et al., 2018). Critical race theorists nonetheless fault critical legal scholars as failing to develop much to attract people of color and for neglecting the transformative potential of rights discourse in social movements, regardless of the internal incoherence or indeterminacy of rights themselves.
Critical race theorists were people who were trying to combine the pragmatic and utopian visions. They drew their critical strategies from the exposition of the law constructs and the way it disadvantages people of color. Therefore, the main aim was to counter-mobilize against the retrenchment and the struggles for racial justice. Therefore, the CRT is a theory that is not based on abstract principles but rather the collection of people who struggle inside and outside the confines of the law. it was a movement to eliminate all forms of group-based discrimination. They scholars believed that racism is endemic, in the society and colorblindness is a source of replicated racism.
Criticism of Liberal Antiracism
Derrick Bell wrote a critique on the desegregation litigation strategy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. This is because he felt that they were not putting the quality of education ahead of the issues such as mixing of races in schools. This is what led to the failure of the struggles to dislodge white supremacy. The problem with liberal law is that it treats racism as an irrational and intentional aspect. Therefore, it depicts that race consciousness in any form is bad. Even when the minority groups are advancing it. On the other hand CRT identify that a racial tradition of race-conscious mobilization is an empowerment strategy for the minorities (Garcia et al., 2018). The affirmative actions is thus allowing a broader inquiry into the questions of why the aspects of inequality in education, employment, and power have persisted. This is because these are aspects distributed to re-invigorate the nationalists as opposed to integrationist approaches in racial justice. The neutral rules such as colorblindness and one person, one vote are used to advocate for more inequalities in the schools, employment places, and the mass media outlets. The aspects used to select educational qualifications use methods that reject the pretense of merit.
Criticism of Whiteness in CRT
CRT criticizes the idea that race is a natural referent. It is a product emanating from social processes of power. Therefore, CRT focuses on unveiling the legal, social, and cultural operations by which the people are assigned. This makes race to be classified as a product of social practices and not the inherent practices. The dismantling of the invisible privileges of the white people is a major impact on the race scholarship. The major court decisions especially on education were informed by whiteness. The issues of crime in the African American community is informed by these decisions even though some records show otherwise (Ogbonnaya-Ogburu et al., 2020). Therefore, the whiteness is conceived as a resource when it comes to receiving considerable value and massive protection in the legal systems.
CRT and Re-envisioning Race and Society
The critical race theorists have argued that the voice of the law is the perpetrator of the racial hierarchies. This is the reason why they infuse their passion and knowledge in their voices and teaching. The problems faced by the African Americans in school are an indication of the negative impacts racism can have. Following the words of Martin Luther King Jr., the theorists sought to reconstruct the vision of the society and make them conscious and egalitarian to duties (Annamma et al., 2017). Therefore, the issues at hand are because of dominance by the whites and their looking down on the others. The critical race scholars rejected the idea of race as a natural category. They joined hands with the feminists in in exposing the social and the cultural issues affecting identities.
Several critical theorists were mobilized in 1980s with the intention of curbing the hate speeches that were increasing in the colleges. The African American students sustained major injuries because they were the target of such critiques. The theorists sought to articulate codes regulating the speeches in campuses and defended them against the First Amendment in courts. This was when they ratified that freedom of speech cannot be used as an absolute protection against hate speech (Sleeter, 2017). The existence of defamation and obscenity, and insults was not protected under this law. However, the courts did not hold the hate speech codes against the First Amendment. However, this altered the debate of the kinds of injuries that should be tolerated under the cover of First Amendment.
The critical race theorists were involved in providing the law students with materials necessary to challenge the notions of requirement on equal protection against the contrasting studies. The opponents of this theory state that the work substitutes emotions and therefore, the reason for fairness. The students of color are considered to be of low productivity, poor quality of work, and do not work enough. However, the critical race theorists responded by stipulating that academic discourse is not open to all people of merit. The laws in schools place power on particular interests and reinforce the traditional hierarchies of racial power. Therefore, the CRT is useful in explaining the inequalities faced in the schools by the male African American students (Sleeter, 2017). The history of discrimination is traced from long ago. Lack of proper educational approaches and resources, labelling them as criminals and providing them with little support are major causes of the problem. The society in their early years accepts them as a part of them and alienates them as they grow labeling them dangerous. This reduces their participation in academic aspects.
Transformational Leadership Theory
Transformational leaders inspire and encourage subordinates to learn and create change that will improve and cultivate an organization’s future towards success. This is arrived at by setting a positive image, strong collaborative culture, independence, and a strong sense of employee responsibility. According to Hay (2006),” transformational leadership came into perspective during the aftermath of World War II” (p. 2). However, an academic inquiry into the subject in terms of effectiveness and performance emerged in the 1970s. Transformational leaders have characteristics such as influence based on ideas, simulating intellect, inspiring, and motivating their subordinates.
This kind of leadership requires leaders to grow and communicate a vision and strategy to help employees overcome obstacles. Transformational leaders are also concerned with their organization’s service quality, how they can improve it, and how they can inspire others to do the same (Letizia, 2018). This way, they encourage developmental change. Also, transformational leadership is value-driven. In this sense, frontrunners set high goals that motivate followers to push themselves to the limit through cooperation, trust, and teamwork to achieve organizational objectives.
Transformational leadership hails from deeply held personal value systems. Furthermore, it rallies individuals together to pursue collective desires by interpreting and conveying their standards. In brief, transformation leadership features include a clear sense of purpose, value-driven leadership, strong role modeling, high expectations, persistent vision, ability to attract and inspire others, strategy, and ability to deal with complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity (Kuratko, Neubert, & Marvel,2020). The rise in relevant transformational leadership has led to increased demand for the same in different fields, such as the scholarly community. It also has been a key factor in the introduction of entrepreneurship in the public realm.
Peer Mentorship Program Evaluations
Evaluation processes are important in assessing the effectiveness of mentoring programs in increasing college attendance of African American males. In this respect, many strategies will be employed to measure the efficacy of such initiatives. One method that provides meaning to the construct of mentorship is its capacity to determine the essential elements and their functions (Hamilton et al., 2019). For instance, formative and outcome evaluation tools, for instance, offer insights into their success. Outcome evaluation metrics may include change in attendance rates and improvements in academic performance (Hamilton et al., 2019). Formative models, on the other hand, focus on their ability to transition the mentees to higher education.
Mentoring has evolved since the 1800 century as art in medicine and apprenticeship. The relationship between medical faculties is well elaborated by this discipline through numerous structures. There have been dramatic changes in the mentorship programs in the past decades’, specifically in the medical facilities. The researcher’s intentions are to find the possible reasons why there’s a deterioration of mentorship programs in the medical and educational perspectives. Furthermore, the discussion between the mentors and the mentees is also addressed in this research and recommendations and conclusion is given about mentorship programs and how they relate to the individual and group characteristics of students. Several issues discussed include interpersonal skills, psychological gains, knowledge benefits to mentees, and future directions respective to mentoring processes. The objective of the study was to formulate a program that enables medical students and career development in evaluating the development of students. The students participated in both written and oral interviews to facilitate the evaluation processes in a structured and collaborative learning approach.
The Program
Previous authors such as Steinberg (2018) argue that mentoring is only beneficial through a Collaborative Mentoring Program (CMP). This program aims to establish a professional background entailing support for the employees’ emotions and making plans for career development and enhancing skills. The CMP process was conducted in the junior faculty groups in the period of 1999-2000. The main respondents included assistant lecturers who volunteered to participate in the study. The clinical departments were used in the interviews where different departments were divided into subspecialties, and sixteen persons were interviewed. Brochures were sent to all professors in the medical departments some five months before the mentorship program. Various signatures were also requested as a binding code of ethics before the commencement of the mentorship program. The Program took 80 hours while taking eight months for the whole process.
Similarly, Steinberg (2018) adds that the medical department’s program was fully funded that held various sittings outside the medical vicinity. Participants were given manuals that had extensive readings, career notebooks for planning, and bibliographies of participants. The sessions combined skills development, structured career plans, and role-plays. Furthermore, the use of videotapes and group discussion was facilitated in different peer groups with self-reflection sections individually.
Skills Development
This section was divided into numerous skill zones, team building, and clarification of value. Collaboration, negotiation among other mentorship programs. Moreover, a discussion on gender and power issues was also addressed. The program director also facilitated the training while showcasing written and oral presentations throughout the program. After numerous orientations, the daylong sessions had a series of briefs while checking lecturers’ experience in their respective workstations (Prouty,2012). The power issue took center stage while narratives were discussed and read aloud by facilitators to the mentees. After breaks, the group reconvened, and a discussion on coercive and other models of power was tackled using role-plays from the participants. During the training, the different groups were facilitated by demonstrating the power of honor, negotiation, and encouragement to mentees who replied by offering insights and comprehensive feedback to the questionnaire’s questions. Many participants interacted well with each other and offered help in the motivation of peer members. The act encouraged the mentees together with the respective coordinators in the seminar. As a final activity, the group viewed their scenarios and compared their experiences in the class. Furthermore, Kuratko, Neubert, & Marvel (2020) asserts that mentorship is solely voluntary, and many aspects are discussed in the group reviews to offer a meaningful reflection to all participants. Developing an academic plan and writing skills formed the basis of this discussion, where various skills were included in the participant’s portfolio.
Other functions
Each day, participants were taught how to formulate an academic plan by writing various steps in their brochures. Moreover, many completed plans included the identification of tasks, the setting of short and long-term goals, prioritizing values, and the clarification of objectives. Another aspect includes a written contract for various skill developments, which followed a thorough discussion by supervisors involving negotiation tactics to the medical faculty’s peer groups (Laurencin & Murray,2017). Previous research from scholars was attributed to the understanding of evaluation programs. Close to over 70 minutes was dedicated to collaborative writing from various participants. The study showed that participants used books, article journals, and abstracts to complete the writing project. By the end of the eight-month program, the mentees were capable of finishing over 20minutesof writing while offering feedback to the mentors regarding the mentorship program from individual perspectives in the writing process. Experts in writing facilitate this writing process to ascertain the independence of the academic work concerning mentoring.
Evaluation
In this study, Hinsdale (2015) explains that scholars adopted a mix of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Facilitators followed isolated information daily, and a written document was requested to understand the mentees’ mentorship programs. Furthermore, a carbon-less paper was used to keep a copy of their work for future reference of their learning experience from the lessons learned. Participants were advised to use self-selected code names in the entire evaluation process to attain anonymity and confidentiality for all mentees; by the end of training in the Collaborative Mentoring Program (CMP), the learners engaged in audio-taped discussions entailing open-ended questions about the program via their learning experience. Written copies were used to present qualitative data of documents and voiced information with invitation reviews on feedback showing accuracy and completeness of findings. It was noted that participants agreed with the results provided in the discussion as real and accurate.
Quantitative Data
The program attendance and general productivity of participants were found to be exceptional. The attendance rate was over 80%, with interviewees showing a high level of involvement in the session. However, participants had varied reasons for not attending lessons, including illness, clinical scheduling, and performance in the national meetings. From the 16 manuscripts delivered by the participants, 11 were used the following year to facilitate the program (Kuratko, Neubert, & Marvel,2020). In the total sessions, there was an educational and participant involvement rated as a positive response. For instance, the Standard Deviation was (SD=0.90) while the mean rating from the participants had a score of 2.10 on a 5-point scale where 1 represented Excellent while five rated Poor score. All participants managed to complete written plans for academic documents assessed by their respective supervisors and detailed report given to participants on their performances.
Qualitative Data
Among the selected participant, there was no obligation that predetermined participants’ participation in the process since it was voluntary. Most participants reasoned that positive experience, career guidance, and mentoring are among the reasons learners joined the Collaborative Mentoring Program (CMP). There is an instance where some participants selected this program, not knowing the exact description. Still, they gladly remained to the end of the training, terming its positive development to their career goals. For another participant, Prouty (2012) cited that they were interested in the program intending to contact new people and establish relationships. Others believed that communication among peers is more valuable than engaging senior persons in the medical faculty because the freedom of association is high among peers. Still, mentoring only comes from the elder group.
On the other hand, Buck (2020) says that some peers argued that unlike one-on-one mentoring, peer mentoring programs are better because they cannot be canceled, hence the information’s reliability. Some participants reasoned that while engaging with a fellow peer is good. Their problems might be similar, hence having a common goal and objectives. The argument behind this choice in participants is that peers share common hurdles and thus share a high capability to match other people’s skills or personalities (Lucas,2018). One of the participants explained that a diverse peer group adds much value and richness to information sharing. The peer mentoring program’s different personalities can create a comfortable and extensive learning process for all the program persons. The participants’ navigation of skills and experience is attained while learning from other fellow participants to become better individuals in society. Following interviews with some 4 participants, the issue of gender was noted to affect the learning process. There was the inaccessibility of women in various departments when looking for information on peer mentoring to learners. The learners believed that peer programs would offer a good working environment that allows freedom of association and expression. In summary, many participants had various reasons why they participated in the CMP classes, included having a desire for mentoring, prior positive attributes, gender-based problems, and development of reputation and public program benefits in the association.
Overview of participants’ perspectives
After much consideration, the participants accepted that the Collaborative Mentoring Program had valuable personal and professional growth benefits. On a negative response, some participants said the programs consumed more time than expected. Another one said that the training should be more flexible in terms of events. Another person argued that the structured approach was better and adventurous. Some two others saw the process as a less optimal in-group affiliation based on their lifestyle. Even though one other participant argued that the peer program was a mismatch, Kuratko, Neubert, & Marvel (2020) suggest that most participants were positive about the peer mentoring program’s whole learning process. The focus on the career path concerning the CMP process was the main point in coordinating the participants’ reasons to join the training. The latter participants felt out of place from the lifestyle they were living regarding the mentoring experience. The participants’ most recommendations were an advisee to the peer mentors to lengthen the training duration or reconvene the program occasionally. Participants valued the program citing issues regarding merits like the earning environment and the content of information attained from the training as some of the reasons they enrolled in the program. The participants argued that the learning environment effectively improved and developed skills from the entire process’s knowledge. The mentorship program served as a link to networking, forming new relationships, initiating collaborative activities by fostering community connections, and school development (Janeja et al., 2016).
Learning environment
Participants had three reasons for learning outcomes: providing a safe and supportive learning environment, effective program, regularly scheduled program, and personal reflection as dedicated interpersonal communication between learners and mentors. Earners repeatedly accepted that by having a supportive environment, fostering relationship building leads to the desire to attend mentorship programs without fail regularly. According to Buck (2020), most participants acknowledged that the Mentoring Program was beneficial to all learners considering the forum used in discussing issues. The forum offered a non-critical environment, and it became one of the best programs. Everyone is free to air their views and explore different or similar challenges they face, making it possible for the training to be called a collaborative mentoring process. The consequence of having a safe environment helps attain good relationships from sharing past experiences, joint problems, and peer collaboration.
Most participants were comfortable with the fellow peer that shared similar problems, experiences, and concerns. One participant said that “coming from a similar place makes it easier to understand each other, which highlights developing a common ground.” Despite one person having negative thoughts on peer mentoring, most people found the peer mentoring Program just as valuable as discussing it with senior faculty heads. One person reasoned that CMP offers excellent guidance from facilitators hence gaining from the best worlds. This perspective was echoed by Bhushan & Seow (2019), who argue that collaborative mentoring is more valuable than mentoring experiences as gauged by learners who participated in the mentoring training process. Having expert or student experience out of the way helps learners experience positive reflection in their career objectives.
Furthermore, most learners explain that working with peers offers a set of liberation experiences. There is a free expression of ideas and sharing of past problems. Most learners enjoy senior to junior mentoring and complain about the constrained relationship in such a relationship. The environment created by this mentorship program creates skills and knowledge and increases the depth and breadth of participant relationships. One participant attested to learning from group members by developing trust and acceptance that offers a chance to take risks in joining the program. The learning outcome showed critical knowledge attained by learners in the clinical department in major hospital facilities. There is acquisition, practice, and uninterrupted access to knowledge that is meaningful to career development. There is also good timing in personal reflection by participants who say that collaborative mentoring provides high-quality learners by shaping their careers (Buck, 2020).
Moreover, other participants acknowledged peer mentorships as a chance to learn more from classmates, therefore, gaining personal experience in career development. For example, one learns a lot from other learners while in training. The study aims to offer students a good learning experience in the mentorship program, thereby facilitating career growth that provides meaningful outcomes.
Program outcomes
There were many interrelated outcomes associated with peer mentoring by CMP.
· Identifying the values governing individuals
· Structuring the career plans
· Developing collaboration
· Developing skills in conflict resolution and power of gender
· Improve job satisfaction to help participants in decision making
The theme for any peer mentoring is to create personal information for learners by empowering learners in the program. Relationships formed are successful from the responses offered by the interviewed participants by making productive careers.
Career planning
Participants found career planning as valuable in applying steps to prioritize planning. According to Janeja et al. (2016), having good plans can help peer mentoring become easier because students form aims and objectives to govern their career paths. Career goals are then easy to evaluate since learners are motivated to pursue their careers. However, many individuals had not yet set their career plans in writing. There was re-envisioning of learners’ work, personal work, and the negotiation of efforts to bring about change or productivity. This brings self-empowerment from goal setting by the learners.
Relationship building
Most participants were happy to meet new friends and colleagues in the peer mentorship group. Individuals came from different disciplines causing diversification of ideologies. The participants felt comfortable sharing information, solving problems, and feeling less s lonely in their working environment. By talking to other professionals, learners acknowledged that most tribulations and emotional issues were solved amicably. In the end, the relationship was enhanced further between peers and mentors in the medical field. When concluding the program, relationships were created, and a sense of connectedness developed further in the training process. The sense of knowledge and confidence also formed the basis of peer objectives in the medical department. Participants felt accommodated in the group by having a sense of connection with fellow career members in the program (Buck, 2020).
Skill Development
Knowledge acquisition was important in fostering career goals for the program’s group (Bhushan & Seow, 2019). This knowledge was attained from scholarly writing, gender and power, and further research on conflict management. The result sees a diversification of different areas of life and not simply the field of academia. The skills help in solving issues that were never taught in the program. For example, it showed their leaves of interest in career development after training of the peer groups from the participant level.
Faculty retention
In the field of medicine, collaborative mentoring of peers aided in a better understanding of medicine. As illustrated by Dean & Koster (2014), retention of faculty is never easy. Hence, the mentorship training necessitated the vital understanding of mentoring in the hospital by reinforcing and strengthening a career in medicine and mentorship in general. At this point in the learners’ careers, some felt that the institutional affiliation was not represented amicably. The people who had positive impacts on retention explained that it was due to self-advocacy that made learners more comfortable at the institutional level. Other participants attributed commitment to the medical field by reinforcing the desire to work in the medical faculty.
In summary, the training by CMP has helped develop the careers of many learners, not just in the medical world but different individuals with career goals and objectives. However, future research still needs to be undertaken to understand better the benefits of peer mentoring in most workforce. In turn, the organizational objectives will be achieved by peer groups after good mentoring is done by the senior leadership in hospitals and major organizations.
Mentorship is non-evaluative as the goals intended for achievement by an organization differ. For a mentor, it is a way to give back and an important learning experience. Organizations benefit from mentoring programs that help mold employees, improve their loyalty and increase performance (Merola,2020). The mentee aims to learn networking, problem-solving skills, knowledge transfers, and workplace culture. The mentor’s role should be to improve communication skills, recognition as a role model, the desire to give back, and personal satisfaction. As a mentor, the organization’s role should be to increase turnover, better reputation, fewer skill gaps, better organizational culture, and enhance productivity.
It is vital to evaluate the mentoring programs to guarantee that it is accomplishing its intended goals. This can be accomplished by assessing the mentors, mentees, and the program itself. To gauge the program, you may probe all program members to provide responses related to the mentoring program’s efficiency. To ensure the collection of the feedback, one could use the following formats, provision of questioners to participants. The questions may be quantitative or qualitative, may attack specific procedures in the mentorship program receiving the questionnaire, and they can be analyzed for results. Besides questionnaires, program evaluation can be attained through written reports. In this case, an individual can request mentees to write reports that evaluate the program. Peer and mentorship programs can also be evaluated through interviews (Solasky, 2010). Engaging participants in one-on-one Interviews can help evaluators build an accurate picture of the program and its effectiveness. Mentors can be evaluated in the same way, however, from a different angle through developmental goals.
Peer and Mentorship programs’ success can also be measured through conducting a top-down goal analysis including organization objectives, key performance indicators, targets, and segmentation. First, consider your program as a high-level need, then set up key performance indicators, objectives, and segmentation. Finally, deliberate on whether your current strategy in performance meets the targets set. The high-level targets represent a vision the program is trying to achieve. On the other hand, key performance indicators present a methodology of specifying success milestones, more like milestones to achieve. Key performance indicators set should encompass different aspects of the program. After setting clear performance indicators, move on to establishing targets and segments bound into success metrics which, aim at converting high-level objectives into smart objectives that are specific, measurable, and time bound (Merola,2020). After this, you can set up the mechanisms of measuring peer and mentorship programs.
This section is important as it provides insights into the models that will be used to assess the effectiveness of mentorship programs in increasing college attendance rates of African American males. It guides the study in determining the important elements of the programs and how they are organized. Further, the next section of this paper focuses on the definition of terms. This section will describe all the conceptual words that will guide the study.
Definition of Terms
Mentor programs
These are training relationship schemes that connect individuals with specific skills and knowledge with people who want the same skills and abilities to progress and effectively advance their career, skill level, or school performance (Mondisa,2018). Those who teach others their skill and experiences are called mentors, while those who receive training on techniques and knowledge are known as mentees or protégés.
College Admission Rate
This refers to the estimates of the number of students enrolling in college programs such as diplomas, undergraduate degrees, graduate programs, and doctoral programs. The number of students transitioning to colleges from high school can also be called college admission rate. However, there is an aspect of selective college admission where students from minority communities are offered limited admission opportunities in higher learning institutions. Carnevale and Rose (2013) urge that are expanding the available affirmative action programs and include the students coming from poor backgrounds will significantly promote economic and racial diversity.
Racial Disparity
Racial disparity is when there are unequal opportunities to be socially discriminated against or excluded from national or regional developments. These communities are always considered minority groups, and they are usually offered relatively minimum resources and attention. There is an unequal distribution of learning material in the educational system, school funding in institutions with predominantly minority communities, and unequal promotional opportunities to teachers from minority groups. There is a systematic disproportionate representation of racially diverse students in education (Travers et al., 2013).
Correlation
Refer to the intensity measure of the relationship existing amongst two quantitative variables. Having a positive correlation means having a relationship where the variables move in a similar direction. On the other hand, being negatively correlated involves movement in different directions. The major variables in the educational systems correlated are gender and academic performance, racial disparity, college enrollment rates, socio-economic factors with mental health such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Eisenberg et al. (2013) state that mental health problems are fundamentally connected to aspects of sex, religion, race, and social status.
Mentorship
Mentorship is the relationship between two people where one has more experience than the other. The person with more knowledge and connections pass what they have learned to the junior mentees in a given field. The senior person is the mentor whereas the junior is the mentee.
African American
These are people in American who are descendants of African immigrants. There are a number of ethnic groups in American that has a partial ancestry from the continent of Africa. It is also important to note that there are many individuals do not identify as African American. These individuals or groups include, but are not limited to: Caribbean, Central American, and South American groups, whom along with their descendants do not want to be identified with the term “African-American.” However, in this study, the term African American will be used to categorize any individual from African immigrant ancestry that resides in the United States of America. Although we understand that this term is not used or in many cases accepted when speaking about or referencing other African immigrant groups, the reason for using the term “African American” is because of the negative connotation associated with the work black. Black has been described as the opposite of white, dark ages, the color of mourning, sickness, members of Aboriginal ancestry, and death. White and Black has been used to describe good and evil. Also, when using the term black in America, it is often associated with racial discrimination and injustice.
There is the assumption that African American boys are lazy, do not want to attend college, they are aggressive, they are defiant when met with authority, they would rather sell drugs, or would rather drop out to become ball players or rappers. When, the correlation with the underachieving of African American boys is because they had the highest rates of suspensions, expulsions, non-promotions, drop-outs, special education placement, and the lowest rates of secondary school graduation and gifted and talented assignments in the majority of more than 16,000 school districts across the country (Robertson & Chaney, 2017).
Assumptions
The study assumes that:
1. African American males are admitted to only American universities.
2. All university entry students have undergone formal student mentorship programs.
3. There is racial diversity amongst students enrolling in U.S. universities.
4. The participants are conversant with the colleges and university entry points.
5. The educational stakeholders are aware of pre-existing racial disparity in American colleges and universities.
6. The participants will answer the questionnaire sincerely and candidly.
7. The sample data collected from the research study is the representation of all the transitioning and graduate students.
8. The learning institution’s stakeholders will effectively implement the research findings.
9. The general mentorship program will positively influence the outcome of the skill coaching program.
Limitations
The weaknesses of the study are:
1. The study only uses meta-analysis.
2. Additionally, the findings cannot be generalized to the entire population.
3. The study cannot sufficiently estimate the number of students enrolling in various formal mentorship programs.
4. The number of the student interviewed is not enough from which the study can sufficiently conclude.
5. Other factors affect student apathy to mentorship programs apart from racial inequality, socio-economic factors, and media influence.
6. The research was not done extensively across the country.
7. Gender disparity was not put into consideration rather than racial disparity.
8. Major educational stakeholders were not included in the research process.
9. The data sampling method used in the study was random sampling rather than systematic sampling.
10. The duration taken to conduct the study was limited.
Chapter Summary
Mentorship programs have grown immensely in both the individual and educational spheres in the 21st century. There are two major classifications of transformational and traditional mentorship styles. The two styles can further be divided into sub-groups of formal and informal sections. Mentorship programs are found in business and academic institutions. Such processes aim to improve diversity, research, and reduce the sophistication of studies and planning within business organizations (Mondisa,2018). However, scholars argue that mentorship programs fail due to their association with relational characteristics. The characters include cultural differences, demographics, and demonstration of commitment among trainees or employees. Even though mentoring is a cultural undertaking, most business organizations have just formulated processes to adopt this corporate governance principle. Moreover, higher education institutions are advised to embrace mentorship programs so that qualified learners may become equipped with the needed skills. The overall employment of such a group is easier attained due to critical programs taught in the culture of an academic context.
African American recruitment and retention are difficult due to a lack of resources, facilities, and student capability (Aylward, Gaudine, & Bennett, 2011). The mentorship of students acts as a strategy for most schools to generate positive changes. Universities may find it difficult to retain qualified students due to a lack of resources to fund their learning. Hence, the business organization needs strong leadership to foster the mentorship programs in their respective departments. However, most professionals staying in rural areas are dealing with rising tension based on inaccessibility in learning. Managers acknowledge that there are difficulties in mentoring rural nurses and doctors to remain in their working sites siting limited resources as the reason behind it. Secondly, (Alsarayreh, 2018) the managers find financial constraints in accessing mentorship resources.
In clinical medicine, challenges arise when it comes to navigation, mastering new terminologies, and equipment funding in reducing problems to new mentees if leadership does not address the issues. The work engaged in the hospital settings include collaborating with both staff and the community organizations; hence one needs good mentoring to adopt. Institutions are expected to allocate funding to facilitate mentorship programs in rural areas, but senior leadership sometimes fails to follow through. Lastly, the distances between centers where mentorship was done were also a hindrance to success. For example, managers hesitated on hotel expenditures, long driveways, and sometimes going to workshops alone. Mentorship challenges reduced work efficiency because finding a replacement of qualified managers with these complaints is bizarre (Kuratko, Neubert & Marvel, 2020).
In trying to advance African American males in business organizations, Burr et al. (2011) found that leaders need to offer strong mentorship guidelines such that middle and subordinates’ staff are motivated to perform better. The argument is that African American males can also work as both middle and front-line managers in a business organization. The African American males can also act as implementers and sustainability cooperatives to create diversity methodologies. Previous studies by scholars explain that mentors and company role models can instill confidence in the disadvantaged and underserved groups. In effect, Hinsdale (2015) states that employees in these organizations increase their confidence by completing numerous projects while improving their profiles that is solely beneficial to organizational performance. The result shall contain a stable and balanced company without the expected mentorship problems from lack of leadership motivations. For the inexperienced groups, Aylward et al. (2011) affirm that the concerns of financial reviews, understanding structures of follow-ups, and strategic planning require leaders to help women bolster their confidence.
Mentorship is important in improving the professionalism of learners and researchers. The guidance and steering of young partners by mentors’ help attain self-actualization and self-motivation among trainees and trainers (Alsarayreh, 2018). However, despite mentorship being a hallmark of growth, there are many barriers at institutional levels regarding this topic. The barrier includes lack of self-awareness, generational gap, time differences in certain zones, and geographical distances. The use of career by institutions to mold learners helps educational organizations like universities to achieve quality and qualified students that can work in major business organizations. Certainly, managing conflict and leading the internal and external learning processes might be troublesome to the mentees (Lait et al., 2011). Additional training is required to acquire new skills that help in the operation and strategic planning in developing leadership qualities. Many downfalls should be avoided as a mentee. The issue of conflict that leads to lack of confidence among learners is just but among them. For instance, a mentee might engage in a task that is not meant for them because they lack the confidence to ask the mentor questions. Thus, clear communication is vital in understanding the relationship between a mentee and a mentor, thereby understanding fruitful coexistence.
Learning institution administrators should determine the important mentorship components. Considering managerial and practical contributions, this research contributes to many important insights. Mentors should perceive how their mentorship can complete strategic student personal development using transformational leaders and achieving the success of the mentorship program compared to the competitors (Parnther et al.,2019). Expanding the competitiveness of mentorship is the basis for mentorship program survival. Transformational leadership and strategic student personal development have become important topics for executives in the business sector. Transformational leadership in intellectual stimulation has a significant impact on strategic student personal development and leads to the mentorship program’s success (Sierra & Adams,2017). Simulating the intellect and motivating others inspirationally has a significant relation to the success of the mentorship program. Searching for solutions in schools that providing a survival basis is important in the success of mentorship. Therefore, maximizing the benefits of mentorship programs requires that the mentors use the resources to raise and create personal growth opportunities.
This chapter has been instrumental in introducing the research topic. Additionally, it has examined the existing problems of low college attendance rates and crafted research questions. Moreover, the section has identified various theoretical models that can be employed to assess the efficacy of student mentorship programs in increasing college attendance rates of African American males. The next chapter will review existing literature on this research topic. It will identify previous studies conducted on the topic and identify the existing gaps.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Title Searches, Articles, Research Documents, and Journals
Numerous studies have attempted to explain the uses of mentorship programs in increasing college attendance for African American males. Their experiences during high school transition to university education have also been widely explored. Anumba (2015), for instance, explores factors increasing the persistence and retaining of black men in degree programs for a maximum of four years in South California. He addresses the attrition problem among males of color through a detailed assessment of the characteristics leading to persistence in African American males. Using the critical race theory, the researcher assesses the key challenges that affect African American males as they shift from secondary to university education. The theory is also utilized to examine their experiences and the outcomes of such experiences on their educational attainment. Moreover, the critical race model is employed as an analytic framework to assess how the social system and educational systems’ policies and practices impact African American males’ educational outcomes as they transition from secondary to a college education.
The critical race theory is widely hailed as effective in analyzing the impacts of racial discrimination on African Americans. In this respect, its proponents often look at racial and social construction limiting the chances of African Americans through discrimination in institutions. For instance, the education industry uses critical race theorists to explain the inextricable relationship between inequalities in education and race. The theorists challenge cultural norms and poverty and contribute to educational inequality (Sierra & Adams,2017). On the contrary, they maintain that unfair practices in the educational system led to disparate academic outcomes such as low admission rates for African American students. The practices have resulted in the deterrence of African American people accessing trained and culturally sensitive mentors. They also lack access to better jobs and appropriate housing. Thus, the interaction between race and property establishes an analytical platform on top of which people can understand college admissions’ social and inequalities.
The critical race model has been acknowledged for a long time been as an important tool for providing a lens through which policymakers and educators can ask questions, criticize, and challenge the ways and impact of racism, white supremacy, and meritocracy in influencing higher education. It provides an interdisciplinary model that includes traditions in intellect and scholarly insights from the highlighted racial injustices and enhances racial justice in African American males’ college admission.
The retention and graduation of male African Americans have received scholarly attention in the last few centuries. The African American students enroll in colleges faster than other groups. However, Gibson (2014) observes that they have low retention and graduation rates. As a result, the researcher undertakes a systematic literature review on the repercussions of mentorship for black male students. The scholarly investigation results show that mentorship programs are important in increasing the success of African American male students in school. They can increase overall success in academics, provide a sense of belonging in the community, and better relationships amongst African American students. He defines mentoring as a process that is intentionally carried out between two people. The mentor gives guidelines and introduces the mentee to new realities. Mentoring is thus seen as an enrichment exercise for college students as they transition from secondary to higher education. In this respect, it can take many forms, including personal training sessions. Other schools and colleges use technological approaches to connect the African American male learners and the mentors.
History of the Lack of African American Men at Home
The 1600s
In 1619 the White Lion, a British ship, arrived at Point Comfort’s shores, an English settlement that later became Virginia. Onboard were twenty peculiar individuals; African Americans abducted from their rural communities in present-day Angola, forcefully loaded onto the San Juan Bautista, a Portuguese slave ship headed for the ‘new world’ as proclaimed by Europeans of the day. However, the San Juan Bautista never made its mysterious journey unscathed. On arrival at its destination in Veracruz, Mexico, on Aug. 30, 1619, more than 300 Africans had perished at sea while 50 were taken hostage by English pirate ships, along with the Treasure and the White Lion. The Captain of the White Lion arrived at Point Comfort, selling the twenty Africans on board to food (Bennett, 1962). White Lion’s arrival ushered in a new error of slavery and slave trade in the United States. In the years to come, Africans were captured from their motherland, enslaved, and ferried under difficult conditions to work in American plantations and industries, leading to the destruction of African societies, separation of African families, creation of slave dependent economies, development of colonies, and loss of life due to slave raids.
Most of the consignment on the San Juan Bautista of over 350 Africans kidnapped, including the twenty African Americans sold at Point Comfort, is believed to have been enslaved in the Kongo kingdom that is located on the northern Portuguese colony of Angola, the western part of the democratic republic of Congo, and southern part of Gabon. During this time between 1616 and 1619, a complex dispute between King Alvaro III of Kongo and his uncles led to a major war against the duke of Nsundi (Small,2017). The war ended with the Kongo receiving military aid from Portugal leading to many casualties and prisoners of war who were later sold as judicial slaves to the Portuguese.
Simultaneously, from 1618 to 1620, the Portuguese ran a multifaceted military enslavement operation against the Ndongo kingdom people in modern Angola, West Africa. The Portuguese hired African warlords and mercenaries known as the Imbangala and Mbundu, who killed and abducted thousands of African men, disrupting the region greatly. Those who tried to escape were recaptured while others died in the process. The Abductees were marched to Luanda’s port and loaded onto vessels packed with 350 to 400 men (Stevenson, 2020). In 1619 the Portuguese set a record selling thousands of Africans, with 36 ships leaving Luanda’s port, destined for slave plantations abroad. Given this war’s purpose and size, most of the slaves on the San Juan Bautista were possibly captured in this arrangement.
As a substitute to slaying adversaries captured during external and tribal warfare, most African chieftains preferred to sell their war prisoners. This was due to a lack of prisons and resources to hold their captured enemies. Thus, fostered the relationship between the Portuguese and the Imbangala, well known as “Jagas,” who were willing to sell them their war captives as slaves. The Imbangala were a quasi-religious cult dedicated to evil, greed, and violence. The Portuguese allied with the Imbangala allowing them to break out of a military stalemate with local kingdoms and forcing African chiefs to turn against their subjects to protect their kingdoms from destruction (Tolliver & Miller,2018). Portuguese gave Imbangala resources, including military aid, to lead slavery crusades as they benefited more from capturing slaves directly from villages than ing them in the mats.
The 1700s
After docking on the Atlantic’s shores in Point Comfort, the 20 African Americans onboard the White Lion was sold off to Englishmen in Jamestown. This was the fate that befell over six hundred thousand African American men sold as slaves to the U.S.at the end of the 17th century. This resulted from European American settlers turning to the slavery of Africans as a cheaper source of labor than contractual servants, leading to increased demand for slaves. On the other hand, slavery, and the slave trade deprived Africa of its ablest population.
Enslaved African American arrivals in the 1700s to America were mainly allocated to tobacco, rice, and indigo plantation in America’s southern the United States. In 1793, Eli Whitney made cotton Gin. This machine separated cotton fibers from their seeds faster, ensuring greater productivity than separation by hand (Laurencin & Murray,2017). Simultaneously, Machines were introduced into English fabric industry, leading to increased demand for cotton from the United States. These reasons propelled the transition from tobacco to cotton production, strengthening the countries reliance on slave labor.
As the 1800s drew closer, most of the northern states in America had formulated laws intending to abolish the slave trade. However, the wealthier regional businessmen had grown rich on slave trade investments. Some of these ventures included purchasing and selling African Americans at a profit, loaning African Americans aiming at profits, and using them as collateral against loans. Most industries’ proceeds depended on African American laborers, being subjected to harsh routines such as 24 hours working (Domar, 1970). Although the U.S. Congress illegalized the slave trade at the start of the 17th century, local trade thrived in the coming years, surging past 4.4 million enslaved African Americans in 50 years.
Over 25 million slaves were abducted from the African continent over raids, kidnapping, and combat. Through the 17th century, Africa had lost half of its population to the slave trade. Significantly the slave trade had a detrimental impact on the economic development of Africa. According to Nunn (2017), if not for the occurrence of the slave trade, Africa would close the average income gap between itself and the rest of the world by 72%. 99% of the revenue gap dividing Africa and other developing continents such as South America and Asia would be non-existent. This is evident as the African targets for slavery were the productive population.
Slave trade led to the weakening and poor development of Africa’s political structures, nurturing tribal diversity while hampering wider ethnic groups. Association of smaller ethnic groups into larger groups would unify Africans to achieve common greater objectives. In the advent of the slave trade, persons regularly turned on each other, kidnapping and selling one another into slavery (Lucas,2018). In the long run, the Slave trade caused the deprivation of legal, judicial, and political establishments. Lack of such systems lead to an inability for African societies to incorporate good values among citizens, and as a result, Africans trust in each other is less today.
In brief, the Dawn of the 1600s and 1700s introduced a new era for the African American man. He was characterized by his absence in the home, as he was taken from his homeland and enslaved by American Europeans. He was transported under harsh conditions to work in American plantations and industries to fulfill the growing demand for cheap labor. In return, he was estranged from his family as African societies were destroyed (Hinsdale,2015). Healthy, able, and productive African men were forcefully seized to America, slave-dependent economies and colonies were created, and African American lives were lost as they fought for their freedom against slave masters.
The 1800s
Slave trade was non-novel in Europe and America in the 1800s, as tradesmen and dealers readily sold humans as commodities. In Africa, people kept slaves, typically war prisoners, arrested criminals, and the lowest social stratification system based on the cultural conception of purity and pollution. As the slave trade venture grew bigger and lucrative, stakeholders resulted in more brutal, vicious, and lethal methods to acquire African American slaves. Two out of five African captives dying on the West African coast were sold off to Europeans. They were loaded onto slave ships at the coast and tied with chains below decks in small box-sized racks with little headroom. This was to allow the slave traders to transport as much cargo as possible to attain higher profits. This was also at the expense of unsanitary conditions, dysentery, diarrhea, and scurvy leading to high death rates of 15% to a third of hostages on board (Bennett, 1982). By 1860 over 6 to 7 million slaves of African descent were brought into the U.S where they suffered and brutal whippings. Rape became mundane in plantations, slave marriages were unacknowledged, causing separation of families, African Americans were starved and denied access to necessities; only allowed to taste meat once in seven years and permitted a pint of corn once a week, they were tortured and burned by fire, leading them to the uprise of African American men towards fighting for their freedom.
In August 1831, Nat Turner, a slave in Virginia, instigated an uprising, which spread among enslaved African Americans sending shock waves in southern Virginia. With the help of eighty like-minded individuals, Turner killed over sixty white people. The deployment of slave militia neutralized the uprising, an organized squad tasked with monitoring and disciplining slaves. Turner and 55 others were tried and executed for starting the rebellion (Hinsdale,2015). Angry mobs lynched two hundred more African American men. Virginia legislators reacted by possessing little privileges afforded to African Americans, such as education, further fueling the desire for liberation of the African American slave.
Frederick Douglass, a young African American slave, was trained to read by his master’s spouse in Baltimore, Maryland. Douglass escaped his master’s bondage in 1838 and moved to Massachusetts, where he embraced writing and teaching for the abolitionist movement. This organization tasked itself with the effort of bringing an end to slavery (Quarles, 1952). Through his powerful writing, Frederick Douglass designated that slavery was not a burden for the south on its own and encouraged his readers and listeners in northern America to fight against slavery in the south. When the civil war commenced, African American men in the north volunteered to fight for the union Frederick Douglass among them.
In the 19th century, after the election, Abraham Lincoln centralized emancipation as the prime objective in his administration. However, emancipation was a multiclausal phenomenon encompassing the slaves themselves, the Union army, African American and White abolitionists, Radical Republicans in Congress, and the president. The confrontation between the said parties in respect to slavery leads to the civil war. In 1860 December, South Carolina exited the union and six other states comprising of: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas (Lucas,2018). Together they formed the ‘confederation,’ an unrecognized breakaway state.
Consequently, several forts in these states were inaccessible, such as Fort Sumter in South Carolina; however, Abraham Lincoln decided to replenish the struggling barracks. April 12, 1861, marked the civil war started as supply convoys were bombarded for 34 hours at port summer after confederate warships turned them back. Abraham Lincoln on 15th April requested 75,000 slave volunteers to come to Northern Army (Merola,2020). By the end of the civil war on May 12, 1865, over 179,000 African American men had served, with 10,000 dying in action and 30,000 succumbing to infections.
The 1900s
At the start of the 1900s, most African Americans were traveling northwards, flooding industrial cities. They were relocating to benefit from factory jobs that were open due to world war I, resulting from laws formulated to reduce the number of migrants arriving from waring Europe. These regulations lead to a significant reduction in emigration, creating a high demand for industrial laborers. Also, African Americans who were still under racist and discriminatory oppression in the south moved towards the north in search of better living (Boustan, 2017). Although African American men in the north continued to face seclusion and segregation in schools and public accommodation, they faced fewer voting blocks. Their number increased, which was important in the elections.
In July of 1905, African American educator W.E.B. Dubois and a group of African Americans congregated at Niagara Falls, spearheading a new political endeavor, protesting for African American civil rights with the old abolitionism spirit. As African Americans moved to cities searching for wages and fulfilling increasing demand for laborers due to the growing economy, so did the atrocities committed against them increase, such as lynching. In 1909 widespread riots in Illinois propelled the Niagara Movement to develop an organization for civil rights known as The National Association of Advanced People of Color (NAACP) (Kuratko, Neubert & Marvel,2020). Its objectives aimed to eliminate discrimination, equal education, implementing the 14th and 15thAmendments, and liberation of all African American men.
Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican-born African American exalted blackness as strong and beautiful. Garvey claimed that African Americans trying to appeal towards white people’s sense of justice was pointless, as a white civilization was built on racial profiling. He formed his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNA) in 1914, moving it to the United States from Jamaica two years later. Garvey claimed that Africans only hope in America was to escape, returning to motherland Africa to form a republic of their own (Lucas,2018). Garvey appealed to the League of Nations to settle them in Africa. He was unsuccessful and hence announced the African Empire, and he was the president. This occurred in 1921.
The civil war was a major participant in contributing towards the end of slavery of African American men. In 1862 Lincoln, issued an emancipation proclamation, making it official to free every slave in all states. However, this led to some states’ alienation, building armies to defend slavery, leading to the five-year civil war between confederates who supported slavery and union troops seeking freedom for slaves (Sinha, 2013). However, the freeing of 3million slaves in rebel states deprived the confederacy bulk of its labor force, swinging public opinion on the unions’ side. Slavery was dealt a final blow by the passage of the 13th amendment in 1865 after the civil war came to an end.
After achieving freedom, the journey of the African American men towards rebuilding their lives commenced. Most African American men traveled north in search of employment opportunities. There was also reduced oppression and segregation in the north, and here they improved their living standards. Gas heating, indoor plumbing, and better schools awaited many African Americans arriving from the south. Hence, in the years the 1800s and 1900s, African American men were scarce in their homes, as was characterized by their presence in slave camps. In these camps, they were whipped, raped, tortured, and their marriages were unacknowledged, leading to families’ separation (Mondisa,2018). African American men were starved and denied access to necessities. These oppressions propagated the African American men, such as Nut turner, to rise and fight for their freedom, culminating in the Civil War.
The 1980s to 2000s
After the attainment of liberation, Africans went on to achieve several milestones in their quest for equality. In 1983 Harold Washington was elected the 51st mayor of Chicago becoming the first black person to hold that position. Previously, Washington had served as a state legislator, both senatorial from 1977 to 1981 and state representative from 1965 to 1977 (Mondisa, 2018). Harold was elected mayor due to different factors. The leading factor was a voter registration drive of African Americans, headed by Jesse Jackson. He was a young man who left the Chicago theologian seminary and joined hands with Martin Luther king’s crusade to fight for black civil rights under the burner Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Jackson, who was at Martin Luther King’s side when he was assassinated in 1968, went on to form PUSH, People United to Save Humanity, intending to attain racial balance in the business and financial community, as he advocated for self-dependence of African Americans. Jackson became a leading voice for African Americans, urging them to be more politically active (Frady, 1996). In 1984 he ran for Democrat’s party presidential nomination. He placed third as African American voters crowded to vote for him due to his Coalition PUSH’s power. He contested again in 1988, receiving 24 percent of the total votes, and attaining second place. Jesse Jackson became a symbol of motivation, drive, censure, and appreciation due to his struggle to upraise the African American community.
In January 1980, Black Entertainment Television, or BET, was formed by Robert Johnson, an African American Entrepreneur. The television channel began mostly by broadcasting old films. Later, Robert Johnson realizes that there is not enough African American entertainment content and air performance, especially MTV, an established rival channel that aired music videos and related programs (Lucas,2018). Robert Johnson signed deals with local record labels, airing hip hop, rhythm, and blues music videos, promoting African content. The business expanded and was sold to Viacom for 2.3 billion dollars as Robert made his own 1.4 billion dollars from the 60 percent stocks he owned.
Wilson Goode, a Pennsylvanian politician, and African American, became the first African American Mayor of Philadelphia. The 1985 MOVE tragedy marred his first administration. MOVE, which was considered an insurgent movement, stood off with the Philadelphian police department, leading to one police officer’s death. The police retaliated by dropping a bomb on the roof of MOVE headquarters, leading to the death of 11, including five children, and over 250 people were injured. However, he was re-elected, serving for two terms, and went on to work for seven years as Deputy Director of Education during the tenure of Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the United States (Mondisa,2018). Goode founded the Amaechi program, which provides mentorship for children of incarcerated parents. Amaechi currently operates 210 programs in 48 states by offering mentors who live and worship in the same vicinity as them, hoping to improve children’s life opportunities significantly.
On March 6, 1986, Mike Tyson, an African American, became the youngest boxer to win the world heavyweight championship after defeating Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas, Nevada, Hilton hotel. Tyson went on in the following decade to post 37 wins an undefeated record, including 33 by knockout. Julius Francis, one of the boxers that fought Tyson, marveled at his abilities as an athlete (Hinsdale,2015). The Challenger, a space shuttle, exploded as it launched out of the Kennedy space station in the same year. Onboard was African American NASA astronaut, and physicist Dr. Ronald McNair, serving as a mission specialist. Before losing his life to the cause, he flew as a mission specialist from 1983 t0 1984 onboard the challenger in his previous years, becoming the second African American to fly in space.
However, the most notable phenomenon in the development of African Americans, especially in the broadcasting arena, was Oprah Winfrey’s rise. She is known as the media queen and has become the richest black woman of the 20th century. Winfrey was born in a low-income family in Mississippi. Her mother was a single teenager. She grew in Milwaukee in the suburbs. She got a job at the radio when in high school, and at 19 years, she co-anchored news in the evening. In 1984 in Chicago, Winfrey took over a morning talk show. After two years, she started her national group talk show, pioneered by Phil Donahue, which became the highest-rated show in Television history (Lewis, 2020). Accredited for creating intimate, confessional content while approaching many issues straightforwardly, she transformed the success of a television show into a one-person empire. She published, did motion pictures, and produced to promote African American women. She became the first African female billionaire and an active philanthropist. Notable a successful sensational challenge for African American Males absence at home in the 1980s.
In March of 1991, African American male Rodney King was caught up on a high-speed chase through California. King, who was out of prison, on probation for robbery, and high intoxicated, was finally cornered and arrested after he was severely beaten and shot by a Taser gun for allegedly resisting arrest; however, the whole incident was recorded on camera. The video was spread widely worldwide, spreading horror in African American communities worldwide that had long condemned racial profiling, a rampant occurrence practiced by police officers (Mondisa,2018). The officer in charge of the incident was finally tried in Simi Valley’s suburbs; the jury found him not guilty. The verdict sparked riots in Los Angeles, leading to the death of 55 people. Two thousand three hundred were injured, causing over 1 billion in damages, with over 1,000 buildings burned and destroyed. These forced the officers’ retrial, involved in their conviction for violation of the civil rights established by the king. As compensation, the king was given $3.8 million.
Louis Farrakhan, a minister, called for “a million” sober, methodical, clear-headed, loyal, dedicated, devoted, motivated African American men in Washington in 1995, on the Day of Atonement. This was a big demonstration in Washington, D.C., intending to renew spiritual strength and improve the social balance. The march was also to abolish negative attitudes and images associated with the African American man existing. With the United States government imprisoning over 2200 African Americans due to the war on drugs, double the men going to college (Lucas,2018). The million-man-march attracted over 400,000 men of all races, motivating, in Philadelphia 1997, the million-woman march.
In the advent of the new millennium, African Americans also made significant strides towards achieving racial balance in the largest segregated country. George Bush appointed the first African American female secretary of state, Condeleeza Rice in 2005. He also previously appointment Colin Powell, in 2001 (Laurencin & Murray,2017). He was a four-star Army general, Vietnam War veteran, and was greatly responsible for planning and executing the first United States war in the Persian Gulf. Many people proposed him as a presidential candidate, but he was not interested; however, he became a prominent figure in the republican. Powell’s major concerns were to build international backing for the United States army invasion into Iraq.
After Powell’s resignation in 2004, due to submitting false intelligence to the United Nations, Condoleezza Rice, the former head of National Security Council was appointed. She became the first woman as an African American Secretary of State. Condoleezza Rice was President Bush’s long-term adviser on foreign policy (Merola, 2020). Although Colin Powell continued to brush off any conjectures on future, probable running, for the presidential seat, he made headlines in the year 2008 when he ditched his republican Party for Obama candidature, the first president of color in the U.S.
In January 2009, Barack became the 44th President of America. He was the first African American man to hold office. He was a son to a Kenyan foreign exchange student in Hawaii, met Stanley Ann Dunham, Obama’s mother, and married her in 1961, divorcing only three years later. After receiving an economics master’s degree from Harvard University, he returned to his country, leaving Ann Dunham to raise Barack on her own (Obama, 2004). Obama grew up in Hawaii but later moved to Chicago, where he worked as an organizer for the city’s South Side, leading to his discovery of his desire for civic duty.
In 2004 President Obama announced that he would run for the United States Senate. He delivered a good speech during the Democratic Convention, gaining majority votes, after eloquently calling for national unity and cooperation, becoming the third African American senator (Obama, 2004). In 2008 he announced that he would be in the Democratic presidential nomination, battling Hillary Clinton’s position, former first lady and senator of New York. Obama won the candidacy defeating John McCain, the Republican nominee, in the battle for the presidency. Obama inspired many through his slogan, “yes we can,” and was re-elected in 2012.
Black Lives Matter is a decentralized social and political movement. BLM, which not only fights against police brutality, and racial injustice against African Americans, was first spotted in 2013 using the hashtag “Black Lives Matter” on Twitter, a social media platform. The hashtag came about after George Zimmerman, who is responsible for the shooting of African American teenager Trayvon Martin case was dismissed in court. The movement was well known for its demonstrations and protests for the appeal of African American lives, which were taken unfairly due to racial prejudice (Hinsdale,2015). The movement garnered more attention in San Francisco 2016 as national football league players knelt before a game as the national anthem played to draw light to current actions of police inhumaneness. The Black Lives Matter Movement was raised to a precarious point after the murder of George Floyd for using a counterfeit 20-dollar bill in Minneapolis. BLM spearheaded the protests after George Floyd’s murder (Asch & Musgrove, 2020). George Floyd died while being handcuffed and pinned down by Derek Chauvin, a white male officer. He was charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, while his fellow officers were charged with aiding and abetting murder.
Origin of Mentorship Programs
Mentorship is a relationship between two individuals, whereby they are more knowledgeable, experienced, and guides, and a less conversant party through experienced and trusted counsel. Mentorship is an important part of personal and professional development. Interaction with a mentor is relevant to build proficiency towards achieving professional and life goals (Hinsdale,2015). Through mentorship programs, mentors also provide resources to mentees, which would be scarce in normal circumstances. Mentors are enthusiastic parties, could be young or older than the protégé; however, they must have greater knowledge in an area.
Mentorship has existed since ancient Greece around 600 AD. The term “Mentor” originates from ‘Odyssey’ an ancient Greek poem written by Homer, dedicated to the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, a Greek hero, on his journey home after the Trojan War. In the Odyssey, Mentor was the name of an individual who became a friend and companion to Odysseus, King of Ithaca, in his old age. Odysseus went for the Trojan War, leaving the mentor in charge of his son Telemachus and the palace. When Athena, a Greek goddess associated with wisdom, handicraft, and warfare regarded as the protector of various cities, visited Telemachus, son of Odysseus, she took the disguise of Mentor (Roberts, 1999). Athena encouraged Telemachus to stand up against his mother’s suitors, interested in his mother’s hand in marriage, thinking Odysseus had died in battle. The term mentor came into perspective due to Mentor’s relationship with Telemachus, his motivation, and practical plans for dealing with personal dilemmas as he counseled Telemachus through Athena’s wisdom. Mentor’s earliest usage was spotted in the book ‘Les Aventures de Télémaque’ in 1699 as the leading characters’ role is that of a mentor.
However, mentorship programs became prevalent and popular in the 1990s. In previous years mentorship was visible through religious disciplines such as Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and apprenticeship under the guild league in medieval times. In 1991 Dr. Connie Vance, a pharmacologist, and Robert K. Olson, Dean of the College of Nursing in South Dakota, in their work, foresaw mentors serving as role models, guides, teachers, and confidants. In the following years, there was a great transference in how mentorship programs were viewed in the education and the learning community. Mentorship programs were viewed as development and transformational break towards professional knowledge transmission (Stewart & Kruger, 1996). In the year 2004, the Canadian Nursing Association published a guide acknowledging the importance of mentoring. Diverse mentorship could be applied across the country, especially in the nursing field.
Youth mentorship programs in the United States came to life with the Big Brothers Big sisters of America organization’s creation to mentor young youths at risk. Ernest Coulter conceptualized its inception as he witnessed more and more boys come through his courtroom. He realized that caring, loving adults with kids would help them stay away from a life of crime. Coulter set out to find volunteers for the young boys, who later joined Coulter in 1909 in incorporating the Big Brother Movement Inc. of New York as the first of its kind (Mondisa,2018). In 1977 Big Brother Association conjoined forces with other conglomerates in the sector, including Big Sister International. In the year 2000, Big Brother partnered with Amaechi to provide mentoring programs to children of prisoners, especially children of incarcerated African Americans.
In the 1980s to 2000s, the Absence of African American men at home was characterized by fighting for equality and racial balance in the professional, business, educational and, political fields. In this year’s the U.S realized the rise of African American men and women who were spirited, self-driven, ambitious, relentless, and unwilling to be held back by the limitations of a race characterized by prejudice, rigged systems, segregation, poverty, deficiency of equitable resources and lack of access to proper education (Mondisa,2018).
Mentorship Challenges for African American Males
African American students face a major challenge regarding the lack of efficient and effective mentorship programs that can reduce student apathy in higher learning institutions. They tend to draw their motivation from hip-hop artists who are not appreciative of academics. Hip-hop culture could also contribute to low levels of college attendance amongst African American students. This genre’s content tends to glorify success based on criminal activities and the financial gain and prosperity due to illegal narcotics sales. Most African American role models are not from the field of academia but the entertainment industry. Generally, the lack of African American mentors has always been a relevant issue for African American students’ apathy. The lack starts with the home environment since African American role models fear the neighborhoods. There is a fundamental need for the educational stakeholders to offer free or relatively cheaper mentorship programs to African American students (Mondisa, 2018).
Student mentorship programs can effectively avert African American students’ dismal rates of enrolling for degree programs in colleges and universities. Through such programs, the students can have the opportunity to select a suitable academic role model. The media should also play a vital role in informing African American students of the benefits of acquiring college degrees. The essence of having progressive career advancement is crucial in preventing the higher crime rates amongst the African American communities in the U.S. Sufficient, and elaborate mentorship programs can help students learn and adapt effectively in higher learning institutions. Racial discrimination and structured alienation are efficaciously addressed in those mentoring schemes. Institutions of higher learning face detrimental effects of racial abuse. African American lecturers are normally discriminated against when it comes to matters of promotions. This has led to a declining number of academic role models in U.S. colleges and universities. According to Lopez et al. (2010), having a mentor means easy access to an available person who can relieve college anxieties. African American students should have peer mentors through their higher learning process. This will be resourceful since it motivates the student who is about to join higher learning institutions.
Social and academic mentorship programs are vital for African American students since they promote confidence and psychosocial support to emotionally challenged students. Social mentorship is significantly effective when the student mentors. Graduate students can act as mentors for the African American students joining colleges. The perceptions of African American learners that institutions of higher learning are largely for Caucasians are demystified. A positive attitude towards academic excellence is incumbent upon the learners. However, Gunn et al. (2017) assert that students view emotional and mental support as beneficial. Academic and knowledge support is a challenging task. This has a detrimental effect on African American students’ academic progress compared to their social engagement in the learning institutions. An efficacious mentorship program would consider both the academic and psychosocial development of the students.
The student mentoring process’s challenges can be attributed to poor performance amongst African American students in higher learning institutions. Lack of role models of African origins in various institutions has led to massive student apathy in U.S. colleges. Misconceptions that African American students cannot pursue certain college degrees such as medicine, engineering, and architectural programs are rampant in higher learning institutions. These perceptions harm the rate of college attendance among African American students. Colleges should create independent committees that address the racial and social abuse that African American students face in learning institutions (Mondisa,2018). A mentorship program should have a specific goal of developing the students’ abilities, skills, and understanding in an effective learning environment void of racial abuse. Formal mentorship programs can significantly help increase African American students’ college enrollment. It also increases student satisfaction with the college learning process. American higher learning institutions must implement strategies that will that aim at retaining students after enrolling. There should be initiatives formed to encourage potential African American students in need of extra tutoring, navigating the first-year experience, and their college pathways in tertiary levels. These programs can be effective answers for ending apathy.
Recent research statistics reveal African American students should be involved in initiatives to help reduce who attend colleges have significantly declined. Some factors contribute to the declining dropout rates and the transition to colleges amongst the black students in universities and colleges. Generally, the overall transition rate of African American students to college from high school is lower compared to white students. However, male students of color face challenges being retained and passing through graduation from U.S. institutions (Laurencin & Murray,2017). This is compared to their female counterparts. Cultural diversity in the U.S. is attributed to the minority apathy regarding college attendance.
Moreover, limited parental education levels, lack of high-quality and pre-school education, negative peer influences, Eurocentric curricula and pedagogy, the absence of African American mentors and role models that can effectively challenge the minds and change the lives are also reasons for apathy among African American boys not attending college. Grant (2019) asserts that lack of achievement motivation and absence of a strong support system is a problem that African American students face in their pursuit of a college degree. Historical prejudices depict African American communities as inferior compared to other racial groups has significantly led to the overlooking of African American students when it comes to the importance of pursuing higher education. However, ongoing mentorship programs among African American students can significantly increase African American students’ enrollment in college. Students who have an effective mentoring relationship are satisfied with their college learning experiences rather than those who did not have these same experiences.
What Are the Goals of Mentorship Programs?
Generally, Mentorship programs are vital for personal development and career- advancement. This is achieved through effective learning and enhancement of personal skills or talents. There are various important objectives of offering student mentorship programs that positively affect both students and the mentors. Law et al. (2014) find that learning institutions must formulate strategies that foster mentoring relationships for all institution members to ensure positive outcomes. Through mentorship programs, students are expected to boost their social and academic confidence. They also aim at identifying goals and establish strategies for achieving the set goals. Students gain practical advice, experience, and support from their mentors through such schemes. An individual can effectively develop efficient communication and interpersonal skills that are crucial in any learning environment. Another objective of a mentorship program is gaining considerable decision-making skills that help an individual in the career development process. Student mentorship programs are important in initiating excellent learning skills amongst the learners (Laurencin & Murray,2017). These programs are crucial in providing career guidance, profile building, and skill development. The mentorship programs are crucial in bringing positive attitudes towards the learning process amongst the students. Mentoring programs are a fundamentally important tool in advancing in career among the students. Mentors provide support in career and psychosocial aspects. They offer sponsorship, coaching, protection, exposure, and emotional support. Mentorship programs focus on reducing isolation, stress, and anxiety amongst the students. This is important in facilitating an effective learning environment that allows students to prepare emotionally for the educational acquiring process.
The purpose of mentorship is to provide students with a professional network and gain extensive exposure to emerging job-market requirements. Through mentorship schemes, students can build the capacity to transform values and strategies to productivity. Routinely, a student mentorship program is beneficial in realizing a sense of achievement amongst learners. This is vital in forming stronger personalities such as confidence, a sense of humility, and increased integrity. On the other hand, a mentor can gain a sense of achievement by constantly assessing the student’s feedback on various social and professional issues. These programs enhance confidence amongst individuals, hence promoting successful professional development. They also intend to prepare students on how to deal with social pressure in their learning institutions. Students are taught to interact effectively with other members of society. Students are trained on how to provide good feedback (Griffin Jr,2015). This aims at assessing the students’ progress on their skills and general academic development. Furthermore, it has the overall goal of providing role models in society that can positively influence the students to pursue their careers. Students are encouraged to commit to self-development through mentorship schemes.
The mentorship program’s goal is to commission students to always work independently with little help from their coaches. Mentored learners always understand what it should be done. This is important since it reduces the time and cost of supervising students on the projects that are done at the schools. Personal growth is achieved through mentorship programs. Students learn how to identify and effectively choose desired attributes that can propel them to academic excellence. Effective leadership skills are eventually incorporated into the learners’ lives. They learn how to be responsible in the learning institutions. Efficacious time management skills are sufficiently acquired through such programs. However, Robinson (2014) finds that time should be devoted to implementing the qualities and skills needed in a mentor and the traits to be gained. There is a need for students to be patient in learning skills from their mentors.
Mentorship schemes are always focused on facilitating competencies and stronger interpersonal skills amongst students. Students are exposed to diverse ideas and experiences that are significant for their academic development. Mentorship programs are beneficial since it improves communication and interpersonal skills. Peer mentorship programs are crucial in advancing friendship since students interact with other students in the learning institution. Students are advised on various career advancement issues that affect their decision-making in the skills development process (Guryan et al.,2020). Students are prepared for extended learning opportunities. Lots of resourceful information is available during the mentorship process. They are offered a wide range of experience in developing, examining, determining, and analyzing problems in various topics. Through mentorship schemes, learners can identify their area of interest that they can effectively pursue.
Nevertheless, mentorship’s role is to positively offer career guidance and training to develop students’ perceptions of the chosen career path. It crucial for the education stakeholder to provide effective mentorship schemes that can help students adapt socially and psychologically for the maximum achievement of the learning process. Student mentorship programs are vital since it facilitates learners with critical thinking skills amongst students. These programs aim to enhance individual growth in problem-solving techniques (Griffin Jr, 2015). Conclusively, mentorship programs’ objectives are to offer the students practical advice, psychosocial support, and effective skills enhancement to promote psychological and academic growth.
Pros and Cons of Student Mentorship Programs
Student mentorship programs are learning schemes that are meant to enhance the knowledge and skills of students from a young age through counselors. A mentor is an individual acting as a role model. A successful mentor works toward enhancing perfect learning and development and specific skills and knowledge of the learners. Student mentorship programs are significantly important in initiating excellent learning skills amongst the learners. These programs are crucial in providing career guidance, profile building, and skill development. The mentorship programs are crucial in incorporating positive attitudes towards the learning process amongst the students (Griffin Jr,2015). Mentoring programs are a fundamentally important tool in advancing in career among the students. Mentors provide career and psychosocial support to the students. They offer sponsorship, coaching, protection, exposure, and emotional support. The mentors must be in being humble when faced with the unknown. This is as opposed to feeling embarrassed when there is a question not familiar with.
When one is a good mentor, they admit a lack of knowledge and engage in research to come up with a good answer later. Student mentorship programs have many benefits, such as providing careers, supporting personal interests, increasing confidence and feedback. Through student mentorship programs, learners gain practical advice, emotional support. They also increase their social and academic confidence that is critical in the decision-making process. Students also develop communication skills while having the possibility of being socially intellectual. They also learn how to identify lifetime and career objectives and achieve the set target goals in their learning process. Recent research reveals that individuals who receive extensive mentoring relationships excelled in the academic world and had a higher possibility of being promoted in their workplaces. Besides the growth in professionals, the lecturers need to procure their growth. They should work with mentors to co-plan and evaluate the confidence and roles (Nilsson & Van Driel, 2010). The mentorships program also enhances psychological confidence amongst the students. Moreover, it promotes risk-taking and higher goals that significantly act as a driving force towards success.
Personal recognition and appreciation are equally important in personality creation. Learners develop positive attitudes towards academic disciplines that are deemed to be tough. Students are advised on ways of balancing academic and professional responsibilities. Career success is evident on student have received effective mentorship program. Individuals are encouraged and taught the importance of pursuing their professional development to perfect their career advancement. These programs offer role models for social and professional leadership. Mentorship schemes are critical in facilitating competencies and stronger interpersonal skills. It also exposes students to diverse ideas and experiences. It also enhances a wide range of professional networks and access to useful resources fundamental to career advancement. Bhatnagar et al. (2020) assert that mentorship’s vital role in students’ development is not well understood; however, its implications for professionals’ professional development are evident.
However, mentorship programs are also beneficial to the mentors since it improves communication and the personal skills for the purpose of enhancing the management of leadership qualities and strengthens study skills in their subject, improving the confidence and motivation, and expands their circle of friends. Mentors also experience a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction after administering a successful student mentoring program (Lucas,2018). These mentorship programs are vital in helping students adapt with ease to new learning institutions. Students can be psychosocially confident around other students. Another merit of mentorship is that they prepare the learner for challenges they might face and solve the eminent problem effectively. Individuals with continuous mentorship schemes are effective in emotional management. They tend to adapt socially with other students in the learning institutions.
Students are taught how to possess humility attributes towards others. This is enhancing teamwork amongst the learners hence promoting creativity and innovative spirit. Bennett et al. (2013) claim that mentorship is a critical element of capacity-building for professionals as it supports career counseling, promotes interest in career development and establishes professional networks. Peer mentorship is crucial since students can share their knowledge and experience gained in their educational institutions. It also promotes professional relationships, which are crucial in creating a robust network of professionals interested in certain subjects. The program is also beneficial since it increases the students’ abilities and social skills. However, Abdo Alizadeh et al. (2017) argue that assessing the short and long-term results of mentoring programs is highly recommended. Examining an individual’s personal development is crucial since it helps in monitoring the student’s career-advancement. These long terms and short-term goal evaluations are significant in determining the learner’s skill level.
Conventionally, a student mentorship program is critical in realizing a sense of achievement amongst learners. This is important in building stronger personalities such as confidence, a sense of humility, and increased integrity. However, a mentor can gain a sense of achievement by assessing the student’s feedback on various social and professional issues. Enhanced confidence amongst learners is critical in promoting successful professional development. These programs prepare students on how to deal with social pressure in their learning institutions. Students are taught how to relate with other members of society. Individuals that have received effective role models are most likely to be law-abiding citizens. They gain knowledge on how to respect other peoples’ opinions (Lucas,2018).
Mentorship is crucial in individuals’ development due to the influence that role models have on their mentees. Student mentoring is beneficial to society since it promotes the existence of responsible members of society. Valuable skills are transferred to another generation through mentorship programs. The level of productivity is enhanced through a mentorship program which results in higher proceeds to the companies that employee mentored individuals. The mentorship program’s goal is to empower students to work independently with little help from the mentor. Mentored individuals always understand what is required to be done. This significantly reduces the time and cost of supervising students on the projects that are done at the schools. These coaching programs are greatly important to students since it teaches them on values of organizing their schoolwork. Organized individuals are always preferred in most organizations compared to un-organized individuals.
Conversely, students’ mentorship programs have limitations on their progress of the learners. When a mentor is forced to the mentee, there is a higher possibility of non-achievement of the intended result. It may result in a strained relationship between the student and the mentor. The non-effective relationships can hurt the overall performance of the student. Another disadvantage of the mentorship programs is the lack of effective role models in society. Some mentors are perfect in their professional advancement but are poor in maintaining a reputable social lifestyle. When a mentor exhibits a derogatory moral tendency, it may result in the student emulating the social ills that their role model depicts. Gonzales and Ruiz (2014) assert that many young people worldwide face these challenges in legal limitations, the scholars, policymakers, and educators that would effectively consider how the local application is another shape pathway of incorporation.
Students might feel frustrated when they realize that they do not get the effective and sufficient guidance they need. Alternatively, the mentor can be disappointed when they realize the students are not progressing quickly enough. Sometimes learners tend not willing to follow the instruction that the coaches are availing to them. This may lead to frustration from both parties. The process of hiring a mentor might prove to be expensive to students from humble backgrounds. This hinders individuals from receiving effective and constant mentorship. An unorganized mentorship program can have a detrimental impact on the learners’ development. Cultural diversity negatively affects the students’ progress; some cultural practices are deemed morally ill in some communities. For instance, some people view LGBTQ practices as evil. This might affect the learners’ perception of the mentorship program. Some parents tend to be conscious of some mentors with questionable backgrounds (Mondisa,2018). Though some LGBTQ members are effective leaders in the corporate world, their influence on students’ development and progress can be viewed as a decimal. The mentorship program promotes a climate of dependency. Students tend to depend on their mentors on several issues that can be resolved. Simple tasks such as doing assignments are delegated to their coaches. However, these programs may lead to a lack of self-confidence in the individuals due to their mentors’ dependency. Lack of adequate time for the mentorship program may lead to students’ withdrawal from the mentorship program. Some coaches operate on-time a schedule; this may not render the mentor enough time to assess the students’ progress (Mondisa,2018). Another limitation of a mentorship program on students is student-mentor antagonism. Students might feel they are on the same level of skills and professional advancement as the mentor. The conflict may result in a strained relationship between the mentor and the learner.
Are African Americans Attending College more Due to Mentorship Programs?
Scholars have devoted time to understanding African American males’ lives and expected academic success in recent years. Despite these findings, African American enrollment in colleges has been over 5% in the U.S since the 1980s. This disproportionate experience shows that African American males tend to drop from high school without finishing their studies. While interviewing some black students in the predominantly white schools, it was found that African American students construct meaning in their college success from their previous educational experiences. From the students’ perspective, it was noted that there was a lower success rate in college registration of African American males citing both social and academic challenges in their societies (Laurencin & Murray,2017). However, concerns about security in African American communities have been viewed negatively by the media and authority, citing criminal involvement as the main reason. The student cited two positive reasons why they are interested in joining college by responding to these questions. The issues include peer-to-peer bonding and good mentorship by the institutional staff that constitutes most senior African Americans in the college faculty. The social networks among blacks have increased the persistence to gain higher education and success in respective academic fields.
Positionality Statement
I was born May 8, 1983 to Louis Wright Jr and Zenya Wright in Jackson, MS. I have one sister (Andrea) and one brother (Paul). Up until December 25, 1994, a two-parent household was all that I knew. For 11 years our family of enjoyed family picnics, Sunday services, family reunions, and vacations. However, in 1994 my mother and father decided to do something a little differently. They decided that they would take my brother, sister, and I to my great aunt’s home in Rosedale, MS for Christmas. Of course, my siblings and I were not excited about this decision, but we were just children. We did not exactly have a say in the matter. Begrudgingly, we stayed behind as my mother and father drove off to spend Christmas Day without us. We managed to make the best of it, having cousins there that we shared the same ages with. Things gradually became better for my siblings and I. On Christmas night, my great-aunt Nita received a phone call. Her disposition went from jovial to quickly becoming concerned and saddened. I can remember hearing exclaim “Oh Lord,” and “Jesus Christ.”
Not knowing what was going on the entire house became immediately worried about what was going on and even more concerned with who was on the other side of the phone provided such devastating news. We found out that the person on the other end of the phone turned out to be my mother. She was calling to tell my great-aunt that my father had just been shot 21 times by both of uncles after an argument had gone sour. To this day, my siblings and I never truly found out the truth regarding the shooting of my father. The amazing thing is that my father survived and recovered after about a year of rehabilitation. Unfortunately, what was left of our close family unit was completely obliterated. My mother and father separated and eventually divorced, and my father moved to Riverside County in California. I grew up inquisitive and unsure of who I was becoming as a young man.
I didn’t have a lot of strong male role models in my life. Therefore, I made incredibly horrendous decisions while being a teen. At the top of the bad decisions, stood the partaking of having a child at 16 years of age. When I found out that I was going to be a father, I was confused, afraid, and frantic. I quickly withdrew from school and began working at Dairy Queen as a cook. One day as I was talking with Sam Perkins, whom was my on-duty manager at the time, I expressed to him my current situation regarding dropping out of school becoming a new father. He listened attentively and responded with words that I will never forget. He said, “if taking care of your child is your number one priority, staying in school will prove to be the decision that you could ever make.” He further went on to tell me about the perks regarding having an education versus not having an education. By the end of our conversation, it was clear to me what my next decision would need to be.
I spoke with my mother when I made it home. Then the very next day, my mother went up to the school to speak to the administrators regarding them allowing me to finish my 10th grade year without being held back. Because I did not have any behavior issues and it wasn’t too late in the school year, I was allowed to make up about 2 months of work. My high school gave me 2 weeks to finish my make up work if I expected to get promoted to the 11th grade. With a little focusing and drive, I eventually finished up my work and was promoted to the next level. Who knew that in one moment of speaking with my on-duty manager, that it would change the course and trajectory of my life forever? This wasn’t only time I dropped out of school. I actually dropped out of high school twice.
The second time that I dropped out of high school was in 2001. At my previous high school called Bailey Magnet, I was choir president, senior class president, I played baseball, and I was in the marching band. But I was still misguided and a knucklehead. One day while one the bus, I decided to jump out of a window as the bus came to a stop. The bus driver had stopped the bus to deal with some of the students who were keeping up a ruckus. I honestly don’t know why I was so impatient, but I jumped out of the bus window and walked home. In my mind it honestly wasn’t a big deal. However, I was subsequently suspended. From the suspension, I was impeached from office and re-elected by the senior class student body. Although I won the presidency twice, I decided that I no longer wanted to do traditional school. I eventually moved to California to live with my father after I dropped out of school. I enrolled at Mountain View High School in May of 2001. Again, another familiar situation was on the horizon.
I was informed that if I wanted to complete school on time, which was before June 2001, I would have to finish a semester amount of work in 2 weeks. Again, I was tenacious and determined to finish my studies on time. I eventually went on to graduate with my high school diploma from the Mountain View High School Adult Education Program in San Jacinto, CA. I was lost as a child and often mislead and misguided. Without my father in my life during my adolescent years, life was hard and almost impossible to determine if success would be in the cards for me. Often there are times when I refer to myself and the many people like me as “a concrete rose.” Something beautiful that is created from the most unlikely of circumstances. Concrete roses are people who still “became” even though their situations gave them little to no chance of success. My life’s work is a salute to you.
Figure 5
First Year African American Enrollment in College
The quality of employment and access to health that leads to African American quality paint a negative picture of African American males’ quality of life in the urban settings of the U.S. According to Pillay (2005), it is vital to know and offer intervention and prevention strategies to give positive results to this group. Therefore, mentorship programs are suggested for the young urban African Americans that increase their social and academic prowess. Many authors have highlighted the benefits associated with after-school programs for African American males. The effective programs are delineated by examining the core elements that drive change to this specific group. African Americans have succeeded in academia and life it ways that many cannot understand. Researchers in social science have determined various success stories of African American males from their travels and interviews.
As discussed by Kuratko, Neubert, & Marvel (2020), who are some of the scholars regarding African American student’s issues in New Jersey, the African American community faced many challenges but still managed to be focused. The author explains that while in college, his professor lauded him for better public speaking skills despite lacking the confidence to perform. However, it is evident that the lecturers also played an important role by mentoring the African American students without discrimination. Thus, mentoring by professors in colleges can inspire students to perform more by instilling high self-esteem in fostering career growth in African American males. Most senior lecturers are capable of inspiring African American male students to perform better. By assuring this group that they are better students daily, Janeja et al. (2016) assert that social inclination is not the only attribute fostered here but also the achievement of excellence and greatness.
Mentoring students aims to motivate, educate, and empower students to achieve excellence and believe in themselves. The manner of word choice while doing mentorship is also valuable in restoring faith to the lost hope. Hence educators should remain mindful of the power their influence has on educators. Thus, senior faculty heads should continuously remind their students of their greatness, thereby achieving concentration and further academic success in African American males (Laurencin & Murray,2017). If educators fail to do the above principles, they can be picked as street slack. For example, it is said that one cannot teach what they do not know. For instance, a lecturer training a peer educator in Arts but has no idea of social science will be tough to control students’ study and understanding.
Another important aspect is for trainers to try and know the abilities of their respective students. Knowing the students’ strengths and weaknesses, according to Taussig and Culhane (2010), mentors can align their African American male trainees with effective and quality learning processes fitting their descriptions. By knowing students’ classroom needs, mentors can motivate their peers and maintain the motivation processes. There are some basic issues from the teacher-learner perspective that needs to be understood categorically. They include learning styles, knowing student goals and aspirations, past experiences, their history, and cultural backgrounds in check. Unlike good teachers who explain concepts, superior teachers and great teachers demonstrate ideas and inspire their students. The learning process becomes fun when there is a strong relationship built between learners and their trainees.
On the concept of an African American student, mentoring them to attend college more after high school requires them to like the specific teachers training them in the after-school programs (Pillay,2005). By building solid relationships with students, lecturers can consistently treat African American males respectfully and fairly to build trust. The relationship should show genuineness that trainers are interested in the growth of all students without discrimination. Many of these African American students need someone to talk to and listen to their challenges. Great teachers would form sessions with learners by having regular discussions in playgrounds and focus group discussion hallways. The students would feel motivated and loved, thereby listening to career advice to continue with a college education and believing in achieving success eventually. The benefits shall be for both the learner and teacher because students’ success shows the lecturers’ value and success.
Are Mentorship programs Reducing Incarceration for African American Males?
The massive incarceration of young African American males is solely related to drug offenses in the U.S and European nations. This is a social issue that has numerous implications (Janeja et al., 2016). In the U.S, the African American Church was used to address these issues of incarceration that has been termed as another form of racism. However, the mentoring programs done by social movements and activists have boring fruit in reducing incarceration among young black males. By empowering young African Americans, social movements achieve a reduced concept in young African Americans’ incarceration.
The African American Church has formed initiatives to refocus on understanding the issues bothering young African Americans in America. The mentoring programs and interventions have addressed various African American community problems by addressing drug-related incidences and crime while offering solutions. The African American church was involved in the ex-drug offender cases by establishing reentry connections and reintegrating young African American rehabilitations. The African American church’s overall idea was to formulae processes that address the young African American racial problems from various incarceration (Kuratko, Neubert & Marvel, 2020). By undertaking therapeutic activities, organizations like the African American church can address drug issues concerning the African American males under incarceration. The mentorship groups use further documentation of prayer, worship, and other forums to release the stress young African Americans experience daily.
The African American Church offers social initiatives that address empowerment, self-actualization, and inequalities in society. The inequality to be addressed include the many African Americans that are incarcerated disproportionately concerning drug involvement. The African American Church’s performance to create social change cannot be underestimated in that it acts as a formidable vehicle to create awareness and draw justice complaints. Moreover, DeCuir-Gunby (2009) explains that the word Blacks is interchangeable with being African American. In most scenarios, the U.S census data show that African Americans comprise over 15% of the American population. For this discussion, young African Americans are self-identified from 18-30 years’ systemic and self-identification. Under the 26th amendment of the constitution, the 18years of age is the limitation age for juvenile incarceration and is not suggestive of racial emancipation. When African Americans finish high school, it is at this moment that they engage in social inclinations like engaging in trade and marital concerns. The propensity to engage in the drug will be high among African Americans due to possible lack of job opportunities and discrimination (Hinsdale, 2015). The mentoring programs need to address social issues like incarceration at this life level of young African Americans to avoid possible fallout with law authorities.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the war on drugs in the U.S started at the time of President Nixon. It is alarming that the penal code has risen from close to 300,000 cases to more than 2 million over the last 30 years in the U.S. The male gender is incarcerated close to over 10% in the U.S than the female gender. The reasons for continuous incarceration in the U.S are attributed to the systemic and cyclical disparity in nature. Even with the current debates, it is evident that young African Americans suffer more from drug-related incarceration. Most young African Americans have negative characteristics that can assume responsibility for these problems in their society. The issues include living with a single mother, having many siblings, parents having lower incomes, and a possible lifestyle of not completing tertiary education for quality job opportunities (Laurencin & Murray,2017). Most disparities in this group are attributed to denial of educational chances, history of prison sentencing, absent fathers, and possible re-sentencing for crimes.
With organizations like the African American church, interventions of mentorship in the African American male population are warranted. This incarceration is generational; hence social reforms’ merits need to be addressed by organizations like the African American Church. However, Cummings (2010) noted that with the increased formation of human rights groups, mentorship programs had necessitated change by empowering the young African American to become better in the social, educational, and economic development protocols. Being named mega-churches, African Americans are highly associated with church activities that use interventions to empower young males. In general, African American male organizations have tried to bolster change in the delivery of juvenile functions. The mentorship programs have facilitated growth, inspiration, and change in delivering justice to young African American males by avoiding incarcerations. Rehabilitation programs also initiated by civil rights groups have also changed the hostile relationship between the authorities and the minorities. This intervention’s success is evident from a reduced number of penal cases concerning African Americans in the U.S.
What Are the Shortcomings of Mentorship Programs?
Different students learn in different ways. Hence Buck (2020) suggests that good mentorship programs should entail the knowledge of your African American male and female counterparts respective to the ethnic composition of your class. Another aspect to consider while offering mentorship training is the concept of culture and student experiences. The trainer must ask the above questions to build a rapport with peer groups, thereby attaining academic excellence. Secondly, there is an issue of lecture notes that might affect student understanding of students and general African American males. Lecture notes are good in auditory lessons but are worst in gaining instructional strategy to learners, as described by Hamilton & Hamilton (2010). In essence, there are learning styles for different trainees; hence, lecturers should consider understanding their respective learners’ styles better understand.
By considering African American males, teachers are advised to learn the styles suitable for different learners to be equally cooperative and excited about the program. By learning the process better for students in training, lecturers have a high affinity to understanding their students better, facilitating cooperation in the classroom. From teacher-student-centered learning, it is highly impossible to deliver quality learning to all students because they are reduced to passive participation in class. To this degree, other scholars advise that learning should be student-centered so that teachers can observe their inactive student learning while providing help to the stranded group. The student uses a variety of learning activities hence can use the acquired skills in different problem-solving methods. The observation helps trainees make informed decisions to both learners and trainers (Buddeberg-Fischer & Herta, 2006).
Goals and Aspirations of Students
By knowing the goals and aspirations of various students, lecturers can ascertain if they have high expectations to graduate with high grades. Teachers training the African American male groups should maintain high standards and expectations to achieve success despite the challenges experienced in the past or currently. Simultaneously, encouraging young men to work hard and graduate from high school to a degree and possibly a master’s degree. Cummings (2010) explains that teachers should motivate learners to soldier on. In doing this, students feel good about themselves, thereby feeling courageous to work harder to succeed in their respective grades. Regardless of the grade level, teachers should ensure that they help students set goals to attain their goals and objectives.
African American males are advised to consider elementary education seriously to advance to higher tertiary institutions. By familiarizing themselves with student goals, teachers can help learners adopt new studying models with educational and personal growth development (Laurencin & Murray,2017). For personal motivation, senior lecturers must make sure that they understand their students’ aspirations. Knowing the African American males’ aspirations helps one know what they want to become beyond high school; thus, their investment knowledge is easier digested. Many African American males feel that they do not need to concentrate on their aspirations since they lack self-esteem in living beyond a certain age. Sadly, trainers still cannot determine why African American males specifically cannot believe in opportunities and possibilities (Hinsdale, 2015). African American males live in neighborhoods that do not allow school access since most use trains or buses to school. In an experience from a high school teacher, they commended some black students for arriving at school earlier than expected, considering numerous challenges they go through. The class attendance is regularly s tough for students; hence, it is better to motivate learners who try to come regularly.
Without considering ethnicity, teachers who have never stayed in the suburbs could never imagine the black males’ hardships to get to school regularly. In the inner-city zones, Buck (2020) argues that most students pas many gangs to reach schools. For example, students are robbed, jumped by gangs, and lack protection; it is difficult to maintain a regular appearance in the summer enrichment programs. Hence, it is beneficial to be collaborative and understanding for all students, specifically those coming from the suburbs. For African American males to remain safe, they are pushed to join these drug gangs to protect the drug lords. For good mentors in the intervention programs, they must understand their student experience and be mindful of discussing them openly. By building trust with your students, Buddeberg-Fischer & Herta (2006) assert that information disclosure will be easier with your trainees.
African American males suffer racism and scars of victimization in the U.S hence should be given equal or special treatment in the mentoring program. The consequence of racism affects students learning directly; hence teachers must consider such impacts on motivational learning. Racial profiling in the U.S has taken a toll on the African American masses such that one is termed criminal simply because of their skin color (Lucas,2018). Because of this profiling, most African American students find themselves harassed by the authorities simply because they were hanging out with friends on their way home from school. Such cruelty should be addressed, and creating awareness is fair to all so that students can concentrate fully on their academic growth and development. These frustrations to African American males’ students directly affect students’ motivation to excel in classrooms.
How Can Mentorship Programs Be Improved?
Student retention is possible in major student universities from holistic and elaborate approaches (DeCuir-Gunby, 2009). By looking at various student characteristics and university atmosphere, mentors can offer good programs that align themselves to institutional activities. The students should feel comfortable with the community around them with a high sense of responsibility to the student service initiatives. If students feel respected and valued, learners’ performance increases; hence the expectation of either positive or negative outcome is easy to address. Students feel more encouraged by having an effective student union because the learning and working environment is effective for all departments. With positive outcomes, students can reach their full potential in a specific field of study. This result enhances students’ critical thinking and appreciation of community cultures (Hamilton & Hamilton, 2010). Many schools in the U.S used this method to adopt student retention processes such that the structure of mentorship programs is effective.
Retention and academic progress
Success in student retention is directly connected to self-actualization and academic excellence. Thus, learners who show outstanding abilities can move higher to tertiary institutions successfully. Additionally, past studies indicate that students who engage in campus activities have high chances of joining the universities (Buck, 2020). In a study by various authors, it was found that trainees who engage in organizational programs at the campus level are most likely to have higher leadership qualities, unlike those that did not. Moreover, the African American students cited an association with student unions, unlike their white counterparts. The difference is the African American males’ ability to join such interventional groups to foster democracy and enhance change in societal injustices. By participating in these organizations, African Americans can access various campus priorities normally allocated to the white majority. Furthermore, the involvement in activities by African American male students in organizations helped improve campus leadership, easing student retention (DeCuir-Gunby, 2009). After compiling academic success, the students can engage in peer-to-peer mentorship programs, thereby gaining vast experience in integrating a conducive habitat for personal growth in academics.
Many attributes enable the success of African American male students in universities. This study reflected on the possible benefits of mentorship programs to gauge the mental stress and possible dissociation to students’ learning. The expectation of school development in the African perspective was expected to be immense in student lifestyles. However, Black et al. (2010) say that the support attained from social networks helped improve students’ mental health. Students involved in mentorship programs had better educational capabilities, unlike those that ignored the training. Finally, the study discussed the benefits of ing college students from attending mentorship programs using the campus resources sponsored by the mentoring organizations.
Educational Leadership Theoretical Framework Literature
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows that people are satisfied with their intended wants. This theory illustrates how students can be motivated to achieve their academic goals through attaining self-actualization, admiration, social, physiological, and safety demands. The lowest human wants are the most basic needs, while the most complex needs are at the highest levels. According to Kaur (2013), motivation factors play a role in an individual’s satisfaction. A holistic educational strategy can develop stronger, healthier, and responsible individuals. Learners are encouraged to believe in themselves to attain their academic and career advancement successfully. Abraham Maslow categorized humans in want in the hierarchy of five stages: physiological needs, safety needs, social wants, esteem needs, and eventually self-actualization needs.
The student mentorship program should first address the learner’s physiological wants. Learning institutions should offer basic human wants that ensure the wellbeing of the students during mentorship schemes. These needs include food, accommodation, and efficient sanitary provisions. For instance, learners acquire education with ease when there are mentally and physically fit. Colleges can formulate strategies and feeding programs within the institution that provide meals to all the students (Laurencin & Murray,2017). Secure accommodation is crucial during the student mentoring process. Clinics and sanitariums should be established within the learning institution to ensure easy accessibility to healthcare for students.
The second Maslow’s hierarchy of needs level is safety and security. Mentored students need a safe and secured environment during the mentorship process. Students need to feel safe with their mentors to achieve holistic development towards the professional path. Mentors are required to a safe environment for the mentees learning. This is an environment that significantly contributes to student’s confidence in the skill gaining process. Bulut et al. (2010) argue that through mentorships, the students are more confident and can see the reality in new environments. Students might seem scared of their new learning experience, especially while being mentored by someone they are not used to.
Furthermore, educational insurance policies should be enacted to ensure students’ safety and compensation if an accident occurs during the mentoring process. College professors who act as project supervisors should provide tight work schedules that encourage students to pursue their academic mandate without fear and anxiety. Anxiety causes stress amongst the learners resulting in student apathy to the mentorship program. This hurts the coaching progress. However, general motivation to the student even when the subjects taught may seem difficult but is significantly important to individuals’ personal development. Student interaction on the campus should be secured. This can be done by installing security features such as CCTV cameras, access controls, and the deployment of qualified security personnel vital for any learning institution. Mentoring institutions should be void of burglary, theft, rape, and overall criminal activities. Adapting to a new learning environment is vital for the mentees since they can build confidence in their mentors and the skills they are being taught. Consequently, Gopee (2015) claims that mentors must appropriately facilitate the learning process, encourage self-management, provide a learning opportunity, and support the maximum of the students’ potential.
Students’ social needs are illustrated in Maslow’s theory of human wants. The educational stakeholder should create a friendly environment for all students in the learning institutions. Through social networking amongst students, learners are motivated on academic and professional development aspects. Mentees can share their various ideas and perceptions about the process of acquiring skills and knowledge. The social relationship between the mentors and students is significantly important for both party’s personal development. Students’ needs are satisfied through effective socialization. The social needs of individuals boost their confidence in pursuing various educational and professional goals. Mentors can efficaciously identify the challenges students face in their learning institutions through friendship and emotional friendships (Laurencin & Murray,2017). Depression and anxiety amongst students can be effectively prevented through the provision of individual’s social needs. Therefore, sports teams, social clubs, and religious associations must be incorporated into the mentorship programs. A personal relationship with other students and mentors can be resourceful in satisfying social needs amongst learners. Loneliness amongst learners can have detrimental effects such as alcoholism and drug abuse, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and antisocial tendencies.
Mentors should always monitor their mentees’ behaviors to prevent detrimental effects of social needs. Excessive use of social media results in social media bullying that adversely influences the student’s performance. However, solitude and lack of social support may increase the use of social media. Unappreciated social interaction may drive students to excessive social media use (Wang et al., 2012). Conversely, they can view the social support gained through social networks and media to solve the institution’s antisocial tendency. Therefore, educational stakeholders must advise the students on their mode and the people they interact with on social media. The socially intelligent student is more likely to achieve their academic goals and eventually succeed in their professional advancement.
Students’ self-esteem needs satisfaction is also an important aspect of the effective mentorship program. Self-admiration is a vital element in motivating students to pursue their career goals. Students’ self-admiration is crucial in developing personal interest in learning new techniques. Learners are motivated by believing that they are appreciated and respected by their mentors. When appreciated on the efforts that apply to accomplish any given assignment, individuals tend to be motivated to achieve more complex tasks. However, a lack of self-esteem amongst students results in feelings of inferiority. Mentorship programs should enhance psychological support to learners with a view of promoting personal confidence amongst students. According to Hopper (2019), when individual’s esteem needs are satisfied, they feel confident and see their efforts and achievements as valuable and important. Mentors should value the outcome of the students’ tasks at any given stage as they constantly assess their progress.
Some factors negatively affect individuals’ self-esteem, such as their consciousness, age, disabilities, social inequality, religious affiliation, and racial discrimination. These factors have adverse effects on student development. Furthermore, students who receive negative criticism from colleagues and mentors are at a higher risk of developing low self-esteem. Mentors should always encourage learners to express their needs, embrace confidence, stop dwelling on negative experiences, and capitalize on their strengths (Laurencin & Murray,2017). Students should be shown that they are valued and respected in the classroom, and mentors should formulate a supportive environment. Mentorship programs should implement strategies that promote self-admiration and a sense of belonging towards certain learning institutions.
Self-actualization is the last stage of Abraham Maslow’s theory of human motivation. This stage is vital since it is determined that students have reached their full potential through the mentorship program. It is imperative to acknowledge behaviors that result in self-actualization, such as being innovative, responsible, honest, and independent. Self-actualized students are realistic in problem-solving techniques. They exude confidence towards various issues and always ready to pursue their professional goals. Although they tend to be independent in their pursuit of education and career advancement, they still consult their mentors on issues that seem difficult to solve (Merola,2020). Self-actualized individuals enjoy the process of achieving their set goals. They tend not to be concerned about the problems they might face towards attaining the desired outcome. Motivating human beings requires that people seek fulfillment and change through personal growth. Self-actualized people are determined to do what they have learned and are ready to explore their full potential. They tend to have a strong possession of democratic views that allow room for consensual opinions. Self-actualized individuals are always concerned with the welfare of humanity and society in general. The peak of achieving human needs is characterized by creativity.
They interact with high moral standards towards their colleges and mentors. They see reality efficiently and can bear with uncertainty. This stage of motivation amongst students is characterized by being open, spontaneous, and unconventional on various socially accepted norms. They perceive emerging problems must have an elaborate plan to solve them. However, this stage of human development may result in students valuing their privacy hence hindering mentor-mentee engagement. This level allows students to explore their skills, talents, and abilities since they have experienced personal growth and adequate professional advancement training. Conclusively, efficacious skills and talent development require robust supervision and mentorship (Subramaniam et al., 2015).
Transformational Leadership Theory
Transformational leadership is when a mentor motivates students to identify the required change, formulates transitional objectives, and inspires the motivated mentees to implement the selected goals. Mentors should always have a passion for transforming students to their serving capacities. For instance, a graduate student should motivate first-year students to attain a college degree and study programs. It is significantly important for mentors to delegate duties that were initially assigned to them to their students. This allows the student to adapt to the norms of working and prepares them for future complex tasks. Furthermore, transformational leadership encourages learners to do more research than required. Students are expected to perform beyond their limits. Teachers are expected to set clear goals with limitless conjectures while offering support and recognition. Worthwhile, it focuses on social values and is resourceful in times of affliction and change. According to Sadeghi and Pihie (2012), the most significant leadership element that promotes leadership efficaciousness is the teacher’s style.
Transformational leadership entails four aspects of administering supervision amongst students: carrying inspirational motivation talks, stimulating the intellect, influencing ideas, and making personal interests. Transformational leadership helps create a vision and communicate it to the students. The student mentorship program is important in communication between the teacher and the students. To make a reality to such a vision, teachers must rely on students practicing the vision. They can provide a shared guideline on achieving goals. Human-capital-enhances, the student mentorship program, brings together transformational leaders, and it is subject to assessment on performance. Using competitive mentorship culture based on performance regulates the connection between the leaders and the environment where an enhanced mentorship program is innovated.
Idealized influence relates to the extent to which teachers are considered inspiring role models. They are depicted mentors as who are exemplary role models for students. Mentors with idealized influence can be trusted and respected by students to make good educational decisions for their professional advancement. These teachers the trusted and admired by the students who bent to follow their doctrines. Idealized influence consists of idealized influence attributes. They are also trusted because they influence others’ behaviors sacrificing to improve the objectives of a workgroup. Mentors are expected to provide inspirational motivation to the students (Merola,2020). On the other hand, students are supposed to identify and emulate a mentor who epitomizes loyalty and maintains high moral standards. Idealized influence is significant since it leads to the successful transition of roles from the mentor to students. This type of transformational leadership can be effectively enhanced by expressing creativity, compassion, positivity, and productive communication skills by the mentor to the students.
Inspirational motivation illustrates the scope in which a teacher shows a vision that is attractive and encouraging to students. Mentors empower students by being optimistic about the future. They behave in manners that motivate learners by providing solutions to the afflicting problems. This form of transformational leadership entails that mentors motivate students to commit to the objectives that aim to succeed in professional advancement. Teachers with inspirational motivation encourage students to attain maximum academic excellence (Laurencin & Murray,2017). Mentors have a pivotal role in ensuring the students’ visions are achieved through academic motivations. Students are encouraged to envision their eventual career path.
Furthermore, teachers are tasked with ensuring the objectives of the mentorship program are achieved. Another advantage of inspirational motivation is that their mentors support students’ visions. It is easy for the learners to identify favorable traits and emulate them to benefit the career progression. Students’ perceptions about certain educational problems are demystified through inspiration. They have mentored students through real-life scenarios. Teachers can effectively transfer their expertise through envisioning the future success of an individual (Mondisa, 2018). However, learners can select the best direction of their academic and professional development that they deem fit for them. The transformational teacher must express a vivid vision for future developments, articulate expectations of the mentorship program. Teachers are required to demonstrate an allegiance to the objectives set. This transformational leadership feature requires elaborate communication skills since the teacher must pass information with accuracy and authority. Other significant exploits of the mentor are constant positivity and passion for future success amongst the students.
Intellectual stimulation describes how the mentor vitalizes students’ efforts to be innovative and creative while considering existing drawbacks with a new perspective. Teachers encourage students to be innovative and creative by challenging the normal perceptions. Mentors with intellectual stimulation promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills amongst students. The transformational teacher challenges perceptions and searches for ideas from students without criticizing. Teachers are expected to support students by involving them in the decision-making process while provoking their endeavors to find solutions to the problem. Students are motivated to be innovative in searching for solutions by imploring other problem-solving methods rather than being conventional (Mondisa, 2018).
Mentorship programs are vital in boosting students’ intellectual capacity. Mentors should also delegate complex projects to their mentees to explore other alternative ways of solving eminent problems. Individuals are encouraged to challenge themselves by going beyond their experiences to find solutions. This form of transformational leadership encourages creativity amongst learners. They are equipped with skills that make them courageous in tackling societal issues through critical thinking. It is imperative to apply the intellectual stimulation method while mentoring students since it enhances students’ problem awareness; simulation of intellect positively influences the students to see their troubles from a unique point-of-view (Pongpearchan, 2016). Teachers are viewed as providers of support, encouragement, and training to the students. Mentorship programs should be geared towards creating an enabling environment for academic and professional development.
Individualized consideration is the level to which the teachers provide support, motivation, and mentorship to students. Mentors need to assess individual needs and then delegate certain tasks to help students grow through personal challenges. This form of transformation leadership occurs when the teacher assigns projects to stimulate learning experiences, provides mentoring and motivation (Parnther et al.,2019). In case both parties should maintain respect. Personal consideration includes reflecting on the needs of the coaching, mentorship, communication, and raising the students’ issues being mentored.
Servant Leadership
Leadership development is crucial to the mentorship of higher education students, business organizations, and the communities around these institutions. Thus, student leadership and growth are referenced as a primary goal to improving both educational institutions and outside business organizations. There is the alignment of leadership mentorship and student development in most colleges’ ethical growth and decision-making. This study aims to develop evidence-based suggestions for the ethical development of students and business organizations. Profit and non-profit firms have recognized the benefits of leadership development to the mentorship of students and workers in career growth and empowerment (Hinsdale, 2015). Therefore, research on servant leadership has a unique bridge between student governance and employee development after undergoing mentorship counseling programs. However, despite having a strong connection between student and business leadership development, there seem to be great opportunities in academia and business while relating to students’ post-graduate life and employee retention.
Similarly, an improvement of student mentorship in universities helps attain early intervention for economic growth, and this attribute escalates the breadth of stakeholder investment. For instance, student embracing of servant leadership is beneficial to learning institutions, businesspersons, and future employment opportunities after graduation. If students’ and employees’ leadership can be enhanced to sufficient levels, they can expect positive advancement in community achievements. In ethics, student’s and employees’ behavior in their respective organizations is determined as ethical or unethical depending on internal and external factors (Merola, 2020). The factors may include leadership by executives lacking mentorship qualities and some norms like social influences. Thus, for effective servant leadership in students and workers at various institutions, these internal and external forces must be addressed.
Students should know their values and aspirations and how such attributes can influence their personal growth and development for student cases. In this concept, to establish effective servant leadership in students and employees, organizations should adhere to research while focusing on the pre-and post-graduation authenticity of learners. Moreover, the theories of authentic and servant leadership are supported by many authors considering the impact they have on the positive development of inward and outward approaches to leadership development. Discussing the above concepts together shows a positive framework to navigating between the principles of ethics, trust, and pro-social concerns. Servant leadership, humility, stewardship, and learners’ empowerment are highly recommended for successful leadership.
Despite authentic ad servant leadership being distinct, scholars have argued that their integration to foster leadership is vital by combining the aspects found in their theories (Basu, 2017). Both leadership styles are however lacking awareness in echoing concepts of research. Numerous scholars propose that the two theories require a building bridges initiative in mentorship to ascertain the students and business and the general quality of leadership styles. By self-awareness and humility dimensions, researchers explain that authentic and servant leadership can offer leadership structures competencies. On finalizing this review, the authors resonate that future linkages between student ad employee leadership require good behaviors and ethical standards in developing mentorship training for better skills development and future growth.
Servant leadership
Servant leadership started over three decades ago and was showcased as a leadership style involving service to others without having personal gains (Kinsler, 2014). The sad thing is that most constructs of this leadership style are not addressed. This theory has transgressed overtime in its conceptual framework through clarification of testable operations. Further, the measure of this theory stimulated most works of servant leadership. Ladegard & Gjerde (2014) found no valuable evidence in satisfying this theory. However, they managed to identify some principles that can be used in explaining humility in leadership. They include calling, healing of emotions, persuasion, and stewardship in organizations.
Authentic and servant leadership provides a complex system in understanding and developing an effective leadership style for students and employees in different organizations. The principles obtained from these two theories have been used to integrate leadership in students and profit and non-profit organizations (Collinson & Tourish, 2015). The theories are well structured and have an established evidence-based foundation in the formulation of literature. Scholars argue that this is a time to consolidate and strengthen the connection between student leadership development and mentoring programs to develop good ethics in institutions. These theories complement the benefits of emphasizing ethical conduct ineffective leadership while acknowledging the leadership styles’ internal and external influences (Hirst et al., 2015).
Moreover, the theories are used to develop literature in exploring student developments and employee motivation in workstations. Higher education, business organizations, and community persons need honest leaders who can engage in social change to bring societal growth differences. Kellogg Foundation proposed a system where higher education personnel and business organizations can develop more responsible leaders to solve societal problems amicably. With ongoing corporate corruption (Drumwright, Prentice, & Biasucci, 2015), the public is rapidly getting tired of the status quo. It proposes a new breed of ethical, integral leadership and free of scandals. This new leader should think differently from a student that comes from a university such that conceptualization of traits should be addressed. The students ignore the rational part of leadership involving collaboration and development while concentrating on power and authoritarian influences.
According to notes, the discrepancy between traditional and modern leadership systems should be addressed (Kiersch Byrne, 2015). Mentorship programs in universities should align their training to provide the principles of servant and authentic leadership styles. The principles can contain desires for future jobs, expectations from the community, knowledge and skills, and fellow students’ ability. These programs can empower students to become better leaders and not simply law-enforcers who exert pressure over others in organizations. By developing leadership criteria in integrating authentic and servant leaders, various norms can be established. Even though servant and authentic leadership can address effective student ideologies, most theories are always aligned to these theories. Grunwell (2015) found that effective mentorship programs help students develop self-actualization, thereby becoming more practical, purposeful, ethical, and self-oriented in discovering their talents.
This theory explains the benefits of being real, honest, and authentic with all mentoring programs’ stakeholders. For one to say they understand authentic leadership, they must engage in self-awareness. Further, Collinson, & Tourish (2015) asserts that an additional concentration on open sharing of information to build relationships with other group members. On the other hand, leadership theory has gained fame in business organizations in its empirical ideologies. Previous scholars provided a dimensional model that was useful in building leadership development programs. The models were self-awareness, unbiased processing of information, authentic behavior, and finally, a relational orientation for leadership success. The above principles are covered in the explanation of the authenticity of valid propriety measures. In the end, the models can be adapted to articulate and guide students in the development and evaluation of their career paths.
The aim of servant-leadership theory is for leadership to act amicably as a servant to the followers. Take an example of Walmart organization, Drumwright, Prentice & Biasucci (2015) says that the CEOs and staff cooperate for the supermarket’s better coexistence. The executives should relate well with subordinates to foster growth and leadership criterion of governance. With this protocol, leaders are humble about aggression at work. The leaders look for their staff’s greater good while considering servant leadership’s objective concerning company growth. Servant leadership has many characteristics involved in it but is only described in the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS).
First, the survey talks about empowerment that entails the belief in others. Secondly, accountability is addressed that develops clear goals and objectives. Thirdly, provision of support, and fourthly, the ability to humble oneself and understand student and employee limitations (Hirst et al., 2015). In conclusion, servant leadership also addresses the concept of authenticity, courage, interpersonal acceptance, and competencies in leadership. In other words, a combination of the servant and authentic leadership styles aggregates the frame that may overlap in behavior and ethical understanding. However, there is the consideration of inward and outward focus of competency frameworks when developing a better standard of forming high standard leadership in the big institutions.
Previous research and data in different organizations and higher education have been reviewed to understand the practicality of applying servant and authentic leadership. The proposed recommendations by these bodies help navigate the existence of theories as frameworks in different organizations. Thus, it is advisable to learn leadership styles by being more specific to the organization, unlike concentrating on a larger group (Clark & White, 2010). Within organizations, authentic leadership is considered a specialization, while the tools for organizing the coaching are generalized. By undertaking Positive Organizational Studies (POS), knowledge on the servant and authentic development is addressed. Specifically, some scholars argue that creating an integrated knowledge base for followers’ motivation can solve problems. When information is shared between leaders and subordinates, the traditional top-down model’s change to modern equal power-sharing characteristics is enhanced. For instance, in some schools, students learn various courses, but some sections include manuscripts highlighting leadership development programs. The goal is to attain student knowledge of leadership development benefits not just in school but at workplaces.
Furthermore, Ariely (2012) purports that servant leadership is guided by certain philosophies to exist within program formats and a combination of classroom learning. Community service has been a core component in the development of student leadership since. Additionally, authentic leadership guidelines are witnessed in major works of literature in an educational institution. The major components witnessed are the components of self-awareness and unbiased processing of vital information in student learning. For example, social science scholars noted that structured reelection in learning helped boost students’ knowledge-gain. As described earlier, most students take the single component of authentic principles and discuss it further while illustrating the mentorship programs’ methods. Berkovich (2014) reminds us that authentic leadership is both inward and outward understanding of leadership followers. It helps to cultivate the learning process in both student and organizational business employees. However, exercises that help students grow in focused skills and open communication positively merit true and humble servants.
Integrating Good Training Practices
As Clark & White (2010) points out, good leadership must have more than understanding the concept of being effective. There should be an efficient understanding and development on a broad scale. Researchers give human development options for both pieces of training and education for this context. A focus on experiential learning and recommendations can be applied to student development.
Experiential Learning
Knowledge is vital in leadership development, but it is not enough for changing behaviors in leadership. New knowledge must be acted upon while considering what encompasses the domain of learning. Ladegard&Gjerde (2014) explains that management and outside educational background can also be affected in literature’s pedagogical pursuant. This can be seen in theories and models used in leadership development. The most significant elements take center stage in the management and training process. Experiential learning offers a format of integration as applied in a variety of theoretical frameworks. Addressing experiential learning theory (ELT), learners can resolve competing problems by engaging in dialectic processes.
Even though experiential learning has been criticized (Day et al., 2101), the learning process concepts like reflection and experiences are globally accepted in academia. Most learned people claim that business programs attain standards in education requires the presence of ELT must be profound. Thus, experiential learning theory has brought challenges to business organizations while others see it as an opportunity for competitive advantage. Some institutions have created programs that enhance individualized learning experiences (Collinson &Tourish, 2015). For example, in some leadership development programs, where ELT research details were undertaken over a month, the observation was continuous experimentation of development problems. However, while ELT applications in leadership programs are essential and worthwhile, most jobs are done individually. Thus, the study seeks to address ELT shortcomings in their guides such that leadership programs can be applied to any model. Finally, specific programs should help students gain knowledge and competencies that move beyond the classroom to professional levels.
Emotional Leadership
Different individuals perceive emotional connections as successful in career development in establishing long-lasting relationships through emotional intelligence (Grunwell,2015). Research indicates that a person with a high Emotional Quotient (EQ) has many capabilities in discerning leadership issues. The factors entail career success stories, fostering personal relations, effective leadership skills, and having healthier lifestyles. Moreover, individuals with high EQ posits good competitive advantage strategies that can necessitate building relationships and further reducing work pressure and students’ learning process. For better performance in mentoring students and employees at organizations, various models of EQ should be adopted.
The models of EQ concentrate on emotional depth, fitness, literacy, and alchemy. The frustrations and optimisms attained by leadership styles correlate differently depending on individuals’ personalities and how they react to life situations. However, the models mentioned above still play a bigger role in some businesses and higher institutions (Berkovich, 2014). Transformational leadership is seen as a hindrance to mentorship strategy in schools and organizations because frustration is higher than expected optimism. Emotional stress relates to frustration and optimism; hence good mentors need to adopt strategies that discuss these attributes while finding solutions to the discrepancies. Thus, it is widely accepted by scholars that transformational leadership is important but very indirect.
Altruistic Calling
This discipline is defined as a conscious choice to serve others (Drumwright, Prentice,& Biasucci, 2015). The desire to serve people is deemed free and positively inclined to influence the organization’s central component. The ideology here is to sacrifice time and make the organization and staff a major priority. Most scholars have defended this concept of altruism, thereby being used by major organizations due to evidence-based research. Leaders who can accommodate their peers and staff by demonstrating their willingness to mentor them gain followers’ trust and concentration, leading to quality work experiences.
Emotional healing
This process is involved with the recognition of the healing process and how to facilitate the activities. The ability to achieve and foster spiritual healing by students and employees who have faced challenges and trauma is the leadership’s goal. Ariely (2012) asserts that servant leaders are to be empathetic and highly sensitive to other people. The leaders create a personal relationship with learners for hearing complaints from persona and professional concerns. Researchers have recognized the benefits of leaders helping learners or followers gain hope, overcome shattered dreams, and repair broken relationships. When servant leaders can produce emotional appeal from followers, the closer their relationship coexist better.
Wisdom
Wisdom helps gain the environmental experiences and the various happenings in the society and possible solutions to some problems (Clark & White, 2010). The leaders should monitor and anticipate multiple contexts to translate their ideas and knowledge to offer the next actions. Essentially, having healthy self-awareness levels is also an attribute of servers and the ability to apply information attained via observation. Thus, servants should have keen attention to followers’ feelings to achieve respect and trust, building long-term relationships.
Mapping Persuasion
Persuasion involves using mental concepts by applying models and a sense of reason to encourage others’ thinking (Berkovich, 2014). The mapping helps in articulating issues and discussing the possible scenarios by sharing the thoughts of followers. Assisting their followers is the main goal of servant leaders. Scholars have advised using persuasion and not authoritarian approaches in understanding your organizational followers for better outcomes. The use of persuasion, unlike legitimization, is better in building good relationships with followers.
Organizational Stewardship
This leadership level helps servants guide their followers on the benefits of creating a good social relationship with society (Day et al., 2014). A strong social responsibility in an organization by the leaders helps implement morality and ethical conduct to stakeholders. Communities are reached through development programs, company facilitations, and numerous outreaches on eventual periods. The community will gain confidence in the organization, thereby supporting their coexistence. The idea is to advocate servant of the organization to the community to create value. The servant leaders capable of bringing together community and staff in mutual relationships gain trust and respect that foster belief and expected change.
By building on the above literature in authentic and servant leadership, suggestions are made to form evidence-based models for improving mentorship programs. The four facets of ELT should be entrenched in the mentorship programs. The newly built program can accommodate all learning processes that can improve business and student gains effectively. All in all, the models intended to bolster change and form a comparative program should contain aspects of self-decision making, actualization, ethical behavior, and many more. The result shall address most challenges, if not all, problems associated with addressing authentic and servant leadership. However, it should be known that from students’ and employees’ perspectives, it is an individual thought and aspiration to follow these instructions. Companies’ performance quality will be addressed, confirming the possible clearance of challenges to institutional growth (Basu, 2017). The structuring of the aims, goals, and objectives of students and employees in business institutions should also be considered. A myriad of achievements will then be actualized in business and education via good mentorship programs from consistent facilitation.
Conclusion
Mentorship programs are beneficial to the growth and development of students and business organizations in the world this meta-analysis delves on the black student’s retention to the universities in the American context. Most African American students are victimized in America in the past decades through racial discrimination. By being related to drugs and criminal activities, an increase in higher education interventions in adopting new interventions has made it reasonable for business and student growth, therefore, conducting a meta-analysis session helps institutions know the impacts of such mentorship programs to helping in developing students and employee careers in respective organizations.
Chapter Summary
In this study, a descriptive meta-analysis was used to garner more information on student participants (Borman & Grigg, 2009). Out of the 30 second-year African American males interviewed in the University, 25 shown retention qualities citing the benefits as the reasons behind their decisions to joining mentorship programs However, the remaining 5 were adamant that there was no direct improvement citing racial discrimination and continuous victimization on drug-related aspects. The study found faculty mentoring as a great component in establishing African American male student persistence in joining colleges. However, some issues of lack of equal opportunities for all, racial discrimination, family economic impoverishment, and general environmental housing proved discouraging for the minorities.
In the experimental design, researchers argued that the designs used to formulate meta-analysis require substantial data to create evidence-based conclusions however, Arnold (2015) states that most mentorship programs did back in the U.S are categorical of various ethnic societies hence can mislead in the overall interpretation of findings. Fundamentally, students become more aggressive and persistent when they feel their needs are being considered. This attribute guides their emotions by helping them choose better career options after attending after-school interventions. It was however determined in this study that the highest performing African Americans concentrate on authoritarian leadership to exert power than rationality. This concept followed by their needs to become powerful and have control of other white students in the non-white population, in the end, educators become tiresome in controlling their ego thereby giving up on some uncontrollable students, or for students that follow mentorship guidance and school manuscripts,
Bettinger (2015) states that their results in educational performance are automatically excellent. In conclusion, parents should advise their children to embrace new modes of acceleration after joining intervention programs. The reason being that with good attitudes and morals, the development of student leadership qualities is a guarantee. Thankfully, many American civil rights authorities, government systems, sponsors have strongly embraced these mentorship interventions for most citizens if not all. By summarizing this meta-analysis discussion, further research, and development (R & D) need to be undertaken in the major educational institutions and business organizations, respectively. Both the higher education and business organizations will be able to transgress to higher levels of performance and functionality in their institutions, respectively.
Chapter 3: Methodology
How the 81 Articles will Be Placed in Categories
The process of organizing and grouping the selected articles will begin by crafting the research questions and objectives. The research questions will be feasible, gripping, novel, ethical, and relevant to the study. Examples of clear, logical, and well-defined problems are:
5. How do mentorship programs increase college attendance rates among African American males?
6. Are mentorship programs effective in providing career guidance and choices for African American males?
7. Are our mentorship programs helpful in improving the relationship between faculty and students?
8. Do mentorship programs support African American students as they transition to a college education?
Like other research designs, the meta-analysis of existing literature will begin with the research questions. The process of determining the research question will be a balancing act: narrow questions may only accommodate a few studies, while significantly broader ones may make it harder to undertake a meaningful overview. Many electronic databases will be utilized to search the reviews. They will include ProQuest, EBSCO Host, JSTOR, as well as Academic Search Premier. Since writing a database-specific search string requires a piece of precise bibliographical knowledge, the search will be designed in collaboration with an information specialist. Critical articles will be provided to the information specialist to maximize the search process because they may contain keywords and indexing clues. This will also ensure that the references for each paper are evaluated.
The process of incorporating papers from the eligibility criteria will be performed using data extraction processes. Risk of bias analysis will also be undertaken to avoid potential biases that may interfere with the study’s validity and reliability. This process will be executed by tabulating an entire risk of bias analysis to facilitate an overview and provide an overall idea of the included studies’ validity. The risk of bias is often directly related to actual discrimination. In this respect, unblinded studies may show on average or more positive effect than adequately blinded studies. Additionally, the research will focus on different African American male populations to display diversity.
Overview of Research Method
The study will use systemic document analysis methodology to do a meta-analysis of existing literature to investigate student mentorship programs’ efficacy in increasing African American student admission rates. This meta-analysis of existing literature will be developed by summarizing the accumulated knowledge that focuses on interest and highlights critical issues that researchers have left unresolved. In this regard, different quantitative tools will be used to undertake the study. For instance, vote counting will be done to classify tasks under different categories, such as those that are statistically significant in one direction and statistically significant in the opposite direction. Furthermore, another group of studies will be categorized as lacking statistical significance or difference. After that, the category that receives the highest votes will be assessed to approximate the truth.
In a meta-analysis, it is the studies rather than participants that are identified and collected. Therefore, studies will be the principal units of interest. Since such studies may have been reported in several sources, a comprehensive search for the review studies will be important in identifying and collecting many reports from potentially relevant databases. The sources of data for the meta-analysis will include journal articles, conference abstracts, and trial registers.
The process of data analysis will begin by screening and selection. As soon as the literature search is complete, articles will be formulated and placed in a reference manager for screening and analyzation. The insertion and rejection technique will be analyzed to ensure consistency in identifying studies and recovery. This will be particularly important when performing multiple reviews. The screening process entails removing duplicates, identifying essential studies with their title and abstract, and carrying out full text inspection to ensure they achieve the eligibility criteria. Moreover, a formal quality assessment process will be undertaken to evaluating the quality of analyzed studies in to make informed and methodological decisions on their inclusion or exclusion. The document analysis will then be conducted for subsequent analysis.
Step by Step Process
The first step will entail undertaking preliminary research to identify the relevant articles and ensure the proposed ideas’ validity. This phase will also involve eliminating possible duplications of previously mentioned research questions to assure that there are sufficient articles for undertaking analysis. Additionally, the themes will focus on the relevant and vital educational issues that affect African Americans and reflect on the current studies. This will ensure that there is consistency with the adopted review models (Strohmeier, 2014). I will also familiarize myself with a comprehensive knowledge of the study platform through the appropriate videos and discussions, which effectively retrieve better results.
This step will be significant because ignoring it can result in the study’s termination whenever similar studies are published before having been found. A simple search will be undertaken in scholarly databases such as EBSCO Host, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and JSTOR. Key terms to use include “mentorship programs for African American males” or “college attendance rates of African Americans.” While completing this process, a meta-analysis of existing literature that influences college attendance rates will be identified, as an appropriate paper to study in to achieve a comprehensive insight and recognize the gaps for the effective execution of the research questions and resolution.
Articles that are Deemed Relevant or Not Relevant: Inclusion and Exclusion
An inclusion and exclusion criteria will then be identified to get the relevant articles that effectively outline the research questions, objectives, and topic. The eligibility criteria will be arrived at based on the approach of the study design and data. For instance, studies that are more than five years will not be eligible for inclusion into the meta-analysis. The exclusion criteria will be based on identifying and leaving out unrelated articles, duplicated, unavailable, or abstract-only papers. The inclusion criteria, for instance, will include items that have the target population, such as African American males, and the interventions that are being investigated, which is mentorship programs. Others will consist of those that perform comparative analyses between two or more studies. Additionally, they will include articles that contain information that answer the research questions. More importantly, the pieces that will be selected must provide clear and sufficient knowledge and have positive or negative answers to the questions.
When it comes to the topic that has been selected, the inclusion criteria will include an article that evaluates college attendance rates of African American males, the effectiveness of career guidance choices, and transitional programs. Another inclusion criterion is that the study will not provide restrictions on where they have been published. On the other hand, the exclusion criteria will focus on eliminating articles that are published for more than five years or those with data that has not been reliably extracted. Others that will be excluded include duplicates or data that overlap. Moreover, abstract-only papers as preceding papers, editorials, conference publications, and author responses and books will not be incorporated into the meta-analysis.
Article Search Strategy
A standardized search strategy will be employed to identify relevant data for the study. However, the technique applied will vary from one scholarly database to another owing to their distinct characteristics. Therefore, the strategy will be changed in respect to each database to determine the best results. This search approach will be developed on the research question analyzation, often in the titles or abstracts. It will also include all pertinent subject indexing anticipated to recover eligible studies, with the aid of specialists in the review topic area or an information expert.
Furthermore, the terms of the outcomes will not be used as their inclusion may potentially deter the database being searched to rectify the relevant studies since the utilized consequences possibly may be unable to be mentioned. (Balduzzi et al., 2019). The search’s improvement will be enhanced while performing an overall search and seeking other crucialterms within each idea from the rectified papers. To seek additional articles, descriptors in the scholarly databases will be used. Examples include “college mentorship programs,” “Mentoring African American males,” and “college attendance rates.” After completing some rounds of refinement of the search, each database’s final search terms will be determined.
The databases will be searched in the meta-analysis to generate an improved and comprehensive results. The database ing will be dependent upon the assessment questions. Relevant databases will be chosen depending on the study topic because some databases may not uphold Boolean or quotation. However, a group of databases has special searching tools and techniques (Balduzzi et al., 2019). Thus, the initial search terms and items will be modified to get the most relevant database results.
This implies that the handling guides for the set database search will be handed over in a table. Finally, all the records will be incorporated into an endnote library to ensure effective deletion of similar ones and then directed into the excel worksheet. The “remove from duplicating” function with two alternatives is often mandatory in excel. Each of the articles that contain the same title or author in the same specific year and title and published in the same journal will be eradicated.
A meta-analysis is a systematic examination of the literature on a specific, often contentious subject to draw a standardized conclusion to the topic. A meta-analysis can often contest popular scholarly belief about a given issue (Graham et al., 2015). When properly conducted, this research method may improve several studies’ findings that may have had significant weaknesses. The comprehensive nature makes it a more robust research tool than the traditional literature review because it offers a more exhaustive summary of a significantly higher quantity of research evidence. More succinctly, a meta-analysis combines data statistically derived from a systematic review of the literature (Suurmond et al., 2017). However, the main challenge of carrying a meta-analysis lies in selecting the material to be reviewed. An author should follow a systematic inclusion criterion that includes the topic, date, number of authors, overlapping data, and universality of the findings, among other factors.
A systematic process is used to identify the most relevant articles with which to answer the research question. First, the researcher must formulate a precise and focused study question to have a clear picture of what to review (Suurmond et al., &Hak, 2017). This step helps narrow down the topic to ensure that the literature collected will not comprise a disparate collection of literary works. The scholar should then set clear objectives for the meta-analysis and explain why the existing research does not convincingly address the topic (Cheung, 2019). This will make the study more objective and focused on providing more comprehensive results and recommendations for future research.
The next step is the most important because it will determine the research findings’ accuracy and validity. The author will create a comprehensive literature search using precise keywords to create a large literature pool (Cheung, 2019). This step is the preliminary literature search process because it will further be filtered to extract the most relevant ones. The scholar may include unpublished works on the topic to ensure that the meta-analysis is as comprehensive as possible. Typically, the first step of selection will depend on the proximity in relevance to the research question, judging by the abstracts of the sources collected (Graham, Harris &Santangelo, 2015). One can also measure the study question’s significance through the working title if there are time constraints.
After conducting the preliminary literature search, the scholar should create eligibility and exclusion criteria for the resources collected. Mostly, the best meta-analyses use the title, the study design, the date, and the number of authors of the primary studies (Suurmond et al., 2017). The title indicates to what the study question is addressed in the resource. The articles whose titles deviate significantly should be excluded because they are unrelated to the research question. The scholar should then select recent academic resources to ensure that the recommendations are applicable in present circumstances. A good quality meta-analysis comprises articles and books that are less than five years old. A good researcher will also use more than two authors because the study is more robust when scholars combine efforts.
Additionally, a researcher conducting a meta-analysis will prioritize those studies that are not limited by country, race, gender, and publication language. These biases often make the resources narrow in scope and only applicable in certain situations (Suurmond et al., 2017). Also, if the resources are extracted from online sources, one should ensure that they have their full text available. Abstracts offer very little information, and if the authorities require a subscription before extraction from a database, the scholar should consider the financial implications of subscribing to access the database (Cheung, 2019). Further, if the question is from a specific discipline, say medicine, it is better to prioritize specialized databases such as PubMed or Cochrane, among others. This approach will save you time searching through large volumes of irrelevant material.
After selecting the most relevant material among the available resources, the next step determining their quality is data abstraction. If two or more authors are working on a meta-analysis, they should abstract data from the selected sources independently to ensure no overlapping data (Cheung, 2019). If there is any, then the references should be excluded from the meta-analysis because they do not meet the inclusion criteria. This step ensures that the sources are not different editions of the same book. Additionally, studies that address the exact question should not be included in the meta-analysis because they would have overlapping data.
Identifying the most relevant and recent material is the best way to increase the validity and comprehensiveness of a meta-analysis. An author should follow a systematic inclusion criterion that includes the topic, date, number of authors, overlapping data, and universality of the findings, among other factors. Not only will this produce the most credible conclusions and recommendations, but it will save the author time during the analysis. Resources that do not meet the inclusion criterion should be excluded from the study. This process is done after the creation of objectives and a study question.
Analysis of Articles
The study will use a document review to conduct a meta-analysis of existing literature design to explore the effectiveness of mentorship programs in increasing college attendance rates among African American men. In a broad sense, meta-analysis refers to the entire process of undertaking a systematic review or research synthesis. To this end, it provides a foundation of research evidence in the study.
The meta-analysis process will expansively cover a wide range of studies on mentorship programs’ effects on college or university admission rates among African American males. The method of carrying out the meta-analysis will be like performing a primary search, the five significant steps approach. A more comprehensive strategy is often commonly associated with the seven and eight stages of searching, comparing, and reviewing previous scholarly works on the specific topic.
Each of the choices in the steps will also influence the study outcomes, its trustworthiness, validity, and reliability of the conclusions that will be arrived at. This emphasis will be significant in averting possible problems that undermine the validity of the meta-analysis. Additionally, the effect size measures will be utilized to examine the relationship between variables and will typically be employed as the summary statistic in the meta-analysis (Strohmeier, 2014). Therefore, the meta-analysis will be implemented as an entire process fog fathering, synthesizing, and assessing research findings from multiple studies systematically. The studies’ results will be combined to distinguish the meta-analysis from the comprehensive methodology.
Step 1: Formulating a Research Question
Generally, while formulating the research question in a meta-analysis study, Participant-Intervention-Comparator-Outcomes (PICO) approach is considered. Participants refer to the population of interest in the study, while interventions are the variables that are assessed during the research work. Conversely, the comparator is the tool used to compare the study variables, while outcomes are the research study’s objectives. For instance, PICO can be done as shown:
· P: Adults (age 18 years and above), both sexes, all ethnicity, all nationality
· I: Mindfulness Meditation
· C: No Intervention, or Anxiolytics, or Drug Based Approaches,
· O: Anxiety Symptom Scores
Step 2: Performing a Search of the Literature Indices
After conducting the PICO, the researcher will perform a search of the literature bibliography. This is significantly important since it helps in identifying the appropriate search terms. However, search terms may appear in many diverse sections and parts of a study report.
Step 3: Selecting of the Articles for Meta-Analysis
It is fundamental to read all relevant searched papers’ titles and abstracts before selecting the articles in the meta-analysis. The selection process is critical to developing a working scheme that sets and rejects irrelevant research papers in the meta-analysis. The plan is crucial since every article is accessed and retrieved based on reading their respective titles and abstracts. After running through this process and identifying a certain number of studies included in the meta-analysis, their full texts are obtained. After that, a rejection process is conducted, and the numbers of the rejected articles are noted. This is followed by reading the full texts and abstracts of the various items, after which the reference list is compiled to widen the meta-analysis. Often, in this step, the researcher finds outsources that the authors must be identified. This is the most crucial step since the selected research articles’ authors are listed to reference.
Step 4: Extracting Information from These Articles
After selecting articles for the meta-analysis, the researcher is required to abstract information from the selected items. The data collected from the selected articles are crucial in conducting the research study. The following is essential information that is obtained from the selected articles.
1. Name of the authors of the selected articles
2. The publication year of the article
3. The type of research conducted.
4. The exact intervention applied.
5. The comparison conditions.
6. The quantitative or qualitative outcomes of the meta-analysis
7. The interaction of dependable and independent variables in the study
However, the researcher will determine the set of variables that will be used in the meta-analysis.
Step 5: Evaluating the quality of information of these articles.
It is essential for the researcher to critically determine the type and quality of the data abstracted from the selected articles. It is crucial to evaluate the quality of information from the chosen items since it determines if the validity of the study’s criteria is met. The basics of assessing the quality of the information are:
1. What are the theory and the hypotheses the research is about?
2. Is the sample size adequate for the research question?
3. To what extent did the authors eliminate biases in the study?
4. What were the confounding variables controlled for?
Step 6: Determining the extent to which the articles are diverse.
In a meta-analysis, there is a fundamental assumption that the studies have come from a uniform population across the intervention and outcomes. This may indicate one of the two issues: either the article of the tasks that have been identified is exhaustive, and the estimates obtained for the association between the intervention and the results are based on the set of evidence identified and defined assessment of the true association. Therefore, it is critical to determine the degree of uniformity of the selected articles.
Step7: Evaluate the Effects
After framing the research questions for the advanced literature review, the relevant articles were gathered and identified. In this regard, the study assessed multiple resources, both computerized and printed, without language restrictions. The selection criteria were determined in a way that was directly in line with the review questions, which were specified a priori. The quality of the studies was then assessed through stages such as question formulation and study selection criteria. These parameters were integral in determining the acceptable minimum level of design. The studies selected were also subjected to a more refined quality evaluation by utilizing general critical appraisal guidelines and standards and the design-based quality checklists. These comprehensive evaluation tools were used to explore the heterogeneity and informing the determinations on their suitability in the review. More importantly, the articles were used to determine the inferences’ strength and make future research recommendations.
The articles were then utilized to provide a summary of the evidence and interpret the findings. This process was attained by conducting a data synthesis. The synthesis involved tabulating the study characteristics, quality, and effects and utilizing statistical models for examining the variations between studies and combining their effects. During the study interpretation, the risks of publication biases and were discussed. The results were evaluated using precise questions to generate evidence to underpin the study. The stand-alone pieces of research were undertaken before examining further studies. Basu (2017) argues that the heterogeneity of the studies’ estimates, the summary effect estimates are based on fixed effects and random effects meta-analyses. Consequently, a forest plot of the outcome was developed to reveal the diversity of the research estimates.
Table 1
Identification of the Relevant Articles for Inclusion
High Quality
Low Quality
On topic
Not on Topic
Minot Contributions
Major Contributions
Relevant to the topic
Irrelevant to the topic
1
Number of articles
61
20
70
11
2
79
61
20
From table 1, the selection criteria will encompass different factors such as quality of articles, selection and exclusion criteria, as well as the degree to which the identified articles answer the research questions. At this stage, the total number of the items that have been selected for the meta-analysis is 81. This number is likely to increase as more relevant studies are identified during the data-gathering phase. Other factors that will be considered when completing the meta-analysis will include the year of publication, the research design used, and how effective the researchers have reduced potential biases that might tamper with their validity and reliability.
In addition to the 81 articles, five websites will be analyzed.
https://nationalmentoringresourcecenter.org/index.php/component/k2/item/177-mentoring-for-black-male-youth.html
http://100bml.org/mentoring/
Difference between a Meta-Analysis and a Literature Review
A meta-analysis is a procedural assessment of the integrated outcome of multiple scientific studies. It is a research method that considers the collection of the research studies from various research articles, and then they are combined into a substantive and conclusive research paper. A meta-analysis of existing literature is a document analysis is processed to scrutinize the results of multiple studies. It is a systematic literature review, a methodical research method, and a process for identifying and critically appraising relevant research on detailed research (Synder, 2019).
In a literature review, the researcher, before commencing on a scientific study, investigates current knowledge. In a meta-analysis of existing literature, the researcher uses the previously conducted research studies to form the final survey. In the literature review, the style, format, and guidelines are included in the final paper. In contrast, a meta-analysis of the various studies’ policies and style and structure are not considered in the previous research. In a meta-analysis, the evaluation of similar scientific studies is used to establish an estimate closest to the common conclusion that exists between them. In the literature review on the research, the question forms the basis of the study’s perceived results.
The advanced literature review will allow for the assessment of primary study quality. This will be pivotal in determining the potential weaknesses in the existing research and guiding future research methodology. Moreover, selecting the study design elements to review and critique will be dependent on the subject and design of the literature determined. An extensive piece of evidence and explanation will be provided to the study’s process, including its inclusion and exclusion criteria. Moreover, a summary of the study characteristics will be derived, informing the research on the total number of studies, their mean, and range.
Chapter 4: Results/ Findings
Research Design
This analysis’s main goal was to ascertain the variables that are used to predict the persistence of first-year African American males in college enrollments. The meta-analysis programs are used to engage the retention of students and workers in organizations by conducting data analysis (Agasisti and Murtinu, 2014). Current research indicates an increase in African American student retention and persistence in joining colleges. The results of this meta-analysis propose an acceleration of African American students to be influenced in attending mentoring programs; the vital message to learners, parents, and community is that high skilled learners can gain more in education by joining mentorship programs. The achievement of life satisfaction and general performance is attainable for all in this case. The African American male communities’ studies conducted by Avdic and Gartell (2015) suggest that accelerants to attend intervention programs are more versatile, unlike non-accelerants. Specifically, various domains were used to determine the variables of the African American male retention to universities. The variables were from the defining issues, society, academia, and environmental concerns. Most data used were attained from educational resources from second-year African American male continuing students. From the logistics found, it was noted that most students and organizational workers are involved in extracurricular activities, faculty talks, study habits, and supportive activities to others.
In essence, the environmental impacts were substantially persistent, and future research was advised. A qualitative approach was used to do this meta-analysis in the African American student communities (Borman & Grigg, 2009). Data was achieved from 30 African American males in their second years due to their already available experience in their discrimination of color. The students came from the southern part of the United States. The faculty-initiated many aspects comprise creating a positive attitude in faculty, student relationships check-up, addressing students’ performance and listening to student problems, and providing concerns. The extensiveness of these discussions involved interviews in voiced contexts by considering first-hand participants (Arnold, 2015).
The results discussed indicates that university faculties should embrace the above elements of change to offer students development by providing training and a composed evaluation. Moreover, (Arnold 2015) asserts that by using experimental methods of study, student retention was in colleges for those taken previously to probation but do not affect studies and performance. A higher African American male percentage interviewed (d=20) accepted that they would enroll for a college education if the institution offered grants. However, the faculty still proved beneficial in the student program outcomes. Further, students were pro-active in sports and peer-to-peer discussions that lead to retention and graduation at a percentage of 9% and 6%, respectively.
For this research, only components with similar characteristics will be used for evaluation. Firstly, students’ needs were addressed, policies and faculty mentoring of students were used to gauge outcomes of the study. In the above regard, higher education results were the objectives (Bettinger, 2015). Furthermore, randomized experienced was used to determine the baseline. Similarly, the research will focus on randomly assigned entities, including class and individual capabilities. An inclusion of quasi-experimental methods, discontinuity, and propensity matching techniques was employed. However, numerous cohort studies were used to address empirical and intervention designs. In this group, control groups were explicitly used. Anyway, it is good to acknowledge that the most significant and positive results from mentorship students in student training are likely to be published (Agasisti and Murtinu, 2014).
This analysis does not offer results indicating general bias. Unfortunately, not many scholars have provided effective reports on size retention. Still, while many studies have managed to meet the criteria in this study, they did not obtain the necessary data for computation, forcing some assumptions. This study excluded some non-important aspects like probation in academia, and an increase in ad policy did not appear in this analysis. Other things included excluding grants that do not incorporate need-based grants since they were not beneficial to both student and organizational development.
Additionally, those studies that focused on merit-based grants awarded to families and do not concentrate on mentoring were also excluded. The only included versions were effects of peer mentoring, self-motivation, and online mentoring were strongly considered. Finally, the impact of faculty-mentoring or outsourcing external trainers was strongly advised (Avdic and Gartell, 2015). By developing friendship, the effect of peer, online, and self-thinking was investigated as the main parameters in conducting a successful meta-analysis.
The study aimed to explore the effects of mentorship programs on college attendance rates among African American males. To achieve this objective, a descriptive meta-analysis design was employed. More precisely, the meta-analysis some measures to show the relationship between studies that were considered. Additionally, the study emphasized the results of several articles apart from showing findings from a single investigation. Thus, the study embraced the universal model of conducting a meta-analysis, which involves statistically assessing the massive collection of the analysis results from studies and integrating their products (Strohmeier,2014). The quantitative measures such as effect sizes were utilized to indicate the connection between the dependent and the independent variables, such as mentorship programs and college attendance rates of African American males.
The effect sizes were employed to determine the degree of connection between the variables and were the summary statistics in the analysis. This process was arrived at by calculating the relationship between the variables in a meta-analysis. After that, the effect of sizes has been brought together with the utilization of summary effects statistics. The statistical assessment was then undertaken on the size summary. For instance, in the investigations of the effect of mentorship programs on the admission of African American males in colleges, the effect size was determined by computing the relationships of the variables in the case and put together in size across all the studies to show the strength (Graham, Harris & Santangelo,2015). From that, findings provided a means of considering the practical significance of the research. Additionally, they offered an exhaustive model for the synthesis of qualitative research. Further, the articles were grouped into relevant or non-relevant studies and high- or low-quality articles.
Inclusion of Relevant and non-relevant Articles
Table 1
Identification of the Relevant Articles for Inclusion
High Quality
Low Quality
On topic
Not on Topic
Minor Contributions
Major Contributions
Relevant to the topic
Irrelevant to the topic
1
Number of articles
61
20
70
11
2
79
61
20
Table 1 indicates that the total number of articles that were incorporated into the study was 81. Out of this figure, 61 of them were relevant, whereas 20 were non-relevant ones. The study also grouped the articles into those that are on-topic and those that are not. To this end, 70 were found to be within the research topic, whereas 11 were out of topic. The process of inclusion and exclusion also further grouped the sampled articles into minor and major contributors. As a result, two articles were found to be minor contributors, whereas 79 were significant contributors.
Various strategies were employed in identifying and separating the relevant from the non-relevant articles. The inclusion and exclusion criteria, for example, are often utilized to set the boundaries for the meta-analysis (Balduzzi et al., 2019). As a result, they were determined after establishing the research questions before the search was done. Nonetheless, scoping searchers were also undertaken to explore the appropriate mechanism for inclusion. For instance, many factors were considered, such as information regarding the inclusion and recorded in a table. The key factors that this particular study took into account to determine the degree of relevance of each task. They included the date, exposure of interest, geographical location of study, participants utilized, research design used, type of publication, and research settings.
The number of participants in a particular study was also utilized to determine the relevant articles—the review, for instance, categorized items with more than three participants as appropriate for inclusion. While the study identified 81 articles, only 61 met all the inclusion standards (Graham, Harris & Santangelo,2015). About 20 studies failed to meet the data in calculating sizes. Nonetheless, the results were consistent with reviews in other areas. Some articles were also excluded because they met face and exclusion criteria ambiguous methodologies. Additionally, some did not meet the quality threshold for the statistics and the sizes.
The future articles for the meta-analysis were evaluated for eligibility based on relevance and acceptability. Some of the parameters utilized for relevance include whether the items are in line with the research topic and the reviews. After deciding what to include and what not to include, the answers to the questions were formulated. The scanning of the articles’ references identified as high quality was also a more fruitful approach than cold searching by hand or electronically. Indeed, the electronic citation tracking of the 81 articles identified as likely to be relevant, 61 proved to be seminal. Simultaneously, the remaining 20 had excellent and relevant hits, such as empirical studies, correlational designs, and case studies (Graham, Harris & Santangelo,2015). The primary reason for which some papers were incorporated into the study was their year of publication. A significantly high fraction of valid and relevant reviews were also found informally, primarily when some materials were found unsolicited. These included two high-quality correlational studies on college mentorship programs’ efficacy in college admission and African American male students’ retention. Table 2 indicates the characteristics of the articles that were incorporated into the study.
Table 2
The Characteristics of the Articles that were Included
Research Design
Number of Articles Found
1
Experimental and quasi-experimental designs, such as randomized controlled trials, comparative trials, and interrupted time series
5
2
Non-experimental designs, such as action research, attribution studies, and case studies
30
3
Correlational designs
24
4
Descriptive and exploratory designs
22
Total
81
The articles were further grouped based on how they answered the research questions and the hypotheses. These four research questions are as follows:
1. How mentorship programs increase college attendance rates among African American males?
1. Are mentorship programs effective in providing career guidance and choices for African American males?
1. Are our mentorship programs helpful in improving the relationship between faculty and students?
1. Do mentorship programs support African American male students as they transition to a college education?
The first category of articles sought to determine whether mentorship programs effectively increase college attendance rates among African American males. Out of the 20 items sampled for this question, 15 found that such programs play an integral role in increasing college admission among African Americans males. Therefore, the results reinforce the alternate hypothesis, which states that mentorship programs effectively increase college admission rates for African American males. Additionally, the results echo previous studies conducted by Parnther et al. (2019), which found mentorship programs graduate and college admissions. According to the researchers, two of the most common factors influencing mentorship programs’ success include the accepted definition and meaning of what they are. The students make sense of their mentoring experiences. To this end, they observe that African American male students often fail to attend higher education or drop out of such institutions at higher rates than their colleagues from other races. Moreover, they remark that African American male students encounter many challenges that put their academic success and chances of admission at risk. Apart from managing family and competing responsibilities, they also confront stereotypes about their capacity to make it to the university. Their association with academia can be complicated because some believe that embracing intellectualism can result in isolation and alienation from friends and family members and feelings of uncertainties regarding their fit with white-dominated academic settings. Therefore, mentorship programs motivate them to overcome such barriers.
Table 3
A few Examples of the Articles that were Gathered
Authors
Title
Date
Journal
1
Parnther, C., Holmes, A., Cortes, R., & Simmons, R. (2019).
Making meaning of peer
Mentorship for black male community college students.
2019
Journal of Education & Social
Policy
2
Douglas, T. M. (2017).
African American males, mentorship, and university success: A
qualitative Study
2017
Encompass
3
Brown, R.W
Perceived Influence of African American Male Mentorship on the Academic Success of African American Males in a Predominantly White Institution
of Higher Education: An Institutional Case Study
2011
National Forum of Multicultural
Issues Journal
4
Brooms, D. R., & Davis, A. R. (2017).
Staying focused on the goal: Peer bonding and faculty
mentors supporting Black males’ persistence in college
2017
Journal of Black Studies
5
Booker, K., & Brevard, E. (2017).
Why mentoring matters: African-American students and the transition to college.
2017
The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal
Another article authored by Douglas (2017) supports the hypothesis that mentorship programs increase African American males’ college and university admission rates. After examining the perception of African American males who had just graduated from a university in the south towards mentorship programs, the researcher found that mentorship initiatives are pivotal in familiarizing them with college life. This increases their motivation to work towards attending university and quickly navigating across higher learning environments. Similarly, Gray (2011) finds that mentorship programs increase admission rates by preparing African American males for life outside the high school. Using case study methods investigated such programs’ impact on improving academics for African American teenagers in New Brunswick Kappa League mentoring programs. Their parents formed part of the study. Using qualitative and quantitative metrics, the study found that the mentorship program prepared them for university life and successfully affected high school performance. Moreover, the programs provide viable alternatives to combat some of the struggles African American males often encounter during high school years and transition into the college arena.
The study also found that mentorship programs not only increase admission, but they also reduce attrition rates. In particular, Brown (2009) saw that mentorship programs increase African American males’ college intake by promoting social and academic integration. To this end, educational and social integration shape their decisions to proceed to higher learning or drop out. Additionally, many internal characteristics attainment of K-12 and academic strengths influence student persistence rates. The process of integrating learners who desire to go to the college and enhance the social and economic fabric increasing the chances of continuous enrollment.
Figure 6
Articles Identified and the Areas they Covered
Mentorship Programs and Career Guidance and Choices
Out of the 81 articles sampled, 30 focused on how mentorship programs increase admission rates through African American males’ career guidance. Small (2017), for example, states that mentorship programs increase African American males’ academic success, particularly those who have seen the negative results of economic and social attributes of racial and ethnic discrimination. According to him, such devastation has resulted in them witnessing a failure to join higher learning institutions and attain educational and financial freedom. The leadership strategies employed in mentorship programs also influence successful admission rates. For instance, career guidance is achieved by promoting honesty and developing trust. The participating mentors believed that such leadership skills would be necessary for enabling African American males to navigate life changes as they go from high education to college. The programs also enlighten the participants to create the desire to improve communities and pursuing higher learning.
The nature of mentoring experiences also significantly impacts career development by empowering African American males to develop their own career identity ahead of admission. In this respect, Alston et al. (2017) explore the nature of African American male students’ mentoring experiences in STEM fields. More precisely, they find that mentoring is connected to race, career development, and scientists’ identity development. Moreover, participants often speak to influence racial similarities and differences between them for the academic programs. They realize their potential concerning distinct perspectives on African American male students’ mentoring experience. The university student experience is usually viewed as a form of training for the academy and inspires profound interests in furthering one’s STEM career. Thus, socialization helps acquire skills and values needed to enter a professional field that requires knowledge and skills.
The articles sampled also focused on mentoring programs in optimizing school stays for African American males. Gibson (2014), for instance, decries the low graduations are specifically affected the African American male community, college students. To him, this problem is becoming an epidemic in institutions of higher learning across the United States. This problem poses policy concerns for the educational attainment among black males that negatively affects society and their social positioning. For instance, the attainment rates are due to high income and social mobility and reduction in the possibility of incarceration, and the increase in life expectancy. This is because their admission, course attendance, course completion, and graduation are so poor compared to other groups. For instance, they register low mean GPA in all students. The US Department of Education survey shows that African American males record an average GPA of 2.64, which sharply contrasts with the average GPAs of their White (2.90) and Hispanic-Latinos (2.75), and Asian males (2.84). These problems illustrate the significant potential for using mentorship programs in increasing degree admission and conferral rates among African American males.
Improving the Relationship between Faculty and Students
A total of 21 articles that were evaluated focused on the importance of mentorship programs in improving African American male students and faculty members’ relationships. Out of this number, 16 items reinforced that they effectively foster relations, while the remaining five pieces found no link. Therefore, these findings affirm the alternate hypothesis, which states that mentorship programs and essential in improving the relationship between faculty members and African American students. According to Louis and Freeman (2018), mentoring is one of the most productive and popular models employed in supporting professional education for disadvantaged groups in higher education. Thus, they prepare African American males to confront the arduous journeys that they must endure in higher learning. Mentoring is also an essential tool for developing individuals and fostering success. It does so through a process that benefits the fruitful education and career development of young professionals. A mentor serves as a role model, educator, advisor, and guide. These roles are critical to protégés who seek self-empowerment and academic and professional success.
The programs enable African American males to establish a positive and sustainable relationship with faculty members, thereby increasing their college success. While few studies have explored African American males’ path of affairs professionals to the faculty realms, a few give pointers to such trajectories. African American faculty members are particularly underrepresented in the American academy. One of the causes of this problem is the poor student-faculty relationship. In this respect, many African Americans face institutional racism, microaggressions, and marginalization at the institutions, with most whites. As a result, students at the high school level sometimes shy away from enrolling in higher learning institutions. Mentorship programs, however, can increase their courage and confidence to pursue their careers and develop a mutually productive relationship with university faculty members.
Similarly, Brooms and Derrick (2017) opine that mentorship programs encourage students to develop a positive collegiate experience and relationship with faculty members and the administrative community. After sampling 59 African American students enrolled in mentorship programs in White-dominated universities, they explored how they constructed meaning from their plans and school to attain academic success. They confronted a lack in the results hence lower expectations on both social and educational levels. Furthermore, the students often mention two essential parts of the experience in college through persistence efforts. They include peer bonding and African American and White males’ connections and mentorship from African Americans of the faculty. This pattern suggests that the micro-social status improves and promotes the persistence of African American men in college.
Transitioning to College Education
The study sampled ten articles that focused on mentoring programs’ efficacy in enabling them to transition to higher education seamlessly. All the items collected reinforced the view that such programs increase college attendance rates by facilitating the smooth flow of colored students from secondary to tertiary education. Therefore, the study results echo the alternate hypothesis, stating that mentoring programs effectively facilitate African American male students’ smooth flow to college. According to Griffins (2015), mentorship programs help familiarize and adapt African American males to colleges that Whites dominate. After investigating African American men’s perception towards the programs, Griffins (2015) examined the value of mentorship and the factors that lead African American males to seek mentorship. Another issue that the researcher sought to understand is the perceived differences the mentorship with cross-race faculty. In particular, the articles revealed that students perceive mentoring programs as valuable to their future college experience. While it may not be mutually exclusive, the reports also determine that having access to African American faculty or staff members also plays an integral role in the learners’ retention and satisfaction. In as much as the African American males often feel comfortable with White faculty or staff members, they also experience barriers to seeking mentorship programs.
Considering the above, the findings show that a significant fraction of minority students who seek the opportunity to achieve higher education in the country continues to increase phenomenally. Although alternatives such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) may attract some disadvantaged students, many of them decide to pursue their learning at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI). As a result, PWIs are faced with the challenge that requires them to respond to the potential changes in their institutional demographics. While the demography shift may imply a numerical difference, other cultural and organizational issues influence African American male’s success and progression in a PWI. Thus, first years often benefit a lot from mentoring programs as they are familiarized and aligned to the learning institutions’ organizational cultures. In West Chester University’s Academic Development Program, for example, African American males often benefit from mentorship that meets the needs of those who do not meet the admissions criteria (Davenport, 2014). The peer mentoring structures often include peer assistants and the groups who start their relationship with learners during the first summer program. After that, they continue their relationships in the first year. The peer assistants act as mentors, role models, and resident assistants to students. They establish links between them and the students, the academic development program facilitators, and other resources.
Mentorship programs are practices undertaken by professional leaders to develop individuals’ abilities by developing trust in their abilities. Different people have different skills hence need to be given time to create positive impacts on their careers. The overall outcome depends on the quality and time spent between mentors and their guidance to African American males. In the US, most African Americans have taken the initiative to change their careers through the 100BlackMen Inc, 100 Way, and the Collegiate 100 trademarks (Graham, Harris & Santangelo,2015). The above initiatives are meant to bring change while mentoring African American males from an institutional level to the workplace. For successful mentees, connections to internships and possible work in big organizations are promised at the end of training pieces. In this discussion, the African American males in the US will focus on the study while underlining the challenges involved in facilitating the mentorship programs.
Participants in mentorship programs are often taught how to formulate a career plan by writing various steps in their brochures. Moreover, many completed projects included the identification of tasks, the setting of short and long-term goals, prioritizing values, and the clarification of objectives. Another aspect consists of a written contract for various skill training that followed a thorough discussion by supervisors involving negotiation tactics to the medical faculty’s peer groups. Previous research from scholars was attributed to the understanding of evaluation programs. Close to over 60 minutes was dedicated to collaborative writing from various participants. The study showed that participants used books, article journals, and newspapers to complete the writing project while in an internship. After six months program, the mentees could finish over 30 minutes of writing good presentations while offering feedback to the mentors regarding the mentorship program from individual perspectives in the evaluation process. Experts in displays facilitate this writing process to ascertain the internship work’s independence concerning mentoring (Buck, 2020).
By delivering training at the annual conferences, mentors provide regional and international workshops for African American males. The exposure and experience achieved by mentees are inhibited in the internship undergone by mentees. The level of public confidence attained by mentees is evident in the social media sites from consumer and leadership responses after training. According to Merola (2020), mentorship programs contribute unique initiatives that help tap talents to African American youths yearly that positively impact their lives. From mentoring perspectives, the young males manage to divert the social-economic challenges from their backgrounds to positive strengths by adopting the mentorship programs’ newly learned lessons. Coming from minority ethnic races, African American males in America are generally associated with drug and crime activities. The unemployment rates, poor living conditions, and disparity in schools cause black American males to suffer prejudice and molestation. Often, the police, fellow students, staff, and even neighboring communities affect this group’s spirit and cognitive thoughts.
Bhushan et al. (2019) explain that mentorship plays over 80% of work to happen in career development. Previous research indicates that tertiary institutions do not offer a complete career guidance package, where mentoring evolves. The time given to mentees in schools and vocational colleges is minimal hence needs extra training to sharpen skills and proper development. An example is the 100 Black Men chapters that train African American males in management issues through mentoring initiatives. This raining involves follow-ups with ways to support such mentorship initiatives amicably (Alsarayreh, 2018). Most workshops in career growth are done in conferences that include the 100 Black Men associations. The intervention programs are then supported by government and lobby groups (Nurse, 2014), who further address the challenges of these minority groups in the public domain.
There are many advantages from the training of mentees in the African American societies after internship completion. The various organizations undertaking mentorship programs offer both elf-online and online group training, thereby providing certification upon activity. With current robust influence in technological education, Sierra & Adam’s (2017) mentorship programs are at the touch of a dial. For instance, in different geographical zones, African American males in America can still attend online media programs. Using teleconferencing via skype, zoom, and many more, trainees can function actively without being around physically in the significant research headquarters. With these developments, the world is now a global village making it easier for mentees to relate and new fellow trainees and mentors.
On the other hand, various mentee modules need learning for production quality trainees. The module contains pre and post-test questionnaires for mentees, the SMART guide, multiple exercises, the training goals, and the general mentorship guides. The resulting solution is to offer the mentees and facilitators creative lessons that correspond directly to most organizational activities. The careers of these mentees are hence equipped sharply to face all manners of administrative work. The job criteria might range from social work, construction, business management, court cases, and much more influential career in our current global economy (Nurse, 2014). Many influential leaders have emerged to form multinational companies from the black American populations in the contemporary world. The mentors include Christopher Gude as CEO of Western Market Area, Korey Dean, the Man Up Club founder, a non-profit organization in the US.
Moreover, Alsarayreh (2018) examines former US president Barrack Obama assured African Americans of future mentoring and positive outcomes from these African American American intervention programs. In his part, Obama says that “by helping more of our young people to remain focused and build their tomorrow. Building on the works and the critical moments is essential. This narrative has moved the African American communities of all social-economic statuses to believe in change and development. For instance, those from low and high socioeconomic status, different job groups, other living conditions, and different abilities are all put together in these mentorship programs to develop closure and exchange information among the peers.
The world has developed technologically and civilly regarding mentorship programs (Buck, 2020). Technology has enhanced knowledge, closure, connections, ethnic understanding, and language barrier deterioration. Nowadays, almost all humanities exist singularly, or groupings in another nation’s confines either for training, job or tourism. This movement is regional and international, making different races understand the cultures, traditions, and mentees’ existence in the interventional programs. This diversification in mentoring helps trainees engage in fruitful discussions with other mentees and organizations while on internships. Kurakto et al. (2020) purport the value of career mentoring when assessing various mentees’ performance after internships in different organizations. Software like PushFar has been designed categorically to offer e online mentorship programs to other developed organizations. For example, when hiring, interviewing, or assessing interns, the software is used to obtain ratings, thereby making formidable decisions beneficial to specific companies.
Furthermore, and from the previous survey, Hindsdale (2015) many organizations have concluded the benefits of mentorship programs to workers because it provides loyalty and engagement. In America’s African American community context, career progression has grown over 70% since the interventional programs were introduced in the millennium years. With PushFar software, mentees and mentors can access trainees’ engagement protocols concerning the organization, thereby aligning the company’s targets. Moreover, it was noted that retention is high in organizations for those mentees and mentors that have undergone training in the mentorship programs. Categorically, there is a difference between those who attend and those that do not participate in the mentoring program regarding their performance levels (Kurakto, 2020). Under diversity, professionals believe that mentoring is possible to change extreme situations to inclusivity of all talents. The workforce challenges are addressed head-on by ensuring that the interns are stationed in good companies, thereby finding future reference opportunities. Consequentially, such programs are beneficial to the development of mentees and workers requiring more expertise to sharpen their skills.
In the African American context, Buck (2020) asserts that African Americans have potential on different levels but lack avenues to fast-track the ideas. In essence, having good relationships helps create trust, empathy, and understanding amongst trainees and mentors. The resultant approach proofs beyond a reasonable doubt that the black community still needs a continuous training process both at school and in workplaces. This research embodies the concept of knowing the racial identity of specific mentees while aligning it to the leadership undertaking mentorship programs’ competency levels. For the African American Americans, the school was an intolerant zone of oppression. Take, for example, the seclusion of schools by racial lines. Whites had their separate schools differentiated by either financial capability or prestige or maybe a showcase of power and incapability of the African minorities. Research shows that despite having poor backgrounds, the African American minorities perform better on their social and psychological dimensions on how they view life. However, ethnicity still plays a significant role in the minority group when identifying the mentorship organizations that address African American problems. Using the Big brother and Big sister programs, strategies have been developed to help understand mentorship (Merole, 2020). One-on-one programs are advised for career development in this minority race since it offers space and time to connect. In this case, one adult is used for mentoring a couple of male African American boys to induce inclusivity. Community agencies arrange the programs through partnerships that would develop the careers of the different diverse and conversant individuals with most organizational goals and objectives.
Hinsdale (2015) states that initiatives such as the Harlem Children’s Home were formed to offer high school students leadership roles before joining college. Secondly, the House of Umoja in Philadelphia was created to reduce gang-related violence among black males in America. Thirdly, the Monitoring Center in Oakland continued its mentorship activities by introducing cognitive, spiritual, and life-changing activities that improve individual and group characters. By reducing violent actions among these minority groups, the intervention can create employment for even the most youths living in high-risk areas of America. Lastly, the 100 Black Men organization aimed at producing productive adult males in the African American society as equal citizens of America.
The African American minorities have suffered prejudice since the 1900s regarding equality of representation. However, with diversity and civilization, mentorship programs have helped improve their self-confidence and esteem in taking every opportunity as everyone else in the country (Snyder,2019). Notably, most African American males drop out of school due to drugs, no school fees, peer pressure, and poor parenting, resulting in poor lifestyles that necessitate mentoring. This study has delved into the merits of mentorship, challenges experienced, organizations supporting the course, and the intervention programs’ current standings. When considering the African Americans’ high-risk lives, mentoring becomes an automatic need for this group without reasonable doubt. This approach is vital for the culture, context, and numerous experiences of the minority race. Thus, a solid cultural mentorship class must attain this objective by analyzing its effectiveness for black males. More studies need to be undertaken for the future betterment of this minority group’s careers. Table 4 shows the summary of the articles used.
Author and Date
Country
Sample
Details
Abdolalizadeh et al. 2017
Iran
(n= 12) for group of mentors
(n= 21) for the mentees
The recruitment was from the end of first year of mentorship.
The participants were invited to take part in the group discussions.
Anumba 2015
U.S
(n not specified)
Included the first male students in a family to attend college.
Interviews were conducted on all participants
Main aim was to establish the participation in college
Bennett et al. 2013
U.S
(n=125)
Target: University students
Locality: Kenya and Uganda
Interviews were conducted on students
The main aim was to find the relationship between mentoring and school attendance.
Clark and White 2010
U.S
(n =12) for universities
The students were engaged in business strategy competition
It was a three-day involvement
It included managers and four major corporations.
Bhatnagar et al. 2020
U.S
(n=61)
Target: University students
This was a research on fourth year osteopathic students
It was a survey design
Black et al. 2010
U.S
(n= 3320)
Average age: 14.8
Females:53%
Males: 47%
Questionnaires’ were administered
This was followed by one year follow-up
Bulut et al. 2010
(n=62) first year students
(n=58) fourth year students
Turkey
First mentors and mentees established contacts
They were supposed to keep in touch
The impact of the program on transition to next level was determined.
Gibson 2014
–
U.S
Review the information on mentorship programs
Grant 2019
(n=6) graduates
U.S
The participants were recruited through social media
They responded to the survey online.
Green et al. 2017
Focus: mentoring strategies for African Americans
U.S
Using AAMP
Examining the uniqueness of the workforce
Mentorship Programs
Program
Title
Date
Website
1.
National Mentoring Resource Center
Mentoring for Black Male Youth
2016
https://nationalmentoringresourcecenter.org/index.php/component/k2/item/177-mentoring-for-black-male-youth.html
2.
The Blue Heart Foundation
Black Male Mentors
2018
3.
Mentor
Guide to mentoring boys and young men of color
2021
4.
100 Black Men of America
Mentoring
2020
5.
100 Black men of London
Mentoring
2017
http://100bml.org/mentoring/
The research sampled five websites of programs that are actively mentoring Africa-American men. The results showed that formal and informal mentoring has potential to enhance the potential of the African American performance in different areas such as academics. They also showed that it positively affects the socio-emotional wellbeing and the mental health. It is through mentorship that the African American male students are able to overcome the risky behaviors. The findings also showed that there is high cultural mistrust between the African American male students and the white mentors that affects the relationship between them.
The results showed that mentorship programs are capable of reducing the negative effects that come from racial discrimination. The support derived from African American mentoring helps to support the social-emotional development. They also help to promote a sense of racial identity that leads to better academic outcomes. This is because the mentoring programs provides an opportunity for the African American male students to share their life experiences with the mentors and hence provides the merits they largely lack. However, the African American mentors are likely to be available in informal settings making it hard for them to participate in formal programs. The supportive mentoring relationships established are a source of positive outcomes for the male African Americans. The African American male students have less access to the mentorship compared to the female students. Therefore, it is important to recognize the variations in the male students and come up with programs that meet their specific needs. it is also important to have mentors with appropriate skills.
Chapter 5: Discussion
The articles were analyzed and interpreted in categories that produced four main groups. They include the relationship between mentoring programs and college attendance for African American students; and the effectiveness of mentoring programs in providing career guidance and selection for male African American college students. Furthermore, the study examined how mentoring programs influence students and faculty members; and how mentoring programs support students in their transition to college. All four issues related to the research questions emerged in the studies reported in the selected articles. The core tenets of mentorship programs regarding male African American students include providing moral and social support to encourage students to prepare students to endure the challenges associated with college life (Graham & McClain, 2019; Guryanet al., 2020). The programs are also intended to increase students’ academic performance, which has deteriorated due to social challenges in school and socioeconomic issues at home.
Mentorship programs encourage students to express their feelings. Mentors advise students to open up and talk about what they feel. The challenges they are experiencing to their mentors prevent a buildup of problems that eventually result in poor performance or dropping out of school (Graham & McClain, 2019). Discussing challenges and issues with mentors also relieves students of the stresses associated with the problems, thereby helping students stay in the optimal emotional and psychological conditions that can support the learning process (Graham & McClain, 2019). Mentors advise students on making the proper career selection that matches their talents and competencies. Students who have enrolled in mentorship programs are less likely to experience difficulties in the courses they have selected since, through the mentorship program, it is unlikely that students can choose classes that they cannot handle (Booker &Brevard, 2017). Through the mentorship programs, students are encouraged to pursue the courses they feel they can handle competently, regardless of their say or stereotypes. In this regard, the mentorship programs have urged students to seek STEM courses without experiencing difficulties with continued support (Guryan et al., 2020). Before college, mentorship programs offered more effective in transitioning students to college and staying in school than those provided after they joined colleges and other higher learning institutions.
Mentorship programs play a crucial role in making African American students appreciate college education and take their studies seriously. The first research question, “do mentor programs increase college attendance among African American males?” is supported by the selected studies. For instance, Anumba (2015) found that mentorship programs increase college attendance and graduation rates among African American males. Although the performance of African American male students has been significantly lower than other races, which are Asians, Hispanics, and Caucasian Whites, there was an increase in high school diploma graduates and bachelor’s degree from 78%-86% and 8%-20% respectively from 1980-2011 (Anumba, 2015). The rise in African American males’ graduation rates can be attributed mainly to mentorship programs, especially after high school education. It is crucial to examine the preexisting disparities that impact African American male college graduation rates when designing mentorship programs (Guryan et al., 2020). Socioeconomic gaps are among the significant factors that affect students’ morale and affordability of quality education (Anumba, 2015). For instance, the number of African American males matriculated in medical colleges has remained approximately 40% of the total number of applicants as it was 30 years ago (Laurencin &Murray, 2017). Enrollment of black males in medical colleges and universities has remained nearly the same for three decades despite increased medical colleges and universities and positions.
Ineffective social and educational policies have impacted schools’ diversity with socio-culturally diverse students from economically advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds. This effect’s leading causes include racial discrimination and health disparities marked by pervasive morbidity and mortality (Laurencin & Murray, 2017). Consequently, low motivation among African American students has persisted in colleges and universities, leading to school dropouts and low academic attainment scores. College mentorship programs have effectively addressed the issue of college and university dropout among male African American students. Anumba (2015) found that college mentoring programs provide students with guidance and support to increase their resilience of facing the challenges that impact African American students’ college attendance and academic performance. College attendance rates can be increased by early exposure and familiarity with the college environment and the challenges experienced by male African American college students through mentoring programs.
Attending college-based and community-based college/university preparatory programs helps the enrollees gain crucial academic support and guidance. The program effectively increases their preparedness to select and pursue appropriate higher education programs, boosts their motivation for education, and develops resilience against the challenges associated with a college education that male African American students experience (Anumba, 2015). The positive relation between mentoring programs and attendance is also supported by Guryan et al. (2020), who studied the effects of the Check and Connect program on student attendance, focusing on students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. The Check and Connect program were initiated by What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), a Department of Education body. It is a practical mentoring and monitoring program to reduce school absenteeism and increase students’ engagement and participation in academic activities when they enrolled in colleges and other higher learning institutions (Guryan et al., 2020). The study found that the Check and Connect program significantly increased male African American students’ college and university attendance.
The selected studies positively answered the second research question, “are mentorship programs effective in providing career guidance and choices for African American males?” The Check and Connect program effectively helps African American male students make practical career guides and choices. Guryan et al.’s (2020) findings indicate that the program’s success in career guidance is based on how mentors are assigned to each student. The mentors monitor enrollees’ academic performance and help African American male students make essential career selections, including talent identification, through mutual and constructive engagement with the students (Guryan et al., 2020). Students who enrolled in the high school program were assisted in making the proper selection of college courses, which increased their motivation for learning and their college academic performance. Similarly, Tolliver III’s and Miller’s (2018) study found that mentorship programs effectively increased male African American college students’ ability to make appropriate career choices. Their study aimed to examine the characteristics that increased the success of African American male students in college.
Their study results indicate that all-male African American students who were registered in mentorship programs benefited through career guidance and support by assigned mentors, which significantly increased their learning motivation. The study conducted by Lucas (2018) also supports the positive relationship between mentoring programs with appropriate career selection and guidance. The study aimed to evaluate the resilience of African American third-year students using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. The study findings indicate that mentoring programs were among the most crucial factors that increased male African American students’ career selection and resilience in general. The mentorship program offered students opportunities for peer and faculty-oriented guidance and support (Lucas, 2018). With the help of older students, faculty professionals, and counselors, the mentorship program guided students in making appropriate career choices and social support. The support significantly increased students’ focus on their academic work, the morale for participation in educational activities, and increased their resilience regarding withstanding the disparities that impact male African American college students’ performance in general (Lucas, 2018). These findings suggest that mentorship programs that come during the first year in school and continue throughout students’ academic programs positively increase their resilience to the extent of persevering discrimination and other issues affecting their career path.
The third research question, “Are mentorship programs helpful in improving the relationship between faculty and students?” has been positively answered by all the articles. Mondisa’s (2018) study on the effects of mentorship on African American students found that mentorship programs improve the relationship between students and faculty to the extent that students feel free to consult faculty staff on social and academic matters (Mondisa, 2018). The study found the application of empathetic, familial, resource acquisition and guidance mentoring approaches to establish students’ positive views of the faculty, which significantly increased the likelihood of engaging with the faculty staff on academic affairs. Similarly, Booker’s and Brevard’s (2017) study on the importance of mentoring found that mentoring programs increase the relationship between students and faculty staff. Mentoring programs that were 70% effective in the study fostered the relationship between students and faculty staff through academic performance, units and significant selection, and persistence in educational matters (Booker & Brevard, 2017). However, students who were assigned senior students as mentors reported a less positive experience with the faculty. In contrast, students whose mentors were faculty staff had a more excellent positive view of the faculty hence were freer to consult the faculty on social and academic matters.
The findings imply that faculty mentors are more effective in building the relationship between students and their tutors than student mentors because faculty mentors are more concerned with student successes than senior students (Booker & Brevard, 2017). Studies by two researchers, Brooms and Davis (2017), found that mentoring men of color in the white schools increased student-faculty relationships and their endurance of social stereotypes. The deficit perspective among the participants was overcome with the relationship with colored faculty members, who supported them and guided them in making decisions that boosted their academic performance and endurance (Brooms & Davis, 2020). In the study, peer-to-peer association with Black males and Black faculty members’ mentoring positively shaped the students’ persistence effort (Booker & Brevard, 2017). Therefore, the close relations with faculty staff are based on the students’ perception of the faculty staff’s friendliness.
Some of the selected studies that positively answer the fourth research question, “do mentorship programs support African American students as they transition to a college education?” include studies conducted among high school students in schools that offered mentorship programs. Burt et al. (2019) survey shows that pre-college mentorship programs help transition to college and increase male African American students’ adaptability to the college environment. The study results imply that college persistence among male African American students lies in the relationship between the student-peer relationships and student-faculty relationships. Mentoring programs introduced before joining college sufficiently prepare students regarding career selection, social life, and resilience throughout the college program. Pre-college mentoring programs effectively prepare male African American students for college life and education based on mentor and family support (Burt et al., 2019). Parental and family support is among the most crucial factors that make students have favorable views of mentoring programs and influence their persistence in education regardless of the challenges faced before or after joining college.
Mentorship programs that emphasize spirituality and moral values help students understand and manage social issues that will affect them in their college life, which boosts their coping abilities when they join college (Guryan et al., 2020; Booker & Brevard, 2017). Male African American students often feel isolated or lonely when they enter college and need affirmation that they have selected the right course or field of study (Burt et al., 2019). Although the students were encouraged by their peers and family before joining college, they still struggle to cope with the new environment. Therefore, the mentoring program that comes before joining college sufficiently prepares them to be resilient in their college life.
Mentorship Programs
National Mentoring Resource Center
What is the Program For?
The program is meant to increase the opportunities for the African American youths by providing them with mentors to improve the quality of mentorship received. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention support the program. It provides research, grants and technical assistance for high quality mentorship programs.
What is the Structure of the Program?
The program is structured around enhancing mentorship in Male African Americans. It includes providing opportunities for the young fathers and mothers with their children. It also aims at mentoring the youths through initiatives. It also provides an opportunity to the children whose parents have been incarcerated.
Who started the Mentoring Program?
The program was established by the Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). It was established in 2013 with the main aim being to establish a national training and technical assistance center solely focused on mentoring.
Who funds the Program?
The program is funded through grants from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
What are the Programs meant to do?
The main aim of National Mentoring Resource Center is to provide comprehensive and reliable resources and no cost training and technical assistance. This is a service available to all with major focus on the youths seeking support on evidence-based practices.
The Blue Heart Foundation
What are the programs for?
The Blue Heart Foundation is a Nonprofit organization that aims at providing the African American male youths with the holistic mentoring programs. Based in San Diego County, the program targets males of 13 to 18 years to facilitate positive interactions, empowerments, and their emotional wellbeing.
What is the Structure of the Program?
The program is structured such that it enhances the educational, emotional, and cultural development. Through numerous developments, it enhances the participation in education for the African American students. It also ensures that they are stable emotionally with an identity of their culture.
Who started the program?
Blue Heart Foundation was established by Tracy Morris as a way of keeping the members active in the society and college campuses. He also aimed to get active enrollment in workshops and seminars. The focus was on the mental health of the members with the goal of having them attend four-year courses in universities.
Who funds the Programs?
The program is majorly funded through donations from the well-wishers. These include the corporates and the individuals. It is through contributions and donations that it is possible to run all the mentorship programs.
What are the Programs meant to do?
The programs are meant to mentor the youth of color into believing in their abilities and to participate in education. This is done using assessment tools and guidance into the career world to help the students enhance their future.
MENTOR
What are the programs for?
MENTOR is a program that was established with the main aim of mentoring the youths in the movement. It serves as an expert and the quality resource for mentoring. There is therefore, ten times an increase in the number of people with increasing the youths. This program has led to fueling of opportunities for the young people in education and workplaces.
What is the Structure of the Program?
The program is structured such that the youths have access to research and training. This helps to identify the right approaches of helping the participants in overcoming the challenges they are faced with. It also has programs meant to unify and elevate. This helps to reach as many people as possible. The last approach is the recruitment of the youths to help as many as possible.
Who started the program?
Ray Chambers and Geoffrey Bosi established MENTOR in 1990. The main aim was to advocate for mentoring in the United States. It is a 501 NGO with headquarters in Boston.
Who funds the Programs?
The program relies on donations from different well-wishers. The corporate institutions and the individuals make these donations.
What are the Programs meant to do?
The programs are meant to enhance the well-being of the participants. These include prioritizing the quality and ensuring that there is effective training to sustain mentorship for the young. It also ensure that there is strong leadership for better access by the society. it also expands local mentoring leadership to identify the innovations and hence increase the quality.
100 Black Men of America
What are the programs for?
The programs are meant to educate the youths and enhance their participation. They are also meant to mentor them into the future. Apart from this, there are health and wellness programs mean to enhance the wellbeing of the participants.
What is the Structure of the Program?
The program is structured such that it provides mentorship to people based on their needs. For example, collegiate 100 is meant to provide mentorship to those in college. It incorporates both female and males and they get to participate though national chapters.
Who started the program?
Several visionaries started the program in 1963 in New York. These include David Dinkins, Robert magnum, and Andrew Hatcher. Therefore, they were congregating with the main aim being to determine the structure of governance providing the effective support for Africa-Americans in the societies.
Who funds the Programs?
Since this is an NGO, major finding comes from donations. These are the people who provide donations using various methods.
What are the Programs meant to do?
The programs are meant to provide positive opportunities for the youth. This is done by ensuring that they are able to embrace a sense of responsibility. This helps to give the children a new chance and opportunity in life. The focus in the future will be on mentoring, education, and economic empowerment.
100 Black Men of London
What are the programs for?
The programs are meant to impart life skills into the participants. These skills are mostly through other African-Americans and hence mentors the males as per the principles.
What is the Structure of the Program?
The program is structured such that it provides role models to the children in the society. This is because the African American are less privileged and hence are affected by changes in life. This is achieved through programs such a mentorship, education.
Who started the program?
Bill Haley, the community luminaries, and other scholars started the program. It started in 1963 in United States and it was meant to enhance the position of African-Americans. It consists of 100 chapters with the London one being the third international chapter.
Who funds the Programs?
The major source of funding are the donors. The programs are run through the contributions made by the companies and the individuals.
What are the Programs meant to do?
The program is meant to enhance the awareness of importance of equality for the African-Americans. This is done through mentorship programs and education opportunities.
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