About the Practice
The Young Men Leadership group is a single gender group that focuses on teaching young men the importance of discipline, respect and education. This single-gender setting allows for minimal distractions on their journey to building character and learning leadership. We have based their teachings off of the five prides: Respect, Integrity, Loyalty, Accountability and Courage. The students are expected to learn and possess these qualities as a group. We hope to increase academic achievement, school connectedness, positive student-teacher relationships and brotherhood
Target Population/Total Students:
Twenty (20) 9th grade Young Men with 8th grade data of recidivism. Each young man has a current Individual Education Plan and poor attendance.
Challenges:
- Convincing Young Men to participate in the group.
- Designated a particular room in the building for the program to be held
- Parents attending monthly meetings
How did school overcome challenges?
The Young Men assisted in designing the group. For instance, the Young Men created the name of the group and choose specific color to represent the group. In order to increase parent participation and attendance, parents were provided with metro cards. Also, activities were plan in a separate room for younger children that accompanied the parents.
How did you evaluate that this practice was effective?
Look at Young Men’s attendance, report cards, progress reports, attendance and detention and suspension data.
How will you continue to sustain this practice?
This practice is designed for this particular cohort based upon suspension data and IEP classifications. If next year’s cohort is similar funds will be allocated to provide the support.