About the Practice
The Young Men’s Group began in October 2013. Twice a week during lunch, a representative from College Confident facilitates a discussion on issues relevant to the lives of the young men. The facilitator is a current college student who comes with an agenda and materials to foster discussion. In addition to the lunchtime sessions, the students take trips. Last year they visited two colleges. Within the 49 minute lunch period students share pizza and discussion. Last year ninth graders were involved. This year it is for 9th and 10th graders. The goal of the group is to help the young men learn how to confront and deal with the challenges that occur to distract them from their education. Conflict resolution is a large focus of the group.
Target Population/Total Students:
The target population is 9th and 10th students. This year 40 students are involved.
Challenges:
- Finding a space for the group to meet.
- Recruiting interested young men.
- Choosing a time when all interested students can participate.
How did school overcome challenges?
We reached out to teachers whose room was free during the designated time and found a teacher who was willing to allow his room to be used. He also stays in the room for the group so that we have a certified teacher in the room. We had the representative from College Confident set up a table in the lunch room to sign up students. The inclusion of pizza was a great recruiting tool. It was difficult to find a lunch period where all interested students were not in class. We made the group during the lunch period when most 10th grade students have lunch. The students who have class during that time have been excused from class for one of the two sessions per week.
How did you evaluate that this practice was effective?
I had individual conversations with the participants and they completed a survey. The strongest indicator of program success was the suspension and incident report rate compared to those of students not involved.
How will you continue to sustain this practice?
We will sustain the program by hiring our own local alum to facilitate the program without using College Confident. We will provide training over the summer for this individual and we will have a male teacher on staff who will serve as a mentor to the alum. We will continue to schedule the program during lunch time. We will use per session funds to pay for the teacher’s time and outside consultant funds to pay for the alum.