Mentoring in Urban High Schools: Impact on 9th Grade African American Males’ Algebra I Achievement

Abstract

In 2010, an urban high school in southeast Texas was considered academically unacceptable by the Texas Education Agency and had not met state standards for seven years. Data showed there were many issues in the school such as poor academics, high absentee rate, low graduation rate, and discipline issues. When the school focused on finding a solution to these problems they found that a specific population was showing the widest academic gaps: African American males.

Plans were developed to create a mentoring program for the African American males that were identified as being at-risk of dropping out of high school. Outside professionals that possessed strong academic backgrounds volunteered to support the interventions towards the students’ academic gaps. To evaluate the impact of the mentoring program, five research questions guided the study. They were: 1) What are the differences between course grades of mentored African American males compared with those of non-mentored African American males in Algebra I?; 2) What are the differences between grades of mentored African American males compared with those of non-mentored African American males in Algebra I with the same teacher?; 3) What the differences are between scores of mentored African American males and non-mentored African American males on Algebra I assessment?; 4) What the differences are among scores by objectives of African American males on the State Algebra I assessment?; and 5) What are African American males’ perceptions about the mentoring program?

Results of the study showed a difference of a passing average for mentored students in Algebra I of approximately six percentage points higher than non-mentored students in 2011-12 and approximately 4 percentage points higher for mentored students in 2012-13. Mentored students had a significantly higher passing percentage by teacher of record in both years of the study. Differences of passing averages for mentored students on the Algebra I EOC of approximately 44 percentage points higher than non-mentored students in 2011-12 and approximately 35 percentage points higher for mentored students in 2012-13 were found. Mentored students had a significantly higher passing percentage by EOC objectives in both years of the study. Mentored students recorded significantly positive responses on mentoring program surveys in both years of the study. Evidence gathered on the program recorded the correlation between the mentoring program and EOC assessment scores and showed that the mentoring program had a significant impact on the outcome of the STAAR Algebra I EOC Assessment for the African American male students who participated. The analysis of data demonstrates that the more time a mentor spends with a student, the greater the likelihood of a higher score on the assessment.