Increasing Instructional Time for African American Male Students

The Challenge

At a national level, African American male students are facing challenges to gain a strong educational foundation and they are continuing to fall further behind. This in large part is due to the fact that African American males are three times more likely to be suspended or expelled than white males. This staggering statistic is contributing to a decreased amount of instructional time in the classroom. At Carver Elementary, African American students comprise 50% of the student population but account for 94% of the office referrals for behavior disruptions. When students receive referrals, they are missing on average between thirty minutes and two hours of instructional time. This loss of instructional time is correlated with lower standardized test scores in both Math and ELA. Through extensive research, Carver has been looking into the root causes that can help to explain this high number of referrals. By addressing these factors, the school hopes to figure out a way to keep its students in the classroom so they don’t miss out on learning.

The Design Process

The design team engaged in the following ways to generate solutions for implementation

Laticia Erving, the design coach, helped maintain focus, identify the core
problem, and brought together team members and outside consultants. Her
reframing and questioning were integral to the final design solutions.

The design team engaged the school community (parents, students, teachers,
and support staff) to identify the impact the home and school environment had
on student behaviors.

The Design Solution

Carver hopes to improve black male academic achievement by first increasing the amount of in-
class instruction they receive. At the same time, the school wants to address some of the root

causes of disruptive behavior by increasing black students’ sense of belonging in their classrooms
and nurturing their leadership abilities. To that end, Carver narrowed in on 4 solutions

The Design Solution

Create a teacher book study that focuses on increasing black
student engagement in the classroom

The Design Solution

Creating a community fathers’ group

The Design Solution

Expanding the Young Lions Boys Group, which is a community- based program facilitated by 2 consultants that teaches young men the importance of personal accountability and self-reflection

The Design Solution

Introducing “Making a Man Monday” where Carver’s Young Lions
apply the leadership skills learned in their group to serve as role
models to their peers

The Impact

Carver’s solutions combined have had a MODERATE impact. Though instructional time for black
students did not increase from 2016-2017 to 2017-2018, academic performance for
kindergarten students increased. For the same cohort of students, 3% of students were meeting
or exceeding standards at the beginning of the school year but, by the middle of 2016-2017, 10%
were at the same level. At the end of the year, 26% met or exceeded standards. SBAC ELA scores
for African American students also increased from 14.8% to 16.2%, while math scores increased
slightly from 13% to 13.2%.