Key to Closing the Gap: Positive Role Models

By Toni Skalican

“I am young and I am positive.

I am the future, and I am going to tell it like it is.

I will not let anything stand in my way.

My eyes are on the “Kalamazoo Promise,” and they are going to stay that way!”

Hands linked and smiles abound, students and tutors stand in a circle to recite this—the Community Advocates for Parents and Students “Affirmation”—at the end of study sessions at Interfaith Homes Community Center every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

The community advocates program, otherwise known as CAPS, began last October when four Kalamazoo community members came together to help students struggling in Kalamazoo Public Schools.

The community members included four proud, African-American Kalamazoo residents--Dr. Janice James, pediatrician; Kai Jackson, behavioral specialist for KPS; Dorothy Young, former principal of Hillside Middle School; and Dr. Harvey Meyers, a retired chemist. In order to accomplish their goal, they needed volunteers, and K College students rose to the occasion.

A five minute drive north of campus, just off of Woodward Avenue, the community center is located in the middle of a colorless apartment complex development. However, its outside appearance is deceiving, as the community center serves as a source of academic inspiration for student residents.

Inside the community center, students work in two main rooms. The first is a much-sought-after computer lab. The second is a study room, best described as lively clutter of disheveled tables, chairs, school supplies, and children’s books.

Aside from the animated atmosphere of the room, there is one more observation to be made--every student, K through 12, is African-American.

The Gap

An hour and a half before the CAPS affirmation, KeVanna Potts, a spunky 9-year-old, dances in her seat between math problems. Surrounded by the chatter of students and mentors, she keeps her attention on her schoolwork and the instructions of her tutor, Gabby Mindingall K’11, who is also African-American.

KeVanna is in the 4^th grade, and like all of Michigan’s fourth-graders, this year she will face her second standardized MEAP test. The MEAP, otherwise known as the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, attempts to measure the yearly progress of every student in Michigan, in accordance with the regulations set forth by the 2001 “No Child Left Behind Act.”

In the 2005-2006 school year, 87 percent of white fourth-graders in Michigan tested proficient or advanced in mathematics. However, only 59 percent of African American fourth graders tested proficient or advanced, showing a difference—or gap—of 28 percent, according to the Michigan Department of Education.

The overall education gap between black and white students in Michigan is a difference of about 35 points on a 270-point scale. This difference is the third largest of all states in the nation, with Washington D.C. in first place, and Minnesota in second.

The outlook on Michigan schools is bleak. The education gap in Kalamazoo Public Schools, according to the MDE, is the second biggest of all school districts in Michigan.

KeVanna continues sketching nickels and dimes with confidence, persistent in completing 25 pages in her math workbook.

Getting It Right

K mentors with CAPS offered their perspective on the cause of this gap.

Klissa Jarrett K’10, an African-American student leader of CAPS, said, “It’s a socio-economic gap, definitely. The schools [in areas where economically-disadvantaged students live] aren’t up to par.”

Travis Smith K’10, also African-American, who is an obvious favorite among the students who refer to him as “Mr. Travis!” agreed. “Teachers do not teach to different learning styles,” he said. He explained that he works with many kids who have only been taught one problem-solving method. When students struggle, he offers alternative methods.

“With math, I have to back-track to give definitions,” he said. Often, students don’t know what to do because they are confused by terms like “conversion,” “independent variable,” and even “digits.”

However, teaching kids how to deal with “math-problem vocabulary” can be seen as relatively easy when compared to teaching them how to deal with peer pressure. Smith admitted that he had just been working with a student who was quick defend himself after getting an answer right.

“I’m not no nerd,” said the student.

Raising Expectations

Dr. Janice James took a different approach to the education gap, and rightly so. After all, these factors--economic disadvantages, poor problem-solving skills, fears of teasing—can affect all students, regardless of race.

While several K mentors hinted at other problems in Kalamazoo’s African American community, such as violence and poor parenting, James suggested otherwise. She’s “not interested” in Interfaith’s demographics and the negative stereotypes that such demographics might produce.

“It is the legacy of slavery that we are paying for now,” she said, giving her ‘frank’ opinion.

According to James, African Americans have been “devalued” in American society. When she first moved to Kalamazoo “many years ago,” she had several experiences with stereotyping that made her stop and ask herself, “What is wrong with this town?”

First, a cashier at a grocery store asked for her food stamps. A few months later, the secretary at her doctor’s office asked for her Medicaid card. These class assumptions made about James, a pediatrician, were based on racial stereotypes, she said.

For her, Kalamazoo schools were the last straw. According to James, her son, a talented math student, had a habit of becoming distracted and “messing around with the other kids in class.” She told the teacher, “If this one (referring to her son) isn’t getting A’s, call me.” When her son brought home B’s and C’s she was shocked—no one had cared enough to call.

“People expect less,” she said. As a result, CAPS’s top priority is to “set high expectations.”

A Different Dynamic

Claire Stravengen, a Caucasian K College sophomore mentor, has seen firsthand that one-on-one tutoring helps KPS students most. In addition to serving as a CAPS mentor, she works at Woodward during the week as an art teacher’s assistant.

“Teachers get really frazzled because there’s a lot of back-talk” she said. “Just getting past focus-issues is really hard for the children.” While she explains, she works with Lukas Gallup, an 8^th grader whose favorite subject is gym. Together, they make flashcards to help Lukas memorize Newton’s laws.

“He’s learning to learn,” said Ms. Jackson, one of the four founders of CAPS, as she wound her way through the disarray of tables with a sly smile.

Stravengen views CAPS as having “different dynamic;” one where students feel focused and comfortable.

Building Relationships

“Boy, get out of my grill!” KeVanna said to a boy behind her, apparently trying to peer over her shoulder. With one page to go in her math workbook, she is well aware that there are only a few minutes left in her study session.

She and “Miss Gabby” have worked through the entire section, chatting all the way.

Describing the student-mentor relationship, Travis Smith had said, “We’re younger than their teachers are,” suggesting that students feel less pressure to “prove something.”

“These kids enjoy doing well,” James had praised in her interview, “They’re happy, they’re energetic, and they don’t want to leave.”

Through developing relationships with students, mentors have been able to get through to African American KPS students, despite any ambiguous disadvantages in the school system. In bringing Kalamazoo College’s “sense of community” into the CAPS classroom, students have shown rapid improvement.

It turns out that the most effective way to reverse the education gap may be as simple as enforcing positive role models.

“That’s key in our African American culture,” said Dr. James. “You can’t do anything if you don’t build relationships.”