African American Boys' Views of Family as Support for School

Jeffrey L. Lewis

Lecturer; Ad Hoc Program Specialist

Researchers long have recognized that family-school relationships affect children's success at school, so educators in the last two decades have reached out to parents or households. However, many African American children receive support extending beyond the nuclear family or immediate household. Attempts to connect families and schools may bypass these adaptive family systems, with educators missing opportunities to partner with supportive adults and to build on the positive impact of peers supporting success at school. This study looks at key relationships related to academic success of African American boys in the critical pre-teen years.

Creative, intellectual work

This study is part of a larger ongoing project developed through a partnership including UW-Extension's Cooperative Extension division, the Wisconsin school district of Beloit and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. This study examines the school experiences of elementary and middle school age African American boys.

In the initial stages of the study, we conducted a case study of a special education referral process from the perspective of an African American first-grade boy, his family and school staff, and we developed a storytelling project with six African American fourth- and fifth-grade boys. Both projects raised our awareness of the boys' supportive relationships from various individuals largely unknown to and underutilized by the school. This evidence of support challenged school staff and researchers' views – articulated in more than 50 publications – about low-income African American boys and their families.

The subsequent study during the 2007-2008 school year examined the nature of support for school for 28 African American boys at two elementary schools and one middle school in Beloit, Wisconsin. Our findings indicate that boys have support networks more extensive than we – or school staff – expected. They reported significant support from peers and adult males, and their support often included multiple households and multiple communities. About 82 percent of the boys referenced support from extended family members and 89 percent from adult males. Recommendation based on study data include:

• Educators must more consistently view African American students and their families as resource-rich and full partners in supporting the boys' education. School staff must create opportunities for the boys to share this information with them.
• Our data strongly supports the need for schools to expand their idea of family support beyond parental involvement – and find ways for schools to partner with these individuals.
• Men matter to these boys, and they regularly appear in support networks even when they live in separate households and separate cities. We should learn more about them and find ways to partner with them and connect them with schools.
• Peers were more significant in the boys' support networks than we anticipated. We must find ways to support the peer relationships that provide school-related support.

Peer reviewed

• $4,000 grant from the University of Wisconsin System Institute on Race and Ethnicity to assist with data analysis and dissemination of research findings.
• Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, CREATE Institute presentation by Jeffrey L. Lewis and Amy Hilgendorf, April 2010
• Dane County Juvenile Justice Conference, presentation by Jeffrey L. Lewis and Amy Hilgendorf, January 2010
• Virginia Department of Education Disproportionality Institute presentation, October 2009
• Madison Metropolitan School District, Aristos Scholars Retreat presentation, October 2009
• UW System Institute on Race and Ethnicity Symposium presentation, April 2009
• Report on findings and implications for staff at Aldrich Middle School, Beloit, February 2009
• Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Summer Institute on Addressing Disproportionality presentation by Jeffrey L. Lewis and Amy Hilgendorf, 2008

Additions to intellectual history

• This study is part of a larger ongoing project developed through a partnership including UW-Extension's Cooperative Extension division, the Wisconsin school district of Beloit and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. A related website will be developed in summer 2010.
• State of Wisconsin Part B Annual Performance Report 2008-2009, by Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, February 2010
• Wisconsin Center for Education Research Highlights, Summer 2009, Vol. 20, No. 3
• Lewis, J. L. & Hilgendorf, A. (2009). African American Boys' Views of Family as Support for School: A Report to the School District of Beloit, available through UW-Extension's The Learning Store. (This is the first in the series Reaching Out to Underrepresented Groups in Wisconsin. The next publication in the series, Empowering Learning Environments for African American Children: Engendering Trust and Solidarity, is due in fall 2010.)
• University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Human Ecology 2008-2009 Almanac
• Lewis, J. L. & Kim, E. (2008). The Desire to Learn: African American Children's Positive Attitudes Toward Learning Within School Cultures of Low Expectations. Teachers College Record

Valued by target audience

We established the African American Pre-College and Career Program in 2009 at Aldrich Middle School, Beloit, to help students prepare for high school and develop peer support for success. The program worked with about 20 students at Aldrich and about a dozen school staff at Aldrich and Merrill schools. The program wrapped up with an exhibition of students' documentaries and photo-maps in May 2010, with materials to be posted online in summer 2010.

Teachers at both the elementary schools and the middle school used in this study reported that the study helped them to reevaluate their assumptions about African American students and families.

We have used the study findings to help fifth- and sixth-grade teachers develop an assets-based perspective of fifth-grade African American students as they design strategies supporting the transition to middle school.

Results from this study will serve as the basis of an initiative to support school-age African American males. The initiative will include a focus on developing "natural mentors" and building support within the boys' existing social worlds.