In the mid-1990s, as teachers at the inner-city Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska, we were focused on the challenge of teaching honors English to 9th and 10th graders. But one semester as we planned curriculum together, we suddenly realized that a key element was all but missing from our well-planned classes: the minority students who made up about 25 percent of Central's student body.
We were puzzled and concerned that few minority students opted to enroll in honors English classes. Further, those few minority students who did take honors English in 9th and 10th grade often abandoned such challenging classes in their junior and senior years. We decided to find out why—and to find a way to include more minorities in our classes.
In the process of interviewing minority students who had dropped honors English, we discovered several reasons why many of them had done so. A personal sense of isolation seemed to be a major factor. Minority students did not feel neglected by their teachers or rejected by nonminority peers, but they did feel that there were few other minority students with whom they could share their struggles in the honors classes. This sense of isolation made students hesitant to enroll in other honors classes, even when they had excelled in honors English. Other students cited lack of family encouragement or ridicule by minority peers as reasons they did not persist in taking challenging classes.
Our Vision for Minority Scholars
With some clues about why talented minority students at Central High were not working up to their full potential, we brainstormed possible interventions. We envisioned a class that would mentor goal-oriented minority students and ease their sense of isolation. Although we organized the program as a class—with structured lessons on such topics as time management, study skills, and writing business letters—there were no homework assignments, tests, or content deadlines. This structure left plenty of time in class for students to discuss academic choices and strategies, both in small groups and one-on-one with a teacher, and to voice concerns about challenges they were facing. We hoped that if we could help students feel comfortable in honors classes early in high school, they might continue to take challenging classes in their junior and senior years.
In the spring semester of 1996, after gathering input from minority students, we initiated the Minority Scholars program at Central High. An “externship” funded through the Omaha Public Schools provided a part-time substitute teacher for our regular honors English classes so that we could devote our energy to this endeavor. We deliberately set up the program as a class rather than a club, a tutoring service, or a support group. From our experience teaching honors classes, we knew that high-achieving students would want activities that challenged them intellectually, so we created lessons on such topics as planning for college, role modeling, and writing résumés. In addition, we planned talks by guest speakers to familiarize students with the professional world.
- We decided to accept into the program only goal-oriented students who had a history of good grades and who had shown themselves to be positive role models. Central High already provided support systems for at-risk students, but none addressed the needs of gifted minority students. At the suggestion of students who advised us on creating the program, we set a minimum grade point average of 3.2 as a requirement for joining Minority Scholars.
- We scheduled the program to run during the students' lunch periods. This schedule enabled the participation of students with commitments to after-school activities or jobs.
- We made participation voluntary. Teachers could not sign up students for the Minority Scholars program against the students' wishes.
The First Year: Struggles for Space and Respect
In the fall of 1996, we reviewed students' grade point averages and issued invitations to 50 black, Latino, and Native American students in 10th to 12th grade who met the criteria; 15 students accepted the offer.
A plethora of problems arose during the first year of Minority Scholars. For instance, we had to teach our regular class loads and also sponsor three sections of Minority Scholars. In the first few years of the program, our school's lunch periods were only 25 minutes long, so we struggled to plan short lessons that would engage the students intellectually yet at the same time allow them to relax and socialize with their peers. Attracting students to a program that expected them to give up lunch with friends twice a week proved daunting. Some teachers and students continued to see Minority Scholars as simply a tutoring program.
Finding a well-equipped classroom in a school built for 1,800 students—but with an enrollment of 2,200—was nearly impossible. Our first batch of scholars met in a small basement room of the school. It would be two years before Minority Scholars moved into a classroom. Getting funding for materials from year to year was also a challenge. In addition, gaining access to student grades, inviting eligible students, and following up with possible recruits who knew little about the fledgling program proved to be time-consuming and demanding of our creativity and perseverance.
With support from Central High's administration, counselors, and students, we managed to address these problems. Late in 1996, Minority Scholars received a grant from the Omaha Schools Foundation. This foundation has continued to support the program every year, and in 1998 the Peter Kiewit Foundation provided funding for us to buy computers and a VCR. Eventually we began meeting in a regular classroom, and the school increased the lunch period to 40 minutes. This change provided program participants with time for in-depth lessons as well as socializing and studying with other group members—a true bonus.
The Ripple Effect of Mentoring
Because we focused our energy on mentoring talented minority youth, we did not compile or analyze much formal data on the program. Nevertheless, what data we have collected reveal that the program has helped many students throughout its eight years. When the program began at Central High in 1996, there were five minority students in freshman honors English classes (representing 8 percent of the total students) and five minority students in sophomore honors English classes (representing 4 percent of the total students). By 2000, the number of minority students enrolled in 9th grade honors English classes had increased to 24 (17 percent of all students in these classes). Although in 2001 the number of minority youth in freshman honors English classes dipped slightly to 17, that figure still represented more than three times the number enrolled when the program began. By 2002, 38 minority students were enrolled in sophomore honors English classes (representing 31 percent of the total number).
In addition, in 1995 only six students from Central High were admitted into the African American Academic Achievement Awards program, which honors high-achieving minority seniors from all Omaha public high schools. By 2002, 29 of the 34 minority seniors from Central so honored were members of Minority Scholars. The number of minority students admitted into the National Honor Society at Central also increased, from six in 1995 to 28 in 2002, with 23 of the 28 being members of Minority Scholars.
Each year, the number of students participating in Minority Scholars at Central High has increased, up to approximately 70 students in 2004. As more minority students enrolled in honors English classes, the comfort level of these students increased. They shed the feeling of isolation that seems unavoidable for a lone minority student in a room full of white faces. Just as important were the changes evident in all the students once the classroom became more integrated. More diversity within the classroom meant more diversity in viewpoints and in the discussion of literature. Students began to realize that there were other cultural traditions and ways of viewing life than those they had experienced in middle-class white America.
We have added several writings by minority authors to the English curriculum at Central High. Minority Scholars members have served as aides in some of the English classrooms and worked one-on-one with students in the English as a Second Language program. In addition, an anonymous donor has funded a scholarship for a college-bound senior through the program.
The Minority Scholars program now includes teacher-directed presentations, student-led panels, cooperative learning sessions, individual student presentations, and group activities. Group lessons touch on such topics as time management and business etiquette, or highlight minority achievements. Teachers discuss academic and personal issues individually with students and work with them in such out-of-school activities as a city cleanup day. The program has become a place where minority juniors and seniors mentor gifted freshmen and sophomores, a place where minority students find like-minded peers. Teachers continue to encourage students in the program to pursue honors and other challenging classes.
In 2002, we left our teaching jobs to work full-time implementing Minority Scholars in other Omaha public high schools. Six schools now have Minority Scholars programs. Starting with 15 talented minority students in one urban high school, the program has grown to serve 300 minority students throughout the school district, providing support that should keep more of these students on the path of advanced achievement.
