This volume dedicated to the engagement of African American males in community colleges furthers the research agenda focused on improving the educational outcomes of African American males. The theme engagement also supports the anti-deficit approach to research on African American males developed by renowned research scholars. The true success of African American males in community colleges rests on how well these institutions engage young men into their institutions. This will require community colleges to examine policies, pedagogical strategies, and institutional practices that alienate African American males and fosters a culture of underachievement. The authors who have contributed to this volume all speak from the same script which proves than when African American males are properly engaged in an education that is culturally relevant, they will succeed. Therefore, this book will benefit ALL who support the education of African American males. It is our intent that this book will contribute to the growing body of knowledge that exists in this area as well as foster more inquiry into the achievement of African American males. The book offers three approaches to understanding the engagement of African American males in community college, which includes empirical research, policy perspectives and programmatic initiatives.

This book encourages leadership educators and practitioners to understand the importance of black male leadership on college campuses in today’s world. As the push to make higher education more culturally relevant and inclusive, the need for these educators to critically engage in their work to create intentional and developmental experiences for their black male leaders is needed now more than ever. The contexts outlined in this book illustrate the need to see Black men's leadership as a critical, dynamic, and ever-evolving component on college campuses that requires intentionality to best develop, serve, and holistically engage Black men in leadership learning. This book is intended to be a practical and scholarly resource to aid in the awareness of Black men in college, Black men's leadership identities and experiences, and the growing need to assist this population's success in college and beyond. Engaging Black Men In College Through Leadership Learning centers on leadership and Black identity as it tackles the intersecting identities of maleness, Blackness, and leadership identity as it encourages educators to consider the importance of the college environment in shaping the next generation of Black men collegiate leaders. In addition, this scholarship provides insight into Black men's leadership experiences in various contexts - including fraternity life, first-year experiences, and student organizations, while capturing the collective experiences of Black men as leadership learners at different types of institutions, including HBCUs, Community Colleges, PWIs and a host of other institution types. This resource is for leadership educators and practitioners to develop Black men as leaders on today’s college campuses, where our global society continues to navigate challenges. This book also situates more nuanced topics such as mental health, trans identity, graduate education, and the experiences of former foster care youth, which provides insight into the experiences of Black men as leaders on college campuses. These contexts illustrate the need to see Black men's leadership as a critical, dynamic, and ever-evolving component on college campuses that requires intentionality to best develop, serve, and holistically engage Black men in leadership learning. We encourage readers of this text to consider how black men’s experiences with leadership are woven into the fabric of your college campus and how you can be an advocate for more critical and sustainable ways to engage Black men in college through leadership learning.

Addresses the subject of the disproportional decline of Black American Males in higher education. This book provides critical historical overviews and analyses pertaining to Black American males in higher education and Black Americans of both genders.

A problematic, yet uncommon, assumption among many higher education researchers is that recruitment, retention, and engagement of African-American males is relatively similar and stable across all majority White colleges and universities. In fact, the harsh reality is that selective public research universities (SPRUs) have distinctive academic cultures that increase the difficulty of diversifying their faculty and student populations. This book will discuss how traditions and elitist assumptions make it very difficult to recruit, retain, and engage African-American males. The authors will examine these issues from multiple perspectives in three sections that highlight research, policies and practices impacting the experiences of African American males, including Pre-Collegiate Preparation, African American Male Student Athletes, and Undergraduate and Graduate Considerations for African American Male Initiatives.

In the updated edition of this important volume, the editors and chapter contributors explore how diverse populations of students experience college differently and encounter group-specific barriers to success. Informed by relevant theories, each chapter focuses on engaging a different student population, including low-income students, Students of Color, international students, students with disabilities, religious minority students, student-athletes, part-time students, adult learners, military-connected students, graduate students, and others. New in this third edition is the inclusion of chapters on Indigenous students, student activists, transracial Asian American adoptee students, justice-involved students, student-parents, first-generation students, and undocumented students. The forward-thinking, practical, anti-deficit-oriented strategies offered throughout the book are based on research and the collected professional wisdom of experienced educators and scholars at a range of postsecondary institutions. Current and future faculty members, higher education administrators, and student affairs educators will undoubtedly find this book complete with fresh ideas to reverse troubling engagement trends among various college student populations.

In an effort to create a more educated workforce in the United States, many community colleges are implementing new practices and strategies to assist under-prepared students. These efforts will ultimately support a stronger and more resilient global workforce. Examining the Impact of Community Colleges on the Global Workforce provides relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks, best practices, and emerging empirical research about new approaches being employed in community colleges to prepare students for their post-collegiate careers. Featuring recent initiatives in educational settings, this publication is a critical reference source for higher education practitioners, policymakers, and graduate students in higher education administration programs interested in the innovative practices utilized by community colleges to educate underserved students.

The Montgomery bus boycott, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and Brown v. Board of Education reveal incentives to reform as a result of economic, political and legal threat. It is difficult to change a person’s heart, or to change based on moral conviction alone. However, policies and laws can be established that will change a person’s behavior. Historically, there was rarely a time where societal changes were the result of a desire to do what was morally right. Doing what is right was contingent upon economic advantages, political motivation or the threat of litigation. By the mid 1900s the NAACP had learned a valuable lesson in the South, that litigation or the threat of litigation was an effective tool in the quest for educational equality (Douglas, 1995). More recently, the #metoo movement and the Los Angeles teacher’s strike exposed corrupt behavior and insufficient working environments that have existed for decades. What is different? They have been exposed through political, economic and legal means. As it pertains to educating African Americans, there was an ongoing role of servitude in the political economy of the South (Anderson, 1988). This was subsequently disrupted through political, economic, and legal measures during Reconstruction. Racist ideologies and economic advantages were seen through Jim Crow Laws (Roback, 1984) that were again disrupted through political, economic, and legal methods. Education has also been cited as what perpetuates our democracy. It is institutions that afford its citizens the skills and knowledge necessary for political participation (Rury, 2002). Even when legal cases are unsuccessful, such as Puitt v. Commissioners of Gaston County or Plessy v. Ferguson, they can forge the way to successful litigation dismantling racist ideologies that oppress African Americans. Although the Puitt decision did not remove the processes of discrimination against Black schools, it left intact the legal basis on segregated and unequal education (Douglas, 1995). As citizens, it is imperative that we participate in the political process and use our authority to mandate the changes we would like to see in urban education. When theorizing this book, the intent was to provide an interdisciplinary look at solutions to critical issues in urban education through political, economic, and legal avenues. This book seeks to provide an interdisciplinary approach to solving the issues in education while connecting it to the effects on teacher preparation. Using historical and recent examples, scholars can piece together solutions that will guide others to political, economic, and legal action necessary to dismantle systems that have bound Black and Brown children. It is our intent to offer innovative, yet grounded solutions that can purposefully move the conversation about solutions to critical issues in education to political, economic, and legal actions.

The Nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are more culturally revered today than ever. As public health and socioeconomic inequity gaps continue to widen between the African American community and other racial groups, the HBCUs embody a shared support system. Since the 1800s, this body of prestigious higher education institutions have represented trusted pathways for the advancement of our community. With these historical accomplishments in mind, it is crucial for HBCUs and their leadership to create a vision for generations to come. Visionary leadership is a must for our storied institutions to advance beyond just surviving into fully thriving. As such, our book project, Imagining the Future: Historically Black Colleges and Universities - A Matter of Survival, offers cutting edge ideas, suggestions and advice from HBCU alumni, proponents, faculty leaders, and researchers for HBCU leadership to cultivate success today and into the foreseeable future. Imagining the Future: Historically Black Colleges and Universities - A Matter of Survival promises timely, relevant and emergent scholarship as well as perspectives for HBCU leadership, HBCU scholars and HBCU supporters.

Regularly, schools and their personnel enact school disciplinary practices without considering how to harness the engagement of students, practitioners, and communities to enact transformative changes that reduce if not eliminate punitive school discipline approaches. Reimagining School Discipline for the 21st Century centralizes the assets and strengths of historically marginalized students and the professional knowledge of school personnel as possible avenues to implement solutions to eliminate school discipline disproportionality. Rather than redressing the issues of school discipline disproportionality overall, this book examines the existence of school on student groups who, according to research and national and state reports, are afflicted the most: African American, Latinx, Native American, and LGBTQ+ population. A confluence of these identities can exacerbate such disproportionality, which based on the literature decreases the academic growth of students. However, situated within these disparities are opportunities to better and critically engage students based on their cultural, racial/ethnic, and social emotional learning assets. The significant feature of this book lies in its purpose and audience reach. Each chapter was written based on the scholar’s affinity to that student group or practitioner’s affiliation to that specific profession. This provides a genuine perspective and knowledge based on first hand experiences concerning school discipline and applicable approaches to remedy such issues. Additionally, all the chapters articulate the pressing issue of school discipline according to their group, and explicates best-practices to best serve the assets of students in K-12 school settings. As this book is situated, the intended audience is for the following stakeholders, policy makers, social workers, school counselors, school administrators, teachers, and community organizers who want to make impactful and socially-just changes in their school(s) immediately.

Mentoring African American Males provides important black male research and student performance data to guide the efforts of those who accept the enormous task of standing in the gap to increase black male achievement. Dr. Ross provides guidance for individuals and institutions embracing the important role of developing mentoring programs or serving as a mentor to youth. However, what makes Dr. Ross’ work such a critically important book for any individual or institution considering such a role is its insight into the social-cultural framework within which mentoring must occur at every level from elementary school through college. Equally insightful is the structure that such programs must take in response to the socio-cultural constructs of the families, communities, and institutions where they will occur. There are far more quantitative studies than qualitative on the topic of mentoring. This text addresses that discrepancy and provides the results of several qualitative studies on African American males. There is hardly any that offer a mixed method perspective that combine quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches. This text reports on the research results that are qualitative in nature in addition to some that are from a quantitative and mixed method approach.