Action Plan

Final Action Plan

Patrick Griffin

Oakland University

EL 520

August 21, 2017

 Final Action Plan

Background

At my school, International Academy (IA) East, our student body is made of

individuals with all different types of ethnic backgrounds. As an all-International

Baccalaureate (IB) school, we attract many self-motivated students that come from

homes with a strong emphasis on excellence in education. These students are a joy to

work with due to this strong internal drive. We have a few international students whose

parents are living in the area due to work opportunities. Fifty percent of our students

come from the Troy School District, one of the highest achieving public school districts

in the state of Michigan. The remaining fifty percent are out-of-district—some seats are

filled with students from Canton and Northville, and most of the rest come from Macomb

County. A select few come from Detroit and Hamtramck. All students are expected to

provide their own transportation to our building each day, or arrange a group pooling

scenario.

The students from the Troy School District are predominantly Asian: made up of

mostly Indian-American and White students, along with a few other minorities including

Black. The out-of-district students, however, have a much different ethnic make-up.

These students are mostly White, and the vast majority of our Detroit students are

Black. After inquiring with my principal about potential race issues, he made a point that

we have been struggling with the success of Black students at our school. They have a

higher dropout rate and failure rate than any other subgroup at IA East. Many of the

Detroit students come from a low socioeconomic class, but a few of the Black Troy and
Canton students who have also struggled academically during their time at the

International Academy.

Our school has an infectious, productive, and collaborative learning environment.

All of our students know they are part of something very special, as our rankings have

been consistently near the top nationally. The success of our Black students is

something that sticks out and needs to be addressed. While the Black population is

small (~25 out of 640 students), we owe it to them to ensure their success and to end a

troubling pattern of failure.

Research

Upon first consideration, I wondered if our Black students felt out of place at our

school. They come from a district with endless financial woes and likely haven’t

experienced a setting such as the IA before. Reading Cohen and Garcia’s (2008) article

really resonated with me and I thought of these students while reading it. The article

discusses how African American college students, who were part of a study, performed

worse on a test when they knew it could reinforce a negative stereotype about their

race. Non-Black students maintained their performance in the same situation. Social

identities can affect students’ motivation to achieve “through their interaction with a

sense of belonging,” according to Cohen and Garcia. I would be curious to interview

these students, and maybe their families, to see if they feel uncomfortable in a

predominantly Asian and White school with high academic achievement and

expectations.

The conflict between Eurocentric schools’ beliefs and Afrocentric homes’ beliefs

can potentially make students feel uncomfortable, which could lead to an at-risk
situation. This conflict is often perpetuated by teachers who are unfamiliar with the

types of backgrounds that Black students may come from, especially those from Detroit.

The values, norms, cultural beliefs and language from these cultures are likely absent or

lessened at the IA, which can contribute to Black students’ lessened social identities.

Jordan (1990) extrapolates this divide into a possible explanation for the declining

number of Black and minority group teachers. She attributes the lack of understanding

and cultural synchronization results in negative teacher interactions. Improving these

interactions between our teachers and Black students can improve their sense of

belonging at our school and may lead to more successes.

Action Plan

Firstly, I would address the situation publicly, and perhaps identify it as our school

improvement goal for the year, or perhaps longer, period of time. As a school

administrator, I would touch base with our Black Student Association (BSA), of which

most to all of these at-risk students are a member of. Using after school time, I would

reach out to these students and gauge their sense of identity and belonging at the

International Academy.

Using the feedback from the students, I would take it to the staff and begin our

year-long professional development plan. If presented with the students’ actual

thoughts and experiences, it might drive the importance of the situation home with the

staff. Perhaps the learning opportunity would involve a book study, as there are a few

different titles related to issues like these. Through careful reflection and collaboration,

the staff would address these identity and sense of belonging needs our Black students

must develop in order to succeed. Working on these relationships a little bit at a time,
over the course of a year or more, would hopefully improve the comfortability of Black

students at our school. When these students have improved staff relations and a

stronger sense of belonging, their rates of academic achievement would increase and

the International Academy would become a better and more inclusive learning

environment. Our partnership with these Black, often out-of-district students and their

families is something to be celebrated, which is much easier to do when they want to be

in school and are performing to the best of their abilities.

 Sources

Cohen, G. L. & Garcia, J. (2008). Identity, belonging, and achievement: A model,

interventions, implications. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(6),

pp. 365-369.

Irvine, J. J. (1990) Black students and school failure: policies, practices and

prescriptions. Choice Reviews Online, 28(03).