Notre Dame Mission Volunteers Program: Enhancing Educational Opportunities for At-Risk Students of Color

• In Event: 63.084 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 63.084-7 - Catholic Educational Efforts to Ensure Academic Success for Urban Students of Color Placed at Risk

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine a Catholic educational initiative that contributes to improving the educational achievement and success of Hispanic urban students of color placed at-risk.

Perspectives
The educational achievement gap among low-income urban students of color continues to be an issue of national importance due to the number of socio-economic issues such students face and will likely to face in the future (Rice & Roelke, 2003; Simmons, 2012). From an education perspective, such students are more likely to have difficulty in core subjects such as reading, writing, math, and science. As a result, these students are more likely to become involved in risky behaviors, lag behind peers in academic achievement, and to have a greater chance of dropping-out of school (Cantin & Boivan, 2004; Somers & Piliawsky, 2004).

A number of programs, however, show evidence of meeting the needs of these students (Corporation for National Community Service, 2011). One such program is the Notre Dame Mission Volunteers Program (NDMVP), which has received grants from AmeriCorps since 1995 to provide both in-school and after-school support to students who are at-risk due to poverty and other social conditions. Included within the network of programs of NDMVP is the I Have a Dream Foundation of Boulder, Colorado whose mission is to motivate and empower students by providing long-term intervention services, such as mentoring, tutoring, and cultural enrichment.

Methods, Data Sources.

A mixed-methods designed was used for this evaluation of the success of 17 NDMVP programs. Surveys (pre and post), interviews, and focus groups of students in grades 5 through 12, NDMVP staff, and teachers were the primary sources of data. For the I Have a Dream program, more than 100 Hispanic middle and high school students completed both pre and post surveys and 15 participated in focus group interviews.

Results

The analyses provide strong evidence that the NDMVP program is a robust and successful network of support for at-risk students of color. Results show significant changes in student attitudes as well as academic success of those involved in these programs. In particular, students involved in the I Have a Dream program demonstrated significantly higher high school graduation rates and post-secondary attendance rates than students in comparable contexts but not involved in this program. Program participants pointed to the academic and emotional support from NDMVP staff as a primary reason for their success.

Significance:

Challenges facing urban students of color placed at risk need to be continuously examined and understood in order to better meet the needs of these students and provide them with better opportunities for success. The results of this study can contribute to this effort in providing how a national networking program of student support can possibly be a model for other organizations, religious and non-sectarian, to consider. This type of support is crucial given the continued failure of public middle and high schools to provide the educational programming needed for urban Hispanic students placed at risk to achieve academic success.

Author

• Peter R. Litchka, Loyola University Maryland