Measuring Success of Black Males at Pilot: A Program at a Los Angeles Community College

• In Event: 28.090 - MTCC Roundtable Session Nine
  In Roundtable Session: 28.090-3 - Black Male Students: Stepping Stones for Academic Success along the Pathway from Secondary to Two-Year Institutions

Abstract

According to national statistics, the number of Black women college graduates is 44.8% while for Black men, the national college graduate rate stand on 33.1%. The overall graduation rate of the Black population remains 57.3%. Further, the per statistics, out of 7.9% of the total Black male population in America in the age group of 18 to 24 years, only 2.8% of Black men were undergraduates at public flagship colleges and universities (NCES, 2012). It is argued that while this troubling trend is most prevalent in all groups among Black men, young Black men are generally the most vulnerable to underrepresentation in colleges and universities (Harper, 2006).
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine a federally funded academic and support services program titled PILOT, which aims to increase success rates for African American males using what this author refers to as a traditional deficit model for recruiting African Americans. This study examined PILOT through an alternative framework, the Anti Deficit Achieving Framework (ADAF), which is specifically designed for African American males (Harper, 2012).
This study examined current PILOT participant’s perceptions of the program, both within the traditional deficit model and within the ADAF. Specifically, this study examined factors such as micro aggressions that undermine African American males’ achievements by evaluating their perceptions of the institutional, traditional practices within a student support services program: PILOT at Los Angeles Community College which prohibits them from being successful. The intent of this study was to provide the educational community serving the African American male population with some insight into contemporary techniques to improve their success rates through a positive framework.

Author

• Nyree Berry, Los Angeles City College