Will You Serve? Mentoring Young Men of Color to Improve Attendance

• In Event: Empowering and Supporting Young Men of Color Through the Pre-K–20 Pipeline

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the implementation of a mentoring initiative in a Central Texas school district aimed at improving attendance rates, specifically for young men of color. Chronic absenteeism is an often overlooked phenomenon in education, and is an influential factor on students’ educational outcomes. While research has been plentiful in understanding the causes and reasons why students miss school (Gottfried, 2014), there is still a need for continued research that examines models, interventions and initiatives designed to address and curb chronic absenteeism (Balfanz & Byrns, 2012). Furthermore, there is still a need to understand how community spaces influence students’ school going behavior, and the barriers to attending school. This study will incorporate a framework that encompasses examining the mentoring relationship as a community space that allows for relationship building that can help address chronic absenteeism. In this study, the author investigated a mentoring initiative aimed for high school boys of color within a Central Texas school district. This initiative paired students who were chronically absent with mentors that were charged to assist in improving students’ school attendance. The author argues that mentoring can be an important education intervention when it comes to improving attendance for young men of color, and strategic policies that incorporate mentoring can assist schools and districts in their efforts to curb chronic absenteeism.

The author used a purposive sampling of 18 young male students of color and 18 mentors, that represented 3 different high schools in one Central Texas school district. Invivo coding was applied to understand how mentors and mentees discussed how their relationships helped to improve attendance, navigate obstacles when it came to attending school everyday, and how policies were being shaped based on the mentoring program. The author also interviewed ten community stakeholders to understand their perspectives related to the mentoring initiative, and how it was helping to shape community policy related to improving attendance.

Author

• Joshua Childs, The University of Texas at Austin