“Yes, I Can!” Strengths-Based Approaches for Engaging and Empowering Academically Underprepared Black Men

• In Event: Black Men in College: Implications for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Beyond

Abstract

Researchers have contended that academic underpreparedness may be a more significant retention issue for Black students, particularly those who are enrolled in Black colleges or universities (Fleming, Tezeno, and Zamora, 2008). This chapter discusses the impact of a strengths-based approach to teaching and learning, which one HBCU employed for students enrolled in a pre-college remedial education summer program. The initial outcomes suggest that strengths-based approaches may be a viable strategy for grappling with the challenges associated with pre-college academic underpreparedness as well as a factor for improved academic performance and increased engagement for Black males while in college.

Author

• Tiffany Patrice Fountaine, Morgan State University