The Call Me MiSTER Program: A Black Male Grow Your Own Pipeline

• In Event: Grow Your Own Programs and Teachers of Color: Examining Program Design, Preparation, and Retention

Abstract

The primary mission of the Call Me MiSTER program founded in 2000 and headquartered at Clemson University, originally in collaboration with three private Historically Black Colleges, is to address the significant shortage of African American men teaching in K-8 South Carolina public elementary school class rooms. The program incentivizes prospective teacher candidates by offering ‘tuition assistance’ scholarships, ‘loan forgiveness’ options, book allowances and other student support services. Subsequently, successful graduates upon completion are expected to ‘give back’ by serving as teachers in public elementary or middle schools for a minimum of one year for each year they received support from the Call Me MiSTER program. The focus of this paper is to delineate the components, strategies and experience of the Call Me MiSTER model, as a type of “home grown program,” which has led to its sustained success in recruiting, developing and retaining African American men, who have gone on to become effective teachers in public elementary and middle schools.

The perspective and framework that anchors this program is the belief in the potential and cultural wealth of communities of color (Yosso, 2005). It is particularly important to note that the program does not ‘cherry-pick’ by intentionally aiming for the so-called ‘best-and-brightest’ as measured by limited pre-assessment admission criteria. Our program student participants are largely selected from among under-served, socio-economically disadvantaged and educationally at-risk communities. Based on this perspective, a few core components shape the design of the program: (a) placement in a “Living Learning Community” in residence on each campus and fully participate in the program’s co-curriculum throughout the academic year; (b) volunteer in community-based summer internship; (c) engagement in yearly culturally responsive leadership institute; (d) tailored and differentiated supports (e.g., Individualized Empowerment Plans); and (e) active participation in university-based cohorts.

In order to assess the overall impact of the program various data sources (i.e., surveys, interviews, classroom observations, and state archival documents on teacher placement and retention) have been collected and a few key findings have emerged. For one, since 2004, the program has 100% success with MiSTERs receiving teaching positions and 98% of those MiSTERs remain in the classroom as teachers. The other 2% are Principals, Assistant Principals, Supervisors and other leadership positions. Also, examination of recent placement data indicated that 75% of Call Me MiSTER graduates teach and serve in rural South Carolina schools. Further, based on field notes and interview transcripts, it is clear, as Ambassadors of Change, MiSTERs have a charge that is demanding, comprehensive, and even daunting. It not only requires that they mentor and teach this population, it demands that they create effective learning environments for all students – whether black, brown, or white – in an educational and societal system that very frequently discourages our hardest-to-reach students. Against this seemingly intractable backdrop confronting Educators, the MiSTER considers this task to be a ‘calling’ and a ‘moral imperative.’ Thus, much can be learned by researchers and educators from the program’s model for the design of home grown programs for Black males.

Authors

• Roy Jones, Clemson University

• Winston Holton

• Mark Joseph, Clemson University