(INDIANAPOLIS) – Leaders of historically black universities say some of the same principles which have made those schools successful can translate to elementary and high schools.
Meredith Anderson, K-12 research director for the United Negro College Fund told an Indiana Black Expo conference HBCU’s have built their success on high expectations, creating a culture which takes the importance of going to college as a given. And she says schools can provide Black role models, in both the classroom and the curriculum. She says discussion of African-American contributions shouldn’t start and end with history class, but extend into science and math.
Anderson says minority students relate better to teachers who “look like them.” She says Black students are 11 times more likely to have a Black professor at HBCU’s than other universities. But she says skin color is a starting point, not an endpoint. She says elementary and high schools can copy HBCU’s’ emphasis on what she calls “intrusive advising”: having teachers take the initiative to interact with students so students feel supported.
Shaw University vice president Terrance Dixon says the North Carolina school makes a point of reviewing students’ backgrounds before they arrive on campus so faculty can provide individually tailored support.
