Transforming schools and improving outcomes for boys of color

As I walked the halls of the school, cheers and applause erupted from one of the classrooms. Inside, a group of 30 boys (and a few of their teachers) were celebrating. Many were out of their chairs, some were walking around excitedly, nearly all of them smiling in anticipation. What could generate such a reaction?

The class turned out to be a peer mentoring group of Black and Latino young men in grades 9-12. For months, they had been meeting twice a week after lunch to talk about their classes, their lives outside school, and their plans for college. They had visited a historically Black college together and were planning another trip upstate. Some had bonded over the Brooklyn Nets, some over gaming, and others over anime. But today, they were celebrating each other. This afternoon’s ceremony recognized the students in each grade who had earned the highest grade point average (GPA) that semester and those whose GPA had improved the most. Though the certificates they received that day were modest, the support and love of their peers was palpable.

I revisited that group many times over the next few years as part of a five-year study of an effort across 40 New York City schools to improve outcomes for Black and Latino young men. Peer mentoring, and other relationship-based programs, were a part of this complex, districtwide initiative.