According to data provided by the Florida Department of Education, the high school graduation rate among black students in Alachua county is 79.2%, the lowest amongst all other racial and ethnic groups.1 Furthermore, black students from Alachua county fall below Florida’s graduation rate for their respective demographic group.1 Further investigation into this disparity and what factors contribute towards it is critical as failing to graduate high school is associated with poorer health outcomes, fewer employment opportunities, and financial instability.2 One critical factor that growing research has continued to uncover is the impact that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have on academic success. ACEs have been associated with poorer reading achievement, as well as emotional and behavioral problems.3 A study conducted in 2017 utilizing data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System found that individuals with four or more ACEs were 2.34 times as likely not to graduate high school, 2.3 times as likely to be unemployed, and 1.6 times as likely to live in an impoverished household.4
Acknowledging these statistics and the increasing knowledge regarding the widespread effects that ACEs have on children, this program aims to combat these effects through the science and art of mentorship. The ELEVATE Mentoring Program aims to empower and support black male high school students within Alachua county in order to elevate them toward academic success. Black male students in Alachua county have the highest rates of disciplinary action, highest enrollment in free/reduced lunch, and a prevalent issue of missing 21 days or more during the school year.1 Our program aims to work with these students to identify whether they may have adverse childhood experiences, partner them with mentors who have shared experiences, build resilience skills, and support them in their academic journey.
LEVELS OF THE SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL MODEL
The ELEVATE mentoring program will primarily address the individual and relationship levels through the CDC social ecological model by creating an engaging and interactive environment in order to impact factors at both of these levels.5 At the individual level, our program aims to introduce the concept of resiliency to students and provide them with useful tools that will encourage positive coping strategies, realism, positive thinking and affect. By doing so, the aim will be to positively change the students’ emotional awareness, self-efficacy, attitudes, and beliefs towards educational achievement, adversity, and other life challenges. At the relationship level, the mentors will work to serve as both a support system and nurturing role models for the students. The aim will be to showcase the importance and benefits of developing healthy, positive relationships with others. Through their interactions with their mentors, emphasis will be placed on development of the students’ communication skills and awareness of the influential effects that peer attitudes can have on their behavior.
TRAUMA INFORMED PRINCIPLES
This program will apply trauma-informed principles into the mentor onboarding process and the primary principles used in this program include: safety, trustworthiness and transparency, and empowerment, voice, and choice.6 Safety is a critical principle for this program and is incorporated primarily through the mentor-mentee relationships that are established. Through the trauma-informed training that the mentors will receive, a primary goal will be to create a “safe space” for students to share their thoughts and emotions. Mentors will be informed of the importance of consistent attendance for their meetings with students in order to build a strong bond and to gain the student’s trust. Establishing this will allow students to feel more secure in their mentor’s commitment to them and the program. Mentors will have a key role in identifying and highlighting positive personality traits and strengths within their students in order to provide them with empowerment. Through this, students will be able to build on these traits and strengths during the program.
PUBLIC HEALTH FRAMEWORK
Since this program will work with high school students and aims to identify students with adverse childhood experiences, the public health framework would primarily encompass the secondary stage of prevention. The ELEVATE program aims to identify and partner with black male students who have experienced adverse childhood experiences to respond to them early in the student’s development in order to mitigate their potential effects. This approach aims to help foster trust between mentors and students in order to create relationships that can be crucial for the healthy social and emotional development of the students. The curriculum’s primary focus on building resilience and communication skills provides students with knowledge and skills aimed to reduce the impact of adverse experiences on their lives.
Ultimately, the aim of this program is to elevate these students over their circumstances and towards the road of academic and personal success.
REFERENCES:
1) Florida Department of Education. PK-12 Public School Data Publications and Reports. Retrieved February 13, 2019, from http://www.fldoe.org/accountab...eports/students.stml
2) Healthy People 2020. High School Graduation. Retrieved February 12, 2019, from https://www.healthypeople.gov/...ources/high-school-0
3) Morrow, A. S. and Villodas, M. T. (2018), Direct and Indirect Pathways From Adverse Childhood Experiences to High School Dropout Among High‐Risk Adolescents. J Res Adolesc, 28: 327-341. doi:10.1111/jora.12332
4) Metzler M, Merrick MT, Klevens J, Ford D, Ports KA. Adverse childhood experiences and life opportunities: Time to shift the narrative? Children and Youth Services Review. 2017;72:141–149.
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