Running Head: STUDYING TO EMPOWER STUDENTS

StudyingtoEmpowerStudents:MATCSynthesisPaper
Stacy D. Boone
Michigan State University

Studying to Empower Students

While I have not worked as a formal classroom teacher, I have accumulated thousands of
hours designing, conducting, evaluating and redesigning classroom and college visit workshops.
During the time I spend with students I work to intentionally highlight the knowledge and any
sense of investment they may already have in a subject; I am also careful to make note of their
grievances and the needs and preferences they express or imply. I have found several things to be
nearly universal in every school I visit: students need to see reflections of themselves and their
communities in their classrooms; students are often uninformed and ill-prepared concerning
postsecondary transitions and need to feel affirmed and reassured in their postsecondary
selections; and students need active, engaging experiences created by educators who work to
understand their needs.
Seeing Reflections of Themselves
In the Classroom
Students are not aversive to their classes because they do not enjoy learning, rather, they
struggle with the relevance of content. Why dont they teach us this in school?! is a very
common exclamation during and after trying some of my newer approaches with students after
taking chances with assignments in TE818. This course, Curriculum Design, Development and
Deliberation in Schools encouraged me to create lesson plans to showcase setting proper
objectives and defining clear goals and outcomes, to intentionally give students opportunities to
demonstrate their prior knowledge and skill, and to embrace and brace for the discomfort in
having difficult conversations in the classroom.
Both assignments allowed me the flexibility to focus upon the needs expressed by
students and challenged me to restructure the way I approach classroom presentations and

Studying to Empower Students

workshops. One assignment I completed was the creation of a lesson plan centered on Black
Bottom and Paradise Valley (Artifact 1)a district in Detroit, MI that, even while situated in
mire, was teeming with commerce and recreation spaces owned and operated by African
Americans; a second assignment designed in this course centered on advocating for the use of
common vernacular or slang in the classroom (Artifact 2). Artifact 1 provided students the
opportunity to investigate and form opinions about historical events which shaped their city, and
walk through their city with a sense of its history. Furthermore, they could ask parents,
grandparents and community elders about their experiences in the city during the building and
dismantling of Black Bottom/Paradise Valley, and students could draw parallels between the
events leading to the Detroit Rebellion and their present anxieties concerning Detroit's
gentrification and minority distrust towards government structures. Artifact 10 advocates for the
incorporating of students more colloquial/cultural vernacular in the classroom setting and cites
instances during which more familiar language can be useful in clarifying material and checking
for understanding, as well as its benefit for fostering trust within a classroom.
The students with whom I work are predominantly African American and often lament
courses, particularly history courses, as they are unable to see the relevance of material.
Frequently, students correctly note that history lessons are Euro/Anglo centric and rarely
acknowledge their existence. Furthermore, the references and reflections of themselves that they
often cite are narratives of slavery, achievement gaps and the messiah-like hero who will likely
never be replicated in their lifetime. To learn that they can walk through local spaces and see
relics of history and shining examples of triumphs despite challenges shone a light on history for
which my students had been searching for nearly 11 years.

Studying to Empower Students

As I enrolled in the MATC program, I brought with me memories of being in the same
place as the students I serve, and I recalled that the more prestigious a course in my high school,
the less it mentioned relatable, diverse figures. In creating and executing new materials, I knew
full and well that I would not be able to cover the full depth of the history behind Black
Bottom/Paradise Valley, and I knew I would not be able to answer all of their questions in the 1.5
hour session allotted to us, but by acknowledging their presence, the value they add, and the
information they crave, I coaxed an interest and a desire to engage and seek knowledge for
oneself beyond what their schools are trained to offer, and empowered students to seek and
celebrate reflections of themselves and examples of contributing to the advancement of society
at-large.
In Public Figures
Another serendipitous victory manifest itself as a visit to Detroit students from Michelle
Obama, Esquire and Dr. James T. Minor of the US Department of Education (Artifact 3).
Administering a city-wide scholarship for which every student is eligible perfectly positioned my
colleagues and I to sit on several collective impact committees (hosted by Excellent Schools
Detroit) which were all dedicated to improving some facet of student education opportunities to
culminate in successful, educated, informed adults. Initiatives addressed by this collective impact
group ranges from educating pregnant mothers in the metro-Detroit area on the effects of
nutrition on their childs future educational outcomes to raising credential completion rates at the
postsecondary level. One of the committees I have the pleasure of serving on is the FAFSA
Completion Committee.
The FAFSA Completion Committee was formed after some research that indicated
completing the FAFSA and understanding that there was funding available for college was one of

Studying to Empower Students

the largest indicators of whether students will take steps to enroll in college in the fall following
their senior year. Drawing upon the resources, savvy and contributions from members of the
education, business, and nonprofit communities across metro-Detroit, the FAFSA Committee
was able to raise FAFSA completion rates across the city by just over 20% in our first year.
Having had the largest gains of any city in America, our students caught the attention of
the White House and the US Department of Education and the backbone organization of our
collective took the lead in coordinating a citywide College Decision Day celebration, during
which thousands of students were bussed to the athletic center of Wayne State University and
heard from figures that are universally recognized and respected. Entertainer Ciara addressed
students and encouraged them to pursue higher education; Michelle Obama, esquire shared with
students her experience as a scared college freshman struggling to gain independenceeven
sharing the story of how the sheets for her dorm bed were too small, but she used them until she
received her refund because she did not want to ask her parents for help. Her sharing this
vulnerable moment did elicit laughter from many of the students but it also illustrated to them
that success naturally comes with resistance and learning opportunities built into its path.
Equally potent was the anecdote from Dr. James T Minor who is a Detroit native and
attended a high school located in the citys most dangerous zip code. Him sharing his stories of
advancing from a high school diploma, striking out on his own and attending college out of state,
ascending to completion of a PhD, and leading a team at the US Department of Education was
quite the inspiring story for students who are rarely ever told of the success stories that find roots
in their city. The college students with whom I work often cite this day as one of the narratives
they refer to when encouraging themselves during difficult courses.
Making Informed, Confident Postsecondary Decisions

Studying to Empower Students

When I was hired to aid in building policies and orchestrating communication and
execution plans for our citywide scholarship, it was not anticipated by our advisory board that
our team would find the greater need to focus most of our time and resources on college access
initiatives, as opposed to simply informing students that the scholarship opportunity existed and
having them register. Upon entering classrooms in just over 60 high schools, my colleagues and I
soon realized that the majority of the students with whom we spoke were not aware of the
correlation between their grades and test scores and earning admission to their colleges of
choice. We also found that many of the teachers and counselors sitting through our student
presentations were equally surprised at the amount of information they learned by attending.
I increased the effectiveness of my presentations as the result of self-reflection and the
creation of new workshops, as prompted by CEP 802, Developing Positive Attitudes towards
Learning (Artifact 4). Yearly, my team registers nearly 75% of Detroit seniors for the
scholarship and roughly 80% of registrants report plans to attend a community college or a fouryear college. Still less than 10% of students across the city are meeting minimum college-ready
standards (3.0 and 21 ACT score)rendering the majority ineligible for our university funding.
Students are often disillusioned upon learning they do not qualify for admission to the more
popular in-state choices and struggle to rebound and restructure their plans. This is due, in part,
to the insistence of many teachers, counselors and principals that students only consider four
year schools. Once students learn that a 2.3 GPA and a 15 ACT score (the citys average score) is
not competitive at their top choices, they often disengage. In changing my approach and pairing
information with viable, attractive alternatives, students feel encouraged to explore other options
and widen their prospective choices.
I encounter the occasional school that prevents me from talking to students who are not
eligible for our university funding (in an effort to suppress community college as an option), and

Studying to Empower Students

it is rarely, if ever, discussed that there are vast differences among four-year schools and that
students very well may be preparing to take out loans to pay for schools that have similar
programs and outcomes to community colleges. The message that is often communicated to
students insists that community college is substandard and equivalent to failure and attending a
4-year school is the mark of a student who is headed towards successful adulthoodeven if that
four-year school has a lower graduation rate than the local community college.
This line of reasoning is problematic for several reasons, but it is especially troubling
when considering students who would be better served at a community college, where classes
will be completely covered by some form of gift aid, and who could greatly benefit from the
smaller classes and more personalized attention available at two-year institutions. Furthermore,
students who decide on their own or with their families that community college is a better choice
for them are often very timid and hesitant about discussing those choices at school for fear of
being ridiculed by their peers or reprimanded by staff. In helping to organize and actively
facilitating training sessions at lunch-and-learns, hosting just over 100 counselors and college
advisors from across the metro-Detroit area, our collective impact group has worked to bring in
speakers and information exposing school staff to the careers and programs at community
colleges that are often as lucrative or more lucrative than their own earnings. We also work to
bring this knowledge to classrooms and support students in feeling validated and supported in the
choices that they and their families are making concerning post-secondary credentials.
Following the need to be informed about how to prepare for and make decisions
concerning college choices, we found that students also needed to be made aware of what to
expect throughout their college experience. As I continued to research and compile points of
interest (Artifact 5), I came across several bodies of research suggesting that African American
students, as opposed to their majority peers, are far more likely to perceive difficulty in college

Studying to Empower Students

as proof that they do not have a rightful place within higher education spaces. It is also suggested
that African American students more frequently select post-secondary institutions that are not a
strong match for them academicallywith a skewed tendency to select institutions performing
below the level of rigor that their academic records would indicate they would need.
The tendency to under-match coupled with the insistence that every student attend a fouryear institution nearly ensures that students will be met with barriers which many before them
have found to insurmountable. For example, students often do not understand the cyclical nature
of a universitys track record, and when the meaning of a 4% graduation rate is explained,
students often reply well, Ill just work harder than everyone else. Unfortunately, this means
that institutions students are considering have a more difficult case to plead when asking for
donations from the business community, and they have less of an alumni base from which to
recruit donors, employers, and mentors for current students. This also means lower-performing
institutions have less gift aid opportunities for students and fewer resources to dedicate to student
success initiatives. These factors contribute to the number of students who are unable to
complete credentials because they fail to meet satisfactory academic progress standards and are
denied federal financial aid, or because they are unable to receive enough financial aid to meet
their costs of attendance due to the high costs of university living (especially for students
venturing out of the state) and a lack of institutional aid.
Ultimately, students who are met with these problems often must leave the institution and
rarely return to a college campus; the few students who are able to graduate find they do not have
a strong alumni network on which to lean and may find that their institution did not prepare them
for post-graduate ventures or that their degree is not as valuable in the workforce. The midterm I
produced (Artifact 5) while taking the course EAD 830 (Issues in Urban Education: Racial
Achievement Gap) was an examination of this research done surrounding admissions

Studying to Empower Students

preparations and credential completion for African American students and I incorporated the
contents of this paper into the discussions I have with students. By the end of a 50 minute
workshop, students understand how to approach admissions representatives with a valuable line
of questioning prepared, are able to understand why all institutions are not the same, and feel
more comfortable considering previously ignored options.
Being Engaged
Being Engaged in the Classroom
Throughout my time working in the field of college access, I have found that students
often do not understand why they are learning material in school and fail to see how classroom
lessons intersect with the lives they lead. This led me to head the creation of a workshop for the
National Council for Community and Education Partnerships Conference (NCCEP) found in
Artifact 6. Artifact 6, named 10 under 30, is a collection of 10 classroom workshops (each
aligned with GLCEs) that teachers and presenters can use to teach STEM, ELA and character
building materialeach costing less than $30 per classroom. I led the submission for and the
presentation at the NCCEP national conference and replicated each of the workshops with
professionals who work with students across the country.
The concerns for student engagement we heard in Detroit were echoed among students
across the nation and our workshop received overwhelmingly positive reviews as the adults
found themselves lost in the lessons and understanding material in new ways. These lessons were
inspired by students themselves, and conversations with teachers in our GEAR UP cohorts
expressing difficulty with holding students attention and communicating main ideas with
students. Our students have responded positively to these workshops and our partnering teachers
have provided positive feedback and suggestions to build on the foundations we have laid.

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Engaged Interaction with Support Institutions

I was also invited to present at the Student African American Brotherhood national
conference and shared lessons learned in engaging the students with whom we work (Artifact 7).
I used that opportunity to highlight the importance of communicating with students in ways that
were convenient for them. For example, we found that students have trouble accessing
computers and do not always understand how email accounts work. To combat these problems,
we established a text message hotline, and I worked to streamline all of our scholarship processes
to be accessible by mobile device; students are now able to register, log in and update their
accounts, indicate interest in postsecondary institutions and sign legally binding contracts all
within one online, mobile friendly system (Artifact 7).
In my admissions materials, I reflected on the known-knowns, known-unknowns and
unknown-unknowns for education stakeholders, and I mistakenly thought this program would
give me the answers. Happily, I have become more comfortable in the uncertainty that comes
along with working with students and preparing them to meet the needs of a changing world. TE
870 (my current course) is deepening my understanding of curriculum as a living, malleable
thing, and equips me with the proper tools and strategies to find the excitement and fulfillment
that lies within the challenge. I will not be able to meet every need or solve every problem,
however, I am working to give students enough exposure and tools to recognize that there are
things that that are known-unknowns, and that there are always things of which we are not
aware, but are ours to seek. My hope is to enact a culture of celebrating an insatiable interest and
confidence in students abilities to create spaces in which they can individually and collectively
seek, educate, assess and critique themselves, their contemporaries and their choices.

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