Columbia resident Easter Hawkins has two children of her own but mothers another 60 students at Swansfield Elementary School. She makes sure they organize their school notebooks, turn in their homework and adopt a positive attitude toward school.
Ms. Hawkins is an "academic monitor" in the school system's Black Student Achievement Program (BSAP). The program, designed to help black students improve their test scores and grades, came under scrutiny from some Howard school board members last week because they don't want to restrict its services to just black students.
As a group in Howard and Maryland, black students have the lowest state functional test scores, attendance rates and the highest suspension rate. They're disproportionately placed in special education classes and underrepresented in advanced or advanced and gifted classes.
Howard schools Superintendent Michael E. Hickey has proposed spending an extra $50,000 for a total of $80,000 in next fiscal year's budget to continue and expand this program to help black students. This plan, like nine other initiatives he's proposed for next school year, may not survive likely cuts in his proposed $228.9 million school budget.
Nevertheless, several school board members want to open the program, which only serves relatively few white students now, to all students.
"I don't believe by virtue of their race, African-Americans are more needy than non-African-Americans," said Karen Campbell, a school board member. "We have probably twice as many in numbers of non-African-American students who are at the same kind of risk. I think it's irresponsible not to address them as well."
Achievement gap
A recent school board survey on student achievement found that of roughly 7,200 high school students polled, 644 whites received failing grades, compared with 353 black students and 36 Asian-American students.
But only 12 percent of white students were low achievers, compared with 31 percent of black students and 7 percent of Asian-American students.
Dr. Hickey, who has sought to bridge the achievement gap between black students and others since he became superintendent 11 years ago, has reservations about expanding the program to nonblack students.
"I don't think we ought to dilute the very small amount of services we have in the BSAP program," he said. "It's true there are many at-risk kids. But we are addressing a group of kids . . . identified by race that has been below the white population in terms of test scores. It's a gap that's persisted over the years."
The Black Student Achievement Program was begun in 1986. Despite the program -- which includes award assemblies to honor high achievers and summer enrichment programs -- black students have not caught up to other groups in achievement.
Academic monitoring is the latest effort within the program. It began at Atholton High School three years ago and has expanded to 15 elementary, middle and high schools with sizable black student populations.
'Surrogate parents'
Right now, 14 academic monitors get paid $8.50 an hour to work an average of 12 hours a week, although many of them devote additional time free. School officials would like to increase their number.
"The intention of it really was to [provide] surrogate parents for a group of students to check on their attendance, to check on how they're doing," Dr. Hickey said. "I think it's working well."
Nearly all academic monitors have children of their own in the county schools. They meet monthly and are trained to communicate and listen effectively, among other skills. Their job is to nurture and motivate students. They draw up contracts with students to work on short-term and long-term goals, and some take students on field trips to predominantly black colleges to expose them to higher education.
"I feel that our children really need an extra mom," said Mary Tatum, an academic monitor at Phelps Luck Elementary School. "I think that's one of my jobs. They need extra push, extra help, to see someone's there for them. Some may not be getting it at home, and they look at other people as role models."
At Swansfield Elementary, Mrs. Hawkins said: "The children who often come to our attention may be the children who are not doing so well, but we also look for the child who is doing well and to acknowledge what that child is doing."
Mrs. Hawkins works closely with 15 students but does what she calls "eye checks" on about 50 others. Those checks are meant to establish a positive relationship with students, because "some children are not being acknowledged by teachers at school," she said.
Academic monitors also are regularly in contact with teachers and parents, keeping abreast of students' performance and problems.
Students see benefits
Though the school system has no statistics to show that the monitors have been effective in boosting black students' performance, there's anecdotal evidence from students that the program has been beneficial.
Academic monitors "handle things that guidance counselors can't handle," said Alcine Mumby, a 17-year-old Hammond High School senior. "Guidance counselors have a lot of students they can't handle. Academic monitors motivate you to learn. They help you to know hard work is what makes you successful."
Harper's Choice Middle School seventh-grader Chanelle Matthews credits her academic monitor, Karen Stone, with helping her raise her grades -- from D's to A's in one quarter.
"I was getting bad grades because I didn't have anybody to help," Chanelle said. "I really was talking too much with my friends in class. We worked on staying focused. We worked one class at a time."
Mrs. Stone, who also owns accounting and fashion design firms, said of Chanelle: "Her attention span was really short. We picked a different class a day for a month for her to focus on. Now that's not a problem anymore."
Kept on her toes
Christian Gordon, another Harper's Choice student, also said her attitude and grades have turned around since she began working with Mrs. Stone. She described herself as someone who regularly got in trouble with teachers and administrators and never turned in homework.
Mrs. Stone, she said, keeps her on her toes: "She's a parent-type figure for us. We know she's trying to do good for us.
"I'm trying to get somewhere now," Christian, 14, said. "I'm trying to go to Spelman [College in Atlanta]. If Mrs. Stone goes, it's going to hurt all of us."
Harper's Choice principal, James Evans, agrees. "I see a lot of positive changes in students -- in relationships with one another, in working relationships with teachers," he said. Mrs. Stone "has made a big difference here. I'd love to see her full-time here."
But other principals say it's too early to measure the actual impact of the program. Staff at Oakland Mills High School, for example, plan to examine participants' test scores and grades at the end of this year to determine how well the program is working.