Home | Education & Distance Learning Articles | Article

A Better Chance - program for talented African American students

Ebony - May 1, 1997

IT'S as simple as A-B-C. Provide a decent environment, give students a better chance and you can not only save lives but you can also produce students who can compete with the best America has to offer.

For more than 30 years, a Boston-based program called A Better Chance has been giving gifted children of color a better chance at the rare air of achievement oftentimes reserved only for the scions of the extremely wealthy. The program has also saved the lives of thousands of young people it has plucked from the dual dangers of murder by drive-by shootings and/or low expectations.

Judith Berry Griffin, president of the 34-year-old organization, says it is her job to "catch dreams." And the organization, which has received no federal funding since 1971, has become a "clearinghouse of dreams," working miracles on a shoestring budget.

Founded in 1963, A Better Chance is the only national program that gives talented children of color access to some of the nation's most academically rigorous college preparatory programs in public schools, private boarding schools and day schools. The College Preparatory Program, the largest ABC initiative, includes 189 member schools which offer ABC students more than $12 million in full and partial scholarships.

A Better Chance specializes in identifying and recruiting gifted students, starting in junior high school, and matching them with top prep schools, which provide scholarships.

The organization's mission is to harvest American promise languishing m fields of gunfire, poverty and lost hopes. The success of its work can be measured, in part, by the following statistics:

* One-third of ABC students come from families living at or below the poverty level. Most come from low-income and working-class families.

* More than 99 percent of ABC graduating seniors immediately in college, where nine out of 10 receive college degrees and many go on to pursue graduate study as well.

* Currently, 1,146 students are enrolled in ABC college preparatory programs, 334 students from 23 states were placed in member schools in the 1996-97 school year.

* More than 2,000 students are involved in ABC programs in more than 25 states.

* Sixty-seven percent of ABC students are African-American, 24 percent are Hispanic, 7 percent are Asian and 2 percent are Native American.

* The program has more than 8,500 alumni in every walk of life, from doctors to business executives, including celebrated singer and songwriter Tracy Chapman; William M. Lewis Jr., managing director of Morgan Stanley Realty; and Deval Patrick, former U.S. assistant attorney general for civil rights.

Patrick attended Milton Academy in Milton, Mass. He said he arrived there in 1970 after living a "life of want, of deeply segregated and ill-equipped schools, of gang violence and limited hope." He was shocked when he arrived at the eastern boarding school to see so much "privately owned lawn."

He admits he had a lot to learn. The most significant lesson, he says, was to appreciate a good education, "as more than accumulated information and prestige, but instead, to borrow from Robert Frost, `Learning to listen to anything, without losing your temper or your self-confidence.'"

A Better Chance students brim with self-confidence. It's not uncommon for students who start out as mild-mannered freshmen to end their boarding school years as campus leaders.

Seventeen-year-old Jacob Jeffries is a prime illustration of that point. A senior at St. George's School in Newport, R.I., the Newark, N. J., native could rightfully hold the title of "Mr. Extracurricular Activity."

While taking a full load of courses, including physics, calculus, English, advanced placement Spanish and also a theater course, the honor roll student was elected this year as Head of School, a responsibility earned by only the most competent and respected senior in a school of 330 students. Roughly 10 percent are minorities. Jeffries is also editor-in-chief of the yearbook, heads four school clubs, including, Insight, the multicultural organization, and had the lead in the school's fall play. He has applied to 12 colleges, but Stanford is his first choice.

"At first it felt kind of awkward being here, but I eventually adjusted," he says. "I think it's more, to a great extent, an economic difference than a cultural one."

He advises students in their "journey through boarding school" to remember who they are. "Some people try too hard to fit m, and they can lose their way."

St. George's School has a relatively large contingent of 19 ABC students. The prestigious boarding school on the Atlantic coast celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1996.

Charles Thompson, a seven-year faculty member at St. George's and a former ABC student at Middlesex School in Concord, Mass., is the head of the Computer Science Department. "I wouldn't be here today if I hadn't had a positive experience with the ABC program," he says.

A Better Chance students are well represented on school Prize Days and on the Honor Roll, says Debra White, director of Academic Technology for St. George's.

"If you look at our honor roll, just about every ABC student is on the honor rolL" White says. White says it is very rare for any ABC student to be involved in any disciplinary action. "These students come here with a purpose," Thompson adds. "They maximize all of their opportunities."

The biggest challenge for most of these students is the economic hurdle, White says. "They're going to school with kids who are extremely wealthy, and some of the ABC kids come from very simple backgrounds."

While the students face cultural hurdles at boarding school they also face social ones. Both faculty members acknowledge that there are few social outlets for ABC students. "They are athletically and academically challenged, but I think socially it's challenging for them, especially the girls," she says. "Very few of them experience the dating that most kids at a public school would see," White says.

Most students overcome their homesickness after the first year. Rashad Randolph, a junior from New York City's South Bronx, says the first year is hardest but then things get better. "I was fairly young, on the verge of turning 13 when I started here," he says. "The school forces you to become more independent and more mature at a young age."

A Better Chance sponsors programs at elite private schools, but it doesn't neglect or downplay public school education. President Griffin, who is the daughter of the late pioneering physician and author, Dr. Leonidas H. Berry, says, "The issue for me is that whether I like it or not, a disproportionate number of society's leaders come from a small group of academic schools. So there really is a second system of education in this country. And if there is a second system, and if the leaders come from it, then my children must have access to it."

A Better Chance is one of the few 1960s-style Great Society programs to survive the '70s, '80s and into the '90s. The organization was founded by 23 New England prep school headmasters who met at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., to discuss how to help minority students.

The ABC program, which relies on 4,000 volunteers nationwide and a staff of 23, receives about 2,300 applications annually. The program is unique in that it considers factors other than test scores to predict potential for success.

"We believe tests are more convenient than conclusive," Griffin says. "We are looking for motivation, tenacity, academic potential and kids who are determined to be successful."

Griffin has many stories of students who made low test scores and went on to make outstanding contributions. There was, for example, an applicant from Texarkana, Ark., who scored in only the 21st percentile on the SAT. ABC saw other evidence of his potential, and he went on to graduate from Milton Academy as the class valedictorian and the recipient of two distinguished awards for academic excellence.

In addition to the college preparatory program, A Better Chance has launched other programs to assist minority students, including Public School Programs (PSPs) which are community-based. In these programs, students attend local high schools. Like students in independent boarding schools, they live in a residence hall during their high school career. An average of 10 students live in each PSP house. They are supervised by resident directors. Tutors, usually college or graduate school students, conduct mandatory three-hour study sessions each school night and provide academic assistance and personal counseling. Currently there are 24 communities hosting PSPs.

1 2 Next »

If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this article with hundreds of other Education & Distance Learning enthusiasts from around the world, please feel free to visit the discussion forums & post a message.

Discuss this article in the discussion forums now.

Popular Education & Distance Learning Discussions From The Past

Re: Bachelor's Degree In Psychology Or Social Work? (1 posts)
by Daizy5936 - Last post on: 07-17-03 21:25
Ashworth and PCDI are actually the same school. Are you sure they aren't accredited? They had this posted on their website.... "All of our degree programs are accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council, which is listed by the U.S. Department of Educ... (Read More)

Rich and Gus' Squealing Pig Show at Degreeinfo (1 posts)
by Dan Castello - Last post on: 02-05-04 18:36
It didn't take long for the well-known fuck buddies Rich C Douglas (remember, that's C for contradiction) and Gus Sainz (Guts Drain) be banned from posting their garbage in CollegeHints.com Well what's new? Rich strikes again with another one of his contradictions. Rich, an incompetent cry ba... (Read More)

Pollution.net - Knowledge base on Pollution, Environment and Conservation (1 posts)
by Gman - Last post on: 10-16-04 16:35
www.pollution.net Information on pollution, conservation and environmental topics, books and products. -- www.pollution.net - Knowledge base on Pollution, Environment and Conservation ... (Read More)

Project Demonstrating "Excellence" (3 posts)
by Duggle Ass - Last post on: 09-08-03 16:02
Those who will settle for any Ph.D., as long as it's accredited, may consider the Union Institute and University. Steve Levicoff from the degreecrapinfo.com writes that UI&U "was recently placed on probationary status by OBR, the office of degree authorization by Ohio's state department of hig... (Read More)

You must register before posting in the Education & Distance Learning discussion forums. It's free & only takes a few seconds. Please also remember that no advertising is allowed...
Enter The Forums Here