Part 2 of a series

The achievement gap is a multifaceted problem that affects many different groups of students, and as such, needs a protean solution that is able to bridge the gap between all of the demographics involved.

Steps to Success is a program that aims to close the achievement gap between low income students and their higher income peers, working mostly with students that live in Brookline public housing.

According to Steps to Success Director Carrie Weatherhead, a lot of its work is around preparing students for college. She explained that the program immerses students in the college culture that their higher income peers have, such as going on college tours and smaller things like getting college refrigerator magnets.

Weatherhead said that the program teaches a competency-based skills curriculum, preparing students for the SAT, setting them up with summer jobs and fostering self-advocacy in interactions with teachers. In addition, the advisers look over grades and course selections with students and advise them on the college admissions process.

The program helps facilitate smoother communication between parents and the high school, providing translation and transportation services. Because many participants do not have a quiet work space at home or a computer with Internet access, the program runs a homework center and sells computers at a low cost to students, according to Weatherhead.

“Every single year, more and more stuff goes on the computer,” Weatherhead said. “It’s cool, it’s sexy and it gives you this really rich learning experience, unless you don’t have a computer at home, in which case, you’re screwed.”

Closing technology gaps was one point of an action plan formulated by students about ways to close the achievement gap. The team of students, many of whom are in Steps to Success, drafted the plan while on a trip to the Minority Student Achievement Network’s annual conference in Missouri this past January.

Senior Mariano Suriel, who went on the trip and worked on the plan, said that one of the obstacles identified by the team was the high cost of summer bridge courses, classes that prepare students for the next level, for which there are only limited scholarships. Another obstacle he highlighted was language barriers, as most communication only comes to parents in English. Weatherhead said that the plan was presented to Superintendent Bill Lupini and the Brookline School Committee, and it was taken very seriously.

“BHS is already good,” Suriel said. “All we’re doing is pinpointing some things that could be better.”

Meanwhile, the school is also trying to close the racial achievement gap. The African-American Scholars Program provides academic guidance and support to African-American and Hispanic students with a GPA of 2.7 or higher. The program’s director, Chris Vick, defended the GPA requirement despite the fact that it means the program serves fewer students.

“You’re not decreasing the achievement gap by lowering the bar,” he said.

According to Vick, many of the freshman he works with come in with recommendations for standard classes, but his expectation is that all of his students can and should take honors classes; unless they have a compelling reason, he overrides their recommendations and puts them in honors classes. In conjunction, he places his students that are in the honors courses into the same section, creating cohorts.

“Instead of the gravity pulling towards standard, the gravity pulls toward honors now,” Vick said.

Freshman Raven Braithwaite, who takes all honors classes, said that she likes this system because she and her African-American Scholars peers can help each other out. However, the trade-off is that fewer sections of honors classes are diverse. But to Vick, that is less important.

“Really, what the classes look like in terms of who’s in what section, I’m not concerned about,” he said. “What’s most important to me is that my kids are in honors and AP classes.”

The Calculus Project, an offshoot of the African-American Scholars Program, is run by Dean Adrian Mims in collaboration with Vick. Its goal is to increase the number of students of color taking honors calculus in senior year. Vick explained that it is focused on calculus because the course is a gateway to many other math and science opportunities in college and beyond.

“That goal is achieved by creating summer enrichment mathematics courses where key mathematical concepts are pre-taught to the student,” said Mims. “When they get into that course, they already know what to expect, and they know the class is going to be rigorous, so they are better prepared. What that does is increase a student’s confidence.”

Over the summer, students also learn important study skills like how to work and study collaboratively. Then, students are assigned study groups to work with during the year, according to Mims.

The affordability of tutoring is another barrier to achievement, explained Mims.

“To hire a tutor in the town of Brookline costs students $65 to $100 an hour,” Mims said. “There are a lot of families who cannot pay that, so the Calculus Project levels that playing field by providing academic assistance and math tutoring after school that’s free.”

According to Mims, the project has been very successful. This year’s sophomores form the first cohort, and the number of African-American and Hispanic students in honors Algebra II and Trigonometry has increased 300 percent from last year.

However, the achievement gap still persists. Ultimately, senior Anisa Noor thinks that one of the causes of the achievement gap happens on an individual level.

“I think that a lot of minorities could challenge themselves. Whenever I’m in an honors class, I only see one or two other African-American students,” she said. “It’s possible to challenge yourself. That really should come from the students.”

Sophomore Nia Cawthorne, an African-American Scholars student, agreed, saying that the school and the students share equal responsibility for the gap.

“There are probably tons of people who have to stay up late and do all their homework, but I feel like sometimes people of color don’t reach their highest potential, not only stay up late, but take responsibility over the things they do,” said Cawthorne.

Cawthorne explained that while many students of color are very successful, some prioritize sports or performing arts over academics, or may rely on their status as a minority as an excuse not to work hard. She thinks that to close the achievement gap, the high school should be tougher on students, for example, raising the GPA requirement of 1.8 for athletic eligibility.

However, Cawthorne also said that teachers should not only focus on being tough on students.

“I know sometimes the attention is, ‘Is that kid doing something bad? What are they doing?’ ” Cawthorne said. “Instead, give them positive attention.”

Corey Grill and Aaron Sege can be contacted at [email protected].