Guest Editorial: Before the Bell Rings: Implementing Coordinated School Health Models to Influence the Academic Achievement of African American Males

This article addresses a void in the literature that connects the wellness of African American boys to academic achievement. The authors call attention to ecological risk factors that impact the vulnerability of Black boys and compromise their learning even before the school bell rings. The No Child Left Behind legislation has created a culture where educational outcomes are placed before student outcomes. The authors posit that school policy, for example Coordinated School Health Programs that provide a holistic approach to addressing the academic achievement of Black Boys should be supported as innovation in education. The findings of the Breaking Barriers report as it relates to personal and emotional factors are highlighted; then the Coordinated School Health Model is outlined; and finally recommendations on how to implement Coordinated School Health Programs reflective of African American boys are offered. The relationship between academic achievement and health status has been overlooked in school reform efforts. The overemphasis on high-stakes testing results as the primary measure of accountability has crippled many school districts ability to fully educate students. Consequently, student outcomes have been sacrificed for educational outcomes. Extant literature reveals that even before the first school bell rings, African American males are vulnerable for school failure. The academic underachievement of African American males has received considerable attention in academic and popular media. While it is well-established that educational attainment is a gateway to improved socioeconomic outcomes, the educational achievement of African American adolescents should be a national priority. For African American boys the mix of school failure, fragmented families, communities that lack cohesion, and educational policy and practice that expect substandard performance have lethal consequences as evidenced by the disparities in health and life expectancy. Geographic location notwithstanding African American male students are more likely than their peers to come from fatherless homes (The Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF), 2009 [A map constructed from AECF's online database indicates that in all states with reliable data that Black children comprised more than half of those children living with single-parents. Most single-parent families are mother-only families.]; Fields, 2003), have a mother in poverty (Eggebeen & Lichter, 1991), have negative interactions with police (Brunson & Miller, 2006; Dannefer & Schutt, 1982; Hurst, Frank, & Browning, 2000), experience some form of trauma (Shakoor & Chalmers, 1991; Berton & Stabb, 1996), and suffer from chronic diseases such as asthma (Akinbami & Schoendorf, 2002; Getahun, Demissie, & Rhoads, 2005). Often ecological risk factors experienced the night before school compromise the required aptitude for learning in the morning. Education systems that ignore the realities of a community's risk and protective factors miss opportunities to educate the whole child. This has become the reality of practices following the implementation of No Child Left Behind Act mandates (NCLB, 2002). Educators have effectively been mandated to sacrifice child outcomes for educational outcomes. The overemphasis on high-stakes testing scores as the primary index for accountability has created, in many cases, an inhumane system of education where the child is fragmented in order to produce test scores. Often, very little regard is given to the conditions or context from which this child has come. African American males are vulnerable in many communities in the United States and are asked to perform in schools without consideration of these conditions. In this article, the authors intend to call attention to the responsibility of schools to address the ecological risk and protective factors confronting African American males. First, the findings of Toldson's (2008) Breaking Barriers report are used to illustrate the importance of considering the influence of personal, emotional, and health factors in educating African American male students. …