Abstract
Students regarding communities of color, face challenges in school and have the tendency to drop out and not graduate Their educational needs are not met, and they began to more likely exhibit behavior difficulties more than their typically developing peers who live stable lives (Kocsoy, 2020). About 25% of high school freshmen fail to graduate high school on time. This percentage being people from communities of color (Noddings, 2005). The causes of high school dropouts are often due to academic failure. Struggling in school with the lack of mentorship and help that lead to attendance/ preparation, financial difficulties, mental illness, disabilities, and disengagement (Kocsoy, 2020).
The aim of this Project is to identify my own K-12 schooling experience and how I overcame behavioral difficulties and challenges through school that led me to not only succeed in graduating college but develop my passion for mentoring students into overcoming obstacles to reach their goals. “Students should have educational opportunities that credit and enhance their talents” (Noddings, 2005, p. ?). My educational experience did not credit and enhance my talents. I will utilize my own personal analytical perspective to describe my process of K-12 schooling while utilizing research that connects with each individual situation that has helped me develop my own perspective in the educational system. This personal analytical perspective will involve information learned over time challenging the educational norm for black students like myself.
Mental health curriculum: Defining best practices when addressing mental health issues with first-year college students regarding gender and communities of color addresses five best practices that will help eliminate the lack of support students in communities of color regardless of gender may have in their first-year college experience. This project will address 1. Gender/community of color and socioeconomic differences in mental health issues; understanding how to optimize and maintain good mental health in first year experience. 2. Common first-year challenges: understanding mental disorders and common first-year challenges gender and communities of color face. 3. Decreasing stigma: issues in mental health and problems it addresses. 4. The social support among first-year communities of color and gender. Last, 5. Prevention/ common training and helpful tools for gender and communities of color. This will include addressing professors' and administrators' role for students to help teachers understand and learn how to work with students in communities of color regardless of gender that interferes with the academic process.
Each evaluator of this curriculum found that the project was highly effective and is currently needed for university systems all over the world. Each evaluator embodied a unique position in the school system teaching education. Each evaluator chosen for the project was from diverse backgrounds with experience teaching communities of color and different genders. Evaluators were providing questions that pertained to the overview of the project. The questions consisted of 8 total questions. During the evaluation, the evaluators had similar reviews of the curriculum and how it is effective. The differences in responses will be discussed in Chapter 4 of the curriculum review.