Join Brothers as Scholars, an academic achievement mentoring programme that empowers young Black males to excel academically and to overcome social and cultural barriers whilst pursuing their goals.
The Brothers as Scholars (BaS) Tier helps young Black males to heighten their pursuit of academic achievement and to provide skills for successful navigation of academic, social, and cultural barriers they may encounter throughout schooling and beyond.
The Brothers as Scholars Tier centres on research based components that accelerate academic self – perception, attitudes about academic success, and skills to position the young men as difference makers, locally and globally.
The research of two Bermudian scholars, Dr. Ty-Ron Douglas and Dr. John E. Duncan, undergird the primary principles of the Brothers as Scholars Tier.
Brothers as Scholars is a comprehensive programme which enables young Black males to overcome barriers to academic achievement. Guided by the Brothers as Scholars Pursuits and mentorship, we empower young brothers with the academic persistence, skills, and resources to become active change agents in their lives, in Bermuda, and the world.
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Young Black men develop knowledge of Black academic contributions to understand and question negative beliefs and behaviours espoused by self and others.
They connect to their rich academic heritage and commit to attitudes and supporting behaviours to perpetuate excellence.
Young Black males show evidence of heightened academic pursuits when they:
Young Black men grow in the belief of their academic knowledge, abilities, and skills. They determine education important and bolster cognitive, social-emotional, and culturally competent characteristics to achieve.
They learn skills to self-regulate, employ strategies to curb negative behaviours, explore positive self-identity, and respond to academic barriers with a beginner’s mind. They develop plans of action and actualise them.
Young Black males show evidence of heightened academic pursuits when they:
Young Black men gain self-awareness as they identify their strengths, interests, and challenges. They craft and connect ambitious aspirations to their strengths and interests and seek relevant supports and resources to achieve them.
They resist negative and limiting stereotypes ascribed to them by society. Whether of benefit to themselves or their community, they view themselves as integral adovcating agents for solutions, their strategies, implementation, and resultant intrinsic rewards. They know they belong
Young Black males show evidence of heightened academic pursuits when they:
Young Black men exercise the motivation and discipline to set and achieve academic goals.
They develop growth mindsets and make the connection between invested effort and academic outcomes. When establishing goals, they consider their strengths and interests, and connect them to the needs of their communities.
They are intentional about designing their paths and set financial goals to support them.
When faced with perceived failure, they look for the lesson, plan again, and move forward. The minimize distractions toward their realization of their goals.
Young Black males show evidence of heightened academic pursuits when they:
Young Black men develop the skills to question, challenge, and facilitate solutions to individuals, practices, policies, systems, and societies that discourage, exclude, or impede their needs, rights, growth, and earning opportunities.
Young Black males show evidence of heightened academic pursuits when they:
Whilst young black men develop independent sets of knowledge, skills, and thought, they also make interdependent connections which support individual growth and the growth of others. They cultivate social skills to enable trusting relationships while learning partners and mentors.
They believe in their ability to meaningfully contribute to group tasks. They know that their contribution and those of others are worthy. They become effective participants and student leaders in communities.
Young Black males show evidence of heightened academic pursuits when they:
Young Black males persist and find ways to succeed, in spite of, when encountering adversity. They leverage the collectivism of personal resolve, family, and community to support success.
Young Black males show evidence of heightened academic pursuits when they:
The Brothers as Scholars curriculum employs the Historically Responsive Literacy Model of Dr. Gholdy Muhammad. This equity framework allows the mentees to experience each Pursuit at five levels; Identity, Skills, Intellect, Criticality, and Joy.
Below are the questions we ask when developing the Brothers as Scholars curriculum and resources.
How can we help young Black men learn more about themselves and more about others?
What skills do we need to achieve this Brothers as Scholars Pursuit? What platforms, resources, and tools will we provide for young Black males to experience, make sense of, and/or share their new learning and determinations?
What concepts and bodies of knowledge do Brothers as Scholars need in order to know, explore, and grow? What problems and challenges will we design for them to solve?
How can we help the young men to understand power, equity and anti-opression in the context of this Pursuit? What related power, equity, or opression construct might need contemplation and disruption?
How can we help the young men to find personal joy in the Pursuit? For themselves and with others?
The Brothers as Scholars programme seeks Black male mentors who:
Douglas’ research examines “significant aspects of the life journeys, personal identities, and educative experiences that Black [Bermudian] males encounter, embrace, and endure” (2016, p. xxv). Consequent to Douglas’ findings, the Brothers as Scholars team designs learning experiences that consider the:
Duncan’s research contains many variables which impact the academic and social success of middle school Bermudian boys. Many of them, such as developing healthy self-concept, engaging in mentor relationships, and persisting against all odds, parallel aspects of the Brothers as Scholars programme and the Brothers as Scholars Pursuits.
Both Douglas and Duncan’s research speak to the education and socialization of Bermudian Black males in diverse learning spaces. These holistic prisms inform the practice of Brothers as Scholars in two significant ways.
Get ready for your journey of professional growth and transformative learning with the NEI. Be open to embracing these three actions to start and to sustain a successful NEI experience.
an active learner mindset. Be ready for learning where you make meaning of knowledge and practice skills with colleagues
questions you, as a dynamic educational scholar, can research in your classroom or explore in professional conversations
with diverse education professionals from all types and levels of schooling. Discover learning and peer coaching partners.
Join the NEI today and embark on a transformative journey that will shape your professional career and positively influence the future of education in Bermuda.