Black Deaf Students : A Model for Educational Success

9 A Resilience Program Model

150 A Resilience Program Model 9 The data from this research suggest that the participants were resilient individuals. Protective factors in their lives helped them become resilient, and these factors facilitated their successful transitions through elementary school, high school, and postsecondary programs. Much can be learned from the data in this study. Its findings suggest that protective factors in families, schools, postsecondary programs, and communities could contribute to the academic achievement of African American deaf and hard of hearing students. Further, their resilience and academic achievement could prepare them for postsecondary programs. The participants’ families, especially their parents, played major roles in fostering their resilience. There were only three participants whose parents had set the goal of a college education for them prior to graduation from high school. The other parents set a goal of high school graduation. The data does not show that most of the parents had an established plan for their child’s academic transition into and graduation from college. However, they had practices that promoted resilience in their children, and their children succeeded in postsecondary programs. Though schools and community organizations were involved in the education of the participants, the research does not show that there was a coordinated plan of action that was set in motion with the ultimate goal and outcome of postsecondary graduation for the participants. From the information gathered from the participants, in most cases their families, the schools, and the organizations acted independently of each other in fostering resilience, and their independent actions ultimately contributed to the participants’ earning bachelor’s degrees. The key question is: how can parents, schools, and community stakeholders who provide protective factors that contribute to academic achievement collaborate on a comprehensive resilience program designed to prepare students for postsecondary programs? This study and other 151 A Resilience Program Model research clearly point out that there are factors within families, schools, and community organizations that promote resilience and positive academic outcomes for young children, adolescents, and young adults. The recommendation of this researcher is a collaborative program model for developing and building protective factors in the students’ environments that lead to resilience. From the study data, resilient African American deaf and hard of hearing students are able to successfully transition into and through four-year colleges and universities. The more resilient students are, the better able they are to function. Purpose of the Resilience Program The goal of the resilience program is to strengthen the likelihood of success for a larger group of African American deaf and hard of hearing students by unifying the family, school, postsecondary programs, and community stakeholders into a cohesive group with the same academic goals. The members of this group would work together in an organized fashion to provide the necessary protective factors that foster resilience, enabling students to prevail over obstacles and succeed in school. The resilience program should be housed in the school so that the key groups in the lives of children have a central place to meet and plan how to help students transition from elementary to secondary school and through postsecondary programs (see Figure 1). This resilience program focuses on African American deaf and hard of hearing children, adolescents, and young adults because the percentage of these students who enter and graduate from four-year colleges and universities is very small.The program is designed to enhance and facilitate the educational attainments of African American deaf and hard of hearing students and to enable each child to reach his or her fullest potential. However, it could benefit other students with other disabilities as well as students without disabilities. The key components of the program are the protective factors that promote understanding and respect of African American culture, Deaf culture, and other cultures; academic achievement; healthy social and emotional developmental; and culturally relevant curriculum , programs and activities. It involves a diverse staff that includes African American administrators, teachers, and staff; African American Chapter Nine 152 parents and age-appropriate students; community organizations; and other stakeholders in the planning and decision-making processes (see Table 6). The theory underlying the program is that the more resilience students possess, the better able they are to achieve in school.The resilience program will eliminate gaps in services, create appropriate interventions for students to succeed in school, and promote a cohesive and caring environment for African American deaf and hard of hearing students and for students from other ethnic groups...