U-46 launches initiative to mentor 1,200 students

Ten seventh-grade boys filed out of Kimball Middle School's auditorium Monday afternoon, the smell of pizza trailing behind them.

Notebooks in hand, their sneakers squeaked as they hurried to their 1 p.m. classes.

Back in the auditorium, U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres was cleaning up the wreckage left behind after the group's first mentoring session.

The Kimball seventh-graders and Torres will be meeting regularly over the course of the school year as part of the district's 10 Boys Initiative, launched this week.

Like Torres, more than 100 U-46 administrators and staff members have signed up to mentor underperforming elementary, middle and high school boys in groups of 10.

Elementary and middle school students were identified for the program if they scored below grade level on the district's internal Measure of Academic Progress Test. At the high school level, boys who had failed one or more classes were selected.

The initiative is modeled after a program implemented in Boston Public Schools in 2007, aimed at helping at-risk black and Hispanic boys beat the odds through an added support system.

Torres said he did not want to limit the program to only minority students.

National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores reveal more girls than boys are graduating from high school across the country each year.

According to 2007 Illinois School Report Cards, 83.2 percent of U-46 senior boys graduated last year, compared to 89.7 percent of senior girls.

For the initiative, students, their parents and their assigned mentor will sign a goal-setting contract in the coming days.

They'll also sign a "pledge for success," which promises to work hard to reach proficiency in reading and math; to listen to others; to respect diversity; and to treat others the way they would like to be treated.

Mentors will monitor each student's attendance, grades, office discipline referrals, homework and test scores.

Torres said he asked for the Kimball group because he believes high school preparation should start at an earlier age.

During Monday's mentoring session, Torres said his group worked on a poster and took part in some ice-breaking activities.

"They were shy at the beginning, but loosened up as time went on," he said.

Members of the community interested in mentoring a group can also sign up through a participating school's principal. Applicants will go through a screening process, which includes fingerprinting, Torres said.

At schools, principals and staff members are also being encouraged to adapt the initiative to address the needs of other groups, including girls, second language learners and students taking their first Advanced Placement courses.

Mentors will submit quarterly and end-of-year reports, comparing the boys' data before, during and after participating in the program.

"As I like to say, we've got to put some skin in the game," Torres said.