Drs. Donna Y. Ford and Gilman Whiting of Vanderbilt University recently visited Madison to work with students and staff on a range of issues including, minority student achievement, individual responsibility, parental support and using classroom literature to enhance minority student achievement.

Diane Crear, special assistant to the superintendent and lead MMSD staff member coordinating the district's race relations initiative said, "We have been fortunate to have both Drs. Ford and Whiting work with our students, families and staff. They have focused on recruiting and retaining culturally diverse students in gifted education, minority student achievement and underachievement, under-representation in some areas and overrepresentation in others, and family involvement."

Meeting with Madison students for the second time, in addition to students in the national Minority Student Achievement Network, Crear said the Vanderbilt professors talked about the students' responsibility for being scholars. The educators broached the subject of appearance, including dress, language and attitude.

"At first (the students') reaction was kind of defensive," Crear said. But Ford and Whiting explained that if the students were being interviewed by a college admission panel — and all other factors were equal — the slovenly attired student who spoke in slang would not make the cut. "What a waste," Ford said.

Crear said desirable peer pressure also surfaced. "One young woman singled out a young man and said, 'I'm going to be on you. You are not going to slack off.'" Whiting left no doubt about individual responsibility telling the students, "It's dependent upon you, whether you succeed or not."

With staff, the Vanderbilt team focused on setting high expectations for all students, addressing the low number of minority students in accelerated courses and using classroom literature with positive images of minority families and young people. Crear said, "Curriculum is the next step in the evolution of our process of examining race."

Ford is Betts Chair of Education and Human Development and Ford conducts research in gifted education and multicultural and urban education and teaches in the Department of Special Education. Whiting is the director of Undergraduate Studies and a senior lecturer in the African American and Diaspora Studies Program. Ford also conducts research and consults in the area of ethnic/racial minority male achievement.

Dr. Ford

Dr. Whiting