Making Meaning of Peer Mentorship for Black Male Community College Students

Research surrounding student success and development often focuses on how mentorship affects students‟ noncognitive and cognitive growth, college-engagement, and ultimately their performance and persistence (Astin, 1999; Brown, Davis, McClendon, 1999; Brooms, 2018; Campbell & Campbell, 1997; Crisp, 2010; Strayhorn, 2010). Whereas there are countless studies focused on mentoring relationships as related to college students, two common challenges exist. The first is a universally understood and accepted definition of what mentorship and mentoring experience are (Crisp & Cruz, 2009). The second is, how students make sense of their mentoring experiences (Brooms & Davis, 2017; Kegan, 1994).For Black male students, this need is especially concerning. Black male students stop out of higher education institutions at rates higher than their peers in both the 4-year and 2-year college sector. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics Table 326.20 (2016), the graduation rates for the 2012 cohort of male students of color at public 2-year institutions, was 11.4% for Black males, 17.6% for Latino males, 21.5% for Pacific-Islander males. These rates are drastically lower when compared to the graduation rates of White male students, which was 25% (NCES, 2016).