Preventing Delinquency and Promoting Academic Success among School- Age African American Males

measures of accountability has opened the system to various forms of critical analysis, meticulous examination and scrutiny (Black, 2008; Smith, Yosso, & Solórzano, 2007). As a result of this increased emphasis on accountability, educational policy and mental health, researchers have begun to stress educational innovation for improving the academic outcomes for American students. This focus was the impetus for this paper, to provide empirical evidence of the need to establish culturally-relevant priorities for school based social-skills training programs targeting school-age African American males by exploring delinquency-related factors (e.g., bullying and fighting, use of alcohol and other drugs, and neighborhood safety) that are related to educational outcomes (e.g., school performance). The subsequent section reviews existing literature that is related to the domain areas central to this investigation. Journal of African American Males in Education Summer 2012Vol. 3 Issue 1