The Sistah Network: Enhancing the Educational and Social Experiences of Black Women in the Academy

Black Women’s and Girls’ Persistence in the P–20 Mathematics Pipeline: Two Decades of Children, Youth, and Adult Education Research

“…This persistence factor is also important in the context of Black feminism because African American women tend to have a unique camaraderie with one another that is not accessible for those who are not both female and Black (Collins, 1989). For example, in their study of the experiences of Black women in a same-sex and same-race graduate mentoring program, the Sistah Network , 18 Black women reported that their identities were affirmed and strengthened (Allen & Joseph, in press). They felt affirmed because Black women came together to celebrate being Black women, acknowledge their unique contributions, and see other successful Black women in graduate programs.…”

“…This is a declaration of the importance of role models for Black women and girls to persist in mathematics (Joseph, 2017). Furthermore, it has been found that Black women at the graduate level benefit from the mentorship of Black women faculty, who often provide instrumental and psychosocial support (Allen & Joseph, in press; Williams, Brewley, Reed, White, & Davis-Haley, 2005) as well as socialization facilitators for entry into mathematics professions (Borum, Hilton, & Walker, 2016). Each of these community examples can be summed into what Morganson, Jones, and Major (2010) called social support coping—the looking to others for emotional support as a way of dealing with challenges and seeking aid from others to overcome stressors.…”

Nine years of online mentoring for secondary school girls in STEM: an empirical comparison of three mentoring formats

“…Much of this research examines mentorship on the level of dyads, which constitutes one‐on‐one mentoring 49 . Some of these studies also consider formats involving more than one mentor or mentee, namely, collective or group mentoring 50,51 . However, we do not know whether one of these formats—one‐on‐one mentoring or one of the various forms of group mentoring—is particularly effective for increasing participation rates of girls and women in STEM and related variables 18…”

“…Only few studies on the effectiveness of group mentoring in STEM exist 18 . These suggest that affinity‐based group mentorship can be especially effective for underrepresented groups in STEM, such as girls and women 50,51 . For example, group mentoring for women scholars has been shown to support skills, self‐efficacy, and career satisfaction 59,60 …”

<i>Non scholae sed vitae</i>: Teaching Beyond Classroom Walls Through Group Mentoring

“…Beyond its grounding in educational theory, there are several parameters which must be met in order for effective group mentoring to be achieved. One of the top priorities must be to provide an equitable environment for mentoring [1,10]. That is, each mentee must be of equal interest and proximity to the mentor, allowing each student to receive the same opportunities to grow.…”