|
In
the USA - Only 47% of Black Males graduate
A
50-state report from the Schott Foundation for Public Education
has come to a dispiriting conclusion: public education is
failing black male students. Nationwide, the graduation rate
for this demographic of students is a paltry 47 percent. And
in some major cities, it's perilously low—in New York
City and Philadelphia, for example, only 28 percent of black
males complete high school on time.
New
York state has the worst overall graduation rate for black
males at 25 percent. On the other end of the spectrum, amongst
states with at least 100,000 black male students in their
public schools, New Jersey is able to get nearly 70 percent
of these kids through high school on time.
The
Schott Foundation assigns some of New Jersey's success to
its Abbott Plan for getting disadvantaged kids into early
childhood education programs. I might be wrong here, but I
believe that program did not begin until 1999; thus, it likely
did not affect many of the students who graduate in 2007-2008
school year, which was the one measured by the report. Still,
the city of Newark, at 76 percent, boasts the highest graduation
rate in the country for black males, at 76 percent.
The
data provided in the report, says Schott Foundation CEO John
Jackson, is intended to point in the direction where education
reform needs to head: toward creating "educationally
sound" policy to level the playing field when it comes
to learning.
Unsurprisingly,
the Schott Foundation was one of the civil rights groups that
warned the Obama's administration that its Race to the Top
program would not result in "equal education for all."
You can see the state-by-state results of its study at The
Schott 50 State Report on Black Males and Education site.
Commentary
Mr.
Ponder, I think you put the most important item too low on
your “comprehensive approach” list. Parenting support
is number one in what makes children excel. I’m not sure
it’s public education that is failing black male students
as much as it’s the lack of that support. Not to say
that blacks in America are bad parents, I just think they
are over worked. It’s a bit of a sad catch-22, the percentages
of single parent households are higher in the black community,
so the single mothers often work multiple jobs, so they have
less time to keep an eye on their sons, so they don’t
do as well in school, so they drop out, so they become deadbeat
dads or inmates with children that they don’t take care
of. It’s a shame. But I’m pretty sure public education
cannot fix it. (ScottCook)
|
