The city is one of the 10 worst-performing large school districts in the nation when it comes to African-American boys.
The Schott Foundation for Public Education study looked at graduation rates, performance on national tests and participation in gifted and Advanced Placement classes – and the picture is devastating.
National tests showed 9% of New York’s black male eighth-graders were reading at grade level in 2009, compared with 10% in 2003.
In 2008, only 28% of male blacks graduated high school in the city, the same rate as in Philadelphia and Jefferson Parish in New Orleans. White male graduation rates in New York were 50% that year. The city graduation rates were based on the rigorous Regents diploma.
The study compared 59 districts with enrollments of 10,000 or more black male students.
City officials acknowledged that the “problem’s real” but noted progress since 2005, when 15% of male black students graduated with a Regents diploma. They objected to the report’s rankings.
4 responses to “New study shows New York Public Schools are unable to teach Black male students”
These schools are performing precisely to their design. And those test results accurately reflect Black males’ inability to pass them. That inability is indicative of the mis-education that occurs in New York middle schools. The title of the article is correct.
All too often, we (the ARU demographic) attempt to deny the existence of victimhood by decrying it. But just as ignoring something does not make it disappear, neither does adamantly denying it or separating yourself from it. We are victims of the public school system. The answer however, isn’t a mass exodus, it’s reform.
Mo, many of us consider our days to be full as we are either working very hard to achieve, or are working to get by. What do you propose is the solution, and how can the average citizen get involved?
The sad thing is, this is only going to get worse. It’s not just NY, it’s widespread. And now that counties don’t have to bus any more, I can only imagine the backslide we are going to have in closing the educational gap.
We as parents, mentors, family members, concerned citizens have to act and make time for what’s really important: our children who are our future. It’s hard sometimes because this world got us so caught up with running here and running there. We need to make sure some of those runs are to the libraries and to our children schools.
I was educated in a school that was in the hood. My school didn’t have all the resources that other schools had or the opportunities. It was set up for me and my friends to fail. But the difference was: My teachers cared. My parents cared. My community cared. So they found others ways to engage and educate us. When I left my black school in the hood and went to my other school in the white hood, I was not only prepared for the academic and racial challenges that faced me at this “stellar school”, I was determined to beat the system…and so I did. I left that school as the 1st African American Valedictorian and it was all due to my strong foundation and my support system.
We have to give these kids a strong foundation and they will be able to succeed regardless of the odds and obstacles.
I would assert that reform is not the answer either. It is a combination of parenting, educators and administrators that need to work together in finding a solution that will enable black male students to achieve. I currently run a non-profit organization Baltimore that has targeted inner city African American Males for Academic Achievement. Many of the brothers were marking time until they met me and the my organization. In meeting African American Men who have graduated from college who are willing to invest there time more than anything else in helping develop these younger brothers we are able to make an impact. It requires a lot of time and resources. Unfortunately, parents do not have the necessary resources to do much and the ones that do; do not value what you are doing with there child. Until they see the results! The change can occur and impact can be made as a community working along side of the educators and administrators to provide feedback and solutions that will impact these African American Males all over the country. We must not give up on these young people at all. One of my mentors before he left this world spent his entire life dedicated to young people and there potential. He truly understood what an impact they can make in society for the good of all of mankind.