Young Black Men...The Ugly Storyline

* The next few blog entries, including this one,  will focus on the black male student dilemma -- the problem, the promising, and the prudent lessons from those who was once in their shoes and defied the odds*

With the current debate on education reform raging, not much is being done to close the achievement gap among minority and white students, especially with our young black men. About a month ago, The Schott Foundation for Public Education released its 50 State Report on Black Males & Education, a national study on the progress of black male schoolchildren in public schools. The findings are horrendous, yet alarming:

The overall 2007/8 graduation rate for Black males in the U.S. was only 47 percent. Half of the states have graduation rates for Black male students below the national average.

Other interesting findings includes

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  The five worst performing districts with large Black male student enrollment (exceeding 40,000) are New York City, N.Y. (28%); Philadelphia, Pa. (28%); Detroit, Mich. (27%); Broward County, Fla. (39%); Dade County, Fla. (27%).
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  The states with Black male student enrollment exceeding 100,000 that have the highest graduation rates for Black male students are New Jersey (69%), Maryland (55%), California (54%) and Pennsylvania (53%).
• 
  
  Some states with small populations, such as Maine, North Dakota, New Hampshire and Vermont have graduation rates for Black males higher than the national average for White males.
• 
  
  The districts with Black male student enrollment exceeding 10,000 that have highest graduation rates for Black male students are Newark, N.J. (76%); Fort Bend, Texas (68%); Baltimore County, Md. (67%) and Montgomery County, Md. (65%).
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  The districts with the lowest graduation rates for Black male students are Pinellas County, Fla. (21%); Palm Beach County, Fla. (22%); Duval County, Fla. (23%); Charleston County, S.C. (24%) and Buffalo, N.Y. (25%).
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  Dade County, Fla.; Cleveland, Ohio and Detroit, Mich. also have notably low graduation rates for Black male students—each at 27 percent.

The foundation suggested five "Conditions for Success" for the federal government and states to consider in fixing this serious problem:

1. Equitable resources to support students to master rigorous, content standards-based education
2. 
   
   Universal, well-planned, and high quality preschool education for all three- and fouryear- olds
3. 
   
   Programs to address student and school needs attributable to high-poverty, including intensive early literacy, small class size, after-school and summer programming, and social and health services
4. 
   
   New and rehabilitated facilities to adequately house all programs, relieve overcrowding, and eliminate health and safety violations
5. 
   
   State accountability to ensure progress in improving student achievement

In the video clip below, Dr. John Jackson, President and CEO of The Schott Foundation for Public Education and Geoffrey Canada, CEO of Harlem Children's Zone, talked with CNN about this report and this crisis.

In other sombering news, last week, The NY Times published an article, based on the findings of another study, concerning the racial disparity of school suspensions among middle schoolchildren. Regarding black male students in middle schools,

Black boys were nearly three times as likely to be suspended as white boys

In the video clip below, Geoffrey Canada and Dr. Roland Fryer, A Harvard professor in Economics discuss ways of closing the achievement gap:

UPDATE: In an article published this morning, NEA President Dennis van Roekel is , again, pleading for a sense of  urgency in determining ways to close the achievement gap and equitable opportunities/resources in public schools for all students.