Black men make important, vital contributions to this country. According to the Schott Foundation for Public Education, they own 60% of black-owned businesses; more black men serve in the military than men of any other ethnic group; and black households give 25% more of their income to charity than white households. Yet, there is an insidious danger that young black men in school are exposed to every day. It doesn’t snuff out their lives in an instant but can hobble them for life. That danger is educational inequity.
In its recent report, Black Lives Matter: The Schott 50-State Report on Public Education and Black Males, the Schott Foundation states that the American public school system underserves black children, particularly black males. John Jackson, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Schott Foundation, says that there are districts in the country where black males graduate from high school at rates as low as 28% and which have seen little change in more than a decade. To raise that figure, Jackson says that supports need to be put in place that “provide all students an opportunity to learn.†He cites supports such as health, mentoring, and tutoring resources that are available in some states and districts but are not provided where the need is greatest. He says it’s “both a resource and an alignment issue, but at the core, it’s an issue of public and political will.â€
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Gail Christopher, Ph.D., vice president for policy and senior advisor at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, says that whole districts are underresourced in the materials teachers have access to; the quality of the school environment; and textbooks. “Where there is high poverty, there is less investment in schools,†Christopher says and cites the structure that funds schools according to their local tax base–virtually guaranteeing an inequitable outcome. Although it may seem unlikely that the current funding structure would ever change, Allan Golston, president of the United States Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, says that some states are experimenting with funding approaches in the hope that inequities can be reduced. This structural challenge leads to huge variations in school districts and even within school districts, Golston says. “Fifty to 70% of a school’s budget comes from its local tax base,†he adds.
Reporting an estimated national high school graduation rate in 2012—2013 of 59% (compared with a white male graduation rate of 80%) that increased from 51% in 2009—2010, the Schott Report also notes the following:
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- Few states or districts provide reliable data disaggregated by race on their high school graduates.
- States and districts award diplomas of unequal value. Sometimes called local or career diplomas, some aren’t accepted by the state’s own universities and colleges and are sometimes disproportionately awarded to black males.
- In almost all 50 states, black males are suspended at higher rates than their white and Latino peers.
- In 2013, 13% of black male eighth-graders could read proficiently, compared with 21% of Latino males and 45% of white males.
Although the issues seem daunting, Jackson says there are several ways they can be effectively addressed, among them: providing reliable data disaggregated by race and gender; transitioning from a standards-based reform agenda to a supports-based model; and supporting cultural shifts in communities that have experienced low graduation rates for decades.
Golston says that without this data, the issues affecting categories of students get buried. A district’s average graduation rate may sound high, but disaggregated data would reveal trends over time and expose gaps in student populations, allowing these issues to be addressed. He says that the Schott Report shows the power of disaggregated data.
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Christopher agrees that structural change is needed. “What we see in education is a result of the broader legacy of devaluing people of color,†she says. “Only structural, systemic change will bring about real change over time.†She suggests several solutions, including equitable financial investment; teacher training in three areas: the use of discipline without suspension, cultural differences, and awareness of their own biases; and putting the best teachers in the areas of highest need.
Golston also cites inadequate supports for struggling students—supports such as access to high quality teachers, more quality time in school, and mentoring—but he also notes how low expectations “land in a tough way on kids of color.†He stresses the importance of having teachers that operate from a belief system that all children can achieve.
In the Trenches
Golston has perhaps unwittingly described the approach of the Eagle Academy Foundation, a nonprofit that develops and supports a network of all-male, college-preparatory, traditional public schools in grades six through 12 in challenged urban communities in New York and Newark, N.J. The schools serve about 2,000 students, 77% of whom are African American, 17% Latino, and 6% other, using many of the supports Jackson, Christopher, and Golston recommend. And they are getting results. Eagle Academy has just begun to track data on its graduates, but according to ACT’s National Collegiate Retention and Persistence to Degree Rates
report, the national first to second year retention rate is 63%; Eagle Academy’s first to second year retention rate is 55.5% (class of 2011 and 2012). One Eagle Academy alum works at Credit Suisse; another is in an MA/PhD program.The organization’s mission is to educate and mentor young men so they can be future leaders committed to excellence in character, scholastic achievement, and community service. Twenty-three percent of Eagle Academy students enter the schools in need of special education, compared with the citywide average of 8%, though many of them are not actually learning disabled, says Rashad Meade, principal of Eagle Academy Ocean Hill in Brooklyn, New York. “They were disserved in their previous schools, and sometimes they are emotionally in need,†he says. “We also have a high rate of decertification–30%,†which means that a student no longer needs special education services.
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For the academic year 2013—2014, the graduation rate at Eagle Academy Bronx (the first school in the network and the first to graduate a class) was 78%, much higher than the city’s overall graduation rate (not just the rate of black and Latino students) of 50%. The school graduated 74 young men.
According to Meade, the population it serves comes to school up to three grades behind. These are the students the Schott Report says are underserved. This “academic barrier,†as Meade calls it, is the first problem that Eagle Academy schools vigorously address. Students are brought up to grade level with more time on task, academic enrichment and support through extended day programming, targeted Saturday programming, and summer sessions.
Students may also receive double periods of math or English. “They have social-emotional needs that need to be addressed. Many of our young men don’t feel safe at home or in their neighborhoods.†Their literacy skills haven’t been addressed comprehensively, Meade says, “which is more of a problem now that Common Core requires reading to be embedded in math.†(The Common Core State Standards are the set of higher English and math K-12 standards that most states have adopted.)
Meade says a second problem is the lack of male leadership in a consistent, structured way in the homes and communities that most of the students come from. He says that strong male leadership helps to stabilize young men, and that stabilizing the staff at Ocean Hill has been crucial. There are about 81 staff members, 47 of whom are male. Of those, 38 are men of color, and many come from the neighborhood. “They are mentors and role models as well as staff members,†says Meade.Eagle Academy, which offers its students four Advanced Placement classes, receives 1,000 applications every year. The network of schools requires no interview, no letters of recommendation, and no particular grade point average for its incoming sixth-graders.
When asked about suspension as a means of discipline, Meade said, “Suspending the child out of the building heightens the problem.†Instead of suspensions, Eagle Academy Ocean Hill practices mediation between students or between students and staff. It also uses in-school suspensions, which may involve older students working with younger boys. Meade stresses that each child is different, and that just speaking to some students is effective.
With a graduation rate of 78% it’s clear that even Eagle Academy isn’t reaching all its students. Sometimes success means just breaking the cycle of poverty, says Donald Ruff, Eagle Academy’s director of strategic partnerships and college planning, not necessarily earning a four-year degree.
To be a nation in which all children thrive, says Christopher, we need to create conditions that propel vulnerable children to succeed. The Eagle Academy Foundation is clearly on the side of helping to create those conditions, and to making the results of the next Schott Report a lot more positive.