“State of Crisis”–Yet Again!!!
What follows is the Preface in the October 2010 Report from the Council on Great City Schools. I highlighted observations that particularly speak to me.
The full 120-page report is at this link: http://www.cgcs.org/cgcs/Call_For_Change.pdf
The nation’s young Black males are in a state of crisis. They do not have the same opportunities as their male or female
counterparts across the country. Their infant mortality rates are higher, and their access to health care is more limited. They
are more likely to live in single-parent homes and less likely to participate in early childcare programs. They are less likely to
be raised in a household with a fully employed adult, and they are more likely to live in poverty. As adults, Black males are less
likely than their peers to be employed. At almost every juncture, the odds are stacked against these young men in ways that
result in too much unfulfilled potential and too many fractured lives.
Much of this story has been told before. Still, there has been little work focusing specifically on the academic attainment of
Black males in our schools and how it is contributing to the destructive pattern we see. This report tackles the issues head
on by conducting a first-time analysis of data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on how Black
males are performing academically. We look at ourselves—the large central cities—most critically, because it is in our urban
schools that nearly 30 percent of all Black males in the nation are educated.
In order to get a complete picture of the depth of the issues, we look most closely at the reading and math achievement of
the fourth- and eighth-grade Black males in our large city schools. We track their progress and compare their scores, as a
whole, with the scores of White males in national public schools. In various combinations, we compare the scores of Black and
White males who are and are not eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, Black and White males with and without disabilities,
and Black males in urban areas vs. Black males in national public schools among other comparisons. Also, we look at the
disaggregated reading and math achievement levels of Black males in 18 big city school districts.
Finally, we look at dropout figures and school experiences. We examine college entrance examination scores and college
readiness, enrollment, and graduation data. The report concludes with statistics on the postsecondary experiences of Black
males, professional degrees attained, wages, and living conditions. We conclude with profiles of Black males from our Great
City Schools who have thrived despite the odds and who serve as inspirations for all.
This report will not make many people feel good, even though it contains evidence that Black males attending schools in urban
areas have made more progress than those living elsewhere. In fact, this report is likely to make people angry, and it should.
We hope that this is a louder and more jolting wake-up call to the nation than this country is used to hearing. The fact that
previous calls have fallen on so many deaf ears is not encouraging, but we are convinced that we must ring the alarms one
more time and play a larger role in setting this situation right.
I do have two rhetorical questions:
1) If this report came out in 2001 instead of just now, would black males be any better off at the end of 2010?
2) Since the report did come out in 2010, will black males be any better off in 2019?
In His Service,
Jason
