Posted on 11/09/2010 10:24:07 AM PST by lbryce
An achievement gap separating black from white students has long been documented — a social divide extremely vexing to policy makers and the target of one blast of school reform after another.
But a new report focusing on black males suggests that the picture is even bleaker than generally known.
Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.
Poverty alone does not seem to explain the differences: poor white boys do just as well as African-American boys who do not live in poverty, measured by whether they qualify for subsidized school lunches.
The data was distilled from highly respected national math and reading tests, known as the National Assessment for Educational Progress, which are given to students in fourth and eighth grades, most recently in 2009. The report, “A Call for Change,” is to be released Tuesday by the Council of the Great City Schools, an advocacy group for urban public schools.
Although the outlines of the problem and many specifics have been previously reported, the group hopes that including so much of what it calls “jaw-dropping data” in one place will spark a new sense of national urgency.
“What this clearly shows is that black males who are not eligible for free and reduced-price lunch are doing no better than white males who are poor,” said Michael Casserly, executive director of the council.
The report shows that black boys on average fall behind from their earliest years.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It is hard to pass a test if it is written in the King’s English and not ebonics. I am sure the numbers are just as low for hispanics if English is not the dominant language spoken at home.
‘sup wit dat?
These people should never be allowed to speak with any sense of indignation about how society has failed them. Where are all the demagogues, Al Sharpton, FarraKant, and their ilk? Shame on all of you.
Maybe the teachers are much dumber than the students.. YA!.. Think!..
So has the decline in white performance been matched by a decline in black performance? Or have the white kids just not declined enough to catch up?
And if you are 1/2 White & 1/2 Black = 1/2 A Bell !!!!
How come my jaw isn't dropping?
(Just my saying that caused liberals to drop their jaws.)
Its a race to the bottom, thats all I know.
When test after test all shows the same thing, it’s time to start thinking about what the tests show.
Hmm....Any guesses on why it wasn’t written the other way ‘round?
“That’s part of the problem. If the truth were spoken, you would be called a racist.”
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”
- George Orwell
“Don’t matter how much you spend on your sawmill, you can’t cut good lumber from bad timber.”
- Grumpy
It’s cause Whitey’s had his foot on the black man’s neck for 500 years.
Anyone surprised?
Lowered expectations...
I saw my neice’s history notes... ‘Joan of Arc “won” the Hundred Years War’ I almost thought I’d laugh to death. She must have thought that was the gist of what her teacher said because the text clearly stated that Joan of Arc “inspired” French troops with her faith (in one battle) and they won the battle of Orleans before she was captured by the English and turned over to the Inquisition.
The war lasted more than 20 more years.
....
Seriously though.... Molly Pritchard did more for the cause.
*
I know some teachers who work with kids in that sort of demographic, and some of those kids come from situations the awfulness of which is hair-raising -- they're doing well just to show up; proficiency in reading and math is strictly secondary to just being in a place where they can eat breakfast and not have to hide from mom's latest "boyfriend."
The last 45 ...
ML/NJ
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