The Council of the Great City Schools
The council, for the first time, tried to measure exactly the extent of challenges facing black males in six key areas:
- Readiness to learn.
- Black male achievement on the National Assessment of Education Progress.
- Black male achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in big city schools.
- College and career preparedness.
- School experience.
- Postsecondary experience.
The report documents the hardships facing black males from birth (infant mortality is higher among black mothers), through their living arrangements (many live in poverty in single- parent homes) to their relatively poor performance in school.
Analyzing the academic distance between black boys and their white male counterparts, the study’s authors declare it a “national catastrophe” and call for a national, White House-coordinated effort to address the achievement gap.
Free, 120 pages, http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3273936/A%20Call%20For%20Change%20FINAL%20COPY.pdf.
