The Commission's Position on Education
Education is our #1 Challenge
The most important challenge facing the Black community today is the education of our children. Too many of our children drop out or are pushed out of school before earning a high school diploma. Black youth who stay in school have average test scores below those for White and Asian students. Black students who go on to two-year and four-year colleges and universities are less likely to graduate than those in other ethnic groups.
This is a frightening reality as global competition continues to raise the level of career training and/or education needed to compete in business or get a living-wage job. Closing the "opportunity and achievement gap" afflicting Black students is essential, if we want future generations to succeed at work, in business, and in life.
It's time for policy makers and the Black community to do anything and everything necessary to bring all students -- including the 30% to 40% of struggling Black students -- up to international standards of achievement.
Keep track of Education activity
What the Commission is Doing
In response to this crisis, the Commission on African American Affairs partnered with community groups to gather our region's most active and expert Black advocates and educators to propose changes to state lawmakers and the Governor. The Black Education Strategy Roundtable was formed. The Roundtable first met in May 2006 and now meets periodically (Education Roundtable Meeting Schedule).
Recommendations:
The Commission adopted these Roundtable recommendations below, first published in September 2006. Roundtable members also have presented these recommendations to various elected officials.
- A statewide strategic plan to close the racial “opportunity and achievement gap,” so that all students in the P-20 (Preschool through graduate school) education system can meet state standards by the year 2014
- A public/private partnership to fund and operate local family engagement and empowerment activities and/or “capacity-building” institutes that equip parents/family/guardians to be effective “first teachers” and education advocates for their children
- A public/private partnership to fund and operate more community-based, supplemental education for Black youth in math and reading, including before- and after-school tutoring, Saturday schools, and summer academies
- A statewide school funding and policy package that increases funding for schools AND fundamentally redesigns the school day, week, year, classroom setting, curriculum, and pedagogy practices around the needs and learning styles of students who are not meeting state standards
Next Steps
The Commission will continue advancing these recommendations. We are working with the Roundtable and others to develop a Parent Empowerment demonstration and to get new state resources for supplemental education into the hands of educators and advocates in the Black community.
