US black pupils still missing out

[Oceans11]

US black pupils still missing out


Only half of black high school students in the United States are graduating - says a report.
Researchers say that national high school graduation rates are failing to recognise the underlying problems facing black and Hispanic students.

While there is an average of 68% of students graduating from high school - the figure for black students is 50%.

The report comes 50 years after racial segregation in US schools was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court.

Equality

The anniversary of this Brown versus Board of Education ruling in 1954 has brought attention to how black students are currently faring within the state education system and whether integration has brought a more equal level of achievement.

This study provides the most compelling evidence to date that the nation finds itself in the midst of a serious, broad-based, and unrecognised crisis

Urban Institute report

But the report by the Urban Institute, a policy research group, claims there should be "grave concern" that so many students from ethnic minorities are still missing out at high school.

Black, American Indian and Hispanic students are all more likely to drop out without graduating than their white counterparts, it adds.

While 75% of white students and 77% of Asian students finish high school with a diploma, the figure for black students is only 50% and 53% for Hispanic students.

There was also a gender difference, with girls achieving much better results than boys.

'Re-segregation'

The report argues that national educational averages should not be allowed to mask stark underlying differences between different student groups.

"This study provides the most compelling evidence to date that the nation finds itself in the midst of a serious, broad-based, and unrecognised crisis in high school completion," concludes the report.

This concern about the underachievement of black students follows research earlier this year which claimed that 50 years after the ruling to integrate black and white students, there was now a pattern of increasing "re-segregation".

According to the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University there has been "backward movement for desegregation in US schools, especially for Latino and African-American students, and particularly in the south".

Researchers reported "substantial slippage toward segregation" and large parts of the US where "most white students have little contact with minority students".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3521941.stm

 

[Oceans11]

Racial divide widens in US schools

The study shows black and white students drifting apart

Black and Latino children are becoming increasingly segregated from their white classmates in American schools, a Harvard University study has found.
Almost 50 years after a US Supreme Court ruling outlawed racial segregation in schools, nearly all the schools studied are now "re-segregating".

The study says two factors - poverty and government policy - are to blame for the increasing racial gulf.

The worst cases of segregation were still to be found in the southern states, where the most bitter civil rights battles were fought in the 1950s and 1960s.

Little contact

Harvard's Civil Rights Project studied 185 of the largest school districts over a period of 14 years.

It set up an "exposure index" to look at the pattern of how many black and white students came into contact with one another.

In the worst case of re-segregation, in Clayton County Georgia, black exposure to whites dropped from 68.7% in 1986 to 23.1% in 2000.

That means the average black student now goes to a school where only 23.1% of his classmates are white.

Overall, the study found:


Black exposure to whites only increased in four of the 185 districts

Latino exposure to whites only increased in three districts

White isolation from blacks increased in 53 districts.
Integration unravelled

The study's author, Chungmei Lee, said people had become discouraged about integration.


In the 1950s desegregation laws had to be imposed by force

"I think a lot of people think that nothing can be done, and the efforts have failed," he said.

Several court rulings have forced affirmative action plans to be scrapped for being unconstitutional.

"As courts across the country end long-running desegregation plans and, in some areas, have forbidden the use of any racially-conscious student assignment plans, in the last 10-15 years there has been a steady unravelling of almost 25 years worth of increased integration," said Harvard's Professor Gary Orfield.

The study's authors believe integration is crucial to improve education and prepare students for life in a diverse culture.

Divided diversity

The 2000 census results showed that the US has more racial diversity than ever before.

But minorities often live in poor neighbourhoods, which contributes to the racial divide in schools.

The report recommends combining inner city and suburban school districts to bring children from different communities together.

But campaigners against desegregation warned against seeing diversity as automatically being a good thing.

"When you have a government involved in enforcing a particular form of diversity, then you have a government making decision that are illegal," said lawyer Chester Darling.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2184623.stm

 

[KMAN]

This should not be a surprise to anyone.

The real title should be inner city students graduate less than other students. This makes total sense. It's very unfortunate, but you put these inner city kids in a loving home where education is a priority and the numbers would change drastically.

I think it is safe to say that the parents are to blame for many of these kids failures.

It's the same ole story. When are people going to take some responsibility for their actions?

I feel sorry for these kids who have a lack of structure and parental guidance in their life. I was very fortunate to have parents how made education a priority.

 

[jointpleasures]

A lack of two parent families is to blame. Hell, even a lack of one parent in the black family. But of course a liberal will always look to the white mans' policies. Old news

Is it now illegal for a black to vote for a republican?

 

[KMAN]

Remember....This is reported from the BBC.

 

[xpanda]

Well, JP, all leftists in the US should be thrilled as they anticipate a huge portion of Bush's 1.5 billion pro-marriage fund heading to inner cities. Given this data on the effects of the decline of family values on the future of America, surely Bush will prioritise the black family above all others.

 

[BuckFush]

http://www.app.com/app/story/0,21625,916752,00.html

Schundler commends charter schools


Published in the Asbury Park Press 3/01/04
By KEITH BROWN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
WEST LONG BRANCH -- Calling the state's public school system a "one-size-fits-all" approach to education that doesn't work for all students, former Jersey City mayor Bret Schundler yesterday lauded the efforts of charter schools at a benefit at Monmouth University.

Schundler, the keynote speaker at a $50-a-ticket fund raiser for the Jersey Shore Charter School, addressed about 30 of the new charter school's supporters at the Rebecca Stafford Student Center.

The one-time gubernatorial candidate said the public school system unfairly favors parents who can afford to send their children to private schools.

"Parents without that option do not have the same range of opportunities to educate their children," he said. "(Charter schools) give power to parents -- every parent -- to have the same broad array of options. It's a simple element of social justice."

The Jersey Shore Charter School -- an independent, free public school for children in grades five through eight -- is to open this September with 180 students, said Kathleen Devine, one of seven founders of the school.

After being rejected once in 2001 and again in 2002, the Jersey Shore Charter School last January received its charter from the state. It calls for a school with a curriculum built around the individual interests of each student, Devine said.

Parents and teachers would help students craft "personalized learning plans" based on those interests, using trips to Shore-area resources and institutions to supplement classroom instruction, she said.

Charter schools operate independently of local school boards, but they are public schools funded with public money. Under the state's charter school law enacted in 1996, charter schools are funded through the local districts. Each district pays 90 percent of its per-pupil cost for each district student who attends the charter school.

The school has accepted applications from 106 area students from 12 area towns. Priority is given to students in Eatontown, Oceanport and Long Branch, Devine said.

The school was scheduled to open last September, but negotiations on securing a building delayed the opening until this year, she said.

A lease on a building was signed last week; Devine declined to say where. But Joseph Lyons, treasurer and member of the school's board of trustees, said the school will be leasing a building on Industrial Way in Eatontown. He did not know the exact address.

Yesterday's fund raiser was one of several that will take place before the school opens in September, Devine said. The school needs to raise $40,000 by the start of the school year, she said.

Billy Day of Asbury Park said he enrolled his 12-year-old son, Tevin Day, in the charter school because of "overcrowding" at Asbury Middle School, where he is a sixth grader.

"I believe he (Tevin) will get a lot more attention there (at the charter school)," said Day, 57. "The classes will be smaller. And he's really excited about going."