Reaching Black Boys Resource Center

Reaching Black Boys

On virtually every measure of educational success, African-American male students trail behind their peers in Chicago Public Schools. Black boys score lowest on state achievement tests, are more likely than their peers to drop out of high school and are less likely to make it to college. This resource center offers stories, reports and research on the challenges and possible solutions to this achievement gap, as well as a directory of local resources and excerpts from a symposium on the topic. We welcome your feedback.

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RBB Symposium

Keilan Bonner

Former Golden Apple Scholar who teaches math at King College Prep High School

Shelby Wyatt

Counselor, Kenwood Academy High School

Dennis Lacewell

Principal, Urban Prep Academy for Young Men, Englewood campus

Rev. Otis Moss III

Pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ

George Smith

Psychologist and vice chairman,100 Black Men of Chicago

Pedro Noguera

Professor, New York University

Leaders panel

Reaching Black Boys Symposium, April 20, 2010

Erica Hunt

President, Twenty-First Century Foundation

Symposium featuring Dr. Pedro Noguera

Submitted by mark on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 10:30

The symposium, held April 20, 2010, was sponsored by Catalyst, Golden Apple Foundation, MAGIC, National-Louis University and Urban Prep Acaemy for Young Men. Click here for excerpts.

Local resources

Submitted by mark on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 10:26

We invite all organizations serving black men and boys to share information about their programs. Click here for a form where you can enter your Information. Visit our Resources Page to learn about the resources that have been entered to date. Please spread the word that we are compiling a directory of resources and welcome additions.

Catalyst Reporting

Submitted by mark on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 10:27

The achievement gap afflicting black boys and young men is an ongoing focus of Catalyst Chicago. In June 2009, we devoted an issue of Catalyst In Depth to the topic. Subsequently we created a two-page briefing paper on the topic and posted updates and related stories in the Notebook section of our web site. Click on the images above to download PDFs.

Stories and Studies

Challenges In School

In Chicago’s public schools, black males are suspended and expelled at a higher rate than any other student group.Chicago also leads other urban districts in suspending African-American male students.

Research shows that black men can be powerful classroom role models for black boys, but principals are having trouble finding black male teachers.

African-American students are overrepresented in special education, researchers say in a Catalyst Ohio report.

Having a parent in prison is hard on children. In Chicago, schools have no way to identify these children, nor the resources to support them.

Boys trail girls in school accomplishments, and teacher miscues and race and class bias may be to blame.

Research

“The Trouble with Black Boys: The role and Influence of Environmental Factors on the Academic Performance of African American Males”—Pedro Noguera

"Yes, We Can," the 2010 Schott 50 State Report on Black Males in Public Education by the Schott Foundation for Public Education.

"A Call for Change," The Social and Educational Factors Contributing to the Outcomes of Black Males in Urban Schools by the Council of Great City Schools, October 2010.

The State of Black Male Commissions: A Survey, Published by the Twenty-First Century Foundation February 2010

Illinois Department of Human Services: An Examination of African American Males in Illinois 2009

Chicago Youth Justice Data project – At this site, learn how juvenile cases move through the court process, which communities had the highest juvenile arrests in 2009 and how many arrests were made at Chicago Public Schools

Examining teachers' beliefs about African American Males by Marvin Lynn, et al.

Challenges Out Of School

A Chicago Reporter analysis found that hundreds of minors, a majority of them, black males, are being prosecuted in adult court and serving hard time in Illinois adult prisons.

Chicago Black men between 20-34 kill themselves more often than anyone else in this age group, found The Chicago Reporter.

Children whose parents are in prison are overwhelmingly poor and African-American and Latino. Read about the lives of children whose parents are or have been behind bars.

Solutions

Ryerson Elementary School makes a difference in black male achievement through single-sex classrooms.

At Mays Academy, middle-grades students now outperform their counterparts in other Englewood schools and school leaders attribute the gains primarily to single-sex classes.

A coach of a North Lawndale basketball team goes the extra mile to mentor his players and researchers say this has a positive effect on students.

Examples of actions and programs that show some success in Dayton and Cleveland, Ohio and South Carolina, including connecting community, social services and juvenile justice agencies to schools.

Experts say that to develop a love of reading that will help build literacy skills black boys need to see themselves in books.

Where to find books for black boys.

Students in The Brotherhood, a student-led mentoring program for African-American males at Kenwood Academy High School, perform better academically than male students who do not participate. Between 2005 and 2008, Brotherhood students’ cumulative GPAs increased by 16 percent.

A look at Urban Prep Academies, where every senior student—107 in all--was accepted to a four-year college in 2010.

“What can be done to impact the life of a Black boy born in 2007 so that by the time he is 18, in the year 2025, his outcomes for success have significantly improved?" That’s the question behind the 2025 Campaign for Black Men and Boys. Here are efforts to improve the lives of black males in Chicago, Oakland, Los Angeles and New York.

“The Trouble with Black Boys and Other Reflections on Race, Equity and the Future of Public Education” by Pedro Noguera.

What Baltimore did to decrease suspensions and increase the graduation of black male students -- the former from 26,000 in 2003-04 to 10,000 in 2009-2010, in a population of 88,000 students.

http://wapo.st/gxiCyu

Faces Behind Numbers

The story of three African-American boys who as freshmen were on track to drop out but now are heading to college and the workforce.

The story of the three friends continues; see what like is like for these young men after high school.

An African-American professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago talks about what school was like for him and how he thinks black males can be supported.

University of Chicago political scientist Cathy Cohen talks about the Black Youth Project's new educational resource and what black youths have to say about schools.

Announcements

Click here to submit an announcement.

High Hopes campaign

A coalition of community organizations is advocating for CPS to reduce suspensions and expulsions through implementation of restorative justice and other proven strategies. Click here to learn more.

How effective are School-Based Male Mentoring Organizations?

The Kenwood Academy Brotherhood, a male mentoring program, and DePaul University are teaming up and hosting a national discussion on the effectiveness of school-based male mentoring organizations. To join the conversation, sign up here.

The Reaching Black Boys Symposium and Resource Center are supported by gifts from our members as well as the Lloyd A Fry Foundation and the Pierce Family Foundation.

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