Formula for Success
The difference between the top schools and the bottom schools in a given state is not difficult to discern or surprising. Good schools are fully resourced, with talented, caring teachers, well-trained and numerous support staff, and protective and supportive administrators — and poorly performing schools are not. Good schools have challenging curricula, high expectations for all students, and an expectation of success.Poor schools do not. Good schools have libraries, an adequate supply of textbooks and computers, art and music programs, and science labs. Most schools with majority Black enrollments do not.
Table 3: Ten Best Performing States for Black Males
|
Best Performing States |
Total Black Male Enrollment |
Graduation Rates 2005/06 Cohort |
Gap* |
|
|
Black Male |
White Male |
|||
|
1. North Dakota |
796 |
89% |
84% |
-5% |
|
2. Vermont |
765 |
88% |
75% |
-13% |
|
3. Maine |
2,123 |
85% |
75% |
-10% |
|
4. Arizona |
29,085 |
81% |
82% |
1% |
|
5. New Jersey |
125,019 |
74% |
92% |
19% |
|
6. Iowa |
12,468 |
69% |
87% |
18% |
|
7. Utah |
3,398 |
69% |
88% |
18% |
|
8. Idaho |
1,369 |
64% |
77% |
13% |
|
9. Arkansas |
54,984 |
63% |
74% |
11% |
|
10. West Virginia |
7,240 |
63% |
69% |
7% |
As Table 3 indicates, there are some states that have made progress. The state of New Jersey, as a whole, graduates its Black male students at the same rate as the national average for White, non-Hispanic male students. Many of the other states in the top ten lack large Black populations, therefore Black males in those states are more likely to be educated in a diverse educational environment. This underscores the fact that when Black males are given access to schools and resources similar to those given to White males their performance levels improve.
There are districts that are successful with this most vulnerable group of America’s children. The public schools in Fort Bend, Texas, enroll over 10,000 Black male students and graduate over 80% within four years, a graduation rate virtually identical to the district’s graduation rate for White, non-Hispanic male students. Fort Bend has few drop-outs and no achievement gap. Two large suburban Maryland districts — Baltimore County and Montgomery County — have large Black enrollments and graduate Black male students with their peers at a rate comparable to the national average for White, non-Hispanic male students.
Table 4: Ten Best Performing Large Districts for Black Males
|
Best Performing Large Districts |
Black Male Enrollment |
Estimated Graduation Rates 2005/06 |
Gap* |
|
|
Black Male |
White Male |
|||
|
1. Fort Bend (TX) |
10,851 |
82% |
85% |
3% |
|
2. Baltimore County (MD) |
21,444 |
72% |
79% |
7% |
|
3. Montgomery County (MD) |
16,226 |
69% |
87% |
17% |
|
4. Newark (NJ) |
12,630 |
60% |
73% |
13% |
|
5. Prince George’s County (MD) |
51,845 |
59% |
58% |
-2% |
|
6. Gwinnett County (GA) |
18,379 |
58% |
64% |
6% |
|
7. Cobb County (GA) |
15,998 |
57% |
73% |
16% |
|
8. East Baton Rouge Parish (LA) |
19,776 |
57% |
63% |
7% |
|
9. Cumberland County (NC) |
13,619 |
56% |
65% |
10% |
|
10. Guilford County (NC) |
15,687 |
56% |
76% |
21% |
* Gap numbers are rounded
Community and family factors in these places are not terribly different from those elsewhere in the country. The difference is the quality of the educational institutions attended by their Black students. The data highlighted in Given Half a Chance substantiates that graduation and achievement gaps reflect the differences in the quality of the opportunities available, not differences in students' ability.
Black male students do much better in schools where most of the students are White, non-Hispanics, and White, non-Hispanic students and Asian students do poorly in schools where most of the students are Black. It is not a matter of the "benefits" for Black students from sitting next to White students; it is that a much higher proportion of White, non-Hispanic and Asian-American students in each state are enrolled in well-resourced schools than Black students. In most of the country, the chances that a Black male will have highly effective teachers are a third of that for White, non-Hispanic male students. The national view of graduation rates for Black male students compared to White and Latino male students is shown in Tables 5 and 6.
More than fifty years ago, the Brown decision mandated that public educational opportunities be equitably distributed to all students regardless of race. Today, the analysis in Given Half a Chance dramatically illustrates the need for policymakers, philanthropic leaders, and community advocates to answer several basic questions:
Why are there schools in the U.S. that are so inadequately resourced?
Why are most Black male students in the schools that are under-resourced, providing them with less access to early education, highly effective teachers, and a college bound curricula?
In an effort to answer these critical questions and change the current educational trajectory of Black males, over the next five years The Schott Foundation for Public Education will work collaboratively to:
- Promote a 50 percent increase in the graduation rate for Black male students over a five-year period;
- Invest in strategic philanthropy to encourage Congress and states to pass legislation that contains meaningful accountability for schools, districts, and states with low graduation rates when disaggregated by race and gender;
- Manage the Winning Strategies Donors Collaborative to convene funders to identify and support promising policy and programmatic practices to change the current educational outcome trajectory
of Black males; - Promote an increase in the number of Black male teachers and policy advocates;
- Promote federal hearings and investigations into the operations of “drop out factories”;
- Promote the monitoring of resource accountability in states and cities with less than a 50% graduation rate for Black males and more than a 15 point disparity in the performance of Black males and White non-Hispanic males;
- Pool private and corporate philanthropic resources to increase the opportunity to learn for all students by equitably increasing access to early education, highly effective teachers, and college bound curricula;
- Advocate for governmental institutionalization and increased support of organizations conducting mentoring and wraparound services focused specifically on impacting the educational outcomes for Black males;
- and Develop and maintain an online data clearinghouse for the performance of public schools and Black males (www.blackboysreport.org).
For each student the U.S. fails to educate, there is a cost to the individual and to taxpayers that runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. All children deserve an opportunity to learn. The nation’s progress in providing Black male students an equitable opportunity to learn is a major indicator of the success of the country’s efforts to improve American education as a whole.