The Urgency of Now
Schott Foundation: America's Education System Neglects
Almost Half of the Nation's Black and Latino Male
Students

New report cites need to address students being pushed
out and locked out of opportunities to learn; Schott
Foundation joins call for a moratorium on out-of-school
suspensions

The research for this report was conducted by Michael
Holzman. It was edited by John Jackson and Ann Beaudry,
with assistance from Emily Dexter and Kalycia Trishana
Watson. The report was designed by Patrick St. John.
The Schott Foundation for Public Education
September 19, 2012
http://www.blackboysreport.org/schott-black-males-report-press-release.pdf

[moderator: the full report may be found here -
http://www.blackboysreport.org/urgency-of-now.pdf]

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A new report from the Schott
Foundation for Public Education finds that only 52
percent of Black male and 58 percent of Latino male
ninth-graders graduate from high school four years
later, while 78 percent of White, non-Latino male ninth-
graders graduate four years later. The report suggests
that without a policy framework that creates opportunity
for all students, strengthens supports for the teaching
profession and strikes the right balance between
support-based reforms and standards-driven reforms, the
U.S. will become increasingly unequal and less
competitive in the global economy.

According to The Urgency of Now: The Schott 50 State
Report on Public Education and Black Males, the national
graduation rate for Black males has increased by ten
percentage points since 2001-02, with 2010-11 being the
first year that more than half of the nation's ninth-
grade Black males graduated with a regular diploma four
years later. Yet, this progress has closed the
graduation gap between Black male and White, non-Latino
males by only three percentage points. At this rate, it
would take nearly 50 years for Black males to achieve
the same high school graduation rates as their White
male counterparts.

"We have a responsibility to provide future generations
of Americans with the education and the skills needed to
thrive in communities, the job market and the global
economy. Yet, too many Black and Latino young boys and
men are being pushed out and locked out of the U.S.
education system or find themselves unable to compete in
a 21st Century economy upon graduating," said John H.
Jackson, president and CEO of the Schott Foundation for
Public Education. "These graduation rates are not
indicative of a character flaw in the young men, but
rather evidence of an unconscionable level of willful
neglect, unequal resource allocation by federal, state
and local entities and the indifference of too many
elected and community leaders. It's time for a support-
based reform movement."

Among the states with the largest Black enrollments,
North Carolina (58%), Maryland (57%), and California
(56%) have the highest graduation rates for Black males,
while New York (37%), Illinois (47%) and Florida (47%)
have the lowest. Arizona (84%) and Minnesota (65%) were
the only states within the top ten ranked states, in
graduation rates, with over 10,000 Black males enrolled.
Among the states with the highest enrollments of
Latinos, Arizona (68%), New Jersey (66%) and California
(64%) have the highest graduation rates for Latino
males, while New York (37%), Colorado (46%) and Georgia
(52%) have the lowest.

Three of the four states with the highest graduation
rates for Black males were states with a relatively
small number of Black males enrolled in the state's
schools: Maine (97%), Vermont (82%), Utah (76%). This
seems to indicate that Black males, on average, perform
better in places and spaces where they are not relegated
to under-resourced districts or schools. When provided
similar opportunities they are more likely to produce
similar or better outcomes as their White male peers.
The report cites the need to address what the Schott
Foundation calls a "pushout" and "lockout" crisis in our
education system, in part by reducing and reclaiming the
number of students who are no longer in schools
receiving critical educational services and improving
the learning and transition opportunities for students
who remain engaged. Blacks and Latinos face
disproportionate rates of out-of-school suspensions and
are not consistently receiving sufficient learning time
- effectively being pushed out of opportunities to
succeed. Many who remain in schools are locked out of
systems with well-resourced schools and where teachers
have the training, mentoring, administrative support,
supplies and the facilities they need to provide our
children with a substantive opportunity to learn. In the
foreword to the report, Andr‚s A. Alonso, CEO, Baltimore
City Public Schools, described his city's efforts to
keep kids in schools: "We could not have made these
strides without asserting unequivocally that we had no
disposable children, and that we needed everyone's help
to make things right." Alonso concludes, "I am confident
that we as a nation will rally and we will succeed. The
cost of continued failure is around us, a disservice to
our best hopes. The cost of continued failure should be
abhorrent to contemplate."

To cut down the alarming "pushout" rate, the Schott
Foundation is supporting the recently launched Solutions
Not Suspensions initiative, a grassroots effort of
students, educators, parents and community leaders
calling for a nationwide moratorium on out-of-school
suspensions. The initiative, supported by The
Opportunity to Learn Campaign and the Dignity in Schools
Campaign, promotes proven programs that equip teachers
and school administrators with effective alternatives to
suspensions that keep young people in school and
learning.

Schott also calls for students who are performing below
grade level to receive "Personal Opportunity Plans" to
prevent them from being locked out of receiving the
resources needed to succeed. The report highlights the
need to pivot from a standards-driven reform agenda to a
supports-based reform agenda that provides all students
equitable access to the resources critical to
successfully achieving high standards.

The Urgency of Now also provides the following
recommendations for improving graduation rates for young
Black and Latino men:

 End the rampant use of out-of-school suspensions as a
default disciplinary action, as it decreases valuable
learning time for the most vulnerable students and
increases dropouts.

 Expand learning time and increase opportunities for a
well-rounded education including the arts, music,
physical education, robotics, foreign language, and
apprenticeships.

 States and cities should conduct a redlining analysis
of school funding, both between and within districts,
and work with the community and educators to develop a
support-based reform plan with equitable resource
distribution to implement sound community school models.

"There is no doubt that the stakes are high. Black and
Latino children under the age of 18 will become a
majority of all children in the U.S. by the end of the
current decade, many of whom are in lower-income
households located in neighborhoods with under-resourced
schools," said Michael Holzman, senior research
consultant to the Schott Foundation. "We do not want our
young Black and Latino men to have to beat the odds; we
want to change the odds. We must focus on systemic
change to provide all our children with the opportunity
to learn."

___________________________________________

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