Black malesâ low achievement could hurt economy
Lawmakers encouraged by Deasyâs reforms
Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007
Prince Georgeâs Countyâs recent economic prosperity could be jeopardized unless African-American males, who make up a sizable portion of the future workforce, make greater strides in academic achievement, business advocates and educators say.
African-American males make up 39 percent of the countyâs public school population, or nearly 52,000 students, and they have among the lowest rates of academic achievement.
These advocates say black boys need more focused support from the school system to be effective workers when they graduate from high school or are ready to attend college.
ââWe are going to start seeing ourselves regressing [economically] if we donât ensure African-American males are being educated in a way that would make them productive and effective members of the workforce and society in general,â said Orlan Johnson, a member of the Board of Regents for the University of Maryland.
ââYouâre either growing or youâre dying.â
Johnson and other advocates say that the situation in Prince Georgeâs includes some hopeful signs.
Standardized test scores have been climbing, albeit slowly for African-American males, and Schools Superintendent John Deasy is implementing a long list of reforms designed to aid all struggling students at all grade levels.
ââIf you can start to make a difference there [in Prince Georgeâs] youâll start to make a difference overall,â Johnson said.
A state report released in December 2006 said black males need some of the most focused help that the state could offer to ensure they succeeded in school.
The reportâs recommendations mirrored some of Deasyâs reforms, including making more rigorous courses accessible to black males and putting culturally sensitive teachers in classrooms to teach them. Another recommendation, same sex classrooms for African-American males, is similar to one of Deasyâs proposals for smaller learning communities that he has pitched to the county school board.
The report was produced after three years of research by a 49-member task force in conjunction with the Maryland State Department of Education.
Rushern Baker, an education consultant and task force member, said Deasyâs approach offered hope for black males after years of stagnation.
ââItâs a good news, bad news situation,â Baker said. ââThe bad news is... [African-American males] are the population that doesnât appear to be achieving at any great rate. The good news is we have a superintendent who understands this. He gets it.â
Johnson particularly praised Deasyâs reforms, which include putting the strongest and most effective teachers in the schools that struggled the most to increase student achievement. Providing greater access to college-level Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs, another of Deasyâs reforms, was also a sign that things were turning around for African-American males.
The report says African-American males were still vulnerable because they were not achieving as quickly as either African-American females or other racial subgroups.
Those concerns still hold in Prince Georgeâs, despite the recent progress.
On the High School Assessments, which are required by state law for graduation, black males passed at lower rates than black females and almost every other racial subgroup.
Of African-American males who took the algebra exam in the 2006 school year, for example, only 37.7 percent passed, almost 10 percent fewer than African American females.
Asian males passed the exam 71 percent of the time, and white males passed it 74.9 percent of the time.
While these rates of passing are low for black males, they have increased over the past four years and showed their largest increase in the 2006 school year.
Johnson said that if poor performance of African American males in school continued, it could mean that county businesses could have to go outside the state to bring in workers to compensate.
ââOr it could slow down businesses coming here,â Johnson said. ââOne of the first things they [businesses] want to know is what kind of workforce theyâre going to have.
ââIf they canât find it here there are other jurisdictions that would be able to provide that.â
Training the countyâs workforce to ensure Prince Georgeâs holds on to its economic development gains is critical, said M.H. Jim Estepp, head of the Prince Georgeâs Greater Business Roundtable.
He said the focus should be on all struggling students, and not just on African American males.
ââWe want to lift these kids up,â Estepp, a former county council member said. ââThere are many in the business community and in the academic field that workforce development is a high, if not the No. 1 priority in the county.â
E-mail Guy Leonard at gleonard@gazette.net.
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