Oakland Schools Work to Transform Experience for African-American Boys | PBS NewsHour | Sept. 3, 2013 | PBS: GWEN IFILL: It's a new school year in most parts of the country, a good time to explore the important ideas being discussed and debated in education.
We start our series with a report from Oakland, Calif., on a different approach to the dropout problem, where young black men are more likely to miss school, get suspended, or end up in jail than other students, statistics that have alarmed school officials.
Our story from special correspondent Joshua Johnson was produced by our colleagues at KQED in partnership with The San Francisco Chronicle. It's part of the American Graduate Project, a public media initiative about the dropout crisis.
MAN: Good morning, sir. How you doing?
MAN: Good.
JOSHUA JOHNSON: Sizwe Abakah teaches the manhood development class at Oakland's Skyline High School.
MAN: Glad you could be here with us, brother.
JOSHUA JOHNSON: He and about a dozen African-American male teachers are focused on making sure that black boys graduate high school.
SIZWE ABAKAH, Skyline High: We're trying to make transformations. A lot of our brothers are failing disproportionately. Like, if we look at the statistics in Oakland, we're the highest in everything we don't need to be in.
JUNIOUS WILLIAMS, Urban Strategies Council: You will see higher rates of dropout, lower rates of graduation, higher rates of chronic absence, higher rates of suspension.
JOSHUA JOHNSON: Junious Williams is CEO of the Urban Strategies Council, an Oakland-based nonprofit working to eliminate persistent poverty.
In 2010, the council partnered with the Oakland School District to develop solutions for improving academic and social outcomes for black boys. The result was the Office of African-American Male Achievement.
Chris Chatmon is the executive director.
