Panel on Disaffection of Black Youths Airs Concerns, Ideas

Panel on Disaffection of Black Youths Airs Concerns, Ideas: "Marcellus 'Bishop' Allen, who joined the notorious Bloods street gang at age 9, had a blunt warning yesterday for the panel of national experts that gathered in Washington to discuss ways to reach troubled black men. Crime emergencies, prayer meetings and community vigils, he said, are ineffective after youngsters have turned to criminal activity.

'None of you can stop nothing we want to do,' said Allen, a gang member who works to settle street conflicts in his hometown of Newark.

Allen's comments confirmed what academics, politicians and street-level organizers know from experience: People who feel disconnected from society do bad things.

Yesterday's forum, "Paths to Success: A Forum on Young African American Men," drew a crowd of about 150 to hear a 17-member panel discuss ways to end a cycle of neglect, abuse and violence that has led to high levels of incarceration and low achievement for too many.

Panelists said promoting positive behavior requires society to make significant changes in schools, churches and families. Former congressman Ronald Dellums took umbrage at the high rate of expulsions of black boys, particularly those still in preschool.

The reality of race - 'Separate and Unequal' - MSNBC.com

The reality of race - 'Separate and Unequal' - MSNBC.com: "In the upcoming “Tom Brokaw Reports: Separate and Unequal,” Brokaw travels to 200 miles north of New Orleans to Jackson, Miss., for an in-depth report on race and poverty, airing on Sunday, July 23 at 7 PM/ET on NBC. Jackson was just brushed by Katrina, but it struggles every day with the ongoing issues of race in America. Jackson has many examples of great progress: a black mayor; a black editor in chief at its daily newspaper; a black professional class sending children to elite universities. However, Jackson also has thousands of blacks who are every bit as stranded as the people in New Orleans, and millions of others across the country.

“Separate and Unequal” is an honest look at the progress that’s been made, and the problems that persist, 40 years after the civil rights movement. It focuses on several students at an inner city high school in Jackson, and follows them from last fall through the school year, showing first hand how problems like poverty, teen pregnancy, absentee fathers, and drug addiction play out in the lives of young people. Brokaw interviews students, parents, and teachers, as well as members of Jackson’s black elite as they grapple with the problems of neighborhoods they had left behind. In addition, the broadcast explores the sometimes-surprising ways in which whites did or didn’t choose to help.

Sorting Out The Census: We're still separate and unequal.

Sorting Out The Census: We're still separate and unequal.: "In a report that surprised the nation, Logan has shown that even though the U.S. population grew far more racially and ethnically diverse between 1990 and 2000, we are still as segregated a nation today as we've ever been. The majority of Americans, Logan found, are living in neighborhoods that continue to separate whites from blacks, Latinos and people of Asian descent. In fact, the same color barrier that has dominated urban communities for decades has now spread to our fast-growing suburbs, where people of color tend to congregate in neighborhoods and housing developments apart from whites."

Other findings:

The average white person lives in a community nearly 83 percent white and 7 percent black, while the average black lives in a community that is only 33 percent white and 54 percent black.

>>> Middle-class blacks are more likely to live in or near areas of poverty than are middle-class whites of equal income. In Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City, for example, the typical African American lives in a community where the income level is about 30 percent lower, and where the crime rate is 30 percent higher, than it is in communities occupied by whites of the same income level.

>>> White couples without children are more likely to live in integrated neighborhoods than are whites with children, reflecting the departure of white families from urban areas into the suburbs, often in pursuit of better schools and less crime.

>>> The average child in metropolitan America lives in an increasingly segregated neighborhood where their own racial group dominates, and where they encounter relatively few children of other backgrounds. As neighborhoods are segregated, so too are schools, clubs, sports teams and other organizations and social circles.

Study Documents ‘Ghetto Tax’ Being Paid by the Urban Poor - New York Times

Study Documents ‘Ghetto Tax’ Being Paid by the Urban Poor - New York Times: "WASHINGTON, July 18 — Drivers from low-income neighborhoods of New York, Hartford and Baltimore, insuring identical cars and with the same driving records as those from middle-class neighborhoods, paid $400 more on average for a year’s insurance.

The poor are also the main customers for appliances and furniture at “rent to own” stores, where payments are stretched out at very high interest rates; in Wisconsin, a $200 television can end up costing $700.

Those were just two examples among several cited in a report Tuesday showing that poor urban residents frequently pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year in extra costs for everyday necessities. The study said some of the disparities were due to real differences in the cost of doing business in poor areas, some to predatory financial practices and some to consumer ignorance.

CNN.com - Program prepares disabled youth for college life - Jul 17, 2006

CNN.com - Program prepares disabled youth for college life - Jul 17, 2006: "BLACKSBURG, Virginia (AP) -- The college classroom scene is a familiar one: young adults in flip-flops and baseball caps, some scribbling notes, others napping.

Evelyn Scruggs, a student sitting near the front, is among the more attentive, filling an entire page with notes. But, by the time she leaves, she won't remember the lecture topic or one word she wrote.

Scruggs, 19, has attention deficit disorder and related short-term memory loss. Like everyone attending this mock class, she's hoping it will give her tools to balance her disability with her dream of a college degree.

The students get pointers on navigating wheelchairs over hilly terrain, finding note takers and deciding whether to 'come out' to peers about less-obvious disabilities -- tips experts say are vital as administrators face swelling numbers of disabled students.

About 6 million Americans receive special education services, designated for students whose mental or physical limitations affect their learning, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Increasingly, such students are aiming for degrees: 11.3 percent of undergraduates nationwide reported a disability during the 2003-04 academic year, compared to 7.7 percent during the 1989-90 school year, according to the most recent department statistics.

Special education has shifted over the past decade from getting students to functional levels on basics like reading in favor of encouraging them to move to advanced levels of study and tackle more complex subjects, said Lynda Van Kuren, a spokeswoman for the Council for Exceptional Children.

Upper Grades, Lower Reading Skills

Upper Grades, Lower Reading Skills: "The U.S. school population has rapidly diversified over the past few decades. The number of students who are learning English has more than doubled, from 2.03 million in 1989-90 to 5.01 million in 2003-04, according to the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs. A decade ago, students who were learning English made up 6.1 percent of the student population in Montgomery; today, the figure is almost 10 percent.

But it's not just immigrants. A breakdown of test scores in Maryland, for example, shows that black students, those enrolled in special education and those who come from poor families are most likely to lack strong reading skills.

USATODAY.com - Advocates quietly push for slavery repayment

USATODAY.com - Advocates quietly push for slavery repayment: "Advocates who say black Americans should be compensated for slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath are quietly chalking up victories and gaining momentum.

Fueled by the work of scholars and lawyers, their campaign has morphed in recent years from a fringe-group rallying cry into sophisticated, mainstream movement. Most recently, a pair of churches apologized for their part in the slave trade, and one is studying ways to repay black church members.

The overall issue is hardly settled, even among black Americans: Some say that focusing on slavery shouldn't be a top priority or that it doesn't make sense to compensate people generations after a historical wrong.

Yet reparations efforts have led a number of cities and states to approve measures that force businesses to publicize their historical ties to slavery. Several reparations court cases are in progress, and international human rights officials are increasingly spotlighting the issue.

CNN.com - Rich get more sleep; blacks and men get less - Jun 30, 2006

CNN.com - Rich get more sleep; blacks and men get less - Jun 30, 2006: "NEW YORK (Reuters) -- In a study of sleep characteristics in 669 adults in Chicago who were compared by sex and race, investigators found that blacks got less sleep than whites, while men got less sleep than women.

Furthermore, the wealthier you are, the more sleep you're likely to get, Dr. Diane S. Lauderdale of the University of Chicago and her colleagues found.

'There was an expectation that people with very demanding jobs in terms of high status, high income, would be getting less sleep, and that was not true,' Lauderdale told Reuters Health in an interview. The findings could help explain why blacks suffer from more health problems than whites, she added."

To boost learning, show schools how

DesMoinesRegister.com: "Few schools match Madison Elementary in Muscatine in closing the achievement gap between white and minority students.

It won a U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Award last fall - recognition that 100 percent of fourth-graders had scored as proficient in math and 97 percent in reading.

Other schools should copy Madison's commitment.

Outside, the unassuming blond-brick school looks its 50-plus years. Inside, the combination of high expectations and targeted strategies produces results.

No excuses are made for poverty or language barriers. More than half of youngsters take free or reduced-price lunch, including some who live in motel rooms. About a third of 236 students are Latino. Thirty-three children are learning English as a second language.
"

Study Casts Doubt On the 'Boy Crisis'

Improving Test Scores Cut Into Girls' Lead

A study to be released today looking at long-term trends in test scores and academic success argues that widespread reports of U.S. boys being in crisis are greatly overstated and that young males in school are in many ways doing better than ever.

Using data compiled from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federally funded accounting of student achievement since 1971, the Washington-based think tank Education Sector found that, over the past three decades, boys' test scores are mostly up, more boys are going to college and more are getting bachelor's degrees.

The Wrong Man

Mistaken for a Fugitive, an Innocent Hairdresser Landed in Jail

The impact stunned him, the sudden violence of it on a spring morning. Elias Fishburne IV, on his way to a 6 a.m. workout, now stood in his gym clothes on Route 50 in Cheverly and took measure of the damage. Talking on his cellphone, Fishburne had nearly sideswiped another car while changing lanes, then swerved away too hard and hit the guardrail. Elias was unhurt, but his Beemer was mangled.

A Maryland state trooper pulled up and took Fishburne's license and registration back to his patrol car. Fishburne called a friend who lived nearby to come pick him up. He'd have to get the car towed, file an insurance claim, and what about all the errands he needed to run before flying off to Puerto Rico for the weekend?

The trooper returned. The mood suddenly tightened.


This is part of an ongoing series about Being a Black Man. Use the link to read the entire article.

Performance Gap on Tests Uneven for Black Students

Scores Lag More on Math Than Reading

Black students trail white students more in mathematics than in reading, especially in middle school grades, an analysis of Maryland test scores shows. But the achievement gap for Hispanic students is virtually the same in both academic subjects, a contrast that perplexed some school testing experts.

Maryland School Assessment data made public this week show that the state's two largest school systems -- in Montgomery and Prince George's counties -- continue to face enormous racial and ethnic disparities in educational achievement.

U.S. Losing Its Middle-Class Neighborhoods

From 1970 to 2000, Metro Areas Showed Widening Gap Between Rich, Poor Sections

Middle-class neighborhoods, long regarded as incubators for the American dream, are losing ground in cities across the country, shrinking at more than twice the rate of the middle class itself.

In their place, poor and rich neighborhoods are both on the rise, as cities and suburbs have become increasingly segregated by income, according to a Brookings Institution study released Thursday. It found that as a share of all urban and suburban neighborhoods, middle-income neighborhoods in the nation's 100 largest metro areas have declined from 58 percent in 1970 to 41 percent in 2000.

Higher dropout rates revealed

Published by the trade publication Education Week, the new study, which uses 2002 and 2003 data, the most current available, finds public schools graduate 69.6% of an estimated 4 million eligible students each spring, meaning about 1.2 million students likely won't graduate this year. That means about 7,000 students drop out per school day, Swanson says.

Eighteen percent of students are black, but they represent 27% of dropouts, Swanson finds. Hispanics account for 18% of students but for 24% of dropouts.

At Six Flags, the Don'ts of Dos

Employees Say Their Ethnic Hairstyles Are Challenged as 'Extreme,' and They've Complained to ACLU

It's right there, under "Extreme Hairstyles," in the 2006 seasonal handbook for Six Flags America employees: no dreadlocks, tails, partially shaved heads "or any hairstyle that detracts or takes away from Six Flags theming."

Braids "must be in neat, even rows and without beads or other ornaments," the amusement park handbook advises.

That prompted Tim Bivins, 18, who has worked at Six Flags America in Largo for two years, to cut several inches off his hair this spring and pay $50 to have it braided into cornrows. Not good enough, he was told. Cut the braids shorter or go home.

Blacks hear better than whites, study shows

Melanin may play a role in protecting from noise-induced hearing loss


ATLANTA - Black adults hear better than white adults, a government study found.

The study also found that women hear better than men, and that overall, hearing in the United States is about the same as it was 35 years ago, despite the advent of ear-blasting devices such as the Walkman and the iPod.

Previous research reached similar findings about racial and sex differences, but the new study by scientists with the federal National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health was the largest national sample to report such a finding, experts in acoustics said.

Being A Black Man

A Path All His Own
For Eric Motley, the Measure of a Man Isn't His Politics

There is a little enclave on the rural edge of this history-drenched city. It is called Madison Park. You can hear the roosters. And gawk at Dr. Hagalyn Wilson's roses, tulips and calla lilies, in bloom all over her yard.

The outside world might not know much about it, but Madison Park has produced a scintillating array of black achievers: lawyers, doctors, educators, ministers -- and at least one Republican on the rise, Eric L. Motley.

Use the link to read the entire article.

More schools test single-sex classrooms

Federal change expected that will see trend grow further

ATLANTA - In the sixth-grade class, the boys are making robots — more than a dozen students stand around work stations and chat as they cut cardboard with scissors, or glance at comic books for inspiration.

Down the hall, a room full of girls is working — quietly and independently — on the same project.

The recent scenes at Atlanta’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School may become more common in the coming years as a federal regulations change is expected to make it easier for public schools to experiment with single-gender schools and classrooms.

The Young Apprentice

They move freely between neighborhoods and jobs. When the public schools didn't suit Marcus, his mother found a private one that did. They've read the research showing that black children -- especially boys, no matter their family income -- receive less attention, harsher punishment and lower marks in school than their white counterparts, from kindergarten through college. The Yale University Child Study Center, for instance, found in a national survey last year that black boys are expelled at three times the rate of white children -- in pre-kindergarten.

This is the third in a series on "Being a Black Man" by the Washington Post. Click on the title to read the entire series.

Bias-busting tech keeps kids focused

Researcher uses handheld computer and name-generation software to keep kids engaged

A handheld computer with software that randomly selects students' names is an effective tool for making sure students pay attention and do their homework, an education researcher has found. Originally intended to increase class participation and eliminate any bias in how teachers call on students for discussion, the solution also was found to increase students' attentiveness and boost their chances of success.
June 2, 2006—Random-name-generation software--originally designed to make sure teachers call on girls as frequently as boys--appears to have additional benefits. A University of Florida (UF) researcher has discovered the technology also helps students stay focused and engaged in activities that tend to foster academic achievement.

Supreme Court to Rule on Affirmative Action in Public Schools

The Supreme Court, reentering the long-running debate over affirmative action in public education, agreed today to consider whether race can be a factor in deciding among applicants for a limited number of places in public high schools.

It will be the first time since 2003 that the court has weighed in on racial preferences in education and one of the few attempts by the justices to consider voluntary affirmative action in the context of elementary or secondary education.

Star-Powered Gala Energizes Efforts For Slavery Museum

The theme of the United States National Slavery Museum: reconciliation, not recrimination.

That's what L. Douglas Wilder, former governor of Virginia and present mayor of Richmond, stressed at Saturday night's fund-raising fete for the planned museum. That's what the evening's high-end performers -- comedian Bill Cosby and entertainer Ben Vereen -- pointed out again and again to the 1,350 people at the Warner Theatre. That's what architect Chien Chung Pei said he is trying to reflect in his airy, ambitious design for the museum, which is to be built in Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock River.

Black men torn between promise and doubt

Black men in America today are deeply divided over the way they see themselves and their country.

Black men report the same ambitions as most Americans -- for career success, a loving marriage, children, respect. And yet most are harshly critical of other black men, associating the group with irresponsibility and crime.

Black men describe a society rife with opportunities for advancement and models for success. But they also express a deep fear that their hold on the good life is fragile, in part because of discrimination they continue to experience in their daily lives.

Study: Academic gains for women, stagnation for men

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Women now earn the majority of diplomas in fields men used to dominate -- from biology to business -- and have caught up in pursuit of law, medicine and other advanced degrees.

Even with such enormous gains over the past 25 years, women are paid less than men in comparable jobs and lag in landing top positions on college campuses.

Federal statistics released Thursday show that in many ways, the gender gap among college students is widening. The story is largely one of progress for women, stagnation for men.

At the Corner of Progress and Peril

At the Corner of Progress and Peril: "Being a black man in America can mean inhabiting a border area between possibility and peril, to feel connected to, defined by, even responsible for each of those boys -- and for other black men. In dozens of interviews, black men described their shared existence, of sometimes wondering whether their accomplishments will be treated as anomalies, their individuality obscured by the narrow images that linger in the minds of others."

Study: Blacks, Latinos pay more for mortgages - Real Estate - MSNBC.com

Study: Blacks, Latinos pay more for mortgages - Real Estate - MSNBC.com: "CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Black and Hispanic home buyers are more likely to pay high mortgage rates than white borrowers with similar credit ratings and income levels, an advocacy group found.

The Center for Responsible Lending said either loan sellers are charging higher rates to the minority customers or those borrowers are being steered to loan sellers that specialize in higher rates.

Using an industry database, the Durham-based nonprofit center compared credit scores, down payments and other financial information on about 177,000 loans made in 2004 by 'subprime' lenders — companies that charge higher interest rates than banks. The lenders provided the borrowers' income and race.
"

CNN.com - Study: College grads are fussier dads - May 31, 2006

CNN.com - Study: College grads are fussier dads - May 31, 2006: "Men who have earned a college degree plan fewer children but tend to fuss over them more than guys with less schooling.

That's the word from the government's first look at fathers and parenting, the latest version of a study that has always concentrated on women in the past.

Men who have graduated from college expect to father two children while those without a high school diploma plan on nearly three -- 2.9 -- according to the report released Wednesday by the National Center on Health Statistics."

Other findings included:

# Some 25 percent of black fathers had their first child before they were 20 years old, compared with 19 percent of Hispanic men and 11 percent of whites.

# Among unmarried white men, 19 percent have had a child, compared with one-third of black and Hispanic men.

# At the time of their first child, 37 percent of black fathers were married, compared with 52 percent of Hispanics and 77 percent of whites.

# Unmarried Hispanic and black fathers were more likely to be living with the mother of their child when their first child was born -- 32 and 24 percent, respectively -- compared with white fathers, 12 percent.

CNN.com - Minority students give bad grades to school climate - May 31, 2006

CNN.com - Minority students give bad grades to school climate - May 31, 2006: "Black and Hispanic students see school as a more rowdy, disrespectful and dangerous place than their white classmates do, a poll says.

The findings suggest that many minority kids are struggling in the equivalent of a hostile work environment, according to Public Agenda, a nonpartisan opinion research group that tracks education trends."

USATODAY.com - Science teaching gets weak diversity grade

USATODAY.com - Science teaching gets weak diversity grade: "A survey of 100 top technology executives gives the nation's public schools a C-minus for efforts to encourage girls and minorities to pursue science and technology careers.

But the same survey finds that only 37% of these executives say their companies or employees support science education programs that help create 'the next generation of inventors, innovators and discoverers.'

The survey, released Tuesday, is based on a telephone poll of 100 chief executives, chief financial officers and other leaders in fast-growing science and technology companies in North America.

It finds that 82% believe elementary school students learn science through hands-on, inquiry-based methods rather than through textbooks and memorization.

The poll was sponsored by Bayer Corp. as part of its Making Science Make Sense program."

Immigrant Students Lag, but Less So in U.S.

Immigrant Students Lag, but Less So in U.S.: "Immigrant 15-year-olds in the United States don't do as well in math, reading or science as native-born children, and many have only basic skills, a study finds. But immigrants aren't as far behind in the U.S. as they are in some other major nations.

The findings are based on the Program for International Student Assessment, a test that measures the literacy of 15-year-olds and how well they apply skills to the real world. It is given to students in many industrialized countries and considered an international benchmark."

CNN.com - NAACP sues Nebraska - May 17, 2006

CNN.com - NAACP sues Nebraska - May 17, 2006: "OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) -- The NAACP sued Nebraska's governor and a state committee Tuesday over a new law that divides Omaha Public Schools into three racially identifiable districts.

The law, passed by the Nebraska Legislature at the end of its recent session, splits the Omaha district starting in 2008 into three districts: one mostly black, one largely Hispanic and one predominantly white.

"

CNN.com - U.S. immigrants lag behind in school - May 16, 2006

CNN.com - U.S. immigrants lag behind in school - May 16, 2006: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- Immigrant 15-year-olds in the United States don't do as well in math, reading or science as native-born children, and many have only basic skills, a study finds.

But immigrants aren't as far behind in the U.S. as they are in some other major nations.

The findings are based on the Program for International Student Assessment, a test that measures the literacy of 15-year-olds and how well they apply skills to the real world. It is given to students in many industrialized countries and considered an international benchmark."

CNN.com - Why do girls lose interest in math and science? - May 16, 2006

CNN.com - Why do girls lose interest in math and science? - May 16, 2006: "Low participation in math and science activities by girls is keeping them from achieving their full potential and weakening the nation's ability to compete, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said Monday.

'We need definitive insights into what goes wrong, when and why,' Spellings said. She asked her department's Institute of Education Sciences to review existing research and determine why girls are not as well represented in the sciences as boys."

Most Blacks in Low-Rung School Jobs

Most Blacks in Low-Rung School Jobs: "Blacks are well represented in Anne Arundel's public school workforce, but more work as custodians than teachers, according to an internal school-system document that has circulated among Annapolis civil rights leaders."

Blacks make up nearly 23 percent of the county's student body but only 8 percent of the teaching staff. The school system employs 1,360 blacks, but the largest group, -- 455 -- works as custodians. The county has a comparatively large number of black principals and assistant principals. But only one African American, Les Mobray, is part of Interim Superintendent Nancy Mann's executive staff. Mobray is acting director of student discipline and safety.

Summer Training

Summer training being offered by The Diversity Training and Development Team:

Improving Latino Student Achievement
Learn to capitalize on the cultural capital of Latino students to improve achievement. Discuss strategies for communicating effectively with Latino parents.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 8:30 – 3:30
University of Maryland, Shady Grove Campus

Consultants/Presenters: Dr. Paul Ruiz and Mr. Hector Sanchez, Education Trust


A Framework for Understanding Poverty
This training is based on the work of Dr. Ruby Payne. In Day One, participants will learn about the registers of language, family structure, hidden rules, discipline interventions, and relationship building.
In Day Two, participants will learn about mental models, vocabulary, math, and reading strategies, lesson design, and question making as a means to develop cognition.
Two-day Session: Thursday, June 22 and Friday, June 23, 8:30 – 3:30
University of Maryland, Shady Grove Campus

Consultant/Presenter: Dr. Rita Pierson, aha! Process, Inc.


Equity, Race, and Achievement
Engage in discussion and reflection that will support courageous conversations about race as you explore individual and institutional racism and their effects on student achievement.
Tuesday, June 27
OR
Wednesday, June 28
OR
Thursday, June 29
8:30 – 3:30
(NOTE: This is a one-day training offered three times)
Johns Hopkins University, Room 121, Building 3

Consultant/Presenter: Mr. Jamie Almanzan, Pacific Educational Group

Please call 301-601-2900 for registration information.

CNN.com - Minorities getting closer to the majority - May 10, 2006

CNN.com - Minorities getting closer to the majority - May 10, 2006: "he influence of traditional minorities in the United States will continue to grow, new Census Bureau statistics suggest, with Hispanics born as American citizens accounting for more than a third of the population increase last year.

Bureau figures released Wednesday show the U.S. population grew by 2.8 million between July 1, 2004, and July 1, 2005. Hispanics accounted for 1.3 million of that increase, with 800,000 attributable to natural causes -- births minus deaths -- rather than immigration."

Of U.S. Children Under 5, Nearly Half Are Minorities

Of U.S. Children Under 5, Nearly Half Are Minorities: "Nearly half of the nation's children under 5 are racial or ethnic minorities, and the percentage is increasing mainly because the Hispanic population is growing so rapidly, according to a census report released today.

Hispanics are the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group. They accounted for 49 percent of the country's growth from 2004 to 2005, the report shows. And the increase in young children is largely a Hispanic story, driving 70 percent of the growth in children younger than 5. Forty-five percent of U.S. children younger than 5 are minorities.

CNN.com - U.S. has second worst newborn death rate in modern world, report says - May 9, 2006

CNN.com - U.S. has second worst newborn death rate in modern world, report says - May 9, 2006: "The report, which analyzed data from governments, research institutions and international agencies, found higher newborn death rates among U.S. minorities and disadvantaged groups. For African-Americans, the mortality rate is nearly double that of the United States as a whole, with 9.3 deaths per 1,000 births.

"

Half of Teachers Quit in 5 Years

Half of Teachers Quit in 5 Years: "Only 6 percent of teachers are African American, and 5 percent are Hispanic, Asian or come from other ethnic groups. Men represent barely a quarter of teachers, which the association says is the lowest level in four decades."

CNN.com - Maryland teacher named Teacher of the Year - Apr 25, 2006

CNN.com - Maryland teacher named Teacher of the Year - Apr 25, 2006: "She has Vietnamese, Latino, African, African-American and Haitian students. All but one speak a language other than English. Their school, Broad Acres Elementary in Silver Spring, Maryland, is largely low-income, with 90 percent of students receiving free or reduced meals, and it was at risk of state takeover when Oliver arrived six years ago.

Yet despite the apparent barriers, Oliver has helped boost her students' scores, involved their parents in their education and gotten youngsters engaged in their school."

National Title Goes To Md. Teacher

National Title Goes To Md. Teacher
Kimberly Oliver, a kindergarten teacher at Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Spring, who has been named the 2006 National Teacher of the Year.

The choice of Oliver, the first educator from Maryland to win the national honor, marks the second year that a Washington-area teacher has won the national competition. The 2005 Teacher of the Year was Jason Kamras, who taught mathematics at John Philip Sousa Middle School in the District.

"It is an honor to serve as the Maryland Teacher of the Year, and now as the National Teacher of the Year, representing the teaching profession," Oliver said in a statement. She said she was "already an advocate for children and teachers" and, "given this unbelievable opportunity, I hope to emphasize the importance of early childhood education."

USATODAY.com - Richer areas more successful in attracting qualified teachers

USATODAY.com - Richer areas more successful in attracting qualified teachers: "WASHINGTON — Public school teachers in the nation's wealthiest communities continue to be more qualified than those in the poorest despite a federal law designed to provide all children equal educational opportunity.

Preliminary data released by the Department of Education show that in 39 states, the chance of finding teachers who know their subjects are better in elementary schools where parents' incomes are highest. The data show that's also the case among middle and high schools in 43 states.

"

CNN.com - Law raises fears of more school segregation - Apr 19, 2006

CNN.com - Law raises fears of more school segregation - Apr 19, 2006: "HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- Betty Sternberg is in charge of two school systems. One, scattered throughout the state, is rich and white. The other, isolated in seven large towns, is poor and minority.

Sternberg is the state's education commissioner, and one of her jobs is to unite the two systems so Connecticut can move past its role as defendant in the nation's longest-running desegregation lawsuit. On paper, it wouldn't seem to be that difficult.

No one involved in the lawsuit disagrees with its contention that Connecticut hasn't always given its poor and minority students an education as good as it's given its rich and white students. No one thinks the gap between the two systems is a good thing. And no one wants the disparities to continue.

CNN.com - 'No Child' loophole misses millions of scores - Apr 18, 2006

CNN.com - 'No Child' loophole misses millions of scores - Apr 18, 2006: "AP) -- Laquanya Agnew and Victoria Duncan share a desk, a love of reading and a passion for learning. But because of a loophole in the No Child Left Behind Act, one second-grader's score in Tennessee counts more than the other's.

That is because Laquanya is black, and Victoria is white.

AP: States Omit Minorities' School Scores - Yahoo! News

AP: States Omit Minorities' School Scores - Yahoo! News: "Overall, AP found that about 1.9 million students — or about 1 in every 14 test scores — aren't being counted under the law's racial categories. Minorities are seven times as likely to have their scores excluded as whites, the analysis showed.

Less than 2 percent of white children's scores aren't being counted as a separate category. In contrast, Hispanics and blacks have roughly 10 percent of their scores excluded. More than one-third of Asian scores and nearly half of American Indian scores aren't broken out, AP found.

CNN.com - Omaha school district to split along racial lines - Apr 14, 2006

CNN.com - Omaha school district to split along racial lines - Apr 14, 2006: "LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- In a move decried by some as state-sponsored segregation, the Legislature voted Thursday to divide the Omaha school system into three districts -- one mostly black, one predominantly white and one largely Hispanic.

Grim forecast for young black men - Race in America - MSNBC.com

Grim forecast for young black men - Race in America - MSNBC.com: "At a time when the U.S. economy is on the upswing and more people are finding work, young African American men are falling further behind.

That’s the grim portrait painted by three new and forthcoming books by scholars at Columbia, Georgetown and Princeton universities. The picture isn't new, but the depths of its despair and pathology are."

Concerned Black Men National Convention: "Achieving Excellence is Our Top Priority" — CBM National Organization

Concerned Black Men National Convention: "Achieving Excellence is Our Top Priority" — CBM National Organization: "'ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE IS OUR TOP PRIORITY'

REGISTER NOW for the May 2006 CBM Convention! Join us for a weekend of strategy sessions, workshops and seminars, all designed to help our youth develop strong minds, solid character and bright futures. Devising a National Action Plan for 'Closing the Achievement Gap' for African American boys is a top priority. We look forward to seeing you in the Spring!

Use the link to get registration information.

CBM National Organization — CBM National Organization

CBM National Organization — CBM National Organization: "Study Shows Few Grants Given to Minority-Led Non-Profits

For years, CBM and other minority-led nonprofits have complained that our groups have received on average less grant dollars from foundations than other community-based nonprofits. A 2005 study conducted by the Greenlining Foundation shows that the problem is greater than even the critics of traditional nonprofit giving initially believed. Greenlining, a group that supports greater public and private investment in poor and minority communities, found that foundation investment in minority-led nonprofits in America is “negligible.”

"

NPR : Helping Dropouts Break the Cycle of Poverty

NPR : Helping Dropouts Break the Cycle of Poverty: "If you come from a poor family, you are more likely to drop out of high school. And if you drop out and stay out of high school, you are more likely to be poor. In Portland, Ore., one program is designed to break this cycle by helping dropouts finish their education.

"

Area Soon to Be Mostly Minority

Area Soon to Be Mostly Minority: "The minority population in the Washington region will become the majority in well under a decade, a benchmark of the racial and ethnic change that is reconfiguring the area's political, economic and social identity.

Among residents younger than 40, minorities already outnumber whites, and experts say the trends that have driven up those numbers are certain to continue."

Study Shows Increase in Hispanic Entrepreneurship

Study Shows Increase in Hispanic Entrepreneurship: "Hispanics are opening businesses at a rate that is three times faster than the national average, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. There are nearly 1.6 million Hispanic-owned firms in the country, and they generated $222 billion in revenue in 2002.

Nearly one-fourth of those companies opened between 1997 and 2002. The last time the Census Bureau counted in 1997, there were 1.1 million Hispanic-owned businesses and they had revenue of $186 billion."

Educators’ Events at Busboys and Poets

Brought to you by Teaching for Change
at Busboys and Poets
Restaurant/Coffeehouse/Performance Space and Bookstore
2021 14th Street NW Washington, DC


Wednesday, March 29, 2006
6-8 PM
BOOK EVENT: Why We Teach
Sonia Nieto, a distinguished teacher in her own right, has gathered the insights and inspirations of K-12 classroom teachers as they examine how and why they find purpose and value in the work they do. This inspirational book focuses on the quintessential values of teaching by challenging current notions that focus only on accountability, testing, and standardization, and provides a compelling message of hope for public education. Sonia Nieto is Professor of Language, Literacy, and Culture at the School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and author of many key texts including Affirming Diversity, The Light in Their Eyes, What Keeps Teachers Going?, and most recently, Why We Teach. Nieto will respond to questions about and be available to sign all of these books.



Thursday, April 20, 2006
6:30 PM
BOOK EVENT: We Can't Teach What We Don't Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools.
Join author Gary R. Howard to launch the second edition of this bestselling book on culturally responsive teaching. The new edition adds sections on closing the achievement gap and No Child Left Behind. Borrowing from the words of Malcolm X, "We can't teach what we don't know, and we can't lead where we can't go," Gary Howard's book acts on both points. He explains why teachers mustn't fake it, but must acquire the knowledge, skills, and disposition to successfully teach all students. A great book for teacher-candidates and experienced teachers. Carl A. Grant, Professor, University of Wisconsin Madison.


Monday, April 24, 2006
5:30-7:30 PM
BOOK EVENT/VISUAL PRESENTATION: Possible Schools: The Reggio Approach to Urban Education
Ann Lewin-Benham shares invaluable insights from the Reggio Emilia approach to education in the early years. Lewin was the founder and director of the Model Early Learning Center (MELC) in Washington, D.C. — the only school in a U.S. urban area to successfully implement the principles of the Municipal Preschools of Reggio Emilia. Ann Lewin-Benham also ran the Capital Children’s Museum in Washington, DC for twenty years. This is an excellent presentation for early childhood parents and teachers.


All of these events are free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served. Dinner/refreshments are available to be purchased from the Busboys and Poets menu. Dates of events may be subject to change. Please call Busboys and Poets 202.387.POET for more information or to confirm event schedules.

For many more excellent equity focused professional development opportunities for educators in the DC Metro area and nationally, visit: http://www.teachingforchange.org/Calendar/Conferences/conferences.html or visit Teaching for Change and click on Calendar.

AIDS leaves 9 million orphans in Africa - AIDS - MSNBC.com

AIDS leaves 9 million orphans in Africa - AIDS - MSNBC.com: "Some 9 million children in Africa have lost a mother to AIDS, British charity Save the Children said Monday, calling on donors to sharply increase aid to meet their needs.

“Incredibly, the impact of HIV and AIDS on children is still being ignored,” Save the Children Chief Executive Jasmine Whitbread said in a statement.

The charity said in a report that a lack of testing facilities meant that many mothers, especially in the poorest countries, did not know their HIV status until they were ill and unable to fight off even the simplest infections."

CNN.com - Study: White kids most likely to abuse inhalants - Mar 16, 2006

CNN.com - Study: White kids most likely to abuse inhalants - Mar 16, 2006: "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Kids who try to get high by sniffing glue, lighter fluid and other chemicals are more likely to be white and come from families that make more than double the poverty level, according to a federal study.

The study of inhalant abuse found that about 34 percent of young people between 12- and 17-years-old who tried inhalants for the first time came from families that earned at least 200 to 399 percent more than the federal poverty threshold. About 33 percent came from families that make 400 percent or more of the poverty level."

CNN.com - Shedding light on slavery in the north - Mar 17, 2006

CNN.com - Shedding light on slavery in the north - Mar 17, 2006: "OYSTER BAY, New York (AP) -- A group of mostly white seventh and eighth graders sleepily sauntered into their school library one recent morning, soon to get a surprise awakening about a part of their town's history they never knew existed.

'Did anybody in this room know there were 60 enslaved Africans, people, human beings, buried a mile from here?' Alan Singer, a professor at Hofstra University, asked them. 'Those people have been erased from history. It is as if they never existed.'"

Fairfax's Ailing Poor Waiting

Fairfax's Ailing Poor Waiting: "If you are poor and mentally ill in Fairfax County, it can take you as long as six months to see a therapist. If you need a place in a group home, you could be waiting for years.

Those bleak assessments come from the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board, an agency that operates mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse programs for the county on a $149 million budget."

Rejection Slip

Rejection Slip: "t's a time-honored stereotype: the social outcast who ignores the derision of classmates to become a straight-A student, the kid who madly waves his or her hand in a desperate attempt to answer the teacher's every question.

Yet the reality, it seems, is starkly different: Researchers who followed 380 Midwestern children from the ages of 5 to 11 found that those who were chronically rejected by their classmates were more likely to withdraw from school activities and scored lower on standardized tests than their more popular peers."

CNN.com - Stanford: No tuition for low-income students - Mar 16, 2006

CNN.com - Stanford: No tuition for low-income students - Mar 16, 2006: "STANFORD, California (AP) -- Hoping to encourage students scared by rising higher education costs, Stanford University is eliminating tuition for undergraduates from some of the lowest-income families."

Use the link to read the entire article.

New York Post Online Edition: news

New York Post Online Edition: news: "YOUNGSTER'S BLACK-POWER POEM RILES SCHOOL
A 7-year-old prodigy unleashed a firestorm when she recited a poem she wrote comparing Christopher Columbus and Charles Darwin to 'pirates' and 'vampires' who robbed blacks of their identities and human rights.

Hundreds of parents of Peekskill middle- and high-school students received a recorded phone message last week apologizing for little Autum Ashante's poem, titled 'White Nationalism Put U in Bondage.'"

Use the link to read the entire article.

'Life' Photographer And 'Shaft' Director Broke Color Barriers

'Life' Photographer And 'Shaft' Director Broke Color Barriers: "Gordon Parks, a photographer, filmmaker and poet whose pioneering chronicles of the black experience in America made him a revered elder and a cultural icon, died yesterday at his home in New York. He was 93."

Use the link to read the entire article.

Study: Minority Population Patterns Changing

Study: Minority Population Patterns Changing: "The nation's racial and ethnic patterns are changing dramatically this decade, according to a study released today: Many Hispanic and Asian residents have staked a claim to new metropolitan areas. Black Americans have accelerated their migration to the South. And many large regions are losing white residents to smaller ones.

The nation's Asian and Hispanic populations, which are growing faster than those of whites or blacks, are less likely this decade than in the past to move to traditional immigrant centers, the study by Brookings Institution demographer William H. Frey found. Frey based his work on Census Bureau population race and ethnic group estimates for 2000 through 2004."

Use the link to read the entire article.

CNN.com - Huge gaps in state, federal test scores - Mar 3, 2006

CNN.com - Huge gaps in state, federal test scores - Mar 3, 2006: "In Mississippi, 89 percent of fourth-graders who took a state reading test were rated proficient or better. But when the same students took a federal test, only 18 percent reached that standard.

Such discrepancies are not uncommon. Students from all over the country performed worse on a tough federal test than they did on state exams in reading and math -- raising questions about whether states are setting lower standards."

Use the link to read the entire article.

Report: Hispanics lagging in education - Yahoo! News

Report: Hispanics lagging in education - Yahoo! News: "Getting the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants to finish high school and go to college is crucial to the economy as much of the nation's workforce edges toward retirement, says a report released Wednesday by a prominent government advisory board.

'Hispanics are coming of age in an aging society,' says Marta Tienda, a Princeton University professor who headed a panel that studied the impact of the nation's 41 million Hispanics. 'Education is the bottom line.' The study was released by the non-profit National Research Council."

Use the link to read the entire article.

Museum to re-examine the scars of slavery - Science - MSNBC.com

Museum to re-examine the scars of slavery - Science - MSNBC.com: "FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - Deep in the territory of the old Confederacy, a new glass and stone edifice will soon begin rising — the first national museum in the United States devoted to the subject of black slavery.

Builders will soon start sinking foundations for the 29,000-square-foot United States National Slavery Museum that organizers hope to open to the public in early 2008.

Use the link to read the entire article.

Newborn deaths still high among minorities - Children's Health - MSNBC.com

Newborn deaths still high among minorities - Children's Health - MSNBC.com: "NEW YORK - Even with early and equal access to prenatal care, racial differences still persist in the death rate of newborn infants, according to a report in the medical journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

“The results strongly suggest the presence of racial disparities in contemporary obstetric practice,” Dr. Andrew J. Healy from Columbia University, New York told Reuters Health. “The existence of these disparities must be regarded as unacceptable and foster more funding and research in this area.”

Use the link to read the entire article.

Disturbing trends rise on Hispanic assimilation - Race in America - MSNBC.com

Disturbing trends rise on Hispanic assimilation - Race in America - MSNBC.com: "WASHINGTON - Millions of Hispanics come to America looking for jobs and educations, but remaining here seems to be bad for their health.

The longer Hispanics are here, the more likely they are to become obese, to develop diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. And Hispanics born here have even higher rates of those illnesses, a new government report shows.

Use the link to read the entire article.

Reshaping Bedside Manner in a Diverse World

Reshaping Bedside Manner in a Diverse World: "The scheduling snafus at Bailey's, a storefront facility off busy Route 50, dramatize the challenges that a diverse population poses to doctors' offices, clinics and hospitals. Bridging that cultural gulf has become a top priority of the medical universe because much of the health care system remains ill-prepared. The result can be inadequate care and, in extreme cases, can risk lives."

Use the link to read the entire article.

'Gifted' Label Takes a Vacation in Diversity Quest

'Gifted' Label Takes a Vacation in Diversity Quest: "'Gifted' Label Takes a Vacation in Diversity Quest

By Lori Aratani
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 22, 2006; Page B01

Middle school magnet programs in Montgomery County have traditionally operated as schools within schools, offering specialized curriculum to a few select students -- who have been mostly Asian and white.

But this fall, educators decided to try a different approach. Instead of selecting a few hundred students for traditional school magnets, officials opened magnet programs at three middle schools to everyone."

Use the link to read the entire article.

Farmers Insurance - Freedom's Song

Farmers Insurance - Freedom's Song: "Freedom’s Song:
100 years of African-American struggle and triumph

Farmers has joined with The Association for the Study of African American Life and History to create a documentary film, Freedom’s Song: 100 years of African-American struggle and triumph, that highlights significant milestones in the history of the African-American experience during the past century. It includes living testimonials designed to put a personal face on the actual historical events featured in the film.

The Freedom’s Song package is free to educators and includes a DVD copy of the film, engaging and thought-provoking lesson plans and an interactive web site that will be continually updated with audio and video content."

Use the link to get more information.

CNN.com - Is your company diverse enough? - Feb 20, 2006

CNN.com - Is your company diverse enough? - Feb 20, 2006: "Is your company diverse enough? As the U.S. work force evolves, this question has never held more importance to workers or employers.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by 2008, women and minorities will make up 70 percent of all new entrants to the work force. Today, the nation's work force is already nearly 48 percent female, 14 percent black, 11 percent Hispanic and 5 percent Asian/Pacific islander, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission."

Use the link to read the entire article.

A Bitter Pill for Md. Immigrants

A Bitter Pill for Md. Immigrants: "When the State Cut Health Care Coverage for Some Recent Arrivals, They Were Left to Watch Their Children Suffer as They Searched for Help

By Mary Otto
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 17, 2006; Page B01

Seldom does a budget cut help cripple a child.

Yet when Maryland cut $7 million last year and eliminated health care coverage for some recent immigrants, surgery was canceled on Eelaaf Zahid's malformed hip. Now, as her family looks to the courts and other state programs for help, an outgrown medical device implanted in her hip three years ago protrudes from her small body. The Glen Burnie kindergartener walks with a limp."

Use the link to read the entire article.

CNN.com - Harvard study blasts Bush education policy - Feb 16, 2006

CNN.com - Harvard study blasts Bush education policy - Feb 16, 2006: "BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- President Bush's No Child Left Behind education policy has in some cases benefited white middle-class children over blacks and other minorities in poorer regions, a Harvard University study showed Tuesday.

Political compromises forged between some states and the federal government have allowed schools in some predominantly white districts to dodge penalties faced by regions with larger ethnic minority populations, the study said."

Use the link to read the entire story.

CNN.com - Struggle to get�black history�into classrooms - Feb 9, 2006

CNN.com - Struggle to get�black history�into classrooms - Feb 9, 2006: "PISCATAWAY, New Jersey (AP) -- Assemblyman William Payne recalls the first book he heard as a kindergartner in the 1940s, and never forgot the black stereotypes that filled the 19th century children's story.

'You grow up with these subliminal messages that everything good is white,' Payne recalled, his words bubbling forth with angry urgency. 'It is so hurtful that these things were sanctioned by the Board of Education.'"

Use the link to read the entire article.

Two Immigrants, Two Standards

Two Immigrants, Two Standards: "Two Immigrants, Two Standards

By Stacy Caplow and Lauren Kosseff
Saturday, February 11, 2006; Page A19

We recently learned that U.S. immigration policy is, in fact, capable of fast action and flexibility. It just depends on who the immigrant is.

In December Congress speedily passed special immigration legislation to benefit just one person: an ice dancer. As a Canadian, she couldn't join the 2006 U.S. Olympics team. But a law was written that lasted exactly two days, long enough for her to be fast-tracked for citizenship and sent to compete for the United States.


Around the same time, we at the Safe Harbor Project at Brooklyn Law School received notice that the U.S. immigration system had denied entry to Teresa, a 14-year-old African girl who has been stranded as a refugee in Guinea almost all her life. She is trying to join her adoptive mother, Momara (no real names are used here, as is generally practiced with asylum), a refugee from Sierra Leone who was granted asylum in the United States. But in this girl's case, there is no fast track, only the rigid application of a procedural rule."

Use the link to read the entire article.

'First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement' Remembered

'First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement' Remembered: "First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement' Remembered

By Hamil R.. Harris and Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 31, 2006; 5:30 PM

ATLANTA, Jan. 31 -- Coretta Scott King, who for three decades stood in the place of her slain husband, Martin Luther King Jr., as a bright flame and firm voice of racial justice, died Tuesday, her family announced.

King, 78, who lived in Atlanta, suffered a stroke in August but had made a brief public appearance on television Jan. 16, during a celebration of Martin Luther King Day."

Use the link to read the entire article.

MAEC Annual Conference - 2006

MAEC Annual Conference - 2006: "PROMOTING THE ACHIEVEMENT OF CULTURALLY DIVERSE YOUNG MALES

MID-ATLANTIC EQUITY CENTER
ANNUAL REGIONAL CONFERENCE

FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2006


ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
What unique challenges do African American and Latino males face as they prepare for their future lives? What can we, as educators, parents, administrators, mental health professionals, and policymakers do to increase their achievement? And most importantly, what can state departments of education, school districts, and schools do to support the highest level of achievement among African American and Latino males?

This conference will be divided into two tracks: 1) psychological and social factors that influence achievement; and, 2) effective policies and practices that support the achievement of boys. Several programs will be highlighted that help to raise the achievement of boys in school.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Warren Simmons is the Executive Director of the Annenberg Institute for Research at Brown University. The Institute was established in 1993 to generate, share, and act on knowledge that improves conditions and outcomes in American schools, particularly in urban areas and in schools serving disadvantaged students.

LUNCHTIME SPEAKER
Dr. Pedro Noguera is a professor in the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University and the co-Director of the Institute for the study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings (IGEMS). An urban sociologist, Noguera’s scholarship and research focus on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions in the urban environment.


Use the link for more information.

NPR : African Slave Descendents Trace History in Ghana

NPR : African Slave Descendents Trace History in Ghana: "Centuries after their ancestors were forced onto slave ships off the coast of West Africa, African Americans and others continue to trace their roots back to the continent to learn more about their history. One country making a special effort to welcome them is Ghana."

Use the link to read the entire article.

Mind the gap: Income inequality, state by state - Jan. 26, 2006

Mind the gap: Income inequality, state by state
New report looks at where the growth in incomes of high-income families has outpaced that of middle- and low-income households.
By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer
January 26, 2006: 6:11 PM EST


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – You don't need to be a statistician to realize that economic growth in the past 20 years hasn't lifted everyone's boat equally.

The good news is that incomes across the board are up. But so is the income gap. That is, incomes for high-income families have risen faster than for everyone else.

But growth in the income gap has been greater in some states than in others, according to a report released Thursday by two liberal think tanks – the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Use the link to read the entire article.

The Trouble With Boys - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com

The Trouble With Boys - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com: "By almost every benchmark, boys across the nation and in every demographic group are falling behind. In elementary school, boys are two times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with learning disabilities and twice as likely to be placed in special-education classes. High-school boys are losing ground to girls on standardized writing tests. The number of boys who said they didn't like school rose 71 percent between 1980 and 2001, according to a University of Michigan study. Nowhere is the shift more evident than on college campuses. Thirty years ago men represented 58 percent of the undergraduate student body. Now they're a minority at 44 percent. This widening achievement gap, says Margaret Spellings, U.S. secretary of Education, 'has profound implications for the economy, society, families and democracy."

Use the link to read the entire article.

Slavery and the Making of America | PBS

Slavery and the Making of America | PBS

Coming to PBS on Feb. 9th and the 16th from 9PM to 11PM is the four part series Slavery And The Making Of America, produced by Dante James, and narrated by Morgan Freeman. Dante is an incredible filmmaker who has produced many award wining films among them biographies on Marian Anderson and A. Philip Randolph. He worked with the late great filmmaker Henry Hampton at Blackside and was the executive producer of Hampton's last series This Far By Faith: African American Spiritual Journeys.

Slavery And The Making Of America tells the story of slavery from the point of view of the enslaved. The series recognizes the strength, humanity and dignity of the enslaved and redefines them as pro-active
freedom fighters not passive victims.

CNN.com - School officials face possible contempt - Jan 6, 2006

CNN.com - School officials face possible contempt - Jan 6, 2006: BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- City school officials could face penalties for contempt if they keep failing to provide overdue special education services such as speech therapy and counseling, a federal judge said.

Use the link to read the entire article.

CNN.com - Chinese language catching on in U.S. classrooms - Jan 2, 2006

CNN.com - Chinese language catching on in U.S. classrooms - Jan 2, 2006: "n the U.S. Senate, the Foreign Relations Committee is considering a proposal to allocate $1.3 billion to boost Chinese language and culture classes in public school, and China, too, is doing its part, said Michael Levine, education director at The Asia Society in New York City. China's education ministry has formed partnerships with states including Kentucky and Kansas, as well as the countries of Brazil, Australia and the United Kingdom, to boost teacher exchanges and training."

Use the link to read the entire article.

Gender differences persist online, study claims - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com

NEW YORK - Women are now as likely to use the Internet as men — about two-thirds of both genders — yet a new study shows that gaps remain in what each sex does online.

American men who go online are more likely than women to check the weather, the news, sports, political and financial information, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported Wednesday. They are also more likely to use the Internet to download music and software and to take a class.

Online women, meanwhile, are bigger users of e-mail, and they are also more likely to go online for religious information and support for health or personal problems.

Use the link the to read the entire article.

CNN.com - College counselors adapt to diverse, reluctant students - Dec 23, 2005

CNN.com - College counselors adapt to diverse, reluctant students - Dec 23, 2005: "ITHACA, New York (AP) -- Janie Cisneros was having a crisis and needed to talk to a counselor. But there would be no embarrassing or intimidating visit to the campus clinic.

Instead, Sigrid Frandsen-Pechenik took Cisneros to the mall, where they had coffee and talked in English and Spanish.

It was not the usual approach to mental health counseling. But as campuses become more diverse, colleges are finding the old ways don't always work.

There are language barriers and cultural stigmas that equate mental health problems with being weak or crazy. There are the pressures of immigrant families who send their children to college and do not expect to see them fail.

Use the link to read the entire article.

Thank you!

To our faithful readers,
Thank you for your support and encouragement. We appreciate your comments, ideas and sharing. We hope you will continue to visit our blog throughout 2006 as we strive to keep you up to date on diversity and equity related issues in our schools and workplaces.

Happy holidays and best wishes for a healthy and happy New Year.

The Diversity Training and Development Team

Top-Notch School Fails to Close 'Achievement Gap'

Information Center - Media: "Learning: Berkeley High tried to lift urban black and Latino pupils to the level of high-performing Asians and whites. But a sizable divide persists.

BERKELEY -- Here in one of the best-educated corners of America, this city's sole public high school suffers a split personality: One exhibits a steady stream of National Merit Scholars, the other an undercurrent of failure.

Viki Rasmussen is a product of one Berkeley High School. The confident 17-year-old took an array of college-level courses before graduating in the spring and leaving last week to attend Brown University. Viki is white.

LaShawna Candies is a product of the other Berkeley High. The 15-year-old, timid and self-doubting, returned last week to start her sophomore year. As a freshman she scored Fs in most subjects, and reads at a second-grade level. She may never be able to decipher a job application, let alone a college text. LaShawna is black.

Attending one of America's most reputable urban high schools is just about all Viki and LaShawna have in common. The two girls came through the schoolhouse gate, just blocks from California's flagship university, with vastly different backgrounds and skills. Rather than equalize their opportunities, though, Berkeley High may have succeeded only in maintaining even widening the academic chasm between them.

"This despite the best of intentions."

Use the link to read the entire article.

Overcoming Apartheid

Overcoming Apartheid: "Apartheid education, rarely mentioned in the press or openly confronted even among once-progressive educators, is alive and well and rapidly increasing now in the United States. Hypersegregated inner-city schools--in which one finds no more than five or ten white children, at the very most, within a student population of as many as 3,000--are the norm, not the exception, in most northern urban areas today.

'At the beginning of the twenty-first century,' according to Gary Orfield and his colleagues at the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, 'American public schools are now 12 years into the process of continuous resegregation. The desegregation of black students, which increased continuously from the 1950s to the late 1980s, has receded to levels not seen in three decades.' The proportion of black students in majority-white schools stands at 'a level lower than in any year since 1968.' The four most segregated states for black students, according to a recent study by the Civil Rights Project, are New York, Michigan, Illinois and California. In New York, only one black student in seven goes to a predominantly white school."

Use the link to read the entire article.

How One Suburb's Black Students Gain - New York Times

How One Suburb's Black Students Gain - New York Times: "SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio

IT is hard to pick up an education article these days without reading about some excited governor or mayor who is busy closing the achievement gap. Test scores of minority children go up a few points, and there stands the politician on the 6 o'clock news declaring that merit pay for teachers or laptops in the classroom or the federal No Child Left Behind law is closing the gap between white and minority children.

Here in this integrated, upper-middle-class Cleveland suburb, you would think they would be boasting. African-Americans' combined math and verbal SAT scores average 976, 110 points above the national average for black students. The number of black sixth graders scoring proficient on the state math test has nearly doubled in three years and is more than 20 percentage points above the Ohio average for blacks.

Top black seniors get into top colleges. In recent years, Charles Inniss went to Princeton, Karelle Hall to Dartmouth, Winston Weatherspoon to Georgetown and Danielle Decatur to the University of Virginia.

While many a politician discovered the gap in 2002, when No Child Left Behind required that test data be separated by race, Shaker Heights has battled it for decades."

Use the link to read the entire article.

CNN.com - Number of children getting school breakfasts rises - Dec 14, 2005

CNN.com - Number of children getting school breakfasts rises - Dec 14, 2005: "More children than ever are getting free or reduced-price breakfasts at school, an anti-hunger group said Tuesday.

Still, the School Breakfast Program only reaches two in five youngsters who need it, according to a report released by the Food Research and Action Center.

'No child should have to start the school day hungry to learn, but unable to do so because of a hungry stomach,' said James Weill, the center's president. 'The states and schools that are leaving millions of hungry children behind need to act now. '

In the 2004-2005 school year, 7.5 million kids got breakfast for free or at a reduced price, the group said. The number represented a 5.3 percent increase from the previous year and was the biggest hike in a decade, the report said."

Use the link to read the entire article.

Plan Takes Shape For Special-Ed Tests

Plan Takes Shape For Special-Ed Tests: "Education Secretary Margaret Spellings outlined new testing rules for disabled students yesterday, formalizing an initiative that has already helped more than 100 public schools in Maryland and Virginia meet the standards of the No Child Left Behind law.

In a speech at Guilford Elementary in Columbia, which she cited as a model for special education, Spellings fleshed out a plan she first proposed last spring. The plan builds on existing rules that allow alternative testing for the most severely disabled students, a change that raised the scores of up to 1 percent of all students tested in a public school system or state."


Use the link to read the entire article.

CNN.com - AP: Blacks likely breathe most unhealthy air - Dec 14, 2005

CNN.com - AP: Blacks likely breathe most unhealthy air - Dec 14, 2005: "CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- A dozen years after former President Clinton ordered the government to attack environmental injustices, black and poor Americans still are far more likely to breathe factory pollution that poses the greatest health risk, an Associated Press analysis found.

The AP analysis of government pollution, health and census data found that blacks are 79 percent more likely than whites to live in neighborhoods where industrial air pollution is suspected of causing the most health problems."

Use the link to read the entire article.

Minorities suffer most from industrial pollution - Environment - MSNBC.com

Editor's Note: The Associated Press obtained a federal environmental health database under the Freedom of Information Act and, with the help of government scientists, mapped the risk scores to every neighborhood used during the 2000 Census. A three-part series based on the resulting analysis provides an unprecedented snapshot of the social, racial and economic legacy of air pollution from America’s factories.

CHICAGO - Kevin Brown’s most feared opponent on the sandlot or basketball court while he was growing up wasn’t another kid. It was the polluted air he breathed.

“I would look outside and I would see him just leaning on a tree or leaning over a pole, gasping, gasping, trying to get some breath so he could go back to playing,” recalls his mother, Lana Brown.

Kevin suffered from asthma. His mother is convinced the factory air that covered their neighborhood triggered the son’s attacks that sent them rushing to the emergency room week after week, his panic filling the car.

Use the link to read the entire article.

U.S. immigration boom hits record levels - U.S. Life - MSNBC.com

WASHINGTON - Immigration — both legal and illegal — has accelerated, pushing the percentage of the U.S. population born in other countries to the highest point in nearly a century.

There are 35.2 million foreign-born people living in the United States — about 12.1 percent of the population, according to a report Monday by the Center for Immigration Studies.

The report comes as the House prepares to take up a bill to curb illegal immigration by boosting border security and requiring workplace enforcement of immigration laws.

Use the link to read the entire article.

New Pittsburgh Courier

Home Schools Becoming More Popular Among Blacks

New Pittsburgh Courier: "RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - When Denise Armstrong decided to teach her daughter and two sons at home instead of sending them to public school, she said she did so thinking she would do a better job than the school of instilling her values in her children.

At the time, Ms. Armstrong was the only Black parent at gatherings of home-education groups. But she said that has been changing.

'I've been delighted to be running into people in the African-American home-schooling community,' said Ms. Armstrong, who lives in Chesterfield County.

The move toward home schooling, advocates say, reflects a wider desire among families of all races to guide their children's religious upbringing, but it also reflects concerns about other issues like substandard schools and the preservation of cultural heritage."

Use the link to read the full article.

Spanish At School Translates to Suspension

Spanish At School Translates to Suspension

By T.R. Reid
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 9, 2005; A03

KANSAS CITY, Kan., Dec. 8 -- Most of the time, 16-year-old Zach Rubio converses in clear, unaccented American teen-speak, a form of English in which the three most common words are "like," "whatever" and "totally." But Zach is also fluent in his dad's native language, Spanish -- and that's what got him suspended from school.

"It was, like, totally not in the classroom," the high school junior said, recalling the infraction. "We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break. This kid I know, he's like, 'Me prestas un dolar?' ['Will you lend me a dollar?'] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way. So I'm like, 'No problema.' "

But that conversation turned out to be a big problem for the staff at the Endeavor Alternative School, a small public high school in an ethnically mixed blue-collar neighborhood. A teacher who overheard the two boys sent Zach to the office, where Principal Jennifer Watts ordered him to call his father and leave the school.

Watts, whom students describe as a disciplinarian, said she can't discuss the case. But in a written "discipline referral" explaining her decision to suspend Zach for 1 1/2 days, she noted: "This is not the first time we have [asked] Zach and others to not speak Spanish at school."

Since then, the suspension of Zach Rubio has become the talk of the town in both English and Spanish newspapers and radio shows. The school district has officially rescinded his punishment and said that speaking a foreign language is not grounds for suspension. Meanwhile, the Rubio family has retained a lawyer, who says a civil rights lawsuit may be in the offing.

The tension here surrounding that brief exchange in a high school hall reflects a broader national debate over the language Americans should speak amid a wave of Hispanic immigration.

Use the link to read the entire article.

Psychiatry Ponders Whether Extreme Bias Can Be an Illness

Psychiatry Ponders Whether Extreme Bias Can Be an Illness: "Mental health practitioners say they regularly confront extreme forms of racism, homophobia and other prejudice in the course of therapy, and that some patients are disabled by these beliefs. As doctors increasingly weigh the effects of race and culture on mental illness, some are asking whether pathological bias ought to be an official psychiatric diagnosis.

Advocates have circulated draft guidelines and have begun to conduct systematic studies. While the proposal is gaining traction, it is still in the early stages of being considered by the professionals who decide on new diagnoses."

Use the link to read the entire article.

Poll: Nearly one out of six employees claim bias - Race in America - MSNBC.com

Poll: Nearly one out of six employees claim bias - Race in America - MSNBC.com: "WASHINGTON - Nearly one out of every six U.S. employees say they were discriminated at work in the last year, with women more than twice as likely as men to claim bias over hiring and pay, according to a new poll.

The poll released Thursday by the Gallup Organization found that middle-aged women and minorities were more likely to report being victims. Out of the part-time and full-time workers interviewed by telephone, women were more than twice as likely to claim discrimination (22 percent) as men (9 percent).

Among racial groups, Asians and blacks led the field (31 percent and 26 percent, respectively) in saying they were treated unfairly, followed by Hispanics (18 percent) and then whites (12 percent)."

Use the link to read the entire article.

The Bias Breakdown

The Bias Breakdown
Asians and Blacks Lead in Perceived Discrimination at Work
By Amy Joyce
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 9, 2005; Page D01

Fifteen percent of all workers say they have been discriminated against in their workplace during the past year, according to a new Gallup Organization poll.

The survey was conducted to discover workers' perceptions of discrimination in their workplaces during a year that marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC's chairwoman, Cari M. Dominguez, said the information will help the agency compare employee perceptions of discrimination with complaints actually filed with the agency.

For example, 31 percent of Asians surveyed reported incidents of discrimination, the largest percentage of any racial or ethnic group, with African Americans the second-largest group at 26 percent. But Asians generally file fewer discrimination complaints than other groups, according to the EEOC.

Use the link to read the entire article.

U-Md. Students Protest 'Racial Tension'

U-Md. Students Protest 'Racial Tension': "Yelling 'Expose racial tension! It's time to change the system,' a group of students marched across the University of Maryland campus yesterday to the police station with a list of demands.

Ever since a party last month ended with the arrests of three people, the College Park campus has been embroiled in a debate about race, equality and integration. Yesterday, on the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat on a bus, student protesters called for an end to racial injustice."

Use the link to read the entire story.