Proficiency of black students lower than expected

[primroselane]

"Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.

Poverty alone does not seem to explain the differences: poor white boys do just as well as African-American boys who do not live in poverty"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/ed....html?_r=1&hpw

[Old Vet]

The thing is that to excel in school is a thing that black boys have a fear of they don't want to become too white.

[suzfromWi]

Much depends on the home life of these kids. Even if they are poor, do they have a dad in the home? Do they get enough sleep? Do they eat okay? Does the parent care if they do the homework or not? You cannot go by just the fact that they are poor....Do they have a caring family is the important thing....

[AngieM2]

Does either parent read to them when they are young and put an importance on being able to read?

[Tricky Grama]

Originally Posted by AngieM2

Does either parent read to them when they are young and put an importance on being able to read?

Bingo.

[Sonshine]

We also have to remember the failed Ebonincs thing. I think that may have a factor in this too.

[poppy]

I wonder if the tests given these kids in the OP were biased? The Onion has a funny video about biased tests. Here's the link but be forewarned, there is a bit of foul language.

http://www.theonion.com/video/in-the...nts-who,17966/

[primroselane]

"The data was distilled from highly respected national math and reading tests, known as the National Assessment for Educational Progress, which are given to students in fourth and eighth grades, most recently in 2009. The report, “A Call for Change,” is to be released Tuesday by the Council of the Great City Schools, an advocacy group for urban public schools."

[Windy in Kansas]

Ask those same boys that do poorly at math for the stats of NBA players, percentages of field goals, free throws, etc. and you might find they are math wizards even if they can't seem to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.

[Sumer]

My sister is a teacher in a Detroit charter school so I can only go by what she says. And she says it has everything to do with the parents, basically along the lines of what SuzfromWi said.

Sis also said part of the problem is if the parents were under educated the children just dont have any anyone to ask questions about their homework and stuff to when they get home or even care if they get good grades.

I think about things as simple as how many times when my own kids were growing up asked me what a word ment or how to spelll something. These kids dont have that.

She has parent teacher conferences and mabye 1 out of 30 parents show up out of all her students. Most do not have 2 parents in the home.

I'll give you an example of what she has to deal with:

Sis to parent: Your son is having trouble in humanities class.
Parent: He has lots of humanities...he is nice to everybody and even opens doors for old ladies.
....What do ya do with that?

[Sumer]

LOL --Im good -- I mispelled the word SPELL

[JJ Grandits]

I can't handle the "poor" thing about education. I grew up poor in a single parent home. My mother was constantly working to support us four kids (three jobs, one full time, two part time). It was a working class immigrant neighborhood. It was almost a montra among us all that knowledge is power. We got our educations at school but we got the desire at home. If black children or white children are have problems in school the attitude at home is the basic problem. We were fortunate enough to attend a Catholic grade school. Failure was not an option. They proved that you can teach anything to anyone if you hit them often enough. It's been over 40 years and I can still sing Christmas carols in Polish.

[SteveD(TX)]

Originally Posted by Sumer

...She has parent teacher conferences and mabye 1 out of 30 parents show up out of all her students. Most do not have 2 parents in the home.

I'll give you an example of what she has to deal with:

Sis to parent: Your son is having trouble in humanities class.
Parent: He has lots of humanities...he is nice to everybody and even opens doors for old ladies.
....What do ya do with that?

Reminds me of an episode of "Our Gang". Buckwheat's mother things he may have the measles and calls the doctor (they all made house calls then). When he arrives at their house, he finds Buckwheat in bed with the quilts up to his neck, but he's shivering to beat the band. The doc pulls back the covers and find that Buckwheat is covered in ice. The doc asks what in the world is going on, and the mother replies:

"But doctor, you told me to ISOLATE him".

[TheMartianChick]

There are many reasons why the children aren't doing well in school. Parental involvement is a large part of it, as is the amount of education that parents have. Inner city schools also tend to retain teachers who would be sacked by suburban schools and they don't generally pay as well.

My children attended an urban school district and I found that I had to supplement their education with lots of extras that required both time and money. I also ran into quite a few teachers who were unable to spell or speak correctly. That would be deemed unacceptable in a suburban district, but was tolerated in an urban one. Many of the teachers would give students full credit for completing an assignment, but wouldn't correct spelling, grammatical or factual errors in their work. It only served to reinforce the wrong answers and ingrain poor language skills in the students.

[fellini123]

Originally Posted by TheMartianChick

. I also ran into quite a few teachers who were unable to spell or speak correctly. That would be deemed unacceptable in a suburban district, but was tolerated in an urban one..

Here in rural Virginia our high school is like that. My son had to be tutored at home for about 6 weeks and for the most part the teachers that came to the house were teaching him incorrect facts. They couldnt hardly read themselves. They were teaching geography about Hawaii our son was born in Hawaii. The teacher started in about something that he knew wasnt right. He tried to tell her and she insisted she was right.

I stepped in and asked if she had ever been to Hawaii, no of course not. When I told her he was born there she backed off. But that was just one example there were many more. After about the 4 or 5th day of her being there I called the school and asked for an educated teacher, not the one they sent.

I will say he got a good math teacher.

Alice in Virginia

[ChristyACB]

http://www.unc.edu/~klongest/Parenting%20Styles.pdf

Parenting study. Interesting but a bit long.

[Pouncer]

Ah, I added this link to another thread here this morning.

Anyone puzzled about American education today, should watch it. Yes, it is presented in an entertaining fashion....but follow the logic, follow the logic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFc...ayer_embedded#

[columbia,sc]

I am so proud that our DD earned her way in to a VERY private school on her own merits. After being in public/government school she was smart enough to earn a scholarship into a big league private school. She has jumped up to learning Chinese and Geometry. 3 days a week playing the viola. DD is in the 6TH grade.

Public schools - teachers unions = better students! I will say it again Public schools - teachers unions= better students.
We did home schooling with her during her public school days, and she is still struggling with the 'NEW MATH' damage that the public/government school inflicted on her. Please do not let your kids get sucked into that carp! Teach your kids the way us old timers learned it! No matter how much they say it isn't 'right'. Trust me!

[columbia,sc]

Just sayin' it is all I can do to pay for the extra gas money to get her to school. I was going to put both kids on the bus to save gas money, $200 a month just for that. Now the littlest one has to ride the bus and does not understand why the older one gets a free ride back and forth.
Man this sucz! Crazy free schooling and can't pay for the gas to get her there! Wish us some luck! Third job on the horizon!

[ladycat]

If you want to understand more about why it is the way it is, please go to the link here that I had posted a few weeks ago:

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sho...60#post4697860