This month’s reading results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” reveals some progress on student performance by scores and its three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient, and Advanced.

In fourth grade, the percentage of black students at each of those levels was higher in 2011 than in 1992. And for eighth grade, black students had higher percentages at Basic and Proficient over this same time period. At both grades, reading scores were higher in 2011 than in 2009 for black, white, and Hispanic students.

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However, there is an alarming fact seen in NAEP reading: 51 percent of black fourth-graders and 41 percent of black eighth-graders fall below Basic, which indicates partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work at each grade level. How can any student reading below a Basic level — regardless of race or ethnicity — be prepared to learn in other subjects?

Across the country, the achievement gap between white students and black students persists. On NAEP reading in both grades, that gap is 25 points. It’s a reduction compared to what we saw in 1992, but that’s not much of a victory.

Read more at TheGrio

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The hate mail sent to black students had nothing to do with Sandusky’s proclivities, but the two incidences shared something in common: both were ultimately covered up by the university, even as both chain of events grew worse. Sandusky went on to molest and possibly rape more boys, according to a grand jury report (Sandusky denies foul play), and hate mail against black students became death threats.

Ultimately, a black man’s dead body was found by police near Penn State as one of the death threats said it would. And some black students had to attend their graduation the following May with bulletproof vests on in fear of their life.

But few know about the death threats because Penn State and Joe Paterno were not willing to allow bad publicity to ruin the university’s image, say some of the black students at the center of the tragic events.

LaKeisha Wolf was president of Penn State’s Black Caucus ten years ago, and she received the lion’s share of life-threatening letters. Today, she watches the news about Sandusky’s rape charges, the firing of Joe Paterno and Penn State president Graham Spanier, and the student riots that ensued, and it takes her right back to her days dealing with the university.

In fact, Wolf and other concerned black students met with Paterno back in 2001 because of information circulating that black football players, like then-quarterback Rashard Casey, had been receiving death threats. Wolf recalls Paterno as almost emotionless.

READ THE REST INCLUDING THE DEATH THREATS ON LOOP 21.

According to the report, during the 2007-2008 school year only 11.4 percent of all Black student received merit-based financial aid.

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UNCFs Evening of Stars

When looking only at students who attended four-year colleges and universities on a full-time basis, the report found that 26.9 percent of Black students received merit-based grants when compared to 35.1 percent of white students.

Read more at BET.com

GRAND RAPIDS — Public schools in Michigan were cited for suspending a “significantly disproportionate” number of Black and special education students.

ALSO READ: WBW Honors: The Educator

The report revealed that out of 268 special education suspensions/expulsions, 186 were black, 34 Hispanic, 29 white, 18 multi-ethnic and 1 Asian. Ottawa Hills had the most of the high schools with 22, all black students.
Mlive.com reports:

Superintendent Bernard Taylor said the district is under sanction by the state Education Department requiring it to redirect $1 million in special education funds into general education “to deal with the over suspension of special education students and African American males.”

The district has nearly 19,000 students and blacks represent more than 40 percent of the population.

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The Department of Education has proposed new rules for students attending career-oriented schools that could disproportionally harm minority students. The rules, which would go into effect in November, could cut off support for those students who need the most financial assistance in getting their education. The new rules would make ineligible for-profit schools that do not meet certain graduation rates or levels of student debt.

While the for-profit college industry — as with any sector — has bad actors, the Department of Education’s blanket fix is shaping up to do more harm than good. Student debt is a national problem, one that must be addressed, but imposing regulations on schools that are effectively educating students is unnecessary. Instead, the Department of Education should be encouraged to isolate bad actors — without imposing harmful regulations on schools that are working to train students for careers where they can succeed.

Read more at NPR

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When U.S. News and World Report came out with their ranking of the top 20 HBCUs in the country, I became curious.  I was wondering if my personal perception of the best schools matched the views of those who make these lists.  I couldn’t afford to attend an HBCU out of high school (not to mention that my grades were terrible), and although I’d love to teach at an HBCU, it’s become difficult for African American professors to get jobs at campuses that have been taken over by people who aren’t black (thats another interesting story).  In fact, many HBCUs don’t have any African American Professors in their business schools or Science departments – and it’s not because black scholars aren’t applying.

At any rate, the school at the top of the list was Spelman College, the university I love and hate, all at the same time.  The funny thing about my love/hate relationship with Spelman is that my disdain is actually driven by my extreme admiration for the university.  In fact, it may even be rooted in jealousy.  I had a relative I wanted to send to Spelman, but the massive tuition bill was so high that she couldn’t attend.  To make matters worse, the school doesn’t seem to care much about giving scholarships, but demand for admission is so high, they don’t have to give away anything.

I’ve always stated to others that Spelman College is not just the best school in the country for black women, it’s the best school in the country, PERIOD.  Unlike Harvard, Yale and all the other schools with multi-billion dollar endowments, I am hard pressed to think of any Spelman grad I know who isn’t a doctor, lawyer, professor, or successful professional in some other field.  Spelman College is nothing less than a factory of greatness, and the women who come out of this institution are typically second-to-none.

One of my daughters starts college next year.  I made it clear to her why I think Spelman is such an amazing institution.  In fact, I told her she should attend the university if she could.  Now, the cost of tuition made us flinch, and anyone who’s read my book, “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about College,” would know that I don’t believe you have to be $100,000 in debt in order to get a good education.   But if there were ever a possible exception to that rule, it might be Spelman College.

One thing that must be mentioned about Spelman graduates and the institution’s commitment to creating high self esteem in the young women on their campus is that sometimes lessons on self-esteem can backfire into arrogance.  I’ve worked with people who claim that although they admire the students produced by Spelman College, they would almost never hire them.  T’hey claim that the extreme confidence instilled in Spelman grads can sometimes produce young women who aren’t willing to do the gritty work in order to get ahead in corporate America.   Companies might get a CEO/Oprah Winfrey wannabe when they really want someone who is both confident and humble.  While this doesn’t define every Spelman College graduate, it is certainly a word of caution for those who are tempted to empower themselves so much that they end up stepping on top of everyone else.

One incident that gave me tremendous respect for the women at Spelman College occurred in 2004, when the students came together to ban the rapper Nelly from giving a concert on their campus.  They rightfully stood up against a video in which the rapper swiped a credit card through a woman’s behind.  I thought that this movement would produce an even stronger backlash against misogyny in hip hop, but unfortunately, we’ve allowed the last six years to go by without doing a thing.  But at least the women at Spelman gave us a glimmer of hope with their strong and meaningful statement.

Overall, I would say that the good certainly outweighs the bad when it comes to Spelman College.  The school is a source of empowerment and a beacon of hope for the entire black community.  They deserve to be #1 on this list, and they are also #1 in the country as far as I’m concerned.  The university is simply amazing.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the book, “Black American Money.” To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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Pics Of The Week: 08.23.10

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What are the best colleges for African Americans?

Why Elite Colleges Offer Courses On The Wire?

Despite university budget cuts and a rise in anti-ethnic-studies sentiment, black-studies programs have held their ground in higher-education curricula. But while there has been substantial overall growth in the field during the last 40 years, it has happened primarily outside the community of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

“There’s activity going on [at HBCUs]; it’s just not as visible and as well supported as you might see at white institutions,” says Dr. James Stewart, national president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

Most HBCUs have established courses in black studies, but few have departments dedicated to the field, and only Howard and Clark Atlanta universities offer master’s programs. Howard is also the only HBCU to offer a doctoral program in African studies, which is offered by eight traditionally white institutions.

The bottom line is money.

Read more at The Root

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From TheRoot.com:

Six-year-old Ja’Briel Weston was shackled by his ankle to a chair for disobeying his first-grade teacher. Two days later, he was apprehended by an armed security guard, dragged down a hallway and handcuffed to a chair for getting into a shoving match with another student. This didn’t happen at some medieval-age boarding school. It happened this year, this May, in New Orleans, at Sarah T. Reed Elementary School.

When Ja’Briel’s parents found out about this, his father, Sebastian Weston, met with the school’s principal, Daphyne Burnett, who not only confessed to the child cuffing but also said that she’d have it done again if the child got out of line. According to a legal complaint filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, “When [Ja'Briel's] father implored the school principal to stop these unconstitutional practices, she insisted that school policy required the arrests and seizures at the school.”

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Pics Of The Week: 07.05.10

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DETROIT – The night Demarco Harris shot and killed a woman during a robbery on a Detroit street, his parents told police knocking on their door at 2 a.m. they didn’t know where their 12-year-old was.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said that’s indicative of a larger issue in Detroit, where the lack of making parents accountable for their children partly is blamed on elevated truancy and dropout rates, as well as a recent rash of violent crimes involving teens.

Worthy has a new idea she hopes will fix the problem: Jail parents for up to three days for repeatedly missing scheduled parent-teacher conferences.

“I have seen that younger and younger children are committing more violent acts and we need to look at different approaches,” Worthy told reporters. “I know we need to try something different. We should not have to legislate this, but what we have been doing is not working.”

She’s still working on the details, but once her proposal is finished, she hopes to present it to county commissioners in August and persuade them to approve an ordinance. After that, she may take it to state legislators in Lansing.

It’s unlikely to quickly become an ordinance because it would probably be challenged in court because civil libertarians say it may be outside the law. Even some teachers, who often spend several hours waiting for parents who don’t show up for the conferences, are skeptical.

“I understand the prosecutor’s concern, but jail time?” said Detroit middle school teacher Ann Crowley.

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Worthy first considered her proposal after a spate of shootings involving students that culminated in the June 2009 wounding of seven teens at a city bus stop. The Demarco Harris’ trial convinced her she was on the right track.

He had been in and out of school a lot and his parents rarely met with his teachers. Then came Aug. 1 2009 when authorities were investigating a killing.

“When police went to his parents, his parents were not able to account for his whereabouts and it was about 2 in the morning,” Worthy said.

Harris, who is now 13, was convicted in May of killing 24-year-old Trisha Babcock. He was sentenced to a high-security juvenile lockup.

“We’re trying to prevent any more Demarco Harrises from going down that road,” Worthy said.

Under her plan, Wayne County parents would be required to pick a time and day to attend one parent-teacher conference a year. If that conference is missed, the school would send out a letter to set up another within 14 days. If the second is missed, parents get a letter about sanctions, which could include up to three days in jail.

Parents with health concerns and those whose children are performing above average could be exempt. “I’m not interested in putting parents in jail if their children are high achievers,” Worthy said.

Currently attendance at parent-teacher conferences isn’t mandatory, and Worthy’s plan may be challenged because it could infringe on a parent’s civil rights.

“A criminal justice solution is not the answer to complicated social problems,” said Kary Moss, executive director of Michigan’s American Civil Liberties Union. “The last thing many families in dire situations need is more punishment by the criminal justice community. There’s established law already that governs child abuse and neglect, and that sets up the standard for involvement by the government in the family’s affairs.”

There doesn’t appear to be any existing legislation similar to what Worthy wants. She didn’t know of any and the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks state laws, didn’t know of one. Similar proposals in Texas and Kentucky have failed.

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Republican Kentucky state Rep. Adam Koenig submitted a bill last year that didn’t make it out of committee. It would have required parents to attend at least one conference with teachers for each child in school. Failure to do so would have meant a $50 fine.

“I wanted to get parental involvement in the schools more attention,” Koenig said. “There’s a reluctance to fine parents who are often viewed as too busy. I’m of the opinion that there’s a lot of people who’ve paid taxes to have these kids learn. Parents have some responsibility.”

The 2007 Texas bill called for fining parents $500 and charging them with a misdemeanor for missing a scheduled parent-teacher conference.

Making sure Detroit students make it to school and stay there through the end of the day has long been a problem. The average student missed 46 days last school year.

Worthy’s office penalizes parents and guardians for school truancy. But by the time prosecutors get involved, large chunks of classroom time already have been missed. Hundreds of cases are reviewed each year, but only 50 or so result in prosecution. Educational neglect is a misdemeanor that carries up to 90 days in jail and a fine for parents. Older students could end up in juvenile court.

Derek Muhammad, who has a son in high school, has never attended a conference with a teacher, saying it’s hard to find the time while working. The 40-year-old said it’s also up to students to understand what’s required of them in terms of school achievement and positive behavior.

“Anytime you’re talking about a penalty that will take away the parent from the child who already is in trouble, then you have a very dangerous outcome,” said Muhammad, a motivational speaker. “There’s anger from the student, time away from the parent and hostility toward whatever caused that, and that’s the school system.”

Caught in the middle are teachers, who want to help students succeed, but struggle to compel parents to have the same interest.

Former Detroit special education teacher Emily Williams said it was disheartening when 3 out of 15 parents would attend meetings.

“Sometimes I would call home. Sometimes the phone was cut off. If you send a letter home, sometimes it wouldn’t get to the parents,” she said.

Instead of jailing parents, Williams suggests Worthy give them community service.

“A lot (of homes) are headed by single parents,” she said. “If momma is not coming home, who is going to watch the kids?”

From LATimes.com:

Despite much-publicized racial tensions on the campus last semester, UC San Diego has managed to slightly raise its still small numbers of African American freshman for the fall, according to statistics released by the campus Tuesday.

Some students and faculty had feared that black enrollment on the campus could be negatively affected by the “Compton Cookout,” an off-campus party in February that mocked African Americans and led to protests about UC San Diego’s small numbers of black students. That led to extra efforts to recruit African American students without violating the state’s ban on racial affirmative action in college admissions.

Although still less than 2% of the incoming freshman class of 4,206, 68 black students have said they plan to enroll at UC San Diego as freshmen in the fall, up from 50 last year. Among the 2,943 transfer students, 87 are black, up from 46 last year.

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From NYPost.com:

A pouty, hair-flipping teenaged alternate juror for the caught-on-video police brutality trial was kicked off this morning — for wearing a T-shirt with the word “f—” on it in two-inch-high letters.

The shirt in question, worn by 19-year-old alternate No. 3, Nneka Eneorj, as she sat in the front row of the jury box, caught the judge’s eye just as the defendant was about to take the stand.

“WHO THE F— IS KANYE WEST?” the shirt read, the offending obscenity resting just above the wood veneer rail of the jury box.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber ordered the other jurors out of the courtroom — directing Eneorj to stand before his bench.

“Do you think it’s appropriate to wear a shirt that says ‘f—’ on it in my courtroom?” the judge asked, anger in his voice.

When Eneorj started to protest about having a sweater on — not that it covered the front of the shirt — the judge cut her off, demanding, “You’re excused.”

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) – When the Microsoft-designed School of the Future opened, the facility was a paragon of contemporary architecture, with a green roof, light-filled corridors and the latest classroom technology, all housed in a dazzling white modern building.

It might as well have been a fishbowl: Educators and media from around the world watched to see whether Microsoft could reform public education through innovation and technology.

Although the school’s creative ambitions have been frustrated by high principal turnover, curriculum tensions and a student body unfamiliar with laptop computer culture, the school graduated its first senior class Tuesday with each student having been accepted to an institution of higher learning.

“The first three years were definitely a challenge,” said Mary Cullinane, Microsoft’s liaison to the school. “They’re hitting their groove now. I’m excited to see what’s in store.”

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From the beginning, everything about the $63 million School of the Future was designed to be different.

Built in Philadelphia’s rough Parkside section with district money, the school partnered with Microsoft on new approaches to curriculum, instruction and hiring. It attracted reform-minded teachers and students bent on avoiding traditional high schools.

The vision was for a paperless, textbook-less school that embodied the motto “Continuous, Relevant, Adaptive.” Each student would get a take-home laptop on which to keep notes, do homework and take tests.

But learners are chosen by a lottery of public school students. Most are low-income and without home computers, yet they are expected to manage their high school careers on a laptop.

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“I felt kind of awkward,” said senior Kenneth Bolds, 17. “I was used to using books and pencils for eight years.”

Educators also assumed learners would enter the school performing at grade level, but half the students in the academically troubled district are not proficient at reading or math.

The school’s first set of standardized test scores last year were dismal. Only 7.5 percent of 11th graders scored proficient or higher in math; 23.4 percent scored proficient or higher in reading.

Cullinane notes that the school can’t control students’ education before ninth grade, but said test scores don’t tell the whole story.

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“It is a long-term journey and we have to get away from short-term yardsticks,” she said.

The project-based curriculum also caused problems because it did not translate to district benchmarks. Its interdisciplinary nature made it hard to tell what material had been taught, said Nancy Hopkins-Evans, special assistant to the district’s chief academic officer.

“Our issue was that you had content and standards that you absolutely needed to cover,” Hopkins-Evans said.

Report cards, too, were incompatible with the district’s needs. The narrative assessments rated students from “Advanced” to “Not on the Radar” instead of giving letter grades. And the idea to replicate a professional work day by using a 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. schedule had to be altered; some students needed the traditional school day.

All the while, there were tours, tours, tours. More than 3,000 people from 50 countries have visited the school, said Cullinane, worldwide director of innovation for Microsoft Education.

Senior Mahcaiyah Wearing-Gooden, 18, said she led countless tours as a freshman, showing off computerized blackboards (“smart boards”) and digital lockers that popped open by waving an ID card.

“It was a lot to process at the time,” she said.

Principal Rosalind Chivis – the school’s fourth – described the building’s journey as “trying to build a plane while flying it.”

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Yet now, she said, a revamped curriculum, steady leadership and better use of resources and scheduling has yielded the “first full year of uninterrupted education.”

Teacher Aruna Arjunan said part of the school’s strength lies in offering a combination of academic, technical and real-world skills.

Students’ familiarity with Microsoft programs make them employable straight out of high school, she said. They are also evaluated on “competencies” that Seattle-based Microsoft uses with its own employees, such as dealing with ambiguity and thinking on the fly.

“There are kids in this building who would have flunked out of other high schools,” Arjunan said. “I just think the culture here is unlike any other.”

All 117 seniors were accepted to post-secondary programs, from community colleges to selective schools likeVillanova University; however, 11 of them must attend summer school to graduate.

Some students, like Wearing-Gooden, weren’t even considering college as freshmen. But this fall, Wearing-Gooden will be studying climatology on a scholarship at Green Mountain College in Vermont.

She said she realized her potential at the School of the Future, which offered individual attention, a supportive atmosphere and a familial dynamic. The hectic first years also taught Wearing-Gooden a valuable life lesson.

“It showed me that the world is not as stable as we want it to be,” she said. “Now I’m ready for anything.”

From the Washington Post:

Roy Freedle is 76 now, with a research psychologist’s innate patience. He knows that decades often pass before valid ideas take root. When the notion is as radical as his, that the SAT is racially biased, an even longer wait might be expected. But after 23 years the research he has done on the surprising reaction of black students to hard words versus easy words seems to be gaining new respectability.

Seven years ago, after being discouraged from investigating findings while working for the Educational Testing Service, Freedle published a paper in the Harvard Educational Review that won significant attention.

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He was retired from ETS by then. As he expected, his former supervisors dismissed his conclusions. Researchers working for the College Board, which owns the SAT, said the test was not biased. But the then president of the University of California system, a cognitive psychologist named Richard C. Atkinson, was intrigued. He asked the director of research in his office to replicate Freedle’s study.

Now, in the latest issue of the Harvard Educational Review, the two scholars who took on that project have published a paper saying Freedle was right about a flaw in the SAT, even in its current form. They say “the SAT, a high-stakes test with significant consequences for the educational opportunities available to young people in the United States, favors one ethnic group over another.”

“The confirmation of unfair test results throws into question the validity of the test and, consequently, all decisions based on its results,” said Maria Veronica Santelices, now at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile in Santiago, and Mark Wilson of UC Berkeley. “All admissions decisions based exclusively or predominantly on SAT performance–and therefore access to higher education institutions and subsequent job placement and professional success–appear to be biased against the African American minority group and could be exposed to legal challenge.”

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From TheGrio.com:

What are the odds of a student graduating high school with perfect attendance…since kindergarten?

According to Paxon High Senior, Khaydrea Price, it’s not that tough. Price graduates next month with a 3.2 GPA and perfect attendance since she was five years old — something that makes her parents (both principals) quite proud.

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“Knowing my wife and Khaydrea there was never any doubt she was going to accomplish this goal” says Khaydrea’s dad.

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From Chron.com:

After prom night and hanging out at a school-sponsored after-party, Bellaire High School basketball star Tobi Oyedeji dropped some friends at their homes Sunday morning and then texted his father.

“Dad, I’m on my way home,” he wrote at 5:53 a.m.

About 20 minutes later, the 17-year-old’s silver Toyota Avalon veered out of its lane in the 14100 block of South Main in southwest Houston, crashing into a Jeep head-on, police said. The driver of the Jeep died at the scene, and Oyedeji died later in the day at Ben Taub General Hospital. Police did not release the name of the Jeep’s driver.

“I don’t know why this happened,” said his tearful father, Michael Oyedeji, at the family home in Missouri City.

Tobi Oyedeji was a top Texas A&M recruit, just a few days shy of turning 18, graduating from high school and starting summer college courses.

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He didn’t drink or use drugs, family members said, speculating that he may have nodded off as he drove home.

Bellaire basketball coach Bruce Glover said he last spoke with Oyedeji at the school’s prom, which was held at the Westin Galleria on Saturday night. He took a group photo with Oyedeji and the rest of the team before telling everyone to be careful.

“The mourning is natural,” Glover said. “The question we ask ourselves is, what do we mourn the most — his past or his future? Because he had such a bright future and he had such a great past.”

Glover said that despite his relaxed, easy-going off-court demeanor, Oyedeji was an intense on-court competitor.

“He was a lion once he crossed those lines,” Glover said. “He reminded me of Kevin Garnett, (yelling) ‘Let’s go!’”

Aggies coach Mark Turgeon called Oyedeji “a great kid” in a statement released Sunday night.

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From SunSentinel.com:

Guerdwich Montimere, a 2007 Dillard High School graduate who posed as a Texas high school player, bonded out of the Ector County Detention Center early Wednesday morning by posting $500 bond.

A spokesperson from Will’s Bonding in Odessa, Texas, confirmed that Montimere bonded out through their agency.

The spokesperson would not elaborate on whether Montimere or another person provided the bail money. The spokesperson confirmed that Montimere was to remain in Odessa pending a hearing.

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Montimere was arrested Tuesday in Odessa after officials determined the 22-year-old was posing as high school sophomore Jerry Joseph.

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From CBSNews.com:

(CBS) President Obama delivered the commencement address today at Virginia’s Hampton University – his first as president to a predominantly African-American school. Fifty-five percent of African-American high school seniors go on to college these days, compared to 45 percent in 1970.

But graduation day is another story, as CBS News correspondent Russ Mitchell reports.

At Hampton University, the end of the semester means moving out and for seniors like Jared Council and Melanie French, moving on. Both graduating after four years. But that is increasingly uncommon.

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“I stayed focused and I surrounded myself with people who are also focused,” French said.

Since 2004, American universities have used a six-year standard to measure graduation rates; but even with the extended time, African-Americans still lag in obtaining degrees. Only 43 percent of African-Americans who enter college graduate – 20 percent lower than the rate for whites. And for black men its more alarming, with only 36 percent who enter finishing college.

Jared Council almost didn’t.

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HAMPTON, Va. (AP) — The last time Camille and Jason Hammond saw President Barack Obama it was on a JumboTron as they shivered in the cold along with hosts of others at his inauguration. It was cold again on Sunday, but this time they didn’t have to rely on a TV, as Obama gave the commencement address at Hampton University.

The Hammonds, their triplets and other relatives were seated on the Hampton football field as the president spoke on a stage in the one of the end zones on a breezy, 59-degree day at the historically black college where Jason Hammond’s mother Pamela is provost.

“He could have been anywhere, at other universities that have a larger national spotlight, but he chose Hampton University,” Camille Hammond said. “We already knew it was a special place, but it’s good that the president also realizes it’s a special, unique, wonderful university.”

Obama is the 10th president to visit the private university of about 6,000 students, founded in 1868 near the site where a free Virginian taught classes to escaped slaves against state law. It was Obama’s second commencement address this season, and his first as president at a historically black college.

Obama said many Americans do not have access to education, and the nation must ensure that they get it.

“All of us have a responsibility, as Americans, to change this, to offer every single child in this country an education that will make them competitive in our knowledge economy. That is our obligation as a nation,” the president said.

University officials presented Obama with a seedling from the Emancipation Oak, under which escaped slaves once were taught and where President Abraham Lincoln later came to read the Emancipation Proclamation.

Tiffany Tompkins was one of nearly 1,100 graduates to walk in the ceremony, held a day after she was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army. She found it meaningful to have her new boss, the commander in chief, as her graduation speaker.

“I think it says a lot about the direction in which our nation is headed and the things that can be accomplished as long as people keep their faith and keep hope alive, keep pressing forward,” said Tompkins, 22, of Fort Lewis, Wash., before entering Armstrong Stadium.

Elizabeth Rich, a 21-year-old business management major from Philadelphia, was honored the president was there, but said the extra security and limited tickets were distracting.

Lines formed around 5 a.m. outside the stadium. The event was only open to graduates and 15,000 other ticket-holders.

Javon Daffeh, who was in town for her 10-year reunion, got up at 4:15 a.m. and caught one of about a dozen 5:30 a.m. shuttle buses to the stadium. It was worth it: She got a front row seat on the field.

She can’t remember the name of the speaker when she graduated in 2000.

“It’s very historic to have not only the president of the United States, but also the first African American president to come here and speak at our university,” said Daffeh, of Studio City, Calif.

Pedro Garcia came to watch his daughter, biology major Evelyn Sage Belinda Garcia, graduate. He said she didn’t plan to walk in the ceremony until she found out Obama would be there.

“It’s something that you’ll hold in your memory banks forever,” he said.
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FAIRFAX, Va., May 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) today announced that 75 Gates Millennium Scholars from Atlanta and surrounding counties in Georgia will be recognized at a reception hosted by The Honorable Kasim Reed, at Atlanta’s City Hall, Thursday, May 13. These students are a part of the 2010 Class Gates Millennium Scholars.

The good-through-graduation college scholarships awarded through the Gates Millennium Scholars Program can be used at colleges or universities of the recipients’ choice and have funding that can include graduate study through a doctoral degree in seven academic disciplines.

The 1,000 students selected nationwide are joining over 13,000 Gates Scholars from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five American territories including American Samoa, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Gates Scholars have an average graduation rate of almost 80 percent, which is higher than the national average rate.

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“I want to congratulate the students from Atlanta who have been accepted into the Gates Millennium Scholars Program,” Mayor Reed said. “This program, our nation’s largest source of minority scholarships, enables thousands of dynamic students to attend college and ultimately become some of our nation’s best and brightest leaders.”

“I also want to acknowledge and thank the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UNCF’s President, Dr. Michael L. Lomax and program administrators of this program for contributing greatly to the success of our youth,” Reed added.

Established in 1999 with the goal of developing the next generation of leaders for the global economy, the Gates Millennium Scholars Program is funded by a $1.6 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In addition to financial assistance, Gates Millennium Scholars receive academic support, mentoring and leadership training.

“The 20,000 young men and women who will attend college as Gates Millennium Scholars will make a major contribution to helping the United States fulfill President Obama’s goal of regaining for America world leadership in the proportion of citizens with college degrees,” said Michael L. Lomax, UNCF President and CEO. “The Gates Millennium Scholars Program is an investment in both the futures of these students and the country’s economic and social strength and competitiveness.”

UNCF’s management of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program is a partnership with the American Indian Graduate Center Scholars (AIGCS), the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) to serve Gates Millennium Scholars in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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For more information about GMS and a list of the Class of 2010 Gates Millennium Scholars, visit www.gmsp.org.

About GMS

The Gates Millennium Scholars Program (GMS), funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was established in 1999 to provide outstanding low income African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American students with an opportunity to complete an undergraduate college education in any discipline they choose. Continuing Gates Scholars may request funding for a graduate degree program in one of the following discipline areas: computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health or science. The goal of GMS is to promote academic excellence by providing thousands of outstanding students, who have significant financial need, the opportunity to reach their full potential.

About UNCF

UNCF—the United Negro College Fund—is the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization. To serve youth, the community and the nation, UNCF supports students’ education and development through scholarships and other programs, strengthens its 39 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education. UNCF institutions and other historically black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding 18 percent of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students at over 900 colleges and universities across the country. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized motto, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”® Learn more at www.UNCF.org.

From ChicagoBreakingNews.com:

About 700 students gathered in front of Chicago Public Schools headquarters this morning to protest drastic budget cuts which they say they are already starting to feel.

“It started with JV sports, then they started cutting teachers – What’s next?” asked Somyiah Nance, a 15-year-old freshman at Whitney Young High School.

The students held signs that read “No to 37″ -the amount of students per class district officials say they’ll have to expand to – and chanted, “Save our schools.”

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Chicago Student Protest 2010

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The students, holding cameras and taking pictures with their cell phones, marched 14 blocks east on Jackson Boulevard from their school to CPS headquarters, 125 S. Clark St. They marched north to the Thompson Center to continue their protest. Police shut down several blocks on Clark Street between Monroe and Adams Street for about two hours for the protest.

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WATCH report here:

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From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Many students graduate with manageable debt or no education loans, but almost 17 percent of graduates in 2008 borrowed $30,500 or more to get their bachelor’s degrees, according to a new analysis.

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A report released today by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center, also said that students who borrow the most are disproportionately black, and are more likely to have attended a private nonprofit or for-profit college than a public four-year college. But debt levels did not necessarily reflect family income.

Over all, the analysis—based on data from 2007-8 graduates in the “National Postsecondary Student Aid Study”—revealed that about two-thirds of all those who received a bachelor’s degree graduated with some amount of loan debt.

About 25 percent of all college-degree recipients graduated with at least $24,600 in debt, and 10 percent graduated with at least $39,300, says the report, “Who Borrows Most?: Bachelor’s Degree Recipients With High Levels of Student Debt.”

Borrowing by Income
A key finding by Sandy Baum and Patricia Steele, consultants to the College Board and authors of the report, was that debt levels at graduation among financially dependent students do not correlate to those students’ family income.

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MANHATTAN – The soaring, lyrical monologues of playwright August Wilson have been performed by some of the theatre world’s greatest actors. Now, talented high school students will get their chance to breathe new life into August Wilson’s monologues.As part of a national competition, three winners from each of the five preliminary rounds will go to the 2^nd Annual NYC August Wilson Monologue Competition, presented by Learning through an Expanded Arts Program (LeAp), on April 19, 2010 where students will perform two-to three-minute monologues of their choosing from one of August Wilson’s renowned works from his Century Cycle play to be judged by theater professionals. The students will compete to receive cash prizes and collections of plays.

RELATED: The Obamas See August Wilson Play In NYC

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Our honored guests and performers include Kenny Leon, director of Fences on Broadway and artistic director of True Colors Theatre Company; Terri White, OBIE Award winning actor who starred in Finian’s Rainbow, performed in Barnum and will be performing in Chicago on Broadway; and Yvette Ganier, OBIE Award winning actor who has worked with August Wilson on King Hedley II, Jitney, and The Gem of the Ocean and performed in The Miracle Worker on Broadway this year.

After the NYC competition, the three finalists will then advance to the National Competition against students from Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Chicago at August Wilson Theatre on Broadway on May 3, 2010. Contestants will be judged by a panel of Broadway and other theatre professionals.

Students will also attend a performance of August Wilson’s Fences on Broadway and meet with theater professionals who have worked with August Wilson.

This program has helped to introduce hundreds of students to one of America’s greatest playwrights with the hopes that August Wilson will live through our education system in the same manner and reverence as the works of William Shakespeare.

“The demands on the students were extremely high,” said a teacher involved in the program. “None of these students have ever learned such dense and lengthy monologues before. Students learned new vocabulary and literary devices through August Wilson’s style.”

RELATED: Race An Issue In August Wilson Play & In Its Production

One 11th-grade-student said, “I could go places as an artist that I didn’t know I could go before.”

LeAp is committed to improving the quality of public education through a hands-on, arts-based approach to teaching the academic curriculum. LeAp empowers students to reach their full potential.

Since 1977, LeAp’s programs in music, dance, theater and visual arts have served more than two million New York City public school students. LeAp provides in-school residencies, afterschool workshops, parent workshops, teacher trainings and assembly programs. Find out more at www.leapnyc.org.

From LeapNYC.org:

NEW YORK—Students in ten New York City public middle schools from all five boroughs are hard at work on their public art works—school lunchroom tables transformed into colorful works of art that address important social issues in their communities and the world. These works will be displayed in the largest student art exhibition in the history of NYC parks and the first to span five boroughs, created by Learning through an Expanded Arts Program (LeAp) in cooperation with NYC Parks & Recreation.

The tables will be showcased as part of  “A View from the Lunchroom: Students Bringing Issues to the Table,” an exhibition launched at Union Square Park on Thursday, April 29^th 12:00pm and then installed in ten community parks across the five boroughs. Developed by LeAp’s Public Art Program, this third-annual citywide exhibition seeks to empower young people to have a voice in their communities—speaking out on issues such as gangs, violence, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and cultural diversity, among others—and become catalysts for social change through their art. Lunchroom tables are used as a canvas for this project as a symbol of student ideas and conversations.

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LeAp teaching artists are currently in the schools working with students to explore the issues, study public art, and ultimately create beautiful and meaningful works of art for public display. In addition, internationally-renowned Guest Artists Christo, Chuck Close, Dennis Oppenheim, Audrey Flack, Tom Otterness, Vito Acconci, Alice Aycock, Emma Amos, Keith Sonnier and Julie Heffernan met with students to discuss their work and the power and impact of art.

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Students at Accion Academy in the Bronx are addressing issues of gangs, drugs and violence through creating a beautiful mural incorporating collaged images. IS 291’s students in Brooklyn, are presenting issues of teen pregnancy and drive-by violence in their neighborhood through creating a table of hope with a colorful mural. Meanwhile, at IS 51 in Staten Island, students are examining the need to take care of our planet and students at P 75 in Queens are addressing healthcare through a dynamic painting.

“LEAP’s Public Art Program nurtures our students’ artistic talents while providing an extraordinary opportunity for young people to share their views on important social issues with the entire New York City community,” said Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein. “We expect all of our schools to offer students rich and rigorous arts instruction, but it is through partnerships with outstanding organizations like LEAP that our schools are able to provide world-class arts programs that allow students to take advantage of the unparalleled cultural resources of this City and to meet and work with renowned artists like Christo and Chuck Close.”

“We are proud to be a part of the LEAP’s Public Art program, which gives our young people an opportunity to speak out on the important issues affecting their communities,” said Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development Dennis M. Walcott. “This program provides a great platform for us to hear what the future generations have to say.”

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“Once again New York City’s schoolchildren will become the city’s youngest public artists this summer, thanks to the efforts of LEAP,” said Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “There is no better place to kick off this annual, socially-minded exhibit than in Union Square Park, where New Yorkers have been broadcasting their ideas for over a century. The students’ thought provoking artwork is sure to enliven the city’s parks and raise awareness on the issues that are most important to them.

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LeAp’s Public Art Program exhibition was developed in cooperation with NYC Department of Parks & Recreation and supported by HSBC Bank USA, N.A., NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Mariano Brothers Specialty Moving, George P. Mills, Astoria Federal Savings, The Compleat Sculptor, and KADKO.

Over the past 33 years, LeAp’s professional artists, dancers, musicians, actors and writers have provided arts-based education programs to over two million children in grades K-12 throughout New York City. For more information, visit www.leapnyc.org.

From WashingtonPost.com:

A federal judge Tuesday ordered a rural county in southwestern Mississippi to stop segregating its schools by grouping African American students into all-black classrooms and allowing white students to transfer to the county’s only majority-white school, the U.S. Justice Department announced.

The order, issued by Senior Judge Tom S. Lee of the U.S. District Court of Southern Mississippi, came after Justice Department civil rights division lawyers moved to enforce a 1970 desegregation case against the state and Walthall County.

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Known as Mississippi’s cream pitcher for its dairy farms and bordering Louisiana 80 miles north of New Orleans, Walthall County has a population of about 15,000 people that includes about 54 percent white residents and 45 percent African American residents, according to the U.S. Census.

For years, the local school board has permitted hundreds of white students to transfer from its Tylertown schools, which are about 75 percent African American and serve about 1,700 students, to another school, the Salem Attendance Center, which is about 66 percent white and serves about 577 students in grades K-12. The schools are about 10 miles apart.

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The reason that racial profiling exists is because there are indeed crimes that certain races are more likely to commit than other races. Like, if you hear that there’s a criminal out there snatching gold chains or selling crack, you might be right to assume the culprit is Black.

Similarly, if you hear that there’s a criminal out there committing serial murders, starting maniacal religious cults, shooting professorial colleagues or flying single-engine airplanes into IRS buildings, a white suspect might be more likely.

Why the former listed crimes are seemingly treated more seriously than the latter mentioned crimes is anybody’s guess. But the tendencies exist more likely as a product of economic circumstances than because of any inherent biological differences between Black people and white people.

Everything else being equal however and you might expect that suicide rates between Blacks and whites would parallel if not, considering finances again and the general belief that Blacks in America have it so much tougher than whites and everyone else, believing that Blacks would be most likely to kill ourselves. Two very recent headline grabbing suicides argue otherwise however.

Last week, 17 year-old Alexis Pilkington, a white Long Island high school student who had suffered depression, decided to end it all due to relentless abuse from cyber-bullies.

A couple of days ago, 15 year-old Phoebe Prince, a recent immigrant to Massachusetts from Ireland, hung herself in her stairwell after being tormented as the “new girl” by bullies.

Now, these are both horribly tragic deaths.

Still, the fact that as recently as 2005, whites outpaced Blacks in rate of suicide 12.3% to 5.1%, makes it at least reasonable to wonder if Blacks are simply equipped with more emotional fortitude than whites.

Or maybe it’s just the times and the fact that people all along the color spectrum have grown softer.

For some reason, the brave boys and girls that integrated Little Rock Central High School back in 1957 came to mind.

Those 9 kids were spit on and continually pelted with rocks and other objects despite the “protection” of the National Guard!

Today’s e-thug wouldn’t have stood a chance against them.

One of the main problems you face when you speak a language that your own ancestors didn’t create is that you’re subject to be manipulated by it.

We already know that code words such as “urban” are meant to be politically correct replacements for the word “Black” but there are also many more subtle, often insidious code words that are used to communicate certain ideas that are intended to be completely understood by the few while being totally missed by the masses. The word “gifted”, in connection to children, is just such a word.

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Now, what we’re supposed to think that the word “gifted” describes is a child that has superior academic potential and intelligence. This is determined by the results of standardized tests given to children as young as kindergartners, but not required in most states until children reach the 3^rd grade.

Yet a recent New York Daily News study showed that Black kids make up 15% of New York City’s “gifted” program despite making up 27% of all kindergarteners.

Now, before I cry “racism!” (and I wasn’t going to cry it anyway), what I think is important to remind people is that since most discrimination of any sort has been more or less outlawed, those wishing to continue to discriminate have been forced to become more clever.

It’s no longer cool to simply state “No Blacks Allowed.” Fitting more with today’s protocol is establishing a list of criteria that make it more difficult for Blacks to be included.

I pride myself on being one those “centrist” Black people. Meaning I’m the guy that’s right in the middle of the Blacks that are always screaming “Everything is whitey’s fault!” and the ones that are always screaming “Black people are our own worst enemies!”

In this capacity I can see how white people, feeling as always the need to create some corner of the academic world exclusive to themselves and their progeny, would slap a label like “gifted” on the schools that teach their own goofy brats how to feel superior.

Yet at the same time, I can see how the results of standardized testing are hard to manipulate and if there are Blacks out there that are burning with desire to see their children included among that “gifted” number, then we ourselves better do a better job of making sure that they’re properly educated.

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The recent education reforms to No Child Left Behind proposed by the Obama Administration sadly perpetuate a flawed testing policy that will continue to leave our children behind.

I have no problem with tests. Testing, when employed effectively, can be an appropriate way of gauging knowledge, reinforcing lessons and diagnosing learning deficiencies.

Unfortunately, these admirable goals have been sacrificed over the past decade for a more superficial –and political– over-reliance on test scores where children are reduced to numbers and teachers sacrifice more substantial content for drilling test-taking skills.

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To clarify, there are numerous standardized tests out there, like the SAT, ACT, and Iowa Basic Skills test, to name a few. I am not referring to those, but rather the numerous end-of-grade/end-of-course competency tests students take largely as a result of the ‘standards-based reform’ promoted by No Child Left Behind.

Once you place severe consequences on these exams –like keeping children from moving to the next grade or graduating based on a single test—this process is called ‘high-stakes testing.’

And that’s where serious problems lie.

No Child Left Behind –and any later version of it that fails to fundamentally alter this high-stakes approach—has an unhealthy and counterproductive dependence on test scores. And while I am all for holding schools, teachers, parents, and students accountable, basing an elementary or secondary student’s future on one test is not sound educational policy.

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Case in point: like last summer, this year, a substantial number of students in states across the country will be placed in summer school for the sole reason they didn’t pass one specific test. Such policy, over the past few years, has prompted groups like the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education all to conclude it is damaging to children to base retention or graduation decisions on an individual test.

RELATED: Obama Says Education Is Most Important Issue For Black Community

In addition, there’s been numerous  problems with state testing systems including the tests scores of entire school districts being tossed out because either too many students passed or failed; tests not being aligned to what teachers are teaching in class; inaccurate test questions; scoring mistakes; and parents being denied the right to review their child’s test.

Not to mention the insane amount of profits testing companies receive from all the tests students are now forced to take.

And these policies disproportionately affect our children of color, who are more likely to be poor and in schools where teachers do nothing more than “teach to the test,” a problem highlighted by President Obama himself during his presidential campaign.

Wealthier public schools spend less time worrying about testing and more time on quality education and critical thinking since many advantaged students already test well; But poor children in under-funded schools get little more than test coaching, given the primary focus is on test results.

The consequences for schools that don’t test well are pretty severe in states across the country. They include a loss of funding, takeover by the state, a loss of teacher bonuses, possible teacher dismissals, and public labeling as a failed school.

Education should not be just about testing, but about turning on a light in a child’s mind to develop a lifelong love of thinking and learning.

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The late Paul Wellstone, Senator from Minnesota, had this to say about No Child Left Behind: “Making students accountable for test scores works well on a bumper sticker, and it allows many politicians to look good by saying that they will not tolerate failure. But it represents a hollow promise. Far from improving education, high-stakes testing marks a major retreat from fairness, from accuracy, from quality, and from equity.”

Our administration and our nation currently have an opportunity to more positively affect the lives and educational outcomes of millions of American schoolchildren.  The stakes, indeed, are high; too high for us to continue a hollow promise that leaves our children behind.

Stephanie Robinson is President and CEO of The Jamestown Project, a national think tank focused on democracy. She is an author, a Lecturer on Law at the Harvard Law School and former Chief Counsel to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Stephanie reaches 8 to 10 million listeners each week as political commentator for the popular radio venue, The Tom Joyner Morning Show. Check her out at stephanierobinsonspeaks.com. Visit her online at www.StephanieRobinsonSpeaks.com

In a country where minority students are already disproportionately shut out of higher education, is saving a few government dollars really worth endangering opportunities for a generally disadvantaged population? Florida seems to think it is. In an effort to save money, the Florida state legislature is considering raising SAT score requirements for scholarship money so that fewer students qualify. Since minority students on average don’t perform as well on standardized tests as white students, the consequences of this change will be that half of currently eligible Black students will no longer qualify for scholarship funds. If you’re a Florida resident, click here to find your state senator’s contact information and tell them how you feel about this legislation. – NewsOne Staff

From the Independent Florida Alligator:

A bill going through the Florida state Legislature amending Bright Futures scholarship requirements may disproportionately cut opportunities for minority students.

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In 1997 Bright Futures cost $70 million, last year it cost $429 million. And in an effort to keep the program solvent, the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee passed Senate Bill 1344 in a Friday vote of 4-1.

The legislation would raise scholarship requirements for SAT scores.

By 2014, the requirements would increase 20 points to 1290 for the Academic Scholar award.

The legislation would add 80 points to the 1050 required for the Medallion Scholar award.

The higher score requirements would save the state an estimated $8 million in 2013 and $100 million by 2018, but 30 percent fewer students would qualify for scholarships, according to the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government.

The bill would have the largest effect on minority students.

Up to about 49 percent of African American students and 37 percent of Hispanic students who now qualify for Bright Futures would not qualify for the scholarship award in 2014 based on current test scores.

Democratic Sen. Dan Gelber, of Miami Gardens, was the only senator to vote against the bill.

“The economy has created a huge increase of Floridians who want higher education,” Gelber said. “I don’t think they should be stiff aimed.”

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From WashingtonPost.com:

Legislation hailed by supporters as the most significant change to college student lending in a generation passed the House on Sunday night.

The student aid initiative, which House Democrats attached to their final amendments to the health-care bill, would overhaul the student loan industry, eliminating a $60 billion program that supports private student loans with federal subsidies and replacing it with government lending to students. The House amendments will now go to the Senate.

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By ending the subsidies and effectively eliminating the middleman, the student loan bill would generate $61 billion in savings over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

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