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Kids are still going to be tested, but the tests are not going to be measured against federal standards.  Instead, state standards will be used, giving states the right to define their own objectives.

The original No Child Left Behind Act was signed by former President George W. Bush in 2002.  It sanctions schools that fail to meet particular standards by busing students to better schools and replacing staff.

“If we’re serious about helping our children reach their potential, the best ideas aren’t going to come from Washington alone,” Obama said.

“The question is, did kids win?” Amy Wilkins from the Education Trust said to USA Today. “We won’t know that until we see how it plays out in classrooms across the country.”

There are also those who wonder if it is inherently contradictory for President Obama to dismantle No Child Left Behind, while continuing with a system that focuses on testing and uniform standards as the sole measures of student performance.  Professor Christopher Emdin of Columbia University applauds the decision made by Obama but still has his reservations.

“No Child Left Behind was the most powerful systematic way to keep students of color in the position that they’ve been … not successful.  It really focused on one single form of assessment.  It has never considered the fact that students are more complex than just receiving information and spitting it out,” said Dr. Emdin. “The big issue we have in education is acknowledging that our kids are different.”

Dr. Emdin is also concerned that President Obama’s move might be considered contradictory, given that his new system also relies on tests.

“His attempt to try to get rid of No Child left behind means he’s talking out of two sides of his mouth.  He created another system that is just another version of NCLB,” says Emdin. “The new system is just a reincarnation of the current system.  You’re saying, ‘No more teaching to the test,’ but your Race to the Top program is built on a single test.”

On the issues of racial inequality, economic inequality, and mass incarceration, the Obama Administration has come up short.  These issues have rarely been mentioned by the administration and this continues to be a disappointment.  But in the area of education, there is clear evidence that the Obama Administration is seeking to create productive change.

One can’t rightly determine Obama’s reasons for tip-toeing his way to an end to NCLB, but the president’s value systems appear to be in line with the notion of improving the educational system for all students of every background.

What is certainly clear, though, is that improving the educational system, particularly in the inner city, is critical for our nation’s future.  When we don’t educate our children, our national security is threatened and our economic future gets dimmer by the second.  The “War on Terror” during the last decade should be replaced by the “War on Inferior Education.”  It is a war we simply cannot stand to lose.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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The first 10 states to receive the waivers are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The only state that applied for the flexibility and did not get it, New Mexico, is working with the administration to get approval, a White House official told the AP.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the states had not yet been announced. A total of 28 other states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have signaled that they, too, plan to seek waivers – a sign of just how vast the law’s burdens have become as a big deadline nears.

No Child Left Behind requires all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014. Obama’s action strips away that fundamental requirement for those approved for flexibility, provided they offer a viable plan instead. Under the deal, the states must show they will prepare children for college and careers, set new targets for improving achievement among all students, reward the best performing schools and focus help on the ones doing the worst.

In September, Obama called President George W. Bush’s most hyped domestic accomplishment an admirable but flawed effort that hurt students instead of helping them. He said action was necessary because Congress failed to update the law despite widespread bipartisan agreement that it needs fixing. Republicans have charged that by granting waivers, Obama was overreaching his authority.

The executive action by Obama is one of his most prominent in an ongoing campaign to act on his own where Congress is rebuffing him. No Child Left Behind was primarily designed to help the nation’s poor and minority children and was passed a decade ago with widespread bipartisan support. It has been up for renewal since 2007. But lawmakers have been stymied for years by competing priorities, disagreements over how much of a federal role there should be in schools and, in the recent Congress, partisan gridlock.

For all the cheers that states may have about the changes, the move also reflects the sobering reality that the United States is not close to the law’s original goal: getting children to grade level in reading and math.

Critics today say the 2014 deadline was unrealistic, the law is too rigid and led to teaching to the test, and too many schools feel they are labeled as “failures.” Under No Child Left Behind, schools that don’t meet requirements for two years or longer face increasingly tough consequences, including busing children to higher-performing schools, offering tutoring and replacing staff.

As the deadline approaches, more schools are failing to meet requirements under the law, with nearly half not doing so last year, according to the Center on Education Policy. Center officials said that’s because some states today have harder tests or have high numbers of immigrant and low-income children, but it’s also because the law requires states to raise the bar each year for how many children must pass the test.

In states granted a waiver, students will still be tested annually. But starting this fall, schools in those states will no longer face the same prescriptive actions spelled out under No Child Left Behind. A school’s performance will also probably be labeled differently.

The pressure will probably still be on the lowest-performing schools in states granted a waiver, but mediocre schools that aren’t failing will probably see the most changes because they will feel less pressure and have more flexibility in how they spend federal dollars, said Michael Petrilli, vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank.

While the president’s action marks a change in education policy in America, the reach is limited. The populous states of Pennsylvania, Texas and California are among those that have not said they will seek a waiver, although they could still do so later.

On Tuesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said states without a waiver will be held to the standards of No Child Left Behind because “it’s the law of the land.”

Some conservatives viewed Obama’s plan not as giving more flexibility to states, but as imposing his vision on them. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee, said the president allowed “an arbitrary timeline” to dictate when Congress should get the law rewritten and set a dangerous precedent by granting the education secretary “sweeping authority to handpick winners and losers.”

Duncan maintained this week that the administration “desperately” wants Congress to fix the law.

In an election year in a divided Congress, that appears unlikely to happen.

A Senate committee last fall passed a bipartisan bill to update the law, but it was opposed by the administration and did not go before the full Senate for a vote.

Kline released a draft of a Republican-written bill to update the law, earning the ire of California Rep. George Miller, the committee’s ranking Democrat. Miller said such partisanship “means the end” to No Child Left Behind reform in this Congress. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who chairs the Senate committee with jurisdiction over education, has said he believes it “would be difficult to find a path forward” without a bipartisan bill in the House.

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Five years later, Mncube was joyful she stayed. On Saturday, he gazed proudly at his daughter, dressed elegantly in white for the first graduation ceremony at Winfrey’s school. Bongekile Mncube is headed to the University of Johannesburg to study politics and economics, and vows to one day help “build the economy of this country.”

“We are so thankful to Oprah,” said her father, a pastor and small businessmen who never went to high school. “We pray that God helps her to fulfill the vision that she had.”

Elgar’s “Pomp and circumstance” rang out Saturday as the graduates marched in, some unsteady on new high heels. The ceremony saw cheers and tears, including Winfrey’s own.

Winfrey’s school is an attempt to wield philanthropy and celebrity against South Africa’s social and educational crises. High-achieving students from poor families were admitted after a rigorous application process in which Winfrey was deeply involved, and she has visited regularly to counsel her girls. She held a last, late-night “pajama party” with the graduates Friday.

Winfrey told reporters after the ceremony that her girls would continue to be able to rely on her support. A counseling unit had been set up to help the graduates budget time, money and priorities in university.

In a graduation speech, Winfrey praised the teachers, administrators, social workers, psychologists and family members she said had ensured the students succeeded. Winfrey said she has learned it takes a team to support students, especially those who have experienced the poverty and personal trauma that define so many South African lives.

Winfrey said she sees the students as her daughters, and listed the blows they have experienced: “Divorce. Violence. Molestation. The loss of one parent. The loss of another parent. Sorrow. Sadness. Grief.”

The first class to graduate from the school overcame adversity to see 72 of the 75 original members graduate. All 72 are headed to universities in South Africa and the United States. Across South Africa, more than half a million members of the class of 2011 disappeared before the 496,000 remaining took their final exams, and only a quarter of those who graduated did well enough to qualify for university study, according to government figures.

“I’m one proud momma today,” said Winfrey, who wore eye shadow and a flowing gown in green, a school color.

Quoting Maya Angelou, she called the graduates “phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal women.”

Graca Machel, whose husband former South African President Nelson Mandela inspired Winfrey to open the school, called on the graduates to change the world. Mandela has retired from public life and did not attend the ceremony. He attended the opening of the school in 2007.

“You are leaders,” Machel said in her graduation speech. “But be humble. Listen. Learn. Try, and try again.”

Winfrey, among the wealthiest women in the world, spent $40 million to build the school, giving it facilities many South African universities might envy. But she said the school’s success was owed to teachers who came early and stayed late, social workers like one who traveled hundreds of miles (kilometers) to rescue a student who had encountered violence during a visit home, and parents who instilled discipline despite difficult home lives.

Winfrey asked staff and family members to stand for applause during the ceremony.

Winfrey encouraged all South African schools to raise their expectations, saying the experience of her school showed young people would respond by excelling. From the start, Winfrey’s students were told they should set their sights on university.

Despite the money and intentions, the school has had trouble. Soon after opening, a woman working as a dormitory matron was accused of abusing students. She was acquitted in 2010. Winfrey, who has spoken of being abused as a child and called the allegations against the matron crushing, and has said the trial’s outcome was “profoundly” disappointing.

Winfrey settled a defamation lawsuit filed in Philadelphia by the school’s former headmistress, Nomvuyo Mzamane, who claimed Winfrey defamed her in remarks made in the wake of the scandal.

Last year, a baby born to a student at the school was found dead.

Winfrey said Saturday there were times when she was discouraged, but that “I always held the vision that this day was possible.”

Winfrey noted the gradates were born in 1994, the year apartheid ended, “into a nation that said: You are free. You are free to rise. You are free to soar.”

Graduate Bongekile Mncube took Winfrey’s words to heart.

“The world should watch out,” she said. “We’re about to take over.”

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A recent study by the Yale University Child Study Center shows 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 all the way through college. A subsequent article published in “The Washington Post” reported that Black children in the Washington, D.C. area are suspended or expelled two to five times more often than White children. It’s a national trend that needs to be addressed.

Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project joined Roland Martin on Washington Watch to discuss this disturbing trend.

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More than 75 schools are asking to override a plan approved in October to allow multi-year athletic scholarships rather than the one-year renewable awards schools currently provide. That’s the minimum number of dissenters needed for reconsideration by the Division I Board of Directors when it meets next month in Indianapolis at the annual NCAA convention. The NCAA announced the change the Friday before Christmas.

On Dec. 15, the NCAA suspended plans to give athletes a $2,000 stipend for living costs not covered by scholarships after at least 125 schools objected. The higher number of protests allows the organization to immediately put the change on hold.

Both measures were pushed by Emmert and adopted as emergency legislation after a presidential summit in August.

“The NCAA and presidents step up with this legislation and then the universities want to vote it down,” said Christian Dennie, a former compliance officer at Missouri and Oklahoma who now practices sports law in Fort Worth, Texas, and writes an NCAA oversight blog.

“They say, `We don’t have enough money,’ and then the coach gets a $2 million raise,” Dennie added, speaking in general terms rather than about a specific school. “It’s really a resource allocation issue.”

The Division I Board of Directors now faces three options: scrap the two reform measures and operate under previous NCAA rules; modify the rule or create a new proposal that would go back to the schools for another 60-day comment period; or allow members to vote on the override, which needs a 5/8ths majority of the roughly 350 Division I members to pass.

A permanent reversal could force the NCAA and its schools to have two sets of standards, with an obligation to honor multi-year scholarship offers and stipend payments for some students but not others.

David Berst, the NCAA’s vice president of governance for Division I, said that most schools support the concept of multi-year scholarships but have concerns about how to enact such a change.

“The overriding concern had to do with the time to prepare and plan (for a change) rather than objecting to the concept,” he said. “I’m anticipating the rule will still be in effect (after the next board meeting).”

The list of schools objecting to the multi-year scholarship plan, obtained by Dennie and provided to The Associated Press, includes Boise State, Boston University, Indiana State, Marquette, Marshall, Rutgers, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming.

Boise State called the move a “recruiting disaster” that would encourage a “culture of brokering” and pit wealthy schools with larger recruiting budgets against their less well-heeled brethren, while also obligating schools to long-term commitments that may not make competitive sense.

“There is never a guarantee that the incoming student-athlete will be a good fit for the program and the institution,” the school wrote in its override request. “If it is a poor fit, the program is put in a difficult situation to continue to keep a student-athlete on scholarship.”

Indiana State offered a more blunt assessment, suggesting the change could “create some real nightmares.”

The “problem is, many coaches, especially at the (Football Championship Subdivision) level, in all sports, are usually not around for five years and when the coach leaves, the new coach and institution may be `stuck’ with a student-athlete they no longer want (conduct issues, grades, etc.) or the new coach may have a completely different style of offense/defense that the student-athlete no longer fits into,” the school wrote. “Yet, the institution is `locked in’ to a five-year contract potentially with someone that is of no athletic usefulness to the program.”

“The current system works. We don’t need to get into bidding wars where one school offers a 75 percent (scholarship) for two years and the other school then offers 85 percent for three years, etc., etc. This puts the kid into a situation where they almost need an agent/advisor just to determine the best “deal.” Again, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Berst, who collects the complaints, has previously said the opposition to the stipend is coming primarily from FCS schools and those that do not play football. Most of the Football Bowl Subdivision conferences, he said, have informed the NCAA they plan to expand their scholarship limits.

The one-year renewable scholarship, with a limit of five years of athletic aid, has been in place since 1973. And while the National Letter of Intent signed by most top recruits includes that caveat, some athletes say coaches on the recruiting trail routinely make more grandiose promises they know they can’t fulfill.

In October 2010, former Rice University football player Joseph Agnew sued the NCAA over its one-year athletic scholarship policy. Agnew played two seasons for the private Houston school before coaches told him in 2007 his scholarship would not be renewed. He appealed the university’s decision and received a scholarship his junior year but did not receive any tuition money as a senior.

A federal judge in Indiana dismissed that complaint in September.

Earlier this month, former Missouri women’s soccer player Ann Alexandra Charlebois sued coach Brian Blitz and the university’s governing board, claiming that she agreed to attend Missouri only after Blitz vowed in writing to provide more than $106,000 in support through 2015, with the player and her family needing to contribute only half of her college costs in her first year.

Charlebois received a 50 percent partial scholarship in 2010 as a freshman. After complaining about receiving a similar amount of financial aid this year, she was kicked off the team in September, her attorney said.

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The duo along with several other teachers were judged based on seven different categories including, ability to capture and maintain attention, the ability to move their audience or create interaction, the ability to inspire, effective use of language, use of memory devices, ability to transform behavior or make them do as you do and the quality of the content.

Of all of the categories, Lil Wayne and Niki Minaj had the lowest scores in … wait for it … “Quality of Content.” The company’s CEO, Melvin El, said the controversial MCs were chosen because of their “swagger” and their “methods” in connecting with youth:

… The methodologies the two stars are using are undeniable forces in learning. Children learn their stuff because they have all the right methods. Apparently students are drawn in by the “swagger….” If you are a teacher today and you don’t have any swagger, you are going to struggle to get your students attention. It turns out a teacher can learn a lot from Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj.

Better Education Place uses media, such as TV, film, and theater, to create products that will facilitate literacy and promote culturally diverse entertainment. El adds:

With the help of hip hop we can make education fun again. Better Education Place is a company with a vision of helping children to develop a passion for reading and learning so they can excel at education and ultimately succeed.

Do you think this self-described “hip-hop education company” should be celebrating Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj as “teachers” other instructors should emulate or is this award a disgrace? Sound off below.

Read more at Afro.com.

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Marks states that if he were a poor Black kid, he would utilize technology and attempt to get into private or charter schools and focus on academics. What Marks does not explain is if he were a poor Black kid, how he would have knowledge of the various technologies, websites and schools he advocates.

If I was a poor black kid I would first and most importantly work to make sure I got the best grades possible. I would make it my #1 priority to be able to read sufficiently. I wouldn’t care if I was a student at the worst public middle school in the worst inner city. Even the worst have their best. And the very best students, even at the worst schools, have more opportunities. Getting good grades is the key to having more options. With good grades you can choose different, better paths. If you do poorly in school, particularly in a lousy school, you’re severely limiting the limited opportunities you have.

And I would use the technology available to me as a student. I know a few school teachers and they tell me that many inner city parents usually have or can afford cheap computers and internet service nowadays. That because (and sadly) it’s oftentimes a necessary thing to keep their kids safe at home then on the streets. And libraries and schools have computers available too. Computers can be purchased cheaply at outlets like TigerDirect and Dell’s Outlet. Professional organizations like accountants and architects often offer used computers from their members, sometimes at no cost at all.

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“The site touches on subjects like, the rewards of hard work and importance of learning manners as well as the idea that doing good deeds for others will bring good into your life – which is the meaning of the word Karma,” said Ludacris said of the site. “The music and lyrics, games and stories on the site are all original and were created by me, my daughter and my creative team.

Karmasworld.com teaches children from grades 1 to 3 and 4 to 6 academic lessons about math, science and geography, as well as ethical and social responsibilities like manners, honesty and kindness.”

Learn more about Karmasworld.com at Allhiphop.com.

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The number of students recieiving subsidized lunch rose 17 percent since the 2006, according to Department of Agriculture data gathered by the New York Times. Eleven states had four-year increases of 25 percent or more.

“These are very large increases and a direct reflection of the hardships American families are facing,” said Benjamin Senauer, a University of Minnesota economist who studies the meals program, adding that the surge had happened so quickly “that people like myself who do research are struggling to keep up with it.”

Read more at the New York Times.

“The victim was an 8-year-old male classmate, whom the three allegedly attacked in a bathroom at West Philadelphia’s Bryant Elementary School.”

The community is in a state of complete shock. The mother of the boy who was attacked was simply quoted as saying:

“I felt helpless,” the victim’s mother told WPVI. “It took him almost 7 hours to try to tell me what happened.”

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How do we explain acts of violence like this to ourselves, let alone our children? Is this a situation of broken families, broken school systems or is American society falling apart? Please post your thoughts below. See the full story at The Huffington Post.

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The event, put on by New York Non-Profit Entertainers for Education Alliance (E4EA), aims to encourage and inspire young people to live their dreams while emphasizing the importance of education.

“That’s one good thing about education in our country,” said Terrence J. “We’re a country where it comes free to everybody. And as long as you do your thing in school and as long as you keep up with your grades, you are able to get a post high school education as well under the government.”

Read more at the Grio.

The answer turns out to be a complex equation of self-doubt, stereotypes, discouragement and economics – and sometimes just wrong perceptions of what math and science are all about.

The percentage of African-Americans earning STEM degrees has fallen during the last decade. It may seem far-fetched for an undereducated black population to aspire to become chemists or computer scientists, but the door is wide open, colleges say, and the shortfall has created opportunities for those who choose this path.

STEM barriers are not unique to black people. The United States does not produce as high a proportion of white engineers, scientists and mathematicians as it used to. Women and Latinos also lag behind white men.

Yet the situation is most acute for African-Americans.

Black people are 12 percent of the U.S. population and 11 percent of all students beyond high school. In 2009, they received just 7 percent of all STEM bachelor’s degrees, 4 percent of master’s degrees, and 2 percent of PhDs, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

From community college through PhD level, the percentage of STEM degrees received by blacks in 2009 was 7.5 percent, down from 8.1 percent in 2001.

The numbers are striking in certain fields. In 2009, African-Americans received 1 percent of degrees in science technologies, and 4 percent of degrees in math and statistics. Out of 5,048 PhDs awarded in the physical sciences, such as chemistry and physics, 89 went to African-Americans – less than 2 percent.

Several factors are cited by scientists, educators and students. One is a self-defeating perception that STEM is too hard. Also mentioned are a lack of role models and mentors, pressure to earn money quickly, and discouraging academic environments.

The impact reaches beyond the black community as America struggles to produce enough scientists to prosper in a world ruled by technology.

“White men make up less than 50 percent of the U.S. population. We’re drawing (future scientists) from less than 50 percent of the talent we have available,” says Mae Jemison, the first black woman astronaut, who has a medical degree and a bachelor’s in chemical engineering.

“The more people you have in STEM,” she says, “the more innovations you’ll get.”

—

Jemison says the problem begins for children of all backgrounds in grade school, where they are usually asked to memorize facts out of a book instead of satisfying their natural curiosity through experiments and exploring. She also says many primary school science teachers took little science in college.

Allen Gordon has been teaching math in Oakland, Calif., for seven years. He always tries to apply real-word situations to his lessons – coupons, compound interest on bank accounts, album sales.

“If math and science seem boring and of no use on a primary education level, who would want to pursue it while in college?” he says. “Especially when you don’t see many, if any, black men or women teaching.”

“Math and science are not something that black men and women sit around and pontificate about at home, dinner parties, the sports bar, hair salon, et cetera,” he says. “It doesn’t fit into their social idea of status.

“Let’s face it, there is no glory in saying, `I teach math or science.’ Career school teachers still seem to be very proletarian.”

Even some of Gordon’s fellow teachers ask how he can teach math, saying, “Funny, you don’t look like the nerd type.”

That’s a stereotype Jemison knows well.

“The media images you see of scientists are older white males who are goofy or socially inept in some way,” she says. “That’s the mad scientist, the geek” – and it doesn’t include role models for young black and Hispanic students.

Jemison, who watched “Star Trek” growing up, declines to call the black female character Lieutenant Uhura an inspiration, but the fictional space traveler did affect her.

“Her character was really an affirmation that my assumptions about going into space were shared by others, and that everyone had a right and a role to play. So that affirmation, for a little kid growing up, it’s an image of possibilities.”

—

Growing up in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Christopher Smith used to tutor fellow black students at his high school.

The students would often start solving a complicated math problem by doing everything right. “Then they would say, `I don’t know what I’m doing!’” recalls Smith, now pursuing a PhD in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

He thinks some African-Americans psych themselves out of STEM.

“Today I talk to friends back home, and they say, `I wouldn’t be able to do good in college anyway.’ A lot of it is just confidence,” Smith says. “If people convince you that science and math is harder than everything else, and you already have low self-esteem, maybe that’s one reason there are so few black scientists.”

“Few” is a generous term in Smith’s field of biological and biomedical sciences, where 6,957 PhDs were awarded in 2009. Only 88 went to black men – that’s 1 percent. (176 went to black women.)

LaMont Toliver also sees a problem with what he calls “self-doubt.” He is director of the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s Meyerhoff Scholars Program, a national leader in increasing STEM diversity.

“Advanced placement courses, calculus, chemistry, these are hard courses,” Toliver says. “Some of them believe that they just can’t do it. . Then you couple that with a lack of encouragement.”

“If we were more supportive as a community, as parents and providing guidance and mentoring at an early age, then more African-American students would do it.”

—

Money is another factor in the STEM disparity. It takes many years after college to get the advanced degrees needed to become leaders in math and science fields – university professors, directors of research labs, heads of engineering departments – and some black students can’t afford to wait that long.

Before one recent New Year’s Eve, Smith, the Johns Hopkins student, was debating whether to purchase a bus ticket from Baltimore to New York City to hang out with friends. It was a tough decision – the ticket cost $37.

Smith, 27, received a fellowship for black scientists this year from Merck and the United Negro College Fund. As he works toward his PhD, Smith lives on a salary and stipend of about $25,000 per year.

Like many black students, Smith comes from modest means. His mother was a homemaker with a high school diploma; his father earned a GED, became an electrician and eventually owned a business.

“I get paid to go to school, so I don’t want to complain,” Smith says.

But he’s still several years away from completing his PhD, and he’s tired of agonizing over a $37 bus ticket. Even after he gets that degree, he’ll need to do a year of post-doctoral study. “If I stay here at Hopkins” for post-doc work, he says, “I’ll make the same or less than a city sanitation worker.”

At each stage of science education, many black students feel pressure to stop studying and start earning real money. Smith, who has an undergraduate degree from MIT, says he could be making as much as $115,000 per year in a corporate job.

Yet it’s hard to advance far in science without at least a master’s, if not a doctorate.

Joseph Francisco, a black chemistry professor at Purdue and past president of the American Chemical Society, has a PhD from MIT. He says his undergrad students are always telling him, “I got to think about a job.”

“With first-generation college students, there is enormous pressure,” Francisco says. “Without a mentor who can tell you about what to expect beyond undergrad, who can explain what are the opportunities after a postgraduate degree, they just stop at a bachelor’s degree.”

—

Francisco mentions another source of pressure affecting black STEM students: isolation.

In 1981, Francisco was studying at MIT when he heard about a national organization for black chemists. He went to its convention, in Chicago.

“It was incredible,” Francisco remembers. “I remember having the feeling, `you are not alone.’ That sense of isolation can be powerful.”

It was different when he was growing up on the black side of segregated Beaumont, Texas. He was raised by his grandmother, who had a third-grade education, and his grandfather, who laid concrete pipes. There was a black pharmacist in his neighborhood, and Francisco worked part-time in the shop. There was a black doctor, teachers, a college professor.

That changed when he went to the University of Texas and then MIT, where there were few black faces.

In a 2010 Bayer Corp. survey of 1,226 women and underrepresented minority chemists and chemical engineers, 40 percent said they were discouraged from pursuing a STEM career. Sixty percent said college was where most of the discouragement happened.

Jemison, the astronaut, says that while at Stanford, “some professors were not that thrilled to see me in their classrooms.”

“Stereotypes impact the people who have an opportunity to influence your career,” she says. “They don’t see you as a peer.”

After receiving his PhD, Francisco had several job offers. He chose Wayne State University in Detroit, and would later become president of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers.

“I saw an opportunity at Wayne State to do good science in a supportive place that gave me the flexibility to make a contribution to the community,” he says. “To give something back, to a black community.”

—

In the world of atoms and numbers, does the color of the person who studies them really matter?

Many of America’s technology giants say, yes. Merck has funded tens of millions of dollars in United Negro College Fund scholarships. Bayer has a special focus on recruiting and promoting minorities. Technology giants such as Boeing, General Electric and Xerox support organizations dedicated to raising black STEM participation.

Their motivation is simple math. If bright and capable students’ talents go undeveloped, “this represents a loss for both the individual and society,” the National Science Board said in a 2010 report.

The report said that after the Soviet Union beat America into space with Sputnik, the U.S. was inspired to educate a new generation of innovators. This national urgency faded by the 1970s, the report said, and was replaced by complacency.

Some 16 percent of all U.S. undergraduates major in natural science or engineering, compared with 25 percent in Europe, 38 percent in South Korea and 47 percent in China, the report said.

To reverse this decline, the report said America must “cast a wide net to identify all types of talents and to nurture potential in all demographics of students.”

Jemison identifies another incentive. Even though scientists may use the same methodology, “what topics they choose to research, even the interpretation of facts or what they choose to look at is influenced by experience.”

“So many times it’s the diversity of thought and perception and experience base that starts to make the difference in the problems you research and the solutions you consider,” she says.

“It’s a much more robust reason for diversity that just the head count.”

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Karina Sanchez, Pearl Quick and Anthony Pittman, three best friends better known as “the tripod,” join a poetry writing program, “Power Writing,” at University Heights High School in the Bronx. This 87-minute documentary takes you through the transformation of these friends as you watch Karina grow and overcome abusive issues with her mother, Anthony’s struggle to remove himself from street life, and Pearl’s journey to accepting and loving herself enough to believe that life can be better for her.

In the film’s opening Pearl shows her room and her wall of negativity. On her list of things she views as negative characteristics are “minority” and “Black.”  Her journey to overcoming these insecurities is evident throughout Power Writing program.

“I’ve learned that this is who I am and that accepting and loving myself first is the most important thing,” said Pearl.

In a world where they had no one else, they had each other and relied heavily on the three legs of their “tripod.” Throughout the Power Writing program, they grew closely with their teachers and mentors, Amy Sultan and Roland Legiardi-Laura who served as co-directors and producers on the documentary.

“As far as I was concerned, I didn’t have a mother,” remembered Karina Sanchez, now 24. “Amy was my mother.”

The documentary follows the kids through their high school years and beyond, and shows the character change each of them go though in that time period. Anthony Pittman’s progression was especially challenging trying to leave his life in the streets behind. His story is heart-wrenching as your hopes grow for him throughout the film, and then die.

These three are resilient and using words and their weapons of choice, only brings them closer to the life they never thought they’d have.

To Be Heard has been shown and prized in film festivals including Seattle International Film Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, Doc NYC Documentary Film Festival and many more across the country. To Be Heard opens in selected theaters on October 12, 2011.

To Be Heard: Trailer from Edwin Martinez on Vimeo.

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I agree that this topic needs to be discussed but it needs to be discussed from a viewpoint that takes the children’s needs into effect instead of just looking at the issue based on dollars and cents and a skewed perspective on percentages. If you read this article, you would believe that these software programs offer moderate improvement at best, and are not cost efficient in most cases. The point that this article does not discuss is that these programs are looking to fill the gap of the lack of skill reinforcement that is not available in most public schools, and how most of those schools are mostly comprised of people of color. Articles like this that just lay out data points in a casual way do more to continue people’s misconceptions about how technology can improve and supplement learning to the benefit of students, especially students in areas with low resources. What was even more disturbing than the myopic approach the writer used to communicate issues, were the images that were used.

When I was first presented with the article this was the image I was presented with:

Now the first question I ask is what does this image convey to you? Some of you would say confusion, lack of understanding or an overall inability to utilize and understand the technology. Now imagine what the image would convey to some teenage African Americans who are on the fence about whether to take the leap to become computer literate. The image is a grave contrast to the image I found that they used on an earlier story.

What’s even more interesting is the story that image was used for painted a more dire picture that the article I found. Its title was ”In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores,” but imagery of these children ( not people of color) is upbeat and full of promise. Why the difference? We could spend months trying to get an explanation but regardless of that reason the result is no less damaging.What the writers of these pieces may or may not realize is that even though these  programs may not have ideal results, they are doing some things that are core to solving some key issues that contribute to the digital divide.

These programs help students develop a real comfort level with using computers and the internet. By using the software the kids develop  an understanding the repetitive learning is key to skill development.  This will also give the students the urge to want to have computer and internet access at home, which is key to adoption.

What most people don’t realize is that the biggest roadblock in closing the digital divide is not cost but digital literacy. Many African Americans and Hispanics see digital literacy as an impossible goal for them mainly because they don’t see the value in it for them. Stories and images like these only help to continue to discourage people against making the effort to adopt technology. We need more examples of minorities utilizing and succeeding with technology to change the perception that technology is not “for us”  Let me know what you think of how the two images were used below in the comments .

You can follow Navarrow Wright on twitter @navarrowwright

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Some believe Anderson’s dramatic approach is unfounded and likely to fail. While others believe the plan is exactly what is needed to revitalize a school systems crippled by low achievement and high dropout rates.

“I believe a strong principal is the key to almost everything,” Ms. Anderson said in an interview. “Where you have great performance, you have great principals, period, full stop. Where you have low performance, you have struggling principals. It’s not that complicated.”

Read more at the New York Times.

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Already, three new alternative schools have been opened with the Facebook money. At the same time, teachers seem to approve of Anderson’s hands-on approach.

“Every principal I’ve talked to, I’ve never heard them speak so highly of a superintendent, and it’s because they feel they have a direct connection to her,” Newark mayor Cory Booker said.

The mayor, who has long been a champion of education reform, said it’s too premature to outline fully how the Zuckerberg donation has specifically affected the city, but he expects to have an in-depth strategy in place by the actual date of the anniversary, Sept. 24, and after Superintendent Anderson “finishes her top-to-bottom diagnostic of her school openings and efforts.”

Read more at the Huffington Post.

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First grade teacher Jennifer O’Brien of Paterson, N.J. made headlines last week back after referring to her class of mostly Black and Latino kids as “future criminals.” In a status update on her Facebook page O’Brien wrote, “I’m not a teacher – I’m a warden for future criminals,” according to NorthJersey.com. Six hours later she continued, “They had a scared straight program in school—why couldn’t I bring 1st graders?” referring to a school event where sixth graders talked to prison inmates about the consequences of crime.

O’Brien is currently awaiting the school board’s decision on whether or not she will be allowed to keep her job.

O’Brien’s sentiments are not shocking, nor are they uncommon. She just happened to make a bad judgment call in vocalizing her opinion on a social networking site.

As someone who has substitute taught in a 60 percent Latino, 40 percent Black school district, I understand the frustrations of teachers. Students as early as sixth grade can be unruly, rude, uninterested, use foul language, etc. And some teachers are clueless as to how to deal with students whose culture and background is unlike their own. But as frustrated as I’ve been on days where I did more disciplining than actual teaching, my god, I’ve never once thought those children were “future criminals.” Never. What chance do Black and brown students have if by the first grade their teachers already think so poorly of them? It’s one thing to express frustrations of having an overly active or rowdy class. It’s quite another to use the terminology “future criminals.” It’s bad enough the U.S. government builds prisons based on the reading scores of fourth graders. But the teacher responsible for teaching these same students is criminalizing six and seven-year-old kids. O’Brien has to go. Her beliefs are far too dangerous for the classroom where she has already determined her students are destined for failure.

Rev. Kenneth Clayton, the president of the local branch of the NAACP who was called to testify, called O’Brien’s comments stupid and said they “help us realize again that racism has not been erased from our country.”

“I know that children can be testy and tedious and all those things, but to say in first grade there that you’re a warden for them, that’s reprehensible … if a teacher or any adult leader could look at children like that in the first grade and think that, then the children are doomed,” Clayton went on to say.

Read the full story on Colorlines.

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The choice — whether to attend college, drop out or forsake school all together.

It is a choice that’s becoming increasingly prevalent across the country as Congress considers deeper cuts into federal student aid and loans. In response to this crisis, Allstate, and the Tom Joyner Foundation are uniting to assist African-American college students pay for school.

Today’s struggling economy and distressed job market make it more important than ever to secure a college education,” said Tom Joyner, Founder of The Tom Joyner Foundation.

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The new “neighborhood schools” platfrom would assign students to schools closer to where they live, rather than busing students to schools outside of their neighborhood in order to maintain racial and social economic diversity throughout the county.

Critics of the plan say poor and minority students would lose out on the resources that white schools receive. They are currently drafting new ideas to offer as alternatives to the proposed neighborhood school plan, but thus far nothing has stuck.

“Our issues is how are the children, both black and white going to be cared for,” said the Rev. WIlliam Barber, who heads the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP. “When we argue for diversity it is not simply people need to be in close proximity to each other. Whenever you have racially identifiable, high-poverty schools, you also have corresponding with that under resources and high teacher turnover.”

Read more at the Huffington Post.

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By infusing rap lyrics into subjects like language arts and history, Fresh Prep is helping students memorize lessons and increase their scores on New York’s required Regents exam.

Just recently, Fresh Prep expanded it program, teaching for the first time to students still learning English.

So far, Fresh Prep has shown strong results in the high school where it started with 30 students in 2009 — significantly more students passed that year — and promising results in some classrooms at seven high-poverty high schools where it was used last year, the organization said.

Read more at the New York Times.

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Currently only 64% of middle schools and 38% of high schools in New York City teach a recommended Sex Education curriculum.

“We must be committed to ensuring that both middle school and high school students are exposed to this valuable information so they can learn to keep themselves safe before, and when, they decide to have sex,” Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in an email to colleagues.

Read more at the New York Daily News.

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Born out of the Civil Rights era, when teaching poor Blacks meant supplementing reading, writing and arithmetic, the six-week-long program’s goal is to re-invent summer school for kids who lack options when school is not in session.

“We have to go back and kind of shore up the things that are not being done within our schools,” according to Aaron Burleson, Manager of the Freedom school.

Read more at The Grio.

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Last week, NewsOne reported that Josephine Minnow, a UConn alumna started a petition to get Autum reinstated at the institution, which is now signed by nearly 500 people.

However, UConn’s Communications Officer Michael Kirk told NewsOne Tuesday, that Autum was never accepted.

“The story that she was offered admission and then had it rescinded is not true,” Kirk said in an email.

Contrastingly, Autum’s father Batin Ashante told NewsOne that his daughter was indeed accepted, and that UConn’s spokesman Richard Veilleaux confirmed it to a reporter at the NY Daily News.

See Story In NY Daily News

Kirk denies Veilleaux said such a thing. According to him, the spokesman told the journalist that the institution doesn’t generally say if someone is accepted or not, but that “no one by that name is enrolled at UConn.” According to Kirk, not releasing such information to press is against the university’s courtesy policy. Nonetheless, he adamantly made it clear that no one by the name of Autum Ashante is enrolled, and has never been enrolled at the institution.

Somewhere there was an obvious miscommunication, as the report from the NY Daily News said otherwise.

Mr. Ashante told NewsOne that the institution has caused his family a lot of grief for “going back on their word,” and as a result have been dragged through the media. He said that he was told that he and his daughter needed to formally enroll, but upon doing so, the admission’s office told him that Autum was not “academically” ready. Autum is reported to have an IQ of 149.

Ashante condemned the institution and accused them of “covering their a—”

Meanwhile, the Ashante’s had to halt initial plans to relocate to Connecticut, as they originally were under the impression that Autum would begin classes at UConn this fall.

Instead, Mr. Ashante is looking into enrolling Autum at other institutions such as Hampton University, a historically black college in Virginia, and the University of Bridgeport.

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Autum’s father, Batin Ashante, was reportedly enraged by the university’s decision, calling it “B.S.” He told reporters that his daughter was “devastated.”

However, the Ashante’s weren’t the only ones outraged by such news.

Josephine Minnow, a University of Connecticut alumna, discovered Autum’s story and immediately responded.

“I love my Alma Mater, but I became outraged that they would deny such talent,” Minnow said.

Minnow’s outrage led her to start a petition to overturn the university’s decision.

The electronic petition was engineered after Minnow spoke with officials at UConn’s African-American Cultural and Alumni Centers. She said she wants to eventually approach the institution’s admissions office, but would like to have a strong number of signatures to make her plea.

“There are just as many people outraged as I am,” she said.

Emails from Minnow have been sent to UConn officials, however, no response has been returned.

Minnow, who graduated from UConn in 2010, said her goal is to have close to a thousand signatures, though, a few hundred would be good enough.

While Minnow would like to get as many signatures as possible, she warns that “time is of the essence,” as UConn is set to start it’s Fall semester by the end of August. The goal is to get Autum enrolled by that time. Minnow said that the Ashante’s are still relocating to Connecticut, as they made the decision when they first learned of Autum’s acceptance.

When news broke of her acceptance, Autum’s telling story went viral. Videos of her performing poems of Black nationalism were discovered on YouTube. However, some found her poems too radical.

While Minnow said she does not want to believe this incident is racially embedded, she lamented, “It’s hard to not think that way.”

Minnow theorized that some prestigious alumni of the institution may have got hold of Ashante’s radical views and developed “ill” feelings toward her, however, she hopes that isn’t the case.

If Autum attends the institution, she wouldn’t be the first youngster to do so. According to Minnow, a 12-year-old white boy enrolled in the institution while she attended.

“If [UConn] can afford [him] that opportunity, why can’t they afford Autum that same opportunity?” she queried.

Minnow said this mission is personal for her because she sees a lot of herself in Autum, and shares a few commonalities aside from being accepted to the same college.

“[We both are] from the Bronx and grew up in a single-parent household,” she said.

Minnow thinks Autum would be a valuable asset to the institution’s legacy, and hopes her petition will make a difference.

“I think UConn should be more than happy to accept an African-American girl with such potential and talent to call their own.”

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Batin Ashante said his daughter, Autum, is devastated by the sudden news. The NY Daily News and a host of news agencies reported about Autum’s acceptance at the time, making her a blogosphere sensation.

Her father says UConn’s decision is “B.S..”

The NY Daily News Reports:

“I’ve got nothing but positive feedback,” Ashante said. “I’m her dad and it just bothers me to see her go through this.”

Ashante said Autum notifed the school she’d be attending, and the family had been raising funds for tuition.

Read More At NYDailyNews.com

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HARTFORD – Tanya McDowell, a homeless single mother accused of illegally enrolling her son in the wrong school district, appeared in court Monday after being arrested Friday for allegedly selling crack cocaine and marijuana to undercover officers near another school in Norwalk.

Norwalk investigators picked up McDowell on three drug warrants and then found more drugs on her during the arrest, police said, according to CBS affiliate WFSB.

In court on Monday, McDowell’s attorney said the drug cases are in retaliation to all of the negative publicity the city has received after she enrolled her son, now 6, in kindergarten last fall under her babysitter’s address.

“If this is a way to respond to her fighting back, this is a bad way to do it. It’s a terrible message,” Darnell Crosland, McDowell’s attorney said, reports the station.

In April, McDowell made national headlines after she was charged with stealing an education for her son. McDowell said she was homeless and had been staying with different people while her son was in school, the station reports.

Since then, McDowell’s case has garnered even more attention and support from civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who headlined a rally last week outside the school McDowell’s son had attended.

In the new case, McDowell faces 29 charges, including drug manufacturing and possession near a school. Her bond was set for $200,000.

She remains in jail.

While her attorney tried arguing the recent drug investigation was targeted at McDowell, prosecutors and Norwalk police said the case was a routine reaction to complaints about drugs.

“I’m a little disappointed by attorney Crosland suggesting that I put together a task force. I have more more important things to worry about. It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Norwalk police Chief Harry Rilling, reports the station.

McDowell is due to return to court July 12 in the enrollment case.

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McNair, who decided to pursue the double degree after her teachers’ prompting, is a member of the first class of students to graduate from Hostos Community College’s Early College High School.

“It’s a lot of work – you have to go to school year-round – so it was a lot of balancing, and a lot of people couldn’t handle it,” McNair said. “It’s hard managing school when you have your family issues on the side… if you mess up once it’s over.”

Read the full story at the New York Daily News.

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The Week magazine goes by the numbers with a brief guide highlighting the trend:

$175

Registration fee for students in the Community Unit School District 200 in Wheaton, Ill.

$864

Extracurricular activities fee for students who play football at Hamilton-Wenham High Regional High School in South Hamilton, Mass.

$4,446.50

Cost of one year of public education for the Dombi family’s four children in Medina, Ohio. The cost includes fees for basic courses like Spanish I and Earth science, extracurricular activities like cross-country and track, and the cost of graded electives, like band.

Read more at The Week

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Urged by San Francisco NAACP chapter President Rev. Amos Brown, the present-day elementary school bearing the name Peter Burnett Elementary changed its name to the Leola M. Havard Early Education School one week ago today.

The school is now called  Early Education School in tribute to San Francisco’s first African-American principal. Havard, who first started in 1949 served the district for 30 years.

Read more at BlackAmericaWeb.

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Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the “Early Learning Challenge” Wednesday. It’s the latest incarnation of the administration’s Race to the Top competition, in which states compete for education money.

Duncan called early learning a critical issue for the country. Sebelius said that the health and financial security of the U.S. will depend on investments made in the first years of a child’s life. She said that kids who fall behind by age 5 won’t be able to compete for future jobs.

Sebelius says that the administration is taking a “holistic” approach, focusing on kids’ health as well as their education.

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The New York Times reports:

While the additional aid ordered by the court was far less than the $1.7 billion requested by some schools advocates, it was still a blow to a governor who has made a national name for himself by cutting spending and assailing perquisites and benefits for public employees, particularly teachers. He has accused the teachers’ union, the New Jersey Education Association, and the courts of promoting the view that more money equals better schools, a position he says has been discredited by decades of failure.

“The constitutional ball is now in the legislature’s court,” Christie said during his response to the ruling. “It’s now up to the legislature to decide how that gets done and then send it to me for my consideration.”

According to the state constitution, the budget must be final by June 30.

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“Math needs better marketing,” deGrasse Tyson told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien during an intimate sit down on the subject of  math and science in American education.

Tyson’s interview is a part of CNN and O’Brien’s new series, “Don’t Fail Me: Education in America,” which re-airs tomorrow night, Saturday, May 21, 2011, at 8 p.m. ET.

Check the video here:

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“We took our focus away from excellence and performance and accountability,” Burns told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien about the dilemma of science and math education in American schools.

The interview is a part of CNN and O’Brien’s new series, “Don’t Fail Me: Education in America,” which re-airs tomorrow night, Saturday, May 21, 2011, at 8 p.m. ET.

Check the video below.

VIDEO:

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“It was alleged that he walked to the back of the class, told the class not to turn around and allegedly urinated in one of the garbage cans,” Riverdale police Major Greg Barney told the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“A couple of students turned around and observed him”

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Mt. Eden, Hayward and Tennyson high schools all have a policy that ban wearing gang colors, however the three principals disagree on how to enact that policy in face of an increasing number of gang affiliated colors and system-savvy students, reports the Oakland Tribune.

Red, blue, yellow, white and black all have been associated with gangs at his high school, said Thomas Fraser, principal at Tennyson High. George Bullis, principal of Hayward High chooses to enforce the color ban only on students who have a history of “less positive activities.”

Several member of the school board disagreed with this approach, including trustees William McGee and Jesus Armas.

The Oakland Tribune reports:

Armas stressed that they need to avoid practices that could be viewed as profiling, and added that having different policies at each campus “compromises the message.”

To make schools safer, Trustee Luis Reynoso suggested bringing drug-sniffing dogs to the campus for random checks. He also said metal detectors could be used and more disruptive students expelled.

“There is no reason why a learning environment should put up with that behavior,” he said.

Along with stronger enforcement of the rules, the school district hopes to entice students away from gang life by emphasizing positive behavior reinforcement and increasing the number of staff members equipped to help.

Hayward High has benefited from the temporary addition of a sixth campus supervisor, Bullis said, and Mt. Eden’s three assistant principals are a “tremendous help” said Principal Jon Lorimer.

Bullis said additional counselors on campus also would be a valuable asset.

“Many students face situations we never faced in high school, and still go to class,” he said. “We need to provide additional support.”

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Roland Martin talks to Don Hernandez author of a new study released by The Annie E. Casey Foundation reveals that the level of reading skills developed by third grade may indicate a child’s likelihood of graduating from high school.

CLICK HERE to read the full report.

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Texas A&M Aggies Coach, Gary Blair joined Roland Martin on the Tom Joyner Morning Show to discuss how massive cuts in education spending are affecting Title IX programs and women’s sports.

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NEW YORK — Black attendees at the National Action Network convention celebrated raucously today when news broke of the resignation of embattled New York City public schools chancellor Cathleen P. Black, to be replaced by Deputy Mayor Dennis M. Walcott, an African-American.

“Hallelujah,” screamed a woman who jumped out of her seat during a panel on collective bargaining, spinning and high-fiving a neighbor. “She has seen the light!”

The removal of Black was a shock to many, including those in the audience who believe she had weathered the rough waters since her hiring by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and was now safe.

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“Kathie Black got fired? I have a child in a public school in the city and for them to bring in a complete outsider was a joke. I’m glad she’s gone,” said Martha Smith of Brooklyn, NY.

The departure of the former magazine executive with no education experience comes after four months of public gaffes that destroyed her public image and tarnished Bloomberg’s reputation.  In a Quinnipiac University poll conducted last month, Black’s approval rating was a dismal 17 percent. Close to 50 percent of respondents called for her resignation.

Many feel this was impetus for Bloomberg to jettison her.

“After those numbers broke, how can you not get rid of her?” said a smiling Janice Hawkins who celebrated with a friend upon hearing the news.

Walcott will now step in to run the largest public school district in the nation with over one million students.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz released a statement praising the hiring of Walcott.

“I join all of Brooklyn and our borough’s 300,000 public school students and their families in wholeheartedly welcoming Dennis Walcott—a proud son of New York City and product of the public school system, educator and, perhaps most importantly, parent and grandparent—as New York City Schools Chancellor.”

Even before the news of Black’s resignation broke, one panelist lodged a prescient grievance against Black. Norman Seabrook, the president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, mentioned that Black didn’t belong in her position, and that Walcott was better suited for the job.

Close to an hour later, he broke the news of Black’s removal to the stunned, joyous crowd.

“I guess you can call me a visionary,” said a laughing Seabrook to audience applause.

According to Seabrook, a source close to Bloomberg’s office told him that the criticism of Black’s hiring was too much for the mayor to continue handling.

“Bloomberg’s office isn’t interested in dealing with this issue anymore, and have decided to replace her despite reports that she resigned,” Seabrook said.

Keep us bookmarked for continuous coverage of Sharpton’s 2011 NAN Convention!

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“And we wonder why our boys are struggling,” Duncan said. “We need more Latino and African American male teachers. We need to show these kids that they can also educate people just like them when they grow up.” Duncan used the convention to promote the federal TEACH campaign that persuades male minorities to enter education.
 The program was launched in the Fall 2010.

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Duncan recounted a story from the days after he was appointed to President Obama’s cabinet in 2008, when he sat down with Sharpton and professed that the civil rights issue of the 21st century was no longer race.

“The issue is education,” Duncan told Sharpton. “We have to do whatever it takes to educate our children and we’re currently failing,” said Duncan.

.

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