African American Literacy Scores

Even at their youngest stages of life, African American males are being told that they’re just following a path to jail from birth. Even figures that as a child you’d look up to are telling young black males that they can’t succeed in this world. The vice-principal of the Rosa Parks School when talking about a young African American male said “That one has a jail-cell with his name on it”. Education institutions are the ones who hold the power to decide and construct who has access to opportunities and resources needed to advance in our capitalist society. The system is setting up African Americans for failure from the start. “The racial bias in the punishing systems of the school reflects the practices of the criminal justice system. Black youth are caught up in the net of juvenile justice system at a rate of two to four times that of white youth”. The profiling starts at a young age as well, planning their future for them. In conclusion, Education Institutions are the ones who hold power in this world. They are the building blocks of the future, as they shape young lives. With institutional racism putting some races ahead of others, however, a majority of students are stunted in their path to adulthood, leading to racial issues and divides that would otherwise not

Since the past, black people had been oppressed and excluded from a formal education, leading them to find ways to educate themselves. While they open their minds to new worlds and perspectives, they encounter themselves with a disastrous world that discriminates them and unjustly takes their rights away from them. In these essays, “Learning How to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass and “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X, both authors tell their stories about how they found their way into the world of literacy even though they were banned to do it. Because they left ignorance back, they realize all the injustices that surround them. In my opinion, literacy is one of the most important tool humans possess to be aware of the issues of the world. Knowing about world problems makes people able to decide how to act towards situations and helps avoid being led by people that the only thing they want from others is power.

Less than 4% of the total student population enrolled in America’s colleges and universities (one of the smallest subgroups based on race/ethnicity and gender.) According to the Schott Foundation, the graduation rate of Black males in CT is between 51%, whereas White males in CT have an 83% graduation rate—a 32% gap. Moreover, the achievement gap between Black women and Black men is the lowest male-to female ratio among all racial/ethnic subgroups. (Strayhorn 1). The disproportionate and devastating failure of Black males in the educational system has further ramifications in our social system as black males are over-represented in the criminal justice system: “African-American males represent approximately 8.6 percent of the nation’s K-12 public school enrollment but make up about 60 percent of all incarcerated youth” (Smith 2005). In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the academic crisis of adolescent black males, one must examine the research findings surrounding the Black-White achievement gap, black male standardized test scores, black male literacy achievement, and the socio-cultural achievement barriers that obscure black males’ self-perception of themselves as readers. “According to many standardized assessments, educators in the U.S.

Once African American’s were given the right to vote the infamous literacy tests became a prerequisite to vote in southern states. This was a nuisance to the African Americans because they were in place to put a barrier between African Americans and voting, these test were impossible for most African Americans. Another part of the voting process that became difficult and complicated for African Americans was the Application itself. The application differed from state to state but in order to fill it out completely the person would have to include personal information about themselves. Comparing the application to modern applications shows the intentions of the officials and how “important” the questions were.

In today’s society annual African American reading levels continue to be lower than other races. There are connections between literacy levels and prisons. There are beliefs that there’s a correlation between prisons beds built based off African American 3rd grade reading test scores. It’s predicted that based on 3rd grade test scores, students reading below grade level will eventually drop out of school, engage in criminal activity, and ultimately be incarcerated at some time in their lives. The concern is if this matter is not addressed, there will be continuous growth of imprisonment, increasing numbers of single parents households (low income homes), more children not growing up to maximize their full potential, and less leaders to guide

Due to the discrimination of African-Americans, and oppression resulting from it, the government, justice system, educational system, and society has made it clear that African-American teenagers obtaining a thorough and effective education is the least of their concerns. It is almost as though African-American teenagers are purposely being set up to fail. As stated in “The Oppression of Black People, The Crimes of This System and the Revolution we need”, “Today the schools are more segregated than they have been since the 1960s with urban, predominantly Black and Latino schools receiving fewer resources and set up to fail. These schools more and more resemble prisons

Adolescent Black males throughout the years have been subject and victim to numerous economic, socioeconomic, and environmental disadvantages. In many inner-city neighborhoods, these disadvantages have led to an increase in violence among these adolescent African American males, especially in the educational system. Violence among African American males in schools is something that increases tremendously each year; a 2010 study in Education Week showed that over 70% of the students involved in school-related arrests or referred to law enforcement were African American students. This can be explained

A synthetic analysis of two works from African American literature reveals that there is no greater accomplishment than learning to read and write. Literacy is what allows us to gain knowledge through learning. This topic is important because based on a study conducted by the U.S Department of Education and the National Institution of Literacy, 32 million adults in the U.S are still unable to read and write and African Americans are expected to make up nearly half of that amount. In both Fredrick Douglass’ “Learning to Read” and Malcolm X’s “A Homemade Education,” common themes regarding literacy and freedom are identified and both reflect why literacy is so important. The two texts prove how crucial the processes of learning to read

Under federal law, all children in the United States are entitled to free public education. Although public education is free, it is not necessarily adequate. For several decades, it has been questioned whether the United States' public school system is meeting the academic needs of African American boys. Teachers rarely connect with the black male culture, which results in high referral rates to special education. This oversight is problematic because, for the most part, the resources available in remedial education programs are insufficient. In this way, educators have failed to meet the needs of African American males. Teachers must start to teach themselves as well as their students about the African American culture so as to increase their understanding of those who are different. Until then, black males will continue to be excluded through their assignment to the category of special education.

The article digs deeper into the problem of incarceration and the decreasing concentration in school by African American students, which has become a problem in the attainment of education in the U.S. There is a gap in the number of whites graduating at the end of schooling and the Blacks with the dropout increasing each

Reading is a fundamental part of the human learning experience; everyone should learn how to read. Being able to read and having the access to read was not always at certain groups of people disposal. During slavery in america , African American were forbidden to read and learn other than the required knowledge to perform their duties. The segregation time period in America also limited African American access to Frederick Douglass’ “Learning to Read” and Richard Wright’s The Library Card” are good examples of the limitation and challenges minorities had faced when trying to read. These readings shine light on how minorities groups were at a disadvantage versus the inferior race group. Both authors share the a common factor of being African

research topic, in the 1880, fully 71 percent of all black male in the range of 10-14 were illiterate which implies that illiteracy in this group is a generational issue. This research from data can be used to compare recent data that will be collected. Alternatively, high rate of adult illiteracy in the black community derived from slavery which had a huge impact on African –American economic success. In order to make the result of my research more efficient, these collections of data will be to demonstrate that by improving illiteracy rate in the black’s community, African-American can change their ways of living, in addition, this information could be used to prove children of illiterate parents are more likely to drop –out of school and

A significant correlation between race and poverty exists, with Black and Hispanic Americans three times more likely to be impoverished than White Americans (Proctor and Dalaker 2002). The cycle of poverty and low-literacy functioning is well documented, as is the achievement gap between White students and students of color. Race is a persistent factor in employment statistics, educational attainment, and the acquisition of literacy skills, with significantly higher unemployment rates and lower educational attainment rates among Black and Hispanic Americans than among White Americans. The literature on learner attrition and on resistance to participation in adult literacy programs suggests that the

The lack of basic skill then creates a huge divide between African American children and White children growing up with pre-determined factors. This then renders into those youths not graduating high school. According to a Policy Analyst Mary Clare Amselem (2014), “…public schools serving low-income communities—fail to develop [fundamental] skills leave their students with the option of dropping out or graduating with a meaningless diploma”. White students have a significantly higher graduation rate than African Americans. Programs that have been implemented to help combat these delinquency and violent problems are family strengthening, mentorships, and positive reinforcements in school.

The Alabama Reading Initiative is a federal statewide program in Alabama. This program involves a statewide movement that aims at ultimately achieving grade-level reading for all Alabama’s public school students. This program is completely voluntary, and schools are selected from a pool of applicants who must agree to seven commitments to enter the program. These commitments include the following: must set a one-hundred percent literacy goal, achieve commitment of eighty-five percent of the faculty, attend a ten day training program, principal must be the site leader, each school must adjust their instruction to the program accordingly, each school must model research-based reading instruction for other schools, and be evaluated by an outside