The Key Career Academies Focus At Risk Men And Women With The Goal Of Impacting Families

These claims have been well documented. However, the connection to the graduation gap may be clearer with an answer of how other factors such as financial and other family problems brought about by poverty affect them. The rest of the book provides possible solutions to questions of invisibility such as respecting and valuing black students. Another solution is removing remedial programs for challenging curricula and supports that are appropriate.

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.

The first main point the authors’ introduce is to recognize black males’ lived experiences. Black males have an experience unique to just them. Black men’s experiences of racism impact their education. They even face consequences for pursuing education. Those consequences could be social, educational, and economic. To understand these key issues, you must first look at the past. Black men have always had to overcome great obstacles. Low literacy, limited employment, high incarceration rates, have predisposed many black men to never being able to escape poverty. Further, being impoverished means a less chance that these men will go into higher education. Higher education is so expensive these days, and the underfunding of financial aid and other

Education and economic justice were two forms of systemic inequalities that make inequality difficult to talk about. Education is a requirement if someone wishes to have a better life, but not everyone has access to quality education. In the U.S there has always been a battle, people of color have fought to be able to access quality education, (Philips, 2016: 130) they are constantly attending inferior and ineffective school where there are many distractions for students to be fully successful in the classrooms. Often these schools where children of color attend lack quality facilities, educational resources, and qualified teachers. Someone can’t help to notice that in general such unqualified schools are mostly in color people’s neighborhoods.

For generations African Americans have been disadvantaged in America and effects of these injustices have made a lasting impression. Education is one of the leading problems in the black community. Though there have many reforms in education over the years, racial injustices still exist because no attention in placed on how legislature affects people of color. I was raised in a middle-class family of educators. My entire life I’ve been told to “stay in school, get an education, and work hard so that you can beat the system.” Recognizing the structural forces in my life has helped me understand my place in society. Being able to “understand everyday life, not through personal circumstances but through the broader historical forces that

A school setting provides opportunities where issues of social justice, oppression, and discrimination can be addressed. According to Bemak and Chung (2009), students of color and economically disadvantaged students are likely to have low academic achievement, in comparison to their White middle class counterparts. These disparities in academic

Students attend school starting at pre-school then kindergarten, kindergarten to first grade and leading up to middle school then high school, the classes and teachers are supposed to prepare them for the next level. With the correct preparation and tools, after graduating high school, many students have their mind set on attending college as the next level. However many African-American male students who do have the ability to graduate high school, are not prepared for their next level which is college. Due to the quality of these schools “the school districts in urban neighborhoods have fewer academic offerings, less qualified teachers, out of date materials and lower quality curriculum” (WOOD, J. (2011), results in the poor education of the minority students attending them. Also due to the different academic and environment backgrounds that white and black students come from, many teachers are unaware of how to teach black students and how to gain their attention in the classroom. Other than

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.

Today's education is often viewed as failing in its goal of educating students, especially those students characterized as minorities, including African American, Hispanic, and Appalachian students (Quiroz, 1999). Among the minority groups mentioned, African American males are affected most adversely. Research has shown that when Black male students are compared to other students by gender and race they consistently rank lowest in academic achievement (Ogbu, 2003), have the worst attendance record (Voelkle, 1999), are suspended and expelled the most often (Raffaele Mendez, 2003; Staples, 1982), are most likely to drop out of school, and most often fail to graduate from high school or to earn a GED (Pinkney, 2000; Roderick, 2003).

Statistics have shown that 9.7% of African American fathers who don’t live with their children help their with their homework. Although the number may seem low, our white counterparts are at 5% when it comes to this category. This illustrates the effort in the African American community to influence the next generations. These small acts may not have an initial impact, but in the long run it can be the difference of their child enrolling into college. It could be the difference of what career the child chooses to pursue. The powerful potential that lies within the child could be brought out by the

After reading a short section about African American male educational struggles, I wanted to learn more about the obstacles they face and what is being done to bridge the achievement gap. Throughout the semester I have been learning a lot about the importance of multicultural education, therefore I wanted to dive deeper into African American culture and understand why many Black male students are not successful in the American educational system compared to White and Asian American students. Furthermore, as a future teacher, I thought it would be helpful to research this topic, since it is still a prominent issue facing African American communities today. The more I know and understand the challenges, the greater the chance I will become part

Also consider, with more than 60% of all today’s minority male children growing-up in a single-parent mother household, 3 out of 4 live in low-income families.20 As a result, many of these young men are also more likely to have low earnings jobs as adults, and as teenagers are more likely to drop-out of school, abuse drugs, be incarcerated, become teen parents, have behavioral disorders, and run away from home or join a gang.21 If this current trend continues, it’s estimated that 1 in 3 of all African-American males and 1 in 6 of all Hispanic males have a chance of going to prison during their lifetime.22 Without question, the most important factor causing minority males lack of productively growth in the 21st century, will be the high school drop-out problem,23 and the problem behavior that cause it, and if we as a nation continue to choose to disconnect this population from our mainstream society, it will destroy human capital, reduce our labor force, and cost state taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to maintain these

The Association for Career and Technical Education is the largest national education association dedicated to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for careers. It’s our mission is to provide educational leadership in developing a competitive workforce. The ACTE is the nation’s largest not-for-profit association committed to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for successful careers. ACTE represents the community of CTE professionals, including educators, administrators, researchers, guidance counselors and others at all levels of education. ACTE is committed to excellence in providing advocacy, public awareness and access to resources, professional development and leadership opportunities. ACTE is committed to enhancing the job performance and satisfaction of its members; to increasing public awareness and appreciation for career and technical programs and to assuring growth in local, state, and federal funding for these programs by communicating and working with legislators and government leaders (www.acte.org).

Career Academy is a program (school) within a school, specifically in urban areas. It connects students ages 13-19 with fellow peers, teachers, and (employment) partners in the community. This program is available to males and females and all races. Based on a disciplined setting, aiding academic success, mental health, emotional health, and labor market success, helps juveniles become an asset to life after high school (crimesolutions.gov). This program was first created for the inner-city students to stay in school and gain the knowledge needed to obtain a job. Since the program was created, it has also taken aim at reducing delinquency and improving protective factors for possible delinquent youths.

The Youth Navigator program is an essential component to our Alumni & Reentry services. Navigators are formerly incarcerated youth who have successfully completed the terms of their probation and are steadily moving forward with their educational and career goals. They act as peer counselors, especially to recent camp-released students, to support them in navigating re-entry, higher education, and employment paths. Relationships are leveraged through the Youth Navigator’s personal experiences as system involved youth, which they are then able to use to model positive behavior and decision-making skills.