Black HS Students can't read as good as White 4th Graders

[Im The Truth]

Protesters call for improved reading scores among African-American students
ABC Local New
November 14, 2007
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sec...cal&id=5762077

November 14, 2007 - A group of parents, ministers and community leaders say African American high school students in Chicago have inadequate reading test scores.

The group marched on Chicago's city hall Wednesday. They say the results of recent state reading tests for black students are too low. They say one of four black students cannot read at their grade level.

According to the National Association for Educational Progress, the average 17-year-old African American student has the reading and math score of a 14-year-old white student.

The group rallied outside Mayor Daley's office, saying good reading skills are essential to survival.

The mayor's office has not commented. But Chicago Public Schools officials say they have seen growth in elementary school scores. But they say it's still not enough.

They stress they are trying to make dramatic changes with programs such as Renaissance 2010.

[shakim1969]

As soon as I saw the title of the post , I had to read the article.

I have tested some of my students to gauge their reading level, and to my surprise most of the 11th graders are reading levels are between the 1st to the 7th grade. There were only three students who read @ their reading level and above.

I pose a question to the brothers and Sisters on this forum, How do we rectify this problem? I want to help them so bad b.u.t it seems like some of our Afrikan young Brothers and Sisters really don't care about reading.

A remember a Sister, who is a federal District attorney, told me that illiteracy is linked to crime. She said that their should be literacy programs in all neighborhoods preferably in low income areas. Do you agree with her? Do you think what she said will slow down crime in the Black community?

[AfroCuban]

Comrades each time i read about, hear or see one of our youth caught up in the system, lying dead, wounded or caught up in gang banging i take a deep breathe and hug a black man, my son or any youth who walks thru my doors.

For more than 35 yrs i have committed myself to educating children while doing battle with the powers that be for the return of my RN license. (later i became a np)
Once my right to practice medicine was fought for and won i became an educ at WEB Dubois Academy teaching science asserving as a well as a Public health Nurse.
In all of my years what i have come to believe is that when we as a people decide that the type of education provided(not provided) is harmful to our communities, we will rize up and snatch back our right to choose our own method.

WEB Dubois, was a good concept started by a black man who loved our youth and did all that he could to bring this concept to the nasty nati *it was a miracle in a city founded by barbarians (Hunnes) However, as i told brother Willard, when we have a school that will allow white people to use reverse discrimination laws to force us to hire white teachers who have no regard whatsoever for the souls of our black male youth or the persons!! of our females it is time to close the doors and walk.. But instead Wilson Willard got caught up in some embezzlement shit that costs him his rep and the children almost lost the school

i walked away from that place in April 2005 with heart in hand and courage in fist promising to never teach again at any school that bows down to any of the white mans laws, or where black men allow themselves to get caught up in scams etc...

http://blackcincinnati.blogspot.com/...ion-model.html

However, let me also say that what is needed more is for Black men to get back to the schools if!! they are going to sucessfully educ our youth and not chose home schooling. There are a few articles dating back 10+ yrs and nothing has changed except our children are not progressing



http://www.liberaleducation.org/charters/dubois.htm

http://www.opinionjournal.com/cc/?id=110008032

http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/ne...3&ItemSource=L

http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/...05/0330-20.htm


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...0/ai_101939883

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...88/ai_17263158
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...04/ai_n8792302


We must reach our own..and we must also

WATCH OUR OWN AS WELL

[tyydae]

so what are we going to do about it?

[Im The Truth]

I think the only solution is to read to young kids and have young people read more books and more challenging books at the level they can understand and move up from there. The subject reading should be optional and required for those who need it in schools. We tell people to read but many times don’t take into account the reading level of much of our people and young people. Not many people can get through a Kwame Nkurmah book or a Cheik Anti Diop book or Ayi Kwesi Armah book without having a good reading level and/or help with the concepts and terminology.

Throughout high school I didn’t read one book assigned to me in school, not one. I didn't read one book outside of school either. I hated reading in general and especially their boring books and really all books for that matter. So by the time I got to college I found myself not able to read too well. So me and a friend I met in college who happen to do the same thing I did in high school as it related to reading decided to get better at reading by reading and discussing. We both brought the books Malcolm X Autobiography, Mis-Education of the Negro, Black Skin White Mask, and a book by Gandhi a reader or something like that. We first tried to read the book Mis-Education of the Negro but he and I couldn’t read it because it was too difficult to read at that time, we both were lost as hell. I tried to read Black Skin White Mask by Fanon but it was impossible at the time. So we tried to read the Gandhi book which we are able to read and discuss. That book took about a month or two to read and it was just over 200 pages if I’m not mistaken. Once we finished that book and a couple of Richard Wright short stories we were able to read Mis-Education of the Negro. And I was able to get back to reading from there. Over that next year I’ve must have read 15 - 20 books. I thought I could really read until I got in the A-APRP had to read books by Kwame Nkurmah, Sekou Toure, Walter Rodney, WEB DuBois, The Baath Party, etc. Those books were by far the most challenging books to read at the time. Once I was able to read through those books at some kind of intelligent level I then re-tried to read Fanon’s Balack Skin, White Mask nd to my surprise it wasn’t so hard anymore I could read it like any other book. In general the point I’m making is that it takes time to develop reading ability especially if you aren’t use to reading. Luckily I happen to be a person who learns on their own pretty good so I was able to pick up a book and read on my own with help but this is not usually the case we have to encourage reading and encourage something other than the sex, money, dope, drama, and crime books that people read. I personally have given away so many books and bought so many books for others to encourage reading and discussion about the books I given away. I don’t know how many Malcolm Autobiography and Assata: An Autobiography books that have gone in and out of my hands to others.

I think simple books like Assata: An Autobiography and Malcolm Autobiography are good to give out to young people because they are easy to read and interesting and most young people think Malcolm X is cool or whatever and they and relate to Assata through 2pac. Kwame Ture’s autobiography is also another good book to give away as well it’s easy to read and it’s very interesting (especially to me). I think giving away books and discussing them is very important, when I was younger and extra broke where I couldn’t buy books brothers gave me books or copied books for me and I’m thankful for that because who knows when I ever would of bought certain books. That my two cents on the subject of how to help our people read better.

[Fenix]

Well stated Brother Truth. This is one of the aims of the mentoring group that I work with at school. The girls that we work with are 4th and 5th grade and struggle reading words such as "success" and "appear". Far beyond academics, reading skills are life skills and we stress that to our girls. A strong background in reading helps you hold conversations, speak clearly, etc. And for the past three years, I've found that the kids with the better reading skills are generally the most confident.

[shakim1969]

Originally Posted by Fenix

Well stated Brother Truth. This is one of the aims of the mentoring group that I work with at school. The girls that we work with are 4th and 5th grade and struggle reading words such as "success" and "appear". Far beyond academics, reading skills are life skills and we stress that to our girls. A strong background in reading helps you hold conversations, speak clearly, etc. And for the past three years, I've found that the kids with the better reading skills are generally the most confident.

The boys and girls that I work with are 11th and 12th grade and they are struggling with words such as riot ,eerie and nominal. Most of them read between the 1st and 6th grade. What are they going to do when they graduate from high school? Most of them can't read a job application and some of them think reading isn't gangsta, what ever that means.
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