Corrine J. Carthell

College Preparation as an Educational Focus for African American Youth

Ohio University

May 16, 2005

Description of the Topic: Educational Quality and Achievement

Based on research from The National Urban League, it appears that Whites in America are graduating 19% greater than Black Americans from four year institutions of higher learning. Overwhelmingly they are recommending a early start in education for educators and for students.

Their recommendation instead of the Leave no Child behind act is to

“Make full day access to quality pre-school education mandatory for every child starting at age three years old. The best way to leave no child behind is to give every child an early and equal start”

The topic at hand for this assessment is the preparation and distribution of assistance for aspiring African American college students. Particularly the pending reallocation of funds from TRIO programs to the newly initiated Leave No Child behind Act

Background Information

Based on research by the National Urban League the following discrepancies exist between African Americans and Caucasian Americans

Teachers with less than 3 years experience teach in minority schools at twice the rate that they teach in white schools.

Attainment of a College Education

For every ten whites that graduate with a college degree, only 6.3 blacks do., 6,697 more black students would have to earn associates degrees every year; an increase of 28 percent.

Both African American and white rates increased for the number of associate, bachelor and masters degrees earned. However the rate for whites increased dramatically faster, suggesting that whites may have been more financially able to go back to school during higher rates of unemployment than blacks during the same period.

Parity at four-year schools would require a 50 percent increase in graduation rates for blacks, that is 23,732 students would have to earn bachelors degrees to close the education gap

Preschool enrollment for blacks dropped from 60 percent in 2004 compared to 57.5 percent.

Comparatively, white preschool enrollment increased in 2005 from 50 percent to 54 percent.

Teacher Quality

Teacher quality was consistently linked to student performance, that is the poor teacher quality corresponded to lower test scores

Middle schools showed the greatest disparity: 49 percent of middle school teachers of black students did not even have a college minor in their subjects as compared to 40 percent for white students.

Teachers with less than three years experience teach in minority schools at twice the rate that they teach in white schools.

Test scores across nine areas showed little difference between black and white students ages 9 and 17.

Based on reports from the Congressional Black Caucus report:

In 2003, 39% of African-American 4^th grade students could read at or above a basic reading level compared to 74% of white 4^th grade students, and 39% of African-American 8^th grade students performed at or above a basic math level compared to 79% of white 8^th grade students;

High school completion rates – 83.7% for African-Americans, and 91.8% for whites;

Bachelor Degree recipients – 16.4% for African-Americans, and 31.7% for whites; and

Digital Divide – 41.3% of African-Americans are capable of accessing the Internet, compared to 61.5% of whites.

Seminal policy question on the topic currently facing policy makers

The Alliance for Excellent Education proposes that:

“The federal government also can help fund needed college counseling and individualized student learning by increasing funding for the GEAR UP and TRIO programs. These programs have strong track records for helping disadvantaged students progress through the academic pipeline from middle school through college but serve only 10 percent to 20 percent of eligible students.” ( See website for additional information)

According to the US Education Department Press Releases by Deputy Secretary William Hansen (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_puca/is_200202/ai_3230723175)

“The president's 2003 budget also includes support for several programs that ensure equal access to quality postsecondary education opportunities for all American students, including increased support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Graduate Institutions and Hispanic-Serving Institutions, continuing support for GEAR UP and TRIO and $54.9 billion in expanded federal student financial assistance for grants, loans and work-study activities-an increase of 5 percent over 2002 funding levels.”

The American masses in support of TRIO programs are not yet convinced that this claim is completely accurate.

The Congressional Black Caucus’s priority list includes the following:

Supporting early childhood nutrition, Head Start and movement toward universal pre-school;

Providing student nutrition, identifying and providing education and assistance appropriate to the needs of each individual student to fulfill the promise of No Child Left Behind, dropout prevention, after-school programs, school modernization and infrastructure and equipment enhancement;

Increasing the availability of Pell Grants, scholarships, loan assistance and other specialized programs to enable and provide incentives to more African-American students to obtain college, graduate or professional degrees or otherwise receive training and retraining to meet changing job needs; and

Preserving and improving Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Internet Resources

The National Urban League http://www.nul.org/

The State of Black America http://www.nul.org/thestateofblackamerica.html

Leave No Child Behind http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml?src=pb

TRIO programs http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/index.html

Alliance for Excellent Education http://www.all4ed.org/publications/EveryChildAGraduate/ExecSumm.html

The Congressional Black Caucus http://www.congressionalblackcaucus.net/