Educating Black Girls

by Jawanza Kunjufu

Overview

Making use of the latest trends and statistics, Educating Black Girls is a guidebook that looks at the academic performances of African American girls from kindergarten through high school. This work dissects such issues as the disproportionate number of black girls suspended from school; the low expectations of teachers; and the small number of African American girls who pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It also offers more than 50 potential solutions for improving academic achievement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781934155707
Publisher:	African American Images
Publication date:	11/01/2014
Pages:	120
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu is an educational consultant and the author of more than 40 books, including Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys, A Culture of Respect, the bestselling Raising Black Boys, and Understanding Black Male Learning Styles. He lives in Chicago.

Read an Excerpt

Educating Black Girls

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By Jawanza Kunjufu

African American Images

Copyright © 2015 Jawanza Kunjufu
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-910030-00-7

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CHAPTER 1

The Best of Black Females

Four-Year-Old Genius Anala Beevers Invited to Join MENSA

Most four-year-olds don't know the name of every state on the map, let alone the capitals. But most kids that age aren't like Anala Beevers, a New Orleans-based genius who was recently invited to join MENSA, an international organization for people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardized, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. Beevers — who never leaves home without her map of the United States, which is said to be her favorite thing — knew the English alphabet at four months old, and learned numbers in Spanish by the time she was a 1 ½. Her dad, Landon, who admits his little one is smarter than both of her parents, said in a recent interview, "She needs a reality show ... She keeps us on our toes."

Zora Ball Becomes Youngest Person to Develop Mobile Game App

One of our top moments of the century is a recent one. Zora Ball (pictured), age 7, has the distinction of becoming the youngest person to develop a mobile game app. Ball, a first grader at Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School in Philadelphia, built the game using a programming language called "Bootstrap" that teaches kids age 12 to 16 how to grasp complex math. The prodigious student unveiled her game last December at an expo for the Bootstrap program at the University of Pennsylvania. To prove it wasn't a fluke, Zora was able to break down how her application works right on the spot. The cute little girl's genius aptitude runs in her family: her older brother, Trace, was a STEM Scholar of the Year at the Harambee Institute. Makes you want to work a little harder on the job, doesn't it?

Thessalonika Arzu-Embry Graduates College at 14

The exceptional 14-year-old Thessalonika Arzu-Embry is preparing to graduate — from college. Like most 14-year-old girls, Thessalonika likes to have fun. She enjoys skating in her Great Lakes neighborhood as well as playing tennis. Yet, while most girls her age are entering their freshman year of high school, complete with discussions about boys and all the latest fashions, Thessalonika has been focused on more important matters. She has been attending college since she was 11.

Brittney Exline, Youngest African American Female Accepted into an Ivy League School

Brittney graduated from Palmer High School, Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2007 at the age of 15 with an International Baccalaureate diploma. She was then accepted to the University of Pennsylvania and became the youngest African-American female ever to be accepted to an Ivy League institution. She completed an internship at a small hedge fund on Wall Street at the age of 16, and at 17 she received the opportunity to go to Cameroon for the summer and work with One Laptop per Child.

Grace Bush, Florida Teen, Graduates College before High School

Grace Bush, a 16-year-old Florida teen earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Florida Atlantic University a week before getting her high school diploma from Florida Atlantic University High School. Bush is part of her school's dual enrollment program, which allows high-performing high school students to earn credit for the same courses toward their college degree. She started at age 13 at Broward College and took classes throughout the summer, so she was able to finish it before four years. "It's kind of weird that I graduated college before high school," Bush said. She plans to pursue a master's degree and hopes to attend law school. Her goal is to someday become the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Teen Chess Champion Rochelle Ballantyne

Rochelle Ballantyne, from Brooklyn, New York, was featured in the 2012 chess documentary, Brooklyn Castle. The movie tells the stories of five members of the chess team at a below-the-poverty-line inner city junior high school that has won more national championships than any other in America. Rochelle no longer attends I.S. 318 Middle School (the movie finished filming in 2010), but she still continues to play and strives to reach her goal of becoming the first African-American female master.

Gabrielle Turnquest, Youngest Person to Pass The Bar

At 16, Gabrielle Turnquest, an American teenager has become the youngest person in more than 600 years to become a qualified barrister in England and Wales. The average lawyer passes the Bar Professional Training Course at the age of 27, but Gabrielle was called to The Bar last month through the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn after passing her Graduate Diploma in Law at the University of Law when she was just 17. She doesn't plan on using her success to work as a barrister in the UK; instead, she plans on returning to the U.S. in fall of 2014. Gabrielle already made history at Liberty University in Virginia, where she became the youngest student to gain an undergraduate degree, in psychology, at the age of 16. Now that she's passed The Bar, Gabrielle is to attend the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in a bid to break into the niche market of fashion law. Gabrielle also hopes to sit the multi-state Bar in the U.S.

CHAPTER 2

Trends

I have always loved numbers, math, and statistics because of their power to tell a story. In this chapter, we will take a quantitative look at the challenges facing Black girls. This data will serve as the framework through which we examine the challenges and the driving force behind the implementation of strategies that have proven effective.

Eighty-two percent of Black females are below proficient in reading. Eighty-seven percent are below proficient in math. This is unacceptable!

Most states define "proficient" as somewhere between 60 and 75 percent. According to a survey conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 82 percent of Black girls are below proficient in reading. This is catastrophic. I could write an entire book just on this one fact. Where is the outrage? Why aren't White feminists advocating on behalf of Black girls? Why aren't African American men — educators, researchers, scholars, activists, media pundits, and policy makers — channeling their fury into improving the reading scores of Black girls?

One answer is that the test scores of African American males have dominated our attention. Ninety percent of Black boys nationwide in eighth grade are below proficient in reading. Let me translate. That means only 10 percent of Black boys are proficient in reading. Only 18 percent of Black girls are proficient in reading. How can we live in the richest country in the world, yet only 18 percent of Black girls in eighth grade are proficient in reading?

Furthermore, according to the NAEP, 87 percent of Black girls are either below proficient or basic in math. That means only 13 percent of Black girls nationwide in eighth grade are proficient in math. Eighty-eight percent of African American males are either below proficient or basic in math. So historically, we have put nearly all our focus on African American males while overlooking African American females. We can no longer afford to continue this neglect of Black girls. While Black males may be on life support, it's not much better for Black females, who are in critical condition.

Are these statistics acceptable to American educators? When will these statistics become unacceptable? How bad does it have to get? If you thought that all was well with Black females, you are sadly mistaken. All is not well, and there is much room for improvement in these two foundational subjects. Later, when we discuss educational challenges and solutions, we will look at what must be done to improve the reading and numeracy skills of Black girls.

Retention

Too many African American students are retained. Twenty-nine percent of African American male students are retained at least once between kindergarten and eighth grade. This retention figure has received national attention. What you may not know is that 21 percent of Black females are retained. While Black females are not being retained as often as Black males, 21 percent is nothing to celebrate. In fact, it's a tragedy. In comparison, 10 percent of students of other races are retained, which means the retention rate of Black females is twice as high. Where is the outrage and concern from White feminists and African American educators?

Later in the book, we will look at retention from several different prisms. For example, some retained students are assigned the same teacher, the same lesson plans, the same pedagogy, and the same expectations in the next school year. In other words, the student receives the same learning program, yet she is expected to produce a different outcome. This borders on insanity.

The so-called "social promotion" is another problematic strategy that fails to meet the academic needs of students. Many schools have decided that rather than retain students, they will promote them to the next grade so that they can continue to be grouped with their peers. What sense does this make? They haven't mastered the skills required in the current grade level! How will they keep up in the higher grade level? This is exactly the kind of school practice that plants seeds of student frustration that can lead to dropping out. Can you imagine how frustrating it is for a ninth-grade student to be in high school with fourth-grade reading and math skills? It is equally disappointing for the ninth-grade teacher.

ACT Scores

While African American males are scoring an abysmal 16.8 on the ACT, again, all is not well with African American females, who are only scoring 17.1. Please remember that the highest score to be earned on the ACT is 36. The median national score is 23. This 17.1 score tells us that less than 40 percent of African American females are college ready. If we look at being college ready in all four subjects — language arts, writing, math, and science — less than 10 percent of Black girls are college ready. Where is the outrage?

Dropout Rate

The dropout rate for African American males hovers near 47 percent, and in some cities the rate exceeds 50 percent. There has been a national outcry; the country has decided that 47 percent is unacceptable. As a result, numerous programs have been created to reduce the Black male dropout rate.

What has not received national attention is the Black female dropout rate, which is 40 percent. Granted, Black females' dropout rate is 7 percent below that of African American males, but 40 percent is still too high. It is unacceptable. Where is the outrage from White feminists, the African American community, and the educational community? Where are the media stories and documentaries lamenting the Black female dropout rate? When more than one-third of your students do not graduate from high school — that is a state of emergency. Later, we will look at what can be done to help more and more Black girls successfully graduate from high school.

What kind of future will Black girls have if they drop out of high school? Earlier, I asked if your school is doing anything special for Black girls. If our schools were providing special services and paying extra attention to girls deemed at risk, then 40 percent of them would not want to leave.

School Suspensions/Expulsions

Twenty-four percent, or one of every four Black boys, are suspended from school. This is so catastrophic that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have held press conferences to address the fact that schools need to take another look at the school-to-prison pipeline and the disproportionate number of Black males that are suspended — because the two strongly correlate. Twenty-four percent is unacceptable.

When I discovered that 12 percent of Black girls are suspended and 8 percent are expelled from school and that Black girls are suspended and expelled four times more than White girls, I was furious. This also is unacceptable. Are schools expecting Black girls to act like White girls? Are White girls the standard for Black females?

Suspensions and expulsions negatively impact time on task. How can we improve the reading, math, and ACT scores of Black girls who have been sent home, sometimes for days at a time? How can we reduce the dropout rate of Black females when so many of them are being sent home on suspension? What a mixed message schools are sending! Why has school culture become so penal? Has zero tolerance become the only disciplinary measure on the table?

College

The following stats are very interesting.

• There are 1.4 million Black males and 2.3 million Black females in college.

• The graduation rate for African American males is only 35 percent and 46 percent for African American females.

• Black males are only 29 percent of Black college graduate students. African American females are 71 percent.

• Of all the college degrees earned by African Americans, Black women earned:

* 68 percent of associate degrees

* 66 percent of bachelor's degrees

* 71 percent of master's degrees

* 65 percent of doctorate degrees.

I don't give schools any credit for the tremendous college achievements of young Black women. If anything, in spite of what schools have done to Black girls K–12, they have found the tenacity to overcome. In my forthcoming book, Raising Black Girls, we will look at how families, communities, and churches have strengthened the resiliency of our girls.

It is amazing to me that only 18 percent of girls are proficient in reading. Only 13 percent are proficient in math. They only scored 17.1 on the ACT, yet look at how successful they have been at the collegiate level. Yes, the graduation rate could be much better, but given all that they have had to overcome, I am pleased to see that more than 2.3 million Black females were admitted into college and nearly half persevered to earn their degree.

Criminal Justice System

One million African American males are involved in the penal system. We've all heard the statements that there are more Black males in prison than there are in college. The reality is that there are 1.4 million African American males in college to one million in prison. The media need to get their numbers straight. There's no question that one million Black males in prison is too many, but the media loves to create fear, especially in the Black community. If Black males continue to hear that there are more Black males in prison than in college, there's a very good chance that's where they will end up.

All is not well for African American females; more than 100,000 are involved in the penal system. Although African Americans comprise only 14 percent of the U.S. population, Black males and females combined make up more than 50 percent of prison and jail populations. Again, we have heard so much about the plight of African American males in penal institutions, but many African American females are there as well. Furthermore, almost 40 percent are mothers. Have we considered the academic impact of parental incarceration on the children?

Where is the outrage? Where is the concern from White feminists, the African American community, and educators concerning this issue?

Following are some questions for you to explore in your notebook:

• How do Black youth with incarcerated mothers perform in the classroom?

• What is their emotional state?

• What is their behavior in the classroom, cafeteria, and playground?

• How can we help them overcome the stigma of having an incarcerated parent? How can we help them develop high self-esteem?

• How can we help stabilize their lives?

• How can we help them improve their academic performance?

• How can we support their primary guardians (often a grandmother, aunt, or foster parent)?

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Nationwide, one of every four girls has an STD. One of every three Black males has an STD. But one of every two Black girls has an STD. One of every two Black girls. This is a national health crisis of epic proportions. Where is the outrage? When do these figures become unacceptable?

Let's recap what we learned in this chapter:

• 82 percent of Black girls are below proficient in reading.

• 87 percent are below proficient in math.

• 21 percent of Black girls are retained.

• ACT scores average 17.1.

• Less than 40 percent of Black girls are college ready.

• Less than 10 percent are college ready in all four subjects (language arts, writing, math, and science).

• 40 percent of Black girls drop out.

• 12 percent of Black girls are suspended.

• 8 percent are expelled.

• 2.3 million Black females are in college.

• The college graduation rate for Black females is 46 percent.

• Of all African Americans who earn degrees, Black females earn 68 percent of associate degrees, 66 percent of bachelor's degrees, 71 percent of master's degrees, and 65 percent of doctorate degrees.

• There are more than 100,000 Black females in prison or jail.

• One of every two Black females has an STD.

In the next chapter, we will listen to Black females and honor their voices.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Educating Black Girls by Jawanza Kunjufu. Copyright © 2015 Jawanza Kunjufu. Excerpted by permission of African American Images.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction,
1. The Best of Black Females,
2. Trends,
3. Black Females Speak,
4. School Demographics,
5. STEM,
6. Herstory,
7. Athletics,
8. Educational Challenges,
9. Educational Solutions,
10. Post-High School Options,
Epilogue,
Notes,