69传媒

In the face of mounting evidence that schools are losing alarming numbers of young black men, a small band of educators gathered here recently to bolster one response to the crisis: creating public schools designed to serve African-American males.

Haunted by the specter of a bleak future for millions of young men鈥攁nd aware that single-gender programs can face legal and political opposition鈥攖he two dozen principals were nonetheless united in their conviction that it is high time to build education programs that meet the academic and emotional needs of black boys.

鈥淸People] ask us why we are doing single-gender education, as though what the kids are currently involved in is working,鈥� David C. Banks, the founding principal of the , a 3-year-old public school that serves predominantly low-income black and Latino boys in New York City, told a roomful of educators, scholars, and policymakers. 鈥淲hen you recognize that you are in crisis, you have to do more.鈥�

Mr. Banks and other school leaders formed the core of a June 3-5 conference billed as It was co-sponsored by , the Panasonic Foundation, Eagle Academy, and the Delores Walker Johnson Center for Thoughtful Leadership, a training institute that is part of the Cambridge, Mass.-based , which helps schools implement its comprehensive reform model.

The conference enabled principals to share promising practices for boys who have likely had to learn in crowded schools with inexperienced teachers, cope without fathers at home, and contend with pop culture鈥檚 negative images of them. Woven through the conversations about academic strategy were signs of the urgency and passion the school leaders see as necessary to the work.

A Group in Trouble

Black boys lag behind black girls and their non-African-American male peers on key indicators of educational success.

Graduation: Percent of male students who graduate from high school with a standard diploma in four years:

Test Scores: Percent of male students who scored at the basic level or better on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress 4th grade reading exam:

In that same year, the percent who scored at the basic level or better on the NAEP 8th grade reading test:

SOURCE: Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, 2007

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 a job, it鈥檚 a ministry,鈥� Jerome Harrell, the principal of the Alpha School for Excellence, in Youngstown, Ohio, told his colleagues.

Shawn Hardnett, the founder of the KIPP Polaris Academy in Houston, a boys鈥� charter middle school that is set to open in the fall as part of the Knowledge Is Power Program network of schools, urged his fellow educators to press one another to determine the very best practices for their students.

鈥淓very black boy I fail could end up in jail. We need to push each other hard to get better at the craft of school leadership. Push me,鈥� Mr. Hardnett said, his voice rising. 鈥淧ush me down until I get this, because I can鈥檛 fail one more.鈥�

The conference participants burst into applause.

A Renewed Focus

Concern about black boys鈥� high dropout and expulsion rates, and their low grades, test scores, and college-going rates, is not new. Neither are attempts to create programs tailored to their needs. A 1991 Ebony magazine article, headlined highlighted several, in fact.

But a recent pileup of reports by scholars and activists on the educational plight of African-American boys has drawn new attention and energy to the problem, and prompted some to suggest single-gender schools as part of the solution.

Concern also has coincided with opportunity: Last fall, the U.S. Department of Education announced final regulations easing the way for single-sex education. The new rules permit public schools to group students by gender, as long as the education for students of both sexes is 鈥渟ubstantially equal.鈥� The single-sex program must be related to improving the achievement of students, providing diverse educational opportunities, or meeting the needs of particular students. (鈥淣ew U.S. Rules Boost Single-Sex Schooling,鈥� Nov. 1, 2006.)

According to the , a Poolesville, Md.-based advocacy group, there are 262 public schools in the United States that are entirely single-gender or offer some single-sex classrooms, compared with 16 four years ago.

With the expansion has come opposition, however. The New York Civil Rights Coalition has asked U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to look into a program in Ossining, N.Y., that provides extra academic support to black male students. Federal education officials declined to comment on the request.

The American Civil Liberties Union plans to file suit within a year over one or more of the newer single-gender public school programs, said Emily J. Martin, the deputy director of the organization鈥檚 women鈥檚-rights project. 鈥淲henever gender is used as a primary or only way to teach a student, it inevitably plays to overbroad stereotypes,鈥� Ms. Martin said.

Theodore M. Shaw, the director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which spearheaded the legal attack that led to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning racial segregation in public schools, said single-gender programs for black boys could be on 鈥渢hin ice legally鈥� if they exclude students based on their race or gender, but most don鈥檛 do so.

Branding schools or programs racially discriminatory solely because they seek to help black boys, he said, is 鈥渋ntellectually dishonest鈥� when the school system already segregates poor minority children in educationally inferior settings.

鈥淭he courts have said that any race-conscious program has to be justified by a compelling state interest,鈥� Mr. Shaw said. 鈥淭his crisis among young black boys and men is something that rises to the level of a compelling state interest, and justifies carefully crafted and limited programs. To confuse attempts to address that crisis with racial discrimination is rather shallow-minded.鈥�

鈥楧on鈥檛 Know Enough鈥�

Pedro Noguera, a professor of teaching and learning at New York University, said designing scores of single-gender programs for black boys could prove misguided without a more complex understanding of the multiple factors that undermine their school performance. He hopes to gain more insight into those dynamics through a three-year research project, begun last fall, that will compare seven single-gender programs for low-income minority boys with seven programs serving demographically similar, but coeducational, student enrollments.

Mr. Noguera and other scholars note that much of the research on single-gender education focuses on parochial schools, or on private schools that serve predominantly white, middle-class populations.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all about the theory of good intentions, but that鈥檚 not good enough,鈥� said Mr. Noguera. 鈥淲hat constitutes best practice in those schools? We just really don鈥檛 know enough to go around creating a lot of these right now. It could be that just creating a great school is the answer. And then you have to wonder, is [the problem] really about race or gender?鈥�

Enthusiasm for single-gender schools, combined with the easing of federal regulations, has resulted in many hastily assembled single-sex programs, said Leonard Sax, the executive director of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education. He advised educators to take at least a year to research and train their staffs in gender-based brain development and instructional strategies.

鈥淚f all you do is put girls in one room and boys in another, you don鈥檛 accomplish anything good,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou end up with math being taught to boys by talking about sports and to girls by talking about shopping.鈥�

Proficiency Rates Rise

The principals at the conference鈥攕ome veteran leaders of boys鈥� schools, others rookies鈥攕pent much of their time in small discussion groups, sharing experiences and strategies. They explored ways to shape curriculum and pedagogy, and ways they and their teachers can serve as disciplinarians, role models, and cheerleaders for their students.

In one such group, Curt R. Green told colleagues about his experience as the principal of Capitol Pre-College Academy for Boys in Baton Rouge, La. When the school was coeducational, 30 percent to 40 percent of its students scored at the proficient level on state tests, he said. But after two years as a single-gender program, he said, boys鈥� proficiency rates increased by 20 percentage points or more, and there were fewer behavior-related suspensions and expulsions.

Mr. Green, who will be the principal of a new public boys鈥� school in Atlanta this fall, credited the Baton Rouge improvements largely to instructional strategies that research suggests might work well for boys.

For example, Capitol teachers were trained to understand boys鈥� 鈥渢actile-kinesthetic鈥� strengths, allowing them to move around in class more and designing more projects requiring hands-on work, he said. They tried to play to competitive spirit among boys by letting them use 鈥渃lickers鈥� to signal their answers to a question.

鈥淎 lot of boys jump out of their seats to answer, or blurt out answers, and that behavior is punished [in traditional classrooms],鈥� Mr. Green said. 鈥淭his way, it鈥檚 channeled into something positive. 鈥� It鈥檚 about looking at the way [boys] learn and focusing on those strategies.鈥�

Tim King, the founder of , which opened with 9th graders last fall as Chicago鈥檚 only all-male public school, said he put a premium on fostering a positive culture. One of its building blocks is 鈥渃ommunity,鈥� a daily morning gathering of all 160 students and the staff. In jackets and ties, students celebrate their accomplishments, but they are also called to account for transgressions such as being late for school, Mr. King said. Then they recite their 鈥渃reed,鈥� a chant about believing in themselves, one another, and their future success.

Principals鈥� brainstorming sessions produced a range of suggestions for ways to better engage boys in school, from building more 鈥渁ction-oriented鈥� story lines and real-world applications into the curriculum to creating schools with strong discipline and decorum that take advantage of the role-modeling and mentoring potential of men in their communities.

The Rev. Joseph M. Doyle, the president of St. Augustine High School, a 48-year-old Roman Catholic boys鈥� school that serves a predominantly low-income African-American population in New Orleans, said strong academic preparation combined with the close bonds between students and staff members can produce outstanding results.

鈥淣inety to 95 percent of our kids go to college, and they come back to the community as fire chiefs and [district attorneys],鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is the kind of men we produce.鈥�