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A Black Achievement Gap, and Wasted Potential To the Editor: Re “Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected” (news article, Nov. 9): Receiving a high school diploma should be a normal rite of passage for all youth in our nation, not a result of overcoming immense odds. For a country whose core principles include equal opportunity and racial justice, the results reported for “A Call to Change,” by the Council of the Great City Schools, coming right after the Schott Foundation’s report on the same subject with similar results, represent a tragedy of the highest level. The wasted potential of our black youth represented by the reported data is breathtaking. Your article notes that the achievement gap begins in the black boys’ earliest years. Initiatives that provide life coaches for elementary school-age black boys, coupled with early literacy activities and parental involvement, have shown early promise. Perhaps they can serve as an example of the kind of intensive supports that make a difference in the lives of black male students. Richard R. Buery Jr. President and Chief Operating Officer The Children’s Aid Society New York, Nov. 10, 2010 Read more at www.nytimes.com

 

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