• A Pledge by America's Urban Schools

     
    Leaders of 60 of the largest urban school systems in the country have joined in a first-ever collective commitment to improve educational outcomes for boys and young men of color by implementing a set of evidence-based strategies that range from early childhood to graduation. Collectively, the school systems educate a third or more of America’s African American and Latino students and nearly forty percent of low-income boys and young men of color.
     
    In “A Pledge by America’s Great City Schools,” each of the 60 urban school systems committed to carrying out 11 specific actions, which include: 
    • Ensuring that pre-school efforts better serve males of color and their academic and social development;
    • Adopting and implementing elementary and middle school efforts to increase “the pipeline” of males of color who are on track to succeed in high school, and increasing the numbers participating in advanced placement, honors, and gifted and talented programs;
    • Keeping data and establishing protocols to monitor the progress of males of color and intervene at the earliest warning signs of problems;
    • Reducing the disproportionate number of males of color who are absent, suspended, expelled, or placed inappropriately in special education classes; and
    • Working to transform high schools with low graduation rates among males of color and striving to increase the numbers of males of color and others who complete the FAFSA forms for college aid.
    Click here to download the pledge.