Module 1: Literacy and Life Outcomes
Introduction
Americans today face a major problem: Gaps in student achievement exist across the board for boys, most minority groups, and people living below the poverty line. Notably, the largest achievement gap in both literacy and math is faced by African American male students. According to the National Association for Educational Progress 2011 Report Card, only 14 % of African American 4th graders and 8th graders performed at or above the proficient level on national reading tests in 2011 and males scored 9 points lower on average than females.
We tend to think of this issue as a school problem, thus focusing the majority of our efforts on improving test scores and raising reading levels. But poor test scores are not the worst consequence of illiteracy for these young men.
Research is beginning to connect low literacy rates with negative educational, economic, and social outcomes. A recent report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation was the first to directly link graduation rates with reading skills and poverty levels.
As community based educational institutions that focus on instruction in multiple literacies, both school and public libraries have the power to help initiate great changes in the academic and life outcomes of African American males. To do this, however, we must:
We tend to think of this issue as a school problem, thus focusing the majority of our efforts on improving test scores and raising reading levels. But poor test scores are not the worst consequence of illiteracy for these young men.
- Fewer than half of African American men graduate from high school (Editorial Projects in Education, 2008).
- African American men make up only 5% of the college population, yet they make up 40% of the prison population (Lewis, S. et al., 2010; West, H.C., 2009).
- The unemployment rate is twice as high for African American men as it is for White men (Lewis, S. et al., 2010; West, H.C., 2009).
- African American adolescents and young adults are 8 times more likely to be victims of homicide than White people in the same age group (U.S. Bureau of Labor, 2010).
Research is beginning to connect low literacy rates with negative educational, economic, and social outcomes. A recent report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation was the first to directly link graduation rates with reading skills and poverty levels.
As community based educational institutions that focus on instruction in multiple literacies, both school and public libraries have the power to help initiate great changes in the academic and life outcomes of African American males. To do this, however, we must:
- Recognize "black and male culture as a strength rather than as a deficit" (Boutte & Hill, 2006, p.311)
- Recognize and focus on the funds of knowledge these young men and their communities possess and use it as a foundation for our work.
Read: A Call for Change
- A Call for Change: The Social and Educational Factors Contributing to the Outcomes of Black Males in Urban Schools--In 2010, the Council of the Great City Schools published this report, summarizing the results of multiple educational research studies and illustrating the major need for immediate action to close the achievement gap for African American male students. Read the Executive Summary of the report (p. 2-8) to learn more about where the literacy rates of African American males currently stand. Also look at the Plan of Action and Recommendations (p.100-101) to see what the Council hopes will be done with the information gathered in their report. You may notice, as we did, that libraries are not listed in any of the action steps or recommendations even though a primary goal of libraries is to improve community literacy and public and school libraries exist to some degree in all of the Council's member districts. Why do you think libraries were forgotten?
Listen: Schools Find Achievement Gap Hard to Close
- Talk of the Nation: Schools Find Achievement Gap Hard to Close (11.23.10)--Based on the Council of the Great City Schools 2010 report (above), National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation spoke with James Earl Davis of Temple University's College of Education and Pedro Noguera, author of The Trouble With Black Boys to discuss why the achievement gap still exists and what can be done to change it. The questions/comments from callers as well as those from interviewer Neal Conan take the discussion out of the academic realm and place it within the context of American life.
Watch: Voices from the Campaign for Black Male Achievement
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This short video from the Open Society Foundation presents a number of African American educators and leaders expressing their hopes for the achievement, life outcomes, and leadership opportunities for young African American men. |
Watch: Explaining Funds of Knowledge
Funds of knowledge refers "to the historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well-being” (Moll, et al. 1992, p. 133). Funds of knowledge asserts that all communities have assets that institutions such as libraries and schools should build on in developing programs and services.To find out more about funds of knowledge, view this video from Teaching Tolerance featuring Dr. Luis Moll talking about his research in this area: Explanation of Funds of Knowledge.
Read: African American Cultural Institutions and Learning
African American Communities: Implications for Culturally Relevant Teaching by Gloria Swindler Boutte & Edward L. Hill: While many young African American men are not seeing success in the classroom, they are finding it in other cultural institutions that have historic and traditional significance. Why is this the case? This article explores the importance of cultural institutions such as the barbershop in the lives of young African American men and examines the similarities and differences between such institutions and many schools. It also describes how one teacher taught a unit about the barbershop to his class of 15 African American male third graders and demonstrates how this unit helped his students increase their levels of achievement. Read pages 311-320.
Activity: Learn About the African American Population in Your Area
For this first activity, you will start the process of conducting a community analysis that will be continued in Module 8 when we discuss forming community partnerships. For now, you can begin by learning more about the African American population in your area. The instructions differ a bit for school and public librarians since each serves a different type of population and much of the data collected by schools is restricted to the faculty due to its sensitivity.
SCHOOL LIBRARIANS:
PUBLIC LIBRARIANS:
What did you learn about your community? Did anything surprise you? Now that you have collected this information, identify three changes you will make based on what you found. For example, a public librarian who uses population statistics to determine that African Americans are underrepresented in the library's user group might want to consider a new outreach program to encourage African American male users to start using the library more regularly.
SCHOOL LIBRARIANS:
- Learn more about the population and poverty levels in your city or county by searching the U.S. Census Bureau's American FactFinder website.
- Ask your administrators for data reflecting enrollment information, school demographics, and summaries of the last three years' end of grade test results.
PUBLIC LIBRARIANS:
- Learn more about the population and poverty levels in your city or county by searching the U.S. Census Bureau's American FactFinder website.
- Find out about the school system in your community by searching for your local school district in the National Center for Education Statistics database. You can discover how many students attend schools in your district, how many of those students are African American, how many teachers work in the district, and more.
What did you learn about your community? Did anything surprise you? Now that you have collected this information, identify three changes you will make based on what you found. For example, a public librarian who uses population statistics to determine that African Americans are underrepresented in the library's user group might want to consider a new outreach program to encourage African American male users to start using the library more regularly.
Summary
African American male youth face a long standing literacy achievement gap that educators have failed to solve. These low levels of literacy have dire consequences in that they also create a life outcome achievement gap that results in the under representation of African American men in colleges and employment and over representation in prison and homicide. Past efforts to change these outcomes have neglected to view and utilize the assets present in the African American community and its cultural institutions. As community institutions themselves with a traditional focus on literacy, libraries are well-situated to take life changing action to help African American male children and adolescents find a brighter, more literate future.
RESOURCES:
Boutte, G.S. & Hill, E.L. (2006). African American communities: Implications for culturally relevant teaching. The New Educator, 2, 311-329.
Lewis, S. et al. (2010). A call for change: The social and educational factors contributing to the outcomes of Black males in urban schools. Washington, D.C.: The Council of the Great City Schools.
Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D. and Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice, 31(2), 132-141.
National Association for Educational Progress. (2009). The nation's report card: Reading 2009, grade 8 national results. Retrieved from http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_2009/nat_g8.asp
U.S. Bureau of Labor. (2010). The employment situation: June 2010. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
West, H.C. (2009). Prison inmates at midyear 2009—Statistical tables. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/pim09st.pdf
RESOURCES:
Boutte, G.S. & Hill, E.L. (2006). African American communities: Implications for culturally relevant teaching. The New Educator, 2, 311-329.
Lewis, S. et al. (2010). A call for change: The social and educational factors contributing to the outcomes of Black males in urban schools. Washington, D.C.: The Council of the Great City Schools.
Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D. and Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice, 31(2), 132-141.
National Association for Educational Progress. (2009). The nation's report card: Reading 2009, grade 8 national results. Retrieved from http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_2009/nat_g8.asp
U.S. Bureau of Labor. (2010). The employment situation: June 2010. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
West, H.C. (2009). Prison inmates at midyear 2009—Statistical tables. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/pim09st.pdf