Tag Archive: race equity


Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps

Filed Under: Education Reform, Race Equity by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
February 7, 2013

Today’s blog post is by Communities In Schools Associate Director of Talent Development, Patti Aldaz-Carrasco.

Site Coordinators at SCCP

Site Coordinators participating in the Site Coordinator Certification Program. Photo courtesy Patti Aldaz-Carrasco.

As our communities and schools continue to diversify and grow, so must our awareness and understanding of the structural racism barriers that continue to undermine school achievement for many of the students we serve. More than 70 percent of the students served by Communities In Schools are black or Hispanic. Regardless of the challenges within any social or political arena – whether the focus is education, health care, foster care or juvenile justice – black and Hispanic youth are significantly overrepresented.

In the spring of 2011, Communities In Schools launched the Site Coordinator Certification Program, (SCCP). The SCCP was created to increase the knowledge and professionalism of those individuals with the most direct impact on youth, the site coordinators. It is a learning path that provides substantive, relevant and useful information and resources.

One of the SCCP courses, Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps Using the Communities In Schools Model, presents a structural framework for understanding how race impacts our students and their chance at success. This course is designed to build awareness and understanding of the structural racism barriers that continue to undermine school achievement for many students of color. It examines the barriers and introduces learners to the achievement gap. Videos and reading materials help learners understand the relationship between structural racism, the achievement gap and the mission of Communities In Schools.

The course also provides learners with an opportunity to engage one another in a discussion around the implications of this research on their day-to-day work. It identifies the risk and protective factors that have been proven to mitigate barriers and help move the needle on the achievement gap, as presented by Jennifer Durham, Ph.D., a Robert H.B. Baldwin Program Fellow, in her paper Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps (2007).

Communities In Schools is committed to expanding race equity training, and is working towards creating further opportunities for engagement on this critical topic. For now, the SCCP course is one way our network can actively promote the exchange of information, ideas and best practices in race equity.

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What We’re Reading

Filed Under: What We're Reading by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
December 7, 2012
Cupcake Diaries cover

"The Cupcake Diaries" is one series The New York Times highlights for its inclusion of a Hispanic character.

New York Times: While Hispanic children make up nearly a quarter of the United States’ public school population, they’re having trouble finding likenesses of themselves in reading materials in classrooms and libraries. Many of today’s popular book titles feature main characters who are white. And according to numerous education experts, this results in Hispanic students feeling unable to connect with and get invested in the stories they’re reading.

“Kids do have a different kind of connection when they see a character who looks like them or they experience a plot or a theme that relates to something they’ve experienced in their lives,” said Jane Fleming, an assistant professor at the Erikson Institute, a graduate school in early childhood development in Chicago.

In response, publishers are beginning to promote titles that more accurately reflect today’s classroom demographics. For instance, Simon & Schuster is rolling out a series for girls with a Hispanic protagonist. And Houghton Mifflin allocates a specific percentage of its published content to feature Hispanic characters.

UNICEF: Making education accessible to all, regardless of economic status, is truly an international issue. In 2010, the global population of those between the ages of 15 and 24 reached one billion, and according to Pauline Rose, director of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report, many of these young people are not learning the skills necessary to succeed as adults. In an enlightening podcast with UNICEF, Rose discusses what needs to be done by both local communities and national governments to help children get the education they need to attain viable careers.

Across the United States, Communities In Schools focuses on preparing young people  for life after high school graduation. Our site coordinators take students on college visits, help students with college and financial aid applications, and provide career-building opportunities such as visits to professional offices, internships, and job shadowing experiences.

Huffington Post: A new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation revealed that nearly 6.5 million teenagers and young adults in the United States are neither in school nor working. According to the “Kids Count” report, the number of unemployed youth in the country has reached its highest level since World War II.  And these young people are not only having trouble finding viable careers — they’re   having trouble finding entry-level jobs in places such as restaurants and grocery stores, where they can learn ground-level professional skills necessary to succeed in the adult workforce.

As these young people continue to face barriers due to economic status and lack of education, the nation is at risk of facing a huge boom in chronic unemployment.

“All young people need opportunities to gain work experience and build the skills that are essential to being successful as an adult,” Patrick McCarthy, president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said in a statement. “Ensuring youth are prepared for the high-skilled jobs available in today’s economy must be a national priority, for the sake of their future roles as citizens and parents, the future of our workforce and the strength of our nation as a whole.”

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Representing Success

Filed Under: Race Equity by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
August 2, 2012

Can you believe that it’s August already? Back-to-school season is officially underway, and many young adults are packing their suitcases and buying out Target in anticipation of their first year of college.

College is often considered an “awakening” period – especially for college students living on campus. They’re leaving home, and learning how to take care of themselves and be a part of a larger, more diverse community. Living on campus often means living with thousands of young people from all over the country (and even from other cultures).

Unfortunately, according to a new study by Stanford University’s Center for Education Policy Analysis, college campuses are not always as ethnically and culturally diverse as their brochures make them out to be. According to the study, which analyzed race, income and enrollment patterns at top-tier universities between 1982 and 2004, black and Hispanic students are considerably underrepresented in the United States’ most selective colleges.

Even after taking income disparities between black and white families into account, white students were five times as likely as black students to enroll in a highly selective college, and three times as likely as Hispanic students.

Stanford’s study also looked at how low-income students fared during the college application process. While scholarships, grants and other forms of financial aid are available for students who have difficulty affording a post-secondary education, only six percent of students enrolled in selective colleges came from families in the bottom quartile of income distribution.

Part of this certainly has to do with the economic downturn. While millions of adults struggle to find jobs and make ends meet, the cost of college still continues to rise. Many students, upon graduating high school, are faced with a very difficult choice: go to college and sink into debt, or earn money that can go towards supporting themselves and their family?

Communities In Schools works to make sure that all of the students we serve, regardless of race or income, are able to make their dreams of college come true. We provide them with tutors, college campus visits, assistance with college and financial aid applications, SAT prep and more. Our site coordinators have even helped students find part-time work, so that they can go to school and earn an income at the same time.

And during the 2010-2011 school year, the work certainly paid off: 81 percent of graduates monitored post-graduation went on to some form of post-secondary education.

Looking for inspiration? Read about Rey Saldaña, a Communities In Schools of San Antonio alum who utilized our resources to go to Stanford University. Now, he’s a city councilman and making a positive difference in his community.

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What We’re Reading

Filed Under: Race Equity, Research, What We're Reading by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
May 25, 2012
Truck Farm Chicago's truck

Truck Farm Chicago is a traveling garden; it drives across the city to teach children and families about the value of healthy food. Photo courtesy Food Truck Chicago.

New York Times: A recent New York Times analysis revealed that while the New York City public school system initially appears racially diverse, in reality the schools are highly segregated. About 650 of the nearly 1,700 schools in the system have populations that are 70 percent a single race. This causes many students to live in what the author of the article calls a “hermetic reality;” studies have shown that not giving students the opportunity to learn with children of other races and cultures eventually erodes their academic progress and leaves them unprepared for the diversity of life outside the classroom. While the article offers little in the way of solutions to this problem, we all must do more to make sure children are exposed to a wide variety of cultures and races. Not only so that they are better prepared to compete in the global market, but also to open their minds to the wide world of opportunities around them.

Chronicle of Philanthropy: This month, Indiana University handed out the United States’ first bachelor’s degrees in philanthropic studies. According to Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, the philanthropic studies degree is a liberal arts program designed to produce future nonprofit leaders who are not only well-versed in the day-to-day operations of nonprofit management, but also comfortable with weighing the philosophical questions they may encounter. Communities In Schools always makes sure students receiving our services know about the value of philanthropy and giving back. In fact, giving back to peers and community is one of our Five Basics. It’s wonderful to see a college major dedicated to the subject!

GOOD: Nonprofit organization Truck Farm Chicago is taking the term “food truck” quite seriously. A Ford truck with a small garden in the truck bed, Truck Farm Chicago drives back and forth across the city to teach children and their families about the environment and healthy eating. In a city where childhood obesity exceeds the national average, this is an extremely important lesson to impart. Communities In Schools works hard to make sure children understand the value of healthy eating as well. Our affiliates work with local organizations such as food banks to provide cooking classes so that children know how to make their own healthy meals. We also have community gardens across the nation, giving students and their families access to a constant supply of fresh fruits and vegetables.

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A Study in Achievement

Filed Under: Race Equity by Tracey Savell Reavis — Leave a comment
February 23, 2012

New study from University of Pennsylvania focuses on education success for black males.

Although it’s a story that rarely appears in the media, there are black male students who not only go to college, but also graduate. Enrollment statistics are alarmingly low – in 2002, black men accounted for only 4.3 percent of students enrolled in institutes of higher education – and are a clear indication there is still a serious issue of black male underachievement. But the fact that there are success stories prompted a series of questions and then a study, that ultimately shed light on what factors contribute to success in education for some black males. The study’s author, Shaun R. Harper, Ph. D., at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, hopes the results can provide some direction for what needs to be done  to improve the rate of academic success for future generations. View full article »

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