According to the report, in 2009, four-year graduation rates for African American and Latino males in the school district were 45 percent and 43 percent, respectively.
"We must use this report as a blueprint for progress," said
School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Dr. Arlene Ackerman pointed to the top three recommendations from the report, which includes eliminating the achievement gap, eliminating the opportunity gap and holding adults accountable.
"I'm not going to rest until all recommendations are fully implemented in this school system," said Dr. Ackerman.
Twenty-two-year-old Jamier Scott shared his inspirational story to a large crowd gathered inside the atrium of the District Education Center.
"As a black male student growing up in Philadelphia, trying to complete school is not an easy task."
Scott says as a teen, he was forced to help take care of his eight siblings and sick grandmother.
Those events kept him at home and out of the classroom.
"At 22-years-old, after all I've been through, I'm glad to say I now have a high school diploma," said Scott. He credits teachers who cared about him and the districts re-engagement centers as major reasons why he was able to succeed.
Superintendent Ackerman says across the country, states are determining how many prisons to build for African American men by looking at 3rd grade reading scores.
"Let's change the paradigm," said Dr. Ackerman. "We don't want to predict how many prison cells to build; we want to predict Temple, Drexel, Penn, how many dormitories to build."
The report suggested that an oversight committee implement the recommendations of the report, which Superintendent Ackerman promises to carry out.
No comments:
Post a Comment