For the second part of last week's assignment I visited the website of the National Black Child Development Institute.Conceived as an advocacy group by the Black Women’s Community Development Foundation, the Institute aims at creating a unified voice that will develop and promote strategies to improve the life circumstances of the Black child through policy change. The focus of the Institute is on early childhood education, child welfare, elementary and secondary education, and health and the mission statement is “To improve and advance the lives of black children and their families through education and advocacy."
In order to accomplish its mission, the Institute provides material and disseminate important information to all individuals who work directly with children, in particular child care professionals, educators, parents, social workers and academicians. Additionally, the Institute provides direct services at the local level through its nationwide affiliate network composed of volunteers, who work in concert with the Institute to improve child welfare services, provide access to universal early care and education, build family support services, and provide vital information on children's health.
One current issue that caught my attention is the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress report that was released on November 1. It is noteworthy that there is still a 25 point score gap between Black and White students, though there is a slight decrease from what the score was in 2009 (26 points) and a remarkable improvement of what the score was in 1994 when it was 38 points there is need to pay more attention to the black -white test score gap. Probably, closing the black-white test score gap will be the best of indicator of the promotion of racial equality in the United States.
Resources:
National Black Child Development Institute
http://nbcdi.org/
Shola,
ReplyDeleteI agree that their is definitely a black - white test score gap in our public school system. I often wish we did not have predominately Black schools and White schools. In my local area, most of the Black children live in the city, and their school is predominately Black. White children living in the city often use the school voucher system to enable them to use schools in the suburbs. Where I live, there are few Black families, and our school is over 93% White. The Black city school in our area is having major budget problems, staffing problems, and even school board issues! The White school is not. We have a ways to go before we see true equality. Somehow, our local public school system is failing the children.
Mary L.
I had no idea of this valuable information. The score gap point was incredible to find out. Thank you so much for sharing your findings. Sounds like a powerful organization too.
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