Brown v Board: 50 years of sucking up to negroes

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Some who got a TSU scholarship didn't qualify

Students with high school grade-point averages as low as 1.68 --a C-minus average --and ACT scores as low as 13 received academic scholarships from Tennessee State University President James Hefner and the TSU Foundation over a three-year period cited by state auditors.

But the majority of students who received foundation honors scholarships from 2000 to 2003 had high school GPAs of 3.6 or better, and about 80% of them have earned at least a 3.0 at TSU, according to data The Tennessean obtained under
state public records laws.

Auditors reported last month that about one in three scholarship recipients didn't meet at least one of the two criteria, which the auditors cited as a 3.3 high scho
ol
PA and a score of 21 on the ACT college-entr
ance exam. The top score on the ACT is a 36.

But Hefner gave those students scholarships anyway because he saw their leadership skills or participation in extracurricular activities, according to a comment by TSU's administration that was included in the audit. As a result, some qualified students did not receive awards, the auditors found.

TSU officials have said the 3.3 GPA, though listed on the foundation's Web site, was not the actual requirement. Students actually need a 3.0 --a straight B average --and a 21 to earn an honors scholarship, they've said.

The data reviewed by The Tennessean does not list students' names or any other facts about them. Only ACT scores and high school and college GPAs are
shown. Dewayne Wright, a TSU spokesman, said the college GPAs reflect students' work as of the spring semester. Some students have graduated.

According to the da
ta, one TS
U student got a scholarship with a 2.14 GPA and a 14 on the ACT; anoth
er made it with a 2.28 and a 16; and another had a 2.58 and a 15. Overall, seven students out of about 250 had GPAs of or below 2.5, the midpoint between a B and a C on the grade-point scale.

The student with the 1.68 GPA scored a 27, a strong result, on the ACT, and compiled a 3.53 GPA at TSU. Another student did only slightly better in high school, compiling a 1.8 GPA, but scored a 21 on the entrance exam, which would be enough to earn one of the state's new lottery-funded scholarships. His or her GPA at TSU is just a 2.03, however.

The student with the 13 on the ACT had a 3.14 GPA in high school, an average somewhere between a B and a B-plus, but sank to a 2.29 in college.

At
the same time, 25 students had perfect 4.0 GPAs in high school, and six had ACT scores of at least 30. Many others posted lesser but still impressive numbers.

Brian Noland, associate executive
director of the
Tennessee Higher Education Commission, said studies have shown students who scor
e at least a 23 on the ACT have more than a 50% chance of graduating from college, as do students with a high school GPA of at least 3.2 to 3.4.

Since getting to TSU, most of the students have succeeded, the data show. While 15 GPAs of 2.5 or less stick out, including a 0.52 and a 1.39, 78 students earned a 3.6 or better, including five with a 4.0.

The Rev. Inman Otey, TSU's career services director and a supporter of Hefner's, said the president made good decisions about scholarship-worthy students.

''That was based on his personal involvement with them or with the people who recommended them,'' Otey said. ''It wasn't just arbitrary. His track record shows hi
s good judgment.''

Getting in

To earn a foundation honors scholarship from Tennessee State University, students must have a 3.0 high school GPA out of a possible 4.0 and a s
core of 21 out of a poss
ible 36 on the ACT college-entrance exam, according to TSU officials. Citing a TSU Foundation Web site, state auditors used
a 3.3 GPA as the standard in evaluating whether students actually qualified for scholarships from 2000 to 2003.

For regular admission to TSU, in-state students must have at least a 19 on the ACT or 900 on the SAT and a 2.25 GPA. For out-of-state students, the required GPA is a 2.5, according to TSU's Web site.

The state's new lottery-funded scholarships require students to have either a 19 on the ACT, an 890 on the SAT or a 3.0 GPA.

******************
A TSU diploma isn't worth the paper it's written on. TSU, home of the Bluegum Cannibals, is a n-gger school, for n-ggers, run by n-ggers. Like many HBCUs, TSU struggles to meet
accreditation every time it comes up. Seriously, I doubt that most negro gra
duates of TSU could pass a GED e
xam.

T.N.B.

 

[No 1965 Chain Immigrants]

16

http://www.lewrockwell.com/epstein/epstein15.html

who does not wish me near them? [/u][/i]

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

16 arrested at Terry Parker graduation

Sixteen people were arrested at Terry Parker High School's graduation Wednesday night, all charged with yelling during the ceremony despite warnings, Jacksonville police said.

The ceremony, at Veterans Memorial Arena, had no serious disruptions until the graduates names were called one by one, police Sgt. Don Schoenfeld said. Then, any time an officer could identify who was making the noise, that person was either as
ed to leave or, if the yelling was loud or long enough, arrested.

"They were standing up during the event, screaming out, drawing attention to themselves and away from the graduation,&qu
ot;
Schoenfeld said of those who were taken into custody.

Terry Parker's graduation was
the fifth this week for Sgt. M.L. Hurst. During the other ceremonies, ejecting people from the arena was enough to quiet the crowd down, Hurst said.

"This was so loud and out of hand I could hear them back in the security office," she said.

All the people arrested were charged with disturbing a school function, a second-degree misdemeanor. A 16-year-old girl was also charged with resisting arrest. Schoenfeld said the teenager was uncooperative after police escorted her out of the ceremony.

After her daughter was arrested, Valerie Lightsey rushed to the Duval County jail. She had driven from Thomasville, Ga., to see her son walk across the stage.

The L
ightsey family members arrived at the ceremony late, just as the names were being called.

The 16-year-old girl walked to the front to take a picture of her brother, Ryan Davis, and screamed out w
hen his nam
e was called, the mother said. She said that was enough for police to escort her daughter out.

"What was supposed t
o be a happy occasion turned into a nightmare," Lightsey said.

Lightsey said the family was not aware of the rules banning yelling during the ceremony, and she wishes police would have allowed her to discipline the teen instead of arresting her.

Schoenfeld said the school sent home notes and made announcements during graduation that people should not yell out or be disruptive. He said crowd control is important when about 400 names have to be called.

He also said school officials were hoping to avoid the type of melee that erupted at graduation last year, when a disruptive family refused to quiet down and later got physical with
officers. Four people were arrested then.

Two hours after the graduation ended, Lightsey was getting more frustrated and concerned about her daughter.

"I don't know anythin
g about Jacksonvil
le, and this doesn't feel right," she said.

Her son didn't have much to say, other than he blames police: "They ruined my graduation."


********************
n-ggerboy blames police. I, on the other hand, blame n-ggers and Brown v Board.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Teacher Suspended for Classroom Rap Video

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- David Ross, 26, began as a substitute teacher in the 2001-2002 academic year. He was hired on as a language arts instructor in 2002, and most recently was assigned to the Northwestern Middle School as a television instructor.

Now, David Ross is suspended with pay by the Duval County School board. He's been pulled from his classroom and reassigned to a desk job at one of the school district's warehouses.

Ross is under investigation for allegedly recording a lengthy videotape of his stud
nts in their classroom, each taking turns rapping to the camera, and uttering profane language.

Anthony Cambridge, a parent of one of the students, showed the tape to several school board officials
aft
r his son brought the controversial tape home.


Cambridge told First Coast News that the teacher, David Ross, joins in with the students on the tape.

Cambridge says Ross can be heard cussing and making graphic sexual comments as other students stand guard at the classroom door.

Cambridge says the tape was especially upsetting because he wants his son to get a proper education in order to get a good job and live a productive life.

"I'm sending him to school thinking that they're teaching him how to maintain out here. You know? How to get a job. How to live and do whatever you do. That tape right there... all it tells is a thug mentality," says Cambridge.

John Williams, the Duval County School Board's Director of Professional Standard
s watched only a few snippets of the tape that lasts well over an hour. Williams likens the teacher's actions to a betrayal of the teaching profession, saying the vast majority of Duval County Schoo
l teacher
s go to great lengths to uphold the highest standards of professionalism.

"Our
teachers are," Williams paused, "I'll match them against anybody in the nation. It is, however, even more painful when we do come upon that teacher who has just completely stepped outside the bounds of acceptable behavior on the part of the teacher, and really betrayed his profession."

The School Board says its investigation is being hampered because the master copy of the videotape is now with a law firm.

The firm is deciding whether to represent the Cambridge family in legal action against the school system.

School takes teacher out of class

A Duval Cou
nty middle school teacher has been removed from the classroom as school officials investigate his involvement with a video laced with obscenities and racial slurs featuring his students.


David Ross</
b> was removed Tuesday from his television production classroom at Northwestern Middle School after the parents of one student raised concerns a
bout the almost two-hour tape to regional superintendent Levi H. McIntosh Jr.

McIntosh said he viewed a brief portion of the tape and found it to be an "inappropriate" product for a television production class from any school, regardless of the level. He added this was the first time in his 38 years in education he had encountered such an incident.

A representative of Duval Teachers United, the local teachers union, said Ross had been advised not to talk to reporters. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Parents Anthony and Wanda Cambridge said the video is replete with foul language, racial slurs, violent themes
and sexual content.

The Cambridges' 16-year-old son, Carl, came home from school Monday and told his parents he had a videotape of a dance he did during his television production c
lass, the mother sai
d Wednesday. The family sat down to watch the video, but the parents said they were horrified at what they saw.

She said the students and teachers were rapping on
video, using curse words and offensive language. At first, she didn't know the person wearing a black and white athletic jersey seen on the video, challenging others to rap against him, was the one in charge.

She said she asked her son, an eighth-grader at the school: "You tell me that's your teacher talking like that?"

*******************
NOW, go to the link at the first article and watch the video. The video shows a black n-gger wearing a black and white athletic jersey get'n it on! But the best part of the video is the 'outraged
parent', his own bad self be black as the ace of spades an duh ebonics dat comes out his mouf tell you where he's comming from, knowha'm'say'n?

Can you imagine the r
ace riot this would cause
if the teacher were white? Now, I can see a white teacher, feed up with teaching n-ggers getting mad and calling a spade a spade, but what we have here is, well, I'll just show you the power of Brown v Board and let you decid
e fo' yo' own bad self.

City: Jacksonville, FL
Address: 2100 W 45th St
District: Duval
Phone: (904)924-3100
Web site: http://www.educationcentral.org/sip/school.asp?school=155
School Enrollment: 954
White students: 1.3%
Black students: 98.4%
Hispanic students: .1%
Multi-racial/other students: .2%
Female students: 48.6%
Male students: 51.4%

NORTHWESTERN MIDDLE SCHOOL - Jacksonville, FL

Those wacky negroes, what will they think of next.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

A Widening Racial Gap in Law School Applications and Scores on the Law School Admission Test

For the 2002-03 academic year, 96,487 students took the Law School Admission Test and applied to law school. Of these law school applicants, 10,346, or 10.7 percent, were black. The number of black applicants to law school has risen 26 percent over the past five years. But overall applicants of all races to law school have increased 35 percent from five years ago. Therefore, the percentage of all law school applicants who are black has dropped from 11.5 percent to 10.7 percent.

The latest res
lts for the 2002-03 academic year show a median score on the LSAT for black test takers was 142.2. (LSAT scores are on a scale of 120 to 180.) The median white score was 153.9. Thus, on average, black score
s a
e about 19 percent [
/color]lower than white scores. Furthermore, the racial gap in LSAT scores is increasing. In 1997-98 the median black LSAT score was 142.7. The median white score was 153.5. Thus, over the past five years, the racial scoring gap has increased by 0.9 points, or 1.5 percent.

***************

Thus, on average, black scores are about 19 percent lower than white scores.

Per
cent of Change

153.9 - 142.2 = 11.7

11.7 / 153.9 = 0.076

0.076 x
100 = 7.6%<
br>
7.6 % does not equal 19%

My niggaz at The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education need to review dey 8th grade maf. But on the bright side, you negroes ain't behind YT as much as you think.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Bridging the gap

The desegregation of our public schools was never envisioned to be an end in itself. Instead, school desegregation was seen as one necessary element of a broader effort to move beyond generations of racial discrimination and fulfill our nation's noblest democratic promise: that every child, regardless of race or background, would receive an equal opportunity to succeed in school, and in life.

Fifty years after Brown vs. Board of Education, that promise remains unmet in one crucial respect: The "achievement gap" - the disparity between the aggregate p
rformances of white and African-American children on standardized measures of academic performance - persists.

Reading, Writing, Race - a four-part special report researched and written by member
s of
the Times staff - examined the reasons for the achi
evement gap from all sides. More important, it also highlighted innovative efforts in local schools, and in others around the country, that have shown promise in closing the gap.

People, not numbers

The achievement gap is usually measured in test scores. For example, only 31 percent of Florida's black students are reading at or above grade level, according to FCAT results, compared with 63 percent of white students. (The gap is similarly large among school systems in the Tampa Bay area.) The magnitude and persistence of this gap should trouble every educator and parent.

The real impact of the achievement gap is measured in children's lives, not in dry test scores. Youngsters who fall off-track in early gr
ades face a disadvantage that, if not addressed and reversed, will deepen for the remainder of their school years and beyond. For example, nearly 2,000 black students entered Pinellas County high sch
ools in 1996
. Four years later, only 240 of them graduated. At least
350 dropped out; the system lost track of 180 former students altogether. Each non-graduate represents not just a failure of the education system, but a shortcoming of society.

Of course, our schools do not deserve all of the blame for the achievement gap. Society asks our teachers and principals to fill the role many families and other community institutions fail to provide. Black students are more likely to live in poverty, in dysfunctional homes, in neighborhoods that provide no positive direction or realistic role models.

Many African-American students also must overcome the pernicious influence of peers who chide them for "acting white" when they excel in school. "Some black students don&
#39;t want to appear smart," Joseph Brown, a student at Middleton High in Tampa told the Times. "They put themselves in a box and make themselves into a stereotype."

No excuses
?

Still, non
e of that exempts our schools from the obligation to make the best possible effort to help every
child reach his or her potential. The catalogue of our school systems' continued shortcomings is extensive. Our schools are overcrowded and underfunded, adding to the difficulty of giving underperforming students the individualized help they need. For that, our Tallahassee lawmakers deserve most of the blame. But our local school systems are falling short, too.

Despite perennial recruiting efforts, teachers and administrators in Tampa Bay school systems still are not as diverse as they should be. For example, only 8 percent of the teachers in Pinellas schools are black, while 19 percent of the students are. Efforts to bridge the cultural divide between white teachers and black s
tudents have had only limited success. That probably helps to explain why black students still are disproportionately likely to be disciplined for subjective reasons such as "defiance&qu
ot; and "insubordinatio
n."

Then there are the hurdles established by a bureaucratic culture in which innovation is ofte
n talked about, but seldom realized.

In 1998, Pinellas Superintendent Howard Hinesley announced a new plan for attacking the achievement gap and said there would be "no excuses" for failure. Six years later, with the gap in Pinellas schools undiminished despite the system's various efforts, Hinesley is among those making excuses. "The trouble here is . . . it's a moving car and you're trying to change the tire while it's moving," he said.

But some other school districts - and even some individual schools and classrooms within our local systems - are succeeding, even though they must cope with the same shortages of staff and reso
urces that are blamed for most failures.

Keys to success

Times staff writer Monique Fields went to Norfolk, Va., where the public schools have had notable success in closing t
he achievement gap. Their secret? No
thing magic. Building after-school programs that require extra commitment from students and teachers. Making painful decisions, such as elimina
ting physical education classes and other electives, to focus on the basics. Giving principals and teachers the freedom to revise their curricula and instructional methods in ways that work. Above all, working to make a personal connection with every student.

School systems such as Hillsborough's and Pinellas' are much bigger than Norfolk's, but that is no excuse for allowing bureaucratic sclerosis to stifle innovation and limit personal attention. Each student is an unformed individual, not a byte of data, and the achievement gap must be closed one student at a time.

The schools cannot do it alone. They need t
he active support of students' families and neighbors.

Students from all economic and ethnic backgrounds need the same kinds of support. Parents and guardians: Turn off the TV
until homework is finished every night. Rea
d to your young children. Cultivate role models who have succeeded in the classroom, not just in sports or entertainment. Hold the children in your home to high sta
ndards - and set a positive influence for them by exhibiting discipline in your own lives.

And every student, teacher, parent and administrator should always remember this: Even under the cloud of the achievement gap, thousands of African-American students succeed in the classroom every day. The gap reflects only aggregate numbers; it does not doom any child to failure.

The great majority of our children, whatever their race or background, are capable of succeeding. Many just need a spark - the inspiration of a special teacher, the encouragement of a supportive parent, the positive example of a fellow stu
dent.

Many young people will find the spark within themselves, if only a hostile home environment or an insensitive school environment does not snuff it out before it can take
hold. Only by keeping the spark alive in each child
can our schools and our society finally bridge the gap between our discriminatory history and our democratic ideals.

************************
Brown v Board is
a miserable failure. Stop trying to educate n-ggers and put your money on a horse that has a chance of winning.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Black males: Same gender, better results

Scribble. Erase. Scribble. Erase.

Juliette Gordon Low Elementary School fifth-grader Jordan Campbell stared down at the lined paper on his desk as he tried to figure out the mathematical equivalent of
5 x 2 + 4.

He closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair and tugged at the soft curls on the back of his neck so hard it looked like he might pluck them all out.

Jordan, like the other boys in
his early intervention class, was placed here because he was two-to-three grade levels behind in math and reading.

Suddenly, Jordan jumped out of his seat and shouted, "Fifty-four! I got i
t r
ight!"

Then he remembered classroom etiquette.

Jordan sat down, composed himself and raise
d his hand until teacher Deirdre Lovett came to his desk.

"Ma'am!" he said, pointing to the answer on his math worksheet. "I got it right."

Lovett picked up the paper and widened her eyes as she looked over Jordan's paper. "You go boy," Lovett said, giving him a high-five.

Juliette Low Elementary, a small school located off the east end of DeRenne Avenue, has offered these small-size early intervention classes for five years. The Early Intervention Program teachers and their classroom aides are trained in direct instruction and special reading instruction techniques.

The classes, which were originally
co-ed, worked well enough. They helped girls and boys achieve modest gains, until last year when only three girls were assigned to Lovett's class - two were no-shows and the third asked to be moved af
ter seeing
the classroom full of boys.

With the girls gone, things started working exceptionally well for the boys.

"By the end of the year they were on par if not exc
eeding the math levels of their peers in the other fifth-grade classes," said Principal Katherine Johnson. "It worked so well we decided to continue it."

As Lovett walked away from Jordan, the boys sitting next to him scooted over and asked him to explain it to them.

Eleven-year-old Jordan smiled sweetly - something few teachers would have ever expected to see Jordan do during a math lesson.

Last year, Jordan said, he was placed in an alternative program at Oatland Island after violating the zero tolerance policy by bringing a cap gun to school.

"We didn't do a lot of wor
k there," he said. "But in this class - with Ms. Lovett - my behavior got better, and my grades came up. I don't know why."

No one can pinpoint why Lovett's class works.<
br>
She thinks
it is the energy and positive attitude they maintain in her classroom.

"They're very determined. We may have to do something 50 times before everyone gets it," she said. "But they don't want to stop."

Eleven-year-old Aaron Cl
ark says it's because the class is a girl-free zone.

"I don't want girls in here," Clark said. "They get you in trouble."

But Johnny Black, 10, said he wouldn't mind having a few more pretty faces around.

"You got that right!" he said, "I want to flirt with them."

This year, about 12 African-American boys, each with significant academic or behavioral problems, were enrolled in Lovett's class. Their ages range from 10 to 12. Some of the boys hav
e been held back; two spent the previous year in the alternative program at Oatland Island; and another was enrolled in the alternative program for problematic students at Scott Learning Center fo
r two years. But there wa
s only one referral to the principal's office from the class all year.

The goal is to prepare the boys for middle school, where the risk of failure and disengagement increases for many of the district's at-risk males.

Other programs

Starting Tuesday, the Morning News will highlight what other people are doing to
improve the academic success of black males.

"They're leaving the fifth-grade on grade level in math, just a little below in reading and with tremendous confidence," Johnson said.

Something that was made easier by the devoted teachers in the class, according to Johnson.

Lovett and her aide, Linda Green, challenge the boys to think for themselves and figure problems out.

"Come on, put your genius cap ba
ck on," Green said to a boy who asked for her help without first attempting a math problem on his own.

Lovett said they lay down the rules at the start of the year and hold the
boys to strict academic standard
s, but when concepts start to click, they allow them to celebrate and encourage them to work in groups and help each other.

"It's show-off time once they get it," Lovett said. "You know when someone has something down because they start to get loud and they hop up and try to help the others understand."

Lovett, the mother of two girls, had no previous practice workin
g exclusively with boys - particularly with boys nobody else wanted. But they have connected academically, personally and emotionally, and she enjoys the opportunity to teach them.

"It's fulfilling to see how far they've come," she said. "I don't think I've had a personal day this year, and I don't' mind getting up and coming to work."


And the boys appreciate the opportunity Lovett has given them to shine.

Malcolm Mitchell, 11, said that last year he was expelled for running away from school, fighti
ng and disrespecting his teachers, but he
would never do that now.

"Now I've got a better teacher. She teaches me more and gives me more attention," he said. "I feel special."

**********************

"Now I've got a better teacher. She teaches me more and gives me more attention," he said. "I feel special."

You are special, special ed, that is and so is yo teechur.

By the way:

Juliette Gordon Low Elementary Scho
ol fifth-grader Jordan Campbell stared down at the lined pa
per on his desk as he tried to figure out the ma
thematical equivalent of 5 x 2 + 4.

He closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair and tugged at the soft curls on the back of his neck so hard it looked like he might pluck them all out.

Jordan, like the other boys in this early intervention class, was placed here because he was two-to-three grade levels behind in math and reading.

Suddenly, Jordan jumped out of his seat and shouted, "Fifty-four! I got it right!"

Then he remembered classroom etiquette.

Jordan sat down, composed himself and raised his hand until teacher Deirdre Lovett came to his desk.

"Ma'am!" he said, pointing to the answer on his math worksheet. "I got it right."

Lovett picked up the paper and wide
ned her eyes as she looked over Jordan's paper. "You go boy," Lovett said, giving him a high-five.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--
QuoteEEnd-->

Order o
f operations:

Pleas
e Parentheses
Excuse Exponents
My Multiply
Dear Divide
Auntie Add
Sally Subtract

5 x 2 + 4 = 14

Don't you n-ggers know anything?

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Kindergarten: struggle at the starting line

ST. PETERSBURG - The boy in the button-down shirt flicked the metal clip on his clipboard three times, the snaps echoing sharply in Alison Burnett's kindergarten class.

He was trying to write the word "fish." But he needed help with the f.

And the i.

And the s.

And the h.

Just two weeks left of kindergarten, and he knows only half of his letters.

Burnett, 29, knelt beside him. But then another boy wanted help with the word "swimming." A 7-year-old raced by with the stuffe
bear she was supposed to keep in her cubby. A girl complained that someone had broken her crayon box.

By the time the teacher turned back to the boy in the button-down shirt, he still hadn't wri
tten
anything. So she traced the letter f with her finger, and he produced the f. Th
en the classroom tornado pulled her away again. And the boy sat there, not knowing what to do, his dark eyes pensive.

At Campbell Park Elementary and in schools across Florida, teachers are tugging 5- and 6-year-olds through a learning process that is more reading and writing boot camp than the finger painting and housekeeping play of years gone by.

The academic demands on kindergarten children are increasing dramatically, even as the gap in their skill levels grows wider.

Kindergarten teachers in Pinellas County say they have kids who don't know any of their letters sitting next to children who can read at a second-grade level. Students who are too immature have no time to grow up. The
y will be left behind.

Most of those who struggle are from low-income families, and a disproportionate number are African-American. Many of these children arrive in kindergarten with one-quarter of the vocabulary of their peers, according to the Education Trust, a nonprofit organization in Wash
ington D.C.

Educators say this disparity is the first manifestation of the achievement gap - the academic divide that separates black and white students in most Florida classrooms.

Burnett's job is to bridge the differences - a task that often seems impossible.

Failing kindergarten

Administrators at Campbell Park Elementary acknowledge they are struggling with the academic gap between black and white students.

Sixty-seven percent of the school's white students who took the FCAT last year were reading at or above grade level. Only 17 percent of the black students who took the test met that standard.


Burnett is aware of the numbers and the way they are filtering into her kindergarten classroom. The gap is one reason she is expected to accomplish more with every student regardless of the diff
erences in their abi
lity levels.

Burnett says she sets goals and tries to achieve them, but things get in the way, including high turnover. She started in August wit
h 23 students. As the school year wore on, she lost nine kids and gained seven new ones. The 21 students left at the end were a diverse bunch - 10 whites, six blacks, one Hispanic, one Indian and three biracial students.

Burnett, an intense woman with blond hair, pale blue eyes and a patrician nose, is in her first year as a kindergarten teacher. But she spent seven years teaching prekindergarten, where she worked with many low-income children.

She remembers the first time she formally assessed this year's class.

Some could write their name. Others couldn't. Some had been in prekindergarten programs. Others had st
ayed at home. One lived with four siblings in a single-parent home. Another was adopted because his mother was a drug addict.

In the early months, Burnett focused much of her energy on th
e students who knew the leas
t. She worked on individual letters in class and broke the struggling kids into smaller groups. An aide -- available because Campbell Park is a Title 1 school servi
ng a large percentage of poor families -- came 45 minutes a day and spent much of it with the students in the middle.

In December, Burnett began compiling a list of kids who were in danger of failing kindergarten. At that point, three children - one black, one biracial, one white - were on the list. Two more - one black, one white - were borderline.

The district expects kindergarteners to know all of their letters and more than half of their letter sounds by the end of the year. They have to be able to write a sentence, come up with rhymes, identify shapes and do simple addition and subtraction.

Camille Re
ntz, a Pinellas County corrections deputy and single mother of five, was surprised to learn from Burnett that her daughter, Christina, was struggling. Christina, who is African-American,
knew half of her upper- and lowercas
e letters, but her progress was slow.

Rentz, 33, already had put four children through kindergarten.

"I was like, "you're joking right?' ' she said. "We'
d been working with her at home on her letters. Are you sure she didn't freeze up?"

Burnett's reply: Christina would have to show her that she knew the letters to pass.

Dakota Houle, who is white, had been in a day care setting before entering kindergarten. She arrived in Burnett's classroom knowing only six letters. By December, she knew half of her lowercase and uppercase letters. But as with Christina, Burnett was concerned that Dakota was not catching on fast enough.

"She wasn't prepared and I think that's why she was behind at fir
st," said Dakota's mother, Joyce Houle, 36, who is studying to be a medical assistant. "When she told me she was having a hard time, I was like, "I don't know what
to do.' "

Burnett suggested
Houle purchase magnetic letters to place on the fridge. Put four up and ask Dakota to identify them. Then add four more.

Rentz also felt the pressure. She said it was hard to find time to work with Christina with five kids at different schools and a full-
time job.

"It's like they're a little adult now," she said. "They're taking away the chance to be a child anymore. They're teaching them to pass a test."

Finding the finish line

Educators say there is a good reason why more is expected from today's kindergarten students: Those who fall behind early rarely catch up. That is especially true for reading, which affects all other subjects.

"It's called being behind the eight-ball,"
said Robert Pianta, a University of Virginia education professor who has studied kindergarteners. "It just snowballs from there on for these kids."

Against this bac
kdrop, teachers such as Burnett perform a difficult
balancing act. They must find a way - and the time - to get students from every kind of background to the finish line by the end of the year.

Research shows that low-income students - who are disproportionately African-American - are less likely to be read to at home and more likely to watch large amounts of television. They ha
ve a greater chance of being raised by a single parent and less exposure to high-quality day care.

All of those factors contribute to the extreme academic diversity in many kindergarten classrooms.

Margaret Garcia, a kindergarten teacher at Lakewood Elementary School, taught a class in which only one of her 21 children came to school with a lunch box. The rest received a free or reduced price lunch. She predicted that maybe th
ree would meet the district's expectation of being able to write a sentence or more by the end of the year.

Maria Schemel, a kindergarten teacher at Perkins Elementary
, said the abilities of her students were so diverse that s
he broke the class into eight small groups -- from a child still working on letter sounds to a child reading at a second-grade level.

"Middle-income families always think, "Oh, that's too bad about those low-income children, that they come in unprepared,' but it's a drain on resources," said Amy Wilkins, a partner at the Education Trust
, which is working to close the achievement gap. "Teachers are forced to help these kids who aren't ready to catch up, so they can't help their classmates who are in the middle excel. Everyone's affected."

Three weeks left

One afternoon, Burnett turned the lights off for nap time and grabbed a book about a kindergartener who visits a farm.
She told the children to take a seat in front of her rocking chair.

An African-American boy sat at his table ignoring her, his back to the class as he colored Powe
r Rangers. Red ones. Blue ones. Yellow ones.

Day after day,
the child colored Power Rangers in class. He sometimes paid attention to her instruction, but more often he sat off to the side.

He threw numerous tantrums -- loud, crying scenes -- when he didn't get his way, but not as many as he did in the beginning of the year. He also could be endearing, opening his arms wide for a hug or asking questions about love bugs.

Burnett sometimes let him wander the class while other childr
en sat in front of her or at their tables. But now she expected him to stop coloring. He wailed loudly, setting his head down on the table.

"You need to make a good choice," she said. "You can color later."

"Come on, look at me," she said, turning his face to meet hers. She tugged on his wrist
, trying to lift him out of his seat. But he is a large child and stood his ground, his wails turning to screams as if he had lost everything in the world.

His fac
e turned wet, the tears hitting dry lips over missing front teeth. She pul
led, he resisted. She pulled some more, he held onto the table. Then, just like that, his resistance turned into acquiescence and he let her lead him across the room.

"Thank you," she said, handing him a tissue. "Do you want your blanket? Here, wipe your face."

Burnett spent more time easing him through tantrums than in one-on-one time learning his letters. Earlier in the day, she had passed him holding a book with a V on it and he had been unable to identify the
letter for her.

Burnett couldn't talk about him because his mother didn't want his name used in this story, but he clearly represented a challenge for her. She talked of loving him and wanting the best for him, but his emotional outbursts often pulled her awa
y from working with other students.

He had thrown two other tantrums just that day. Once the class aide spent 10 of her 45 minutes in class trying to calm him.
Later, he went through the lunch line and took an entree, then another sandwich.
He cried when he was told he would have to put the sandwich back.

"I guess I'm not having my lunch," Burnett sighed, as she went over to talk to him. She pulled his face to hers so they looked in each other's eyes again, trying to get him to understand.

Minutes later, she gave up and headed to the teacher's lounge to eat her own lunch, leaving him to work through it on his own.

Nap time becomes lesson time, sort of
"Jonah, Fatima, Tanner, go get your book bags," Burnett called.

The
three children jumped up from their naps and gathered around Burnett at a table in the dark of nap time. She handed them a first-grade book, Who Lives in this Hole? illuminated by light from the window.

For Burn
ett, giving each of her kindergarteners individual time means taking time from other activities. She and other teachers have interrupted nap time and cut recess t
o 10 minutes a day to squeeze in all of the required lessons and assessments.

&quo
t;There's so much the county wants you to get done in a day. It's hard," Burnett said.

Her focus has changed since the beginning of the year. She has shifted from spending more time with the lowest achievers to targeting the middle-level kids, those on the cusp of meeting the district's expectations.

"At the beginning, the goal is to get them all where they need to be for the (evaluations)," Burnett said one day as she took a lunch break. "But now, the kids who know 20 something letters, there are 17 days of school left. It's not
that I stop working with them, but at this point, my goals change. I know they're not going to get to 50 (the district requirement for upper- and lowercase letters). Maybe
they'll get to 30."

During the second half of the year, Burnett divided some of the highest achievers into three reading groups. A fourth group
, with kids who were not ready to read, targeted letter sounds. Those who weren't ready for
the letter sounds, she said, got individual time.

But during several visits to her classroom, she seemed pressed to fit in the individual attention. Even getting to the groups was a struggle.

As three higher-level readers opened their books, a boy with blond hair started kicking Christina. And Tia and Dakota started playing tug-of-war with Tia's leopard-print blanket. And the boy in the button-down shirt began kicking a book bag hanging on Burnett's rocking chair.

Burnett took the blanket away from the girls, pulled the boy with blond hair up from his nap time spot and admonished the
boy in the button-down shirt. But the boy with blond hair continued to kick the bottoms of Christina's sneakers.

"Hold on," B
urnett said, angrily.

"Can we read it now?" asked Fatima, but Burnett was getting up again.

"I'm sorry guys, but hold on,&
quot; she said to the trio. She got up and took the boy with blond hair by the arm, leading him to anot
her class across the hall.

"Okay, sorry," she said, returning moments later. "We're on the squirrel."

Epilogue

When they arrived in August, seven of the 14 kindergarteners who stayed with Burnett all year knew zero to 12 letters. By the last day of school, 10 of 14 had learned the alphabet and could write a simple sentence, which means they were ready for first grade.

Four of those children didn't know all of their letters and couldn't write a sentence.

Burnett acknowledged that not everyone succeeded in her class, but she thinks she did the best she could under the circumstances.

The white and Hispanic students performe
d best in the class. The black students performed mostly
in the middle or slightly below expectations.

Of the six black children in the class, one may or may not be retained and five will go on
to first grade. But three of the six are still behind district expectations in writing or letter sounds.<b
r>
Burnett likes to talk about the long-shots, the kids who seemed to be struggling but took the biggest leaps academically. Burnett said those who find a way to catch up and pass many of their peers typically get help at home.

One is Dakota Houle, who struggled with her letters in the beginning. Dakota's mother said she placed magnetic letters on the fridge and bought Dakota a Leap Pad phonics computer after her conference with Burnett. Dakota spent hours on it and is now well above some of her peers.

Christina Rentz also mastered most of her letters, but she remains slightly below the district's expectations in letter sounds and writing.

Christina will go to first grade next ye
ar, and Burnett has passed the baton t
o another teacher.

********************

Most of those who struggle
are from low-income families, and a disproportionate number are African-American. Many of these children arrive in kindergarten with one-quarter of the vocabulary of their peers, according to the Education Trust, a nonprofit organization in Washington D.C.

Dem li'l niglets might not have a big vocabulary like white chilluns but I bet every single one of dem pickaninnys knows one very special word, that word being "m*therf*cker". I doubt if any of them can't spell it correctly.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Very Few Blacks Can be Found at the Top of the LSAT Scoring Pyramid

According to figures obtained by JBHE from the Law School Admission Council, only a few handfuls of blacks score at the highest range of LSAT scores. Such high scores ensure a student's consideration at the nation's highest-ranked law schools.

In the 2002-03 academic year there were more than 10,300 black LSAT test takers. But only 21 black students scored 170 or above (about two tenths of 1 percent of all black LSAT test takers). In contrast, 2,251 white students --and 2,572 students overall if
e include Asians, Hispanics, and other minorities --scored 170 or above on the LSAT. Blacks made up only 0.8 percent of the students who scored above 170 on the LSAT. There are more than <sp
an
style='color:red'>107 times a
s many white students as black students </span>who scored 170 or above on the SAT.

Now suppose we drop the LSAT scoring threshold to 165 --equivalent to the median LSAT score of students at the nation's 15 highest-ranked law schools. Things do not look much better. In 2002-03 only 79 blacks nationwide scored 165 or above on the LSAT. This was only eight tenths of 1 percent of all black LSAT test takers. But nationwide, 8,609 students --including 6,652 white students --scored 165 or above on the LSAT. Therefore, blacks made up less than 1 percent of all LSAT test takers who scored 165 or above.

****************
Maybe you nerdy negroes should consider going into another profession, like shining shoes or washing cars.
But on a serious note, since the Supreme Court of the United States of America said that it was alright to let law schools use Affirmative Action to get you coons admitted, then why are you worried abou
t scores
. In their decision
last year, the Supreme Court handed you negroes the keys to the destruction of this once great country. We are going to make all you jungle bunnies lawyers whether you like it or not.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Desegregation discussion turns to woes at Lanier

A celebration of 50-years since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education on Thursday turned into a solemn discussion of student achievement at Jackson's Lanier High.

The traditionally black high school is one of 33 of the lowest-performing schools in the state and the lowest-performing in Jackson.

A Clarion-Ledger story earlier this week pointed out that no Lanier High 11th grade boys have a high enough grade point average, 3.0, to be considered fo
Mr. Lanier.

The talk swung to the current racial makeup of Jackson schools and the quality of education as distinguished panelists such as former Supreme Court Justice Fred Banks, former Hinds C
oun
y Circuit Judge Robert Gibbs and former Gov
. William Winter recounted the history before and after the Brown decision that came to fruition in Jackson in 1969-70.

Lanier High 11th-grader Melishia Grayson, 16, said she objects to the way the media portrays her school as a "thug school."

"As young people we're going to have to stand up and try to change that image," she said.

But she said Lanier High students are molded by what they learned in middle and elementary schools. "We can't all of a sudden change in high school."

Former Jackson School Board member Ollye Shirley, whose four children went through 1970s integration, said the Lanier community needs to help itself, but it also needs help.

"The gangs are there.
The drug dealers are there. It's going to take all kinds of help," said Shirley. "People need to help parents understand how they can help their children achieve."

Gibbs sai
d he was d
isturbed by Lanier 11th-grader Antonio Young's comments in The Clarion-Ledger "suggesting it's not politically corr
ect to be smart. That's wrong. It's OK to be smart. ... We've got to tell our kids something to motivate them."

Grayson asked if it were possible for Lanier to ever become racially diverse. But Shirley said that doesn't make a difference.

"I don't think it has to have white students to be a quality school," she said.

She pointed out that for years the black professionals in Mississippi graduated from Lanier. "It has a history. We can relive that history, make that school what it can be," she said.

Winter, who is the architect of the Education Reform Act of 1982, said he is dismayed when he go
es into Jackson schools, sees good teaching but also sees white students are not there. "The lament I make is not enough white people are taking advantage of it.
Do you mean to te
ll me that people will pay not to put send their children to Jackson public schools?"


****************

"The lament I make is not enough white people are taking advantage of it. Do yo
u mean to tell me that people will pay not to put send their children to Jackson public schools?"

Not if the schools are full of you people!

T.N.B.

 

[The Bobster]

16

Hey Tyronne, in doin' yo' maff, you fogots t' subtract da 120 points da coons gits fo' just signin' their names.

The Jacksonville school system has only 1% Whites? What a case of White flight!

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Suspension policy panned

DURHAM -- Though the school board candidates used Tuesday night's public forum to sell their individual platforms, there was one thing they agreed on: The district's suspension policy is unacceptable.

Four of the five candidates had the same answer to the question concerning what district policy most needs to be addressed. Consolidated District B candidate Heidi Carter did not attend the forum, sponsored by the Durham chapter of the NAACP on the campus of N.C. Central University.

"We are suspending way too many [students] in Durham,&qu
t; at-large candidate Steve Schewel told the audience of about 30. "It's absolutely essential to have safe classrooms, but on the other hand, the community can't have kids roaming the street
s unsupervised."

In January, the district's most rece
nt numbers showed a 52 percent increase in out-of-school suspensions.

Black students, who account for 57 percent of Durham Public Schools' enrollment, made up 80 percent of suspensions. At two Durham middle schools, more than 40 percent of the black males had been suspended in the first semester of last school year. These numbers alarmed Mayor Bill Bell, who publicly questioned the suspension policy at a Durham education summit in April.

The candidates said the suspension rate is simply unacceptable in a district trying to eliminate the achievement gap.

"A lot of suspensions are perhaps
infractions that shouldn't reach the principal's office," said Consolidated District A candidate Minnie Forte.

Forte said if she were elected to the school b
oard in the July 20 election, she would push for mandatory diversity training for all teachers. She'd also seek to implement early notification that would re
quire school administrators to alert parents of problems with student behavior before it becomes a crisis.

Anne Murphy, also running in Consolidated District A, said she'd like to develop a policy to head off behavior that leads to suspensions. She said the district needs to do a better job of making sure the current suspension policy is enforced consistently.

At-large candidate Steven Matherly said he'd like to see the expulsion appeal process revamped. The current system is "throwing people away," he said.

The candidates' visions were much less cohesive when asked whether they would be willing
to remove Superintendent Ann Denlinger "if it came down to it," a question that has been circulating in the black community.

Matherly, Forte and Consolidated District B candidate Doug
Wright said they'd oust the schools leader if necessary.

"I think that's the job we're running for, to hire and fire the superintendent," Wright said. "We have to be willing to do it."

But Murphy and S
chewel said that at this point, they can't see not supporting Denlinger.

"Our superintendent is not without flaws," Schewel said. "But she's a good superintendent."

***********************
The dilemma: Keep feral negroes in class so they may disrupt the education of all or suspend them to the howls of the NAACP? Why do negroes cause so many problems? Why are our jails and prisons overflowing with negroes? Why is the federal government, especially federal judges are trying to cram negroes down our throats when clearly,
given the choice, white people avoid contact with negroes? We are no longer a government of the people.

T.N.B.

 

[Xuxa the White]

16

I personally think blacks are equal...to other Vandalobabookaris in crime, rapes, whining, b*tching, moaning, pimping, tomming, conning and just plain being animalistic! :rotfl:

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Some pupils still left behind

While students who are African-American and students who live in poverty are making significant gains on standardized tests, they still lag behind white students and more financially able students.

This so-called achievement gap is unlikely to close by the goal year of 2014. In fact, some African-American students and poor students might fall even further behind in coming years.

Those are the findings in a study released Thursday by the S.C. Education Oversight Committee.

For two years, the agency h
s studied the achievement gap --the difference in academic performance between children who historically struggle on standardized tests and those who do well.

The director of research for the committ
ee, David Potter, studied standardized test scores for elem
entary and middle schools from a variety of perspectives.

He compared test scores of two study groups: white children to African-American children; children who qualify for federal aid to buy school lunches to those who are ineligible.

One finding: the achievement gap between the races may widen further by 2014 because whites are achieving at a faster rate than their black counterparts, Potter said.

We're making progress, but it's not the same rate of progress by all the groups, Potter said.

But there is good news.

More than 100 of about 800 schools evaluated were commended for the success of their African-American or poor students. The success translates into a smaller achievement gap at their schools.

The hope is that the methods being used in these schools will be studied and could be used statewide.

Midlands schools on the list are:

"â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�šÃ”š¢ Lugoff Elementary and Doby's Mill Elementary
in Kershaw County.

"â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�šÃ”š¢ Oak Grove Elementary in Lexington 1; Saluda River Aca
demy for the Arts and Springdale Elementary in Lexington 2; Dutch Fork Elementary, CrossRoads Middle, Chapin Middle and River Springs Elementary in Lexington-Richland 5.

"â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�šÃ”š¢ North Springs Elementary, Rice Creek Elementary, Bookman Road Elementary and Lake Carolina Elementary in Richland 2.

"'m encouraged because there is some success, said Jo Anne Anderson, executive director of the Education Oversight Committee. But we've got to make some bold changes in the way we teach children. And we simply must act with a little more urgency than we have been acting.

On the basis of current improvement trends, the study suggests that less than 25 percent of African-American or free/reduced l
unch students will earn Proficient or Advanced scores on PACT, South Carolina's standardized test, by 2014.

Proficient and Advanced are the top scores on the test, which is giv
en annually to South Carolina's third- through eighth-graders.

Time is of
the essence.

New federal law requires states to ensure every child is academically proficient or advanced --capable of doing B level work --by 2014.

But many African-American students and students who receive free/reduced lunch aren't on track to hit that goal.

For example, the study suggests that while 100 percent of white fourth-graders may hit that target in math by 2014, only 46 percent of African-American students are projected to do so.

Another key finding: Students, regardless of race or economic level, are not making gains as quickly in reading as they are in math.

At this point, it would appear that South Carolina's prospects for greatly increasi
ng reading achievement if the same methods are used as in the past are dismal, reads the study.

This trend also was apparent in the 2003 PACT scores in which South Carolina students' sco
res in English/language arts declined at almost every grade level while math sco
res showed strong improvement.

One reason for the gap may be that many children get most of their math instruction in the classroom, Anderson said.

For that reason, students are often on an equal footing when it comes to the math classroom.

But students' skill levels vary widely when it comes to English/language arts. Thus, their test scores vary widely.

Some children learn reading skills and vocabulary at home, Anderson said, and they are reinforced at school.

Meanwhile, other students, often those who live in poverty, are not read to. A love of reading isn't encouraged, Anderson said.

******************
It is a waste of time and money to edjumakate n-ggers. Wake up America and smell the Nig
ritude Ultramarine!

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Princeton Economist's Research Suggests That the SAT is Not the Best Tool for Predicting Success in College

Princeton economist Jesse Rothstein's research published in the July/August issue of the Journal of Econometrics finds that success in college can be predicted with more accuracy by examining a student's educational and socioeconomic background than by comparing SAT test scores. His research, conducted at the eight undergraduate campuses of the University of California, showed that blacks and students from low-income families earned lower grades in their first year
f college than whites and students from high-income families even when the SAT scores of the students were similar. Therefore, according to Professor Rothstein, there is good evidence that the SAT has le
ss predictive value as a college entrance t
ool than previous studies have suggested.

*******************
Wrong conclusion! What this study indicates is that n-ggers are lazy, won't do the work and are banking on Affirmative Action and white guilt to get by. Wake up America and smell the Nigritude Ultramarine!

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Black Enrollments Down Sharply at the University of Michigan

A year ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the undergraduate admissions system at the University of Michigan was unconstitutional. The Michigan program assigned favorable points for black and other minority applicants. Under the formula, a black student with a B grade point average in high school was rated equally to a white student with an A grade point average.

This year the University of Michigan has adopted a revised admissions system in which there is no num
rical formula. Under this system, black applicants are not doing well. The university reports that the number of black applicants is down about 20 percent this year. And the nu
mber of blacks who have accepted the university's offer of admissi
on and sent in a deposit for this coming fall semester is down 13 percent from a year ago.

*********************
n-ggers can't make it by their own efforts? Who would have thunk it! Wake up America and smell the Nigritude Ultramarine!

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Black Males continue to lag in enrollment in gifted programs

Black males are the largest student group in Savannah-Chatham County schools, but don't expect to find many of them in gifted or advanced placement courses.

Sixty-six percent of the students enrolled in local public schools are black, 28 percent are white, yet white students make up 61 percent of the gifted population while blacks make up 30 percent.

Of the district's 11,141 black males, just 3 percent have been identified as gifted.

It i
a national problem, which results in many black male students performing below their academic potential. It contributes to their disillusionment with academics and leads to underachievement academically an
d socially.

To participate in local gifted programs, students must meet state
standards in at least three of the following areas: mental ability, achievement, creativity and motivation. Gifted identification is a rarely publicized, complex process involving recommendations, evaluations, testing and jury panels.

But Barbara Hubbard, Savannah-Chatham County School's chief academic officer, said identifying the genius in more under-served students is a district priority.

"All students are encouraged to participate in the most rigorous curriculum possible," she said.

Until the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights began requiring Georgia to include creativity and motivation in the process six years ago, even fewer minority students were ide
ntified as gifted, Hubbard said.

Still, there is a tremendous disparity between the black males and the other student populations enrolled in gifted courses. Of the black females enrolled
in the district, five percent are in gifted programs.

Twenty percent of white males enrolled in the district
participate in gifted courses; 23 percent of white female students; 25 percent of Asian females and 30 percent of Asian males are enrolled in gifted programs.

Cause and effect

Many systemic factors could be contributing to the disparity.

Referrals for gifted programs are primarily based on standardized test scores and recommendations from teachers and counselors.

Students who score in or near the 90th percentile on ITBS tests are automatically referred, but black students generally perform below their peers on standardized tests.

Parents and even students can make referrals, but that doe
sn't happen as frequently for black males.

"Inner-city schools have higher referral numbers, but they're fairly low for the outlying schools, Hubbard said.

In his study
of black student disengagement in Shaker Heights, Ohio, the late California State University professor John Ogbu, found that racial differences in academic enrichment courses begins as
early as first grade, but is most profound in upper elementary grades. The disparity, he found is due to several factors:

Black parents are not as aware of the availability or importance of rigorous programs.

Counselors often fail to look beyond test scores when evaluating student potential and fail to stress the importance of these programs to students and their parents.

Black students don't enroll in the more rigorous courses because they don't want to feel isolated or inferior in largely white programs or because they don't see the importance of taking such courses if they aren't required.


Intense high school work leads to college success

Enrolling in high school Advanced Placement courses is a much easier process, but black male enrollment is still disproportionate
ly low locally and on a national level.

These courses are designed to prepare students for college level work. Students who take them and pass the College Board's end of term examination, can earn college course
credit.

Those students are less likely to require college remedial studies and are more likely to be accepted to selective universities and complete degrees than those who only take college prep courses, said Michael Kirst, Stanford University professor and associate director of the Institute of Higher Education Research.

A student's chances for completing college hinges on the intensity of the courses he took in school more than anything else, according to an U.S. Department of Education study.

Finishing an upper level math course beyond Algebra 2, such as trigonometry or pr
e-calculus, more than doubles the odds that a student will complete a bachelor's degree.

"It trumps income, race and everything else," said Kirst.

College prep le
vel courses must be completed as a prerequisite for some AP classes, but generally, the only real requirement for entry is determination.

"We encourage any student who is willing to do the work to participate in AP," said College Board spokeswoman Jenni
fer Topieal. "It encourages a different way of thinking. ... Admissions officers look at the rigor of the course load students take."

Still, of the 2,594 local black male high school students, only 7 percent are enrolled in advanced placement courses.

In contrast, 15 percent of black female high school students are enrolled in AP; 26 percent of white males; 36 percent of white females; 41 percent of Asian females and 43 percent of Asian males in local high schools are enrolled in AP classes.

High school counselors
and teachers typically recommend that students enroll in AP courses based on their PSAT scores, according to Hubbard. The test is a good predictor of student's potential for success
, she said.

But the test isn't typically administered until a student's junior year. AP courses are open to students in their sophomore year. Efforts are being made to encourage more students to begin rigorous courses in middle school so they can enroll in AP classes when they begin thei
r sophomore year.

"Increasing the number of students taking AP is one of our goals," she said.

**************************
When your average 12th grade n-gger is the academic equivalent of the average 8th grade white what else would you expect? I expect what few n-ggers are in gifted classes are there only because they are n-ggers and that there are many whites who are not in gifted classes who have better test scores than the n-ggers who are in gifted classes. You will never see any wringing of han
ds and gnashing of gold teefs over that.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

What's next at schools on FCAT voucher list?

When four schools in a Northside neighborhood were slapped with the designation of chronically failing from the state last week, the finger-pointing started.

Administrators blame parents for not participating in their children's education. Some parents agree, but fault the schools for not doing enough to draw more experienced teachers.

Students blame themselves.

"I take somewhat of the bla
e for that because I didn't try my best," said Tamiah Deligar, 13. She was an eighth-grader at Ribault Middle, which scored an F on this year's Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.


Wherever the fault lies, officials have set out to solve the problem. They're talking about offering incentives to teach
in F schools, adding more reading coaches and allotting more class time for remedial training.

They talk about bringing in help from the community, adding incentives for involved parents and, in some cases, rearranging staff.

"We're really going to focus like a laser beam on reading in these schools," Duval County Superintendent John Fryer said. Reading was one of the lowest-scoring subjects on the statewide test.

When results were returned, four public schools and three charter schools in Duval County became "double F" schools, meaning they'd scored two F's in the past four years. Ribault Hig
h School received its third consecutive F.

Raines High and Gilbert, Butler and Ribault middle schools are now voucher schools. Ribault High is a voucher school for the second year in a
row. Three failing charter schools in the area will close, and their students will also receive vouchers.

Students from those public schools are also eligible for state money. They can stick by th
eir school -- where, in some cases, generations of parents and grandparents graduated -- or opt for better-performing schools in the district, places across town such as Mandarin Middle, Fletcher High or Baldwin Middle/Senior High, Fryer said.

Although administrators don't think they'll see a mass exodus from the community schools, they have been fielding phone calls from concerned parents who are weighing the decision between tradition and education.

Schools in crisis

Some call it a crisis: a reading crisis.

This year's results bear that out. Of the students who were
tested at Ribault High, 9 percent of sophomores were reading on or above grade level. At Raines High, it was 15 percent, up slightly from last year.

"If a young person cannot read, th
eir life options are very limited," School Board member Brenda Priestly-Jackson said. "I'm trying to convey that to the overall community at large."

When Ribault High was named Duval County's first voucher school last year, it rece
ived $150,000 in additional aid from the state. Fryer said more than $1.6 million was poured into the failing school to help pay for additional reading coaches and supplies.

Although math and writing scores rose slightly, the school failed again.

Many people point to last year's voucher status as one reason. Many of the higher-performing students opted for better schools, Fryer said.

"All it took was just enough high-performing students to leave to drop the overall school
performance down to a level where they couldn't meet that scale score," Fryer said. "It doesn't take much to tip them in one direction or another."

Administrators als
o point to teacher turnover rates.

One math class had six teachers between August and December, Ribault High Principal Lawrence Dennis said. Fortunately, the sixth one stayed, he said.

The problem was similar at Raines.

Attendance rates in all of the schools were another factor, administrators said.

Matth
ew Gilbert Middle had the highest number of absentees among the five voucher schools. During the 2002-03 school year, 39 percent of students at Matthew Gilbert Middle were absent more than 20 days.

"But if you don't come to my school, I cannot teach you," regional Superintendent Levi McIntosh said. "If you don't stay after school for my safety nets, I cannot help you. If I offer Saturday school and you don't come and you need that kind of support, I
cannot help you."

Problems in, out of schools

Duval County has nearly a third of Florida's voucher schools, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Mo
st of those are in Aharia Sumlar's community.

Sumlar, a graduate of Ribault High, talked about her alma mater as she braided a customer's hair at the No Competition hair and nail salon on Winton Drive. She has a daughter in elementary school and vowed not to send 7-year-old Asia Brown to the middle school in her district, Ribault Middle.

"No, not my child. My child is n
ot going there," Sumlar said. She said there's a discipline problem in the local schools and that's why they're failing.

Pam Robinson, who files nails at the salon, agreed. She said the schools have too many first-year teachers, too.

"We need teachers with more experience," said Robinson, who is an assistant teacher at S.P. Livingston Elementary.

But for as many who vow not to send
their children to community schools, there are just as many struggling with the decision.

Since school grades came out, Versa Sales has been rethinking her daughter's enrollment
at Ribault Middle.

Krystal Gilmore, 13, said she doesn't want to leave her friends, but her grandmother is not so sure.

"We're thinking about looking into it," Sales said. "The only reason I wouldn't is because Krystal really loves her school."

M.J. Smith's daughter attended Stanton High School for a year and a half, but then decided to transfer to her district school, Raines. Denise Smith, a junior at Raines, told her mom i
t doesn't really matter how the school fared on the test, as long as her grades were good enough to get into college.

Smith said also the parents and the teachers shared fault for failing grades.

"To me it's 50-50," she said. "You do have to reinforce it at home. If you don't they'll fall by the wayside.
"

But teachers are struggling not only against parents who don't make their children go to school and who don't check homework, but also against a much harder thing
change. Administrators point to socioeconomics and community culture as part of the problem.

The student bodies in all of Duval's five voucher-eligible schools are predominantly black, ranging from 98 percent black at Raines to 92 percent black at Gilbert.

But the economic factors differ between the high and middle schools. Only 34 percent of students at Raines receive free or reduced-cost lunch, while 80 percent of Butler's students receive assistance.


Getting off the F list

R
acial makeup
Middle schools
Butler: 97% black
Gilbert: 92% black
Ribault: 96% black
High schools
Raines: 98% black
Ribault: 93% black


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Students
receiving free/reduced lunches
Middle schools
Butler: 80%
Gilbert: 79%
Ribault: 54%
High schools
Raines: 34%
Ribault: 27%


------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------
Students with fewer than 20 days missed
(2002-03 school year)
Middle schools
Butler: 80%
Gilbert: 61%
Ribault: 92%
High schools
Raines: 73%
Ribault: 95%


Changing it is going to be tough, regional superintendent McIntosh said.

They'll focus more on parents.

"That, I think, is our Achilles' heel," he said.

Parent-teacher groups are sparse and parent-teacher conferences are attended even less. More often, parents who do attend are not the parents of the children who are in dire need of additional help, he said.

Scho
ol Board member Priestly-Jackson said she's already enlisted the help of faith-based organizations in the community.

"I can say it till I'm blue in the fa
ce as a board member," she said, " but the voice that speaks on high in my community is the church. So when we have the churches saying over and over again 'you&#39
;ve got to get involved' ..." things should turn around.

But Pam Robinson said many people in the community just don't know how to help. Because of the security and gates up around the schools, many people are reluctant to venture over, she said.

Last year, Ribault High provided after-school remedial programs as well as Saturday school for student who were behind. But students who needed the help didn't attend.

This year, the School Board is discussing block scheduling, which allows more time for remedial training during the school day instead of after school. Raines already has a block schedule.

"The only way you can really get them intensive training in weak are
as is to fit it into the school day somehow," Fryer said.

The Florida Department of Education has a speci
al Assistance Plus program with dedicated funding to F schools that have state Board of Education-approved improvement plans, according to Cheryl Etters, spokeswoman for the
Florida Department of Education.

Last year, that meant more than $150,000 in extra state aid for Ribault High to provide school improvement facilitators, on-site math and reading coaches, funds for teachers to attend educational conferences, special materials and other resources.

This year's voucher schools are expected to receive similar aid.

"In addition, an F school gets a dedicated staff person here at DOE who is always available for advice," Etters said.

Fryer said the School Board is also discussing bonuses for teachers who serve in the F schools. Just how much is up for debate, but "it has to be significant enough to make teachers want to take on the challenge," he said.

A staff shake-up could
be one of the consequences, Fryer said.

Ribault High got a new
principal last year when it became a voucher school. Because of promotions and other moves, Matthew Gilbert and Ribault Middle will be getting new principals next year.
Experienced teachers with specialized training from throughout the district may be moved to the F schools.

"The reason we're looking for specialized teachers to go there is because of a lot of students who have extreme difficulties with things like reading," Fryer said. "It takes specialized knowledge at that level to try to bring that up more quickly."

Parents have until Thursday, July 1, to request vouchers for their students. Fryer and other administrators tout the changes as the way to help these schools get off the F list. But there's only so much they can do to convince parents.

"If parents want to take students out of the school they have that right to do that, but I would encourage them to hang in there and stick with Ribault or any of these schoo
ls," Fryer said.

*******************
What is the county going to do after it has poured all its money down these negro rat hole skewls and the scores don't budge? Are they
going to admit defeat or are they going to raise taxes and waste even more money? What about the schools that teach white kids? Is there any money for them? I don't see the point in spending good money after bad trying to edjumakate n-ggers. Here is a little advice, put your money on a horse that has a chance of winning.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Black males fight scholar bias

The woman sitting in the front seat of the car couldn't help but notice Darren Curtis as he walked across the parking lot of Southeast Raleigh High School. And Curtis couldn't help but notice the metallic snap of the car's power locks as he passed by.

A big kid with dark brown skin and a clean-shaven head, Curtis figures the woman didn't see him as an all-state lacrosse player with a solid academic transcript and a football scholarship at Western Carolina University.

"They see a large black male, the first thing they&#39
re probably thinking is trouble," Curtis said.

Academically, North Carolina's black males are in trouble. Only half score at grade level on state-mandated high s
chool exams. Their graduation rates hover at about 45 percent. They make up 16 percent
of the state's 1.3 million students, but they account for more than 40 percent of the children suspended from school.

Black males who succeed say those figures aren't likely to change much until parents, teachers and the boys themselves refuse to be locked out by society's expectations.

"Teachers may not recognize or admit that they do this, but when you step into the classroom for the first time, it's like they are already tagging you before you get started," Curtis said. "Then they put their effort into making sure you aren't a problem for them instead of putting effort into seeing if you can succeed."

John Modest, principal of Southeast Raleigh Hi
gh, listens quietly as Curtis offers his view of the classroom. Modest sits just beyond the circle of nine boys he has called to the front office to talk about the academic successes -- and failures --
of black males.

Seven of the nine are headed to college. Two are upperclassmen in high school. If this is how the world looks to
them, Modest, himself a black male, isn't about to argue.

It doesn't take much, the boys insist, to be pegged as a problem in the classroom. Large, dark lips. Hair worn in cornrows. Baggy pants. An angry outburst in the hallway or on the playground.

"A lot of people just don't push you -- don't want to push you -- to succeed in the classroom," said Pattrick Walker, who will be going to Fayetteville State University this fall. "It's more like, 'You're tall, go play basketball' or 'You're kind of big, go play football.'

"What you don't hear is, '
Here's a set of books. Now learn this or else.' So it's all on ourselves to push ourselves to succeed."

Modest believes Southeast Raleigh High offers an opportunity for a
cademic success to every child, but in a later conversation he said he wasn't surprised to hear Curtis and Walker detail the challenges they face.

"That's how life is for black males in our society," Modest said. "That's how it is
for me. We like to think that inside the walls of the school we create a place where expectations aren't different for anyone. We do a pretty good job of that, but we aren't perfect at it."

Awareness falls short

Almost five years after North Carolina identified closing the racial achievement gap as a state priority, most educators are aware of the challenges facing black males.

But being aware of a problem and having the disposition to solve it are two different things, said Marvin Pittman, director of school improvement
for the state Department of Public Instruction.

"You have to ask yourself if you really expect black males to succeed," Pittman said. "You can't legislate people'
s beliefs."

Given the hurdles faced by black males in the classroom -- some erected by them and others by their teachers -- it isn't surprising that so many of the boys refuse to buy into the mainstream values embraced by educators, Pittman said.

"They don't see the relevance of it," he said. "T
hey look at athletes and entertainers and anybody with money and they equate that with success. That kind of success doesn't always require an education, so they question their need to be successful in school."

At Chapel Hill High School, two groups of black males gather in the assistant principal's office. The students have never met Pittman or the kids at Southeast Raleigh High, but they offer strikingly similar accounts of what it takes for black males
to succeed.

Among the first decisions they say they must make is whether they are willing to separate themselves from friends. The only place where race really doesn't matter is ele
mentary school -- and even then they say it's fairly obvious children are being grouped and sorted by fourth and fifth grade.

By middle school, the divisions are apparent to anyone who steps inside a classroom. By high school, black males who excel say it's almost a pleasant surprise to find another black male in one of their honors or Advanced Placement
classes.

"There are teachers here who teach honors sections without a single black male in the class," said Joanne McClelland, an English teacher at Chapel Hill High. "Now, how can that be?"

Taking easy way out

To Brian Poulson, who graduated this spring from Chapel Hill High, this is a rhetorical question. Black males take the easy way out because it's expected by too many people around them. They don't want to be accused of acting white. They don't appreciate the longer-term consequences.

But Poulson, who is going to the University of Virgi
nia this fall, doesn't think that those who fail are somehow unaware of what they are doing.

"A lot of kids are just going to play to the stereotype," Poulson said. "So if you hear that so-and-so percentage of black males are going to drop out, you say, "Well, I guess that will happen to me anyway.' "

Black males struggle in the classroom for a variety of legitimate reasons, Poulson said, but nobody makes them drop out of school. That is somet
hing they decide for themselves.

"It's like your opponent -- if you want to call it that -- gets a 10-point lead, and you have to work twice as hard just to catch up," said Al Mask, a rising junior at Chapel Hill High. "It's not impossible to win, but it is harder."

But even success brings its own s
et of problems.

After Poulson was accepted at Virginia, for example, he found himself answering questions about whether the university followed affirmative-action guidelines.


"I worked my butt off for four years, and some people thought I was accepted because I was black," Poulson said. "It really made me mad."

At Southeast Raleigh High, Warren Perry II was thrilled when N.C. State University offered him a prestigious Park Scholarship. "The first person I told said, 'I bet you got that because they had to meet their quota.' I couldn't believe it," Perry said.

Angry at first, Perry eventually settled down and came to realize what he always knew.

"You just have to get bey
ond that kind of stuff," Perry said. "The world doesn't owe you anything. It's a lot easier once you realize that, but it's a real hard lesson to learn."

*******************

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBeg
in-->After Poulson was accepted at Virginia, for example, he found himself answering questions about whether the university followed affirmative-action guidelines.

"I worked my butt off for four years, and some people thought I was accepted because I was black," Poulson said. "It really made me mad."

At Southeast Raleigh High, Warren Perry II was thrilled when N.C. State University offered him a prestigious Park Scholarship. "The first person I told said, 'I bet you got that because they had to meet their quota.' I couldn't believe it," Perry said.[/b][/quote]

What was your ACT or SAT scores, negroes? I noticed that the article didn't
mention that. Show m
e the scores and I'll tell you if you are a quota n-gger or not.

T.N.B.

 

[The Bobster]

16

So many words and so much money wasted, yet no one will mention the 800-lb. gorilla sitting in the living room. Just say it: n-ggers are stupid and you can't make them unstupid, no mater what you do.