It is a shared belief, based on the NYS assessment points that Black students’ reading
levels are lower than those of
Hispanic, White, and Asian students. What is mostly ignored is that male reading levels
are significantly lower than
female reading levels. We often hear that boys are better at Math and girls are better
at Literacy, but recent data
doesn’t support this mindset. Boys and Girls performs almost equally as well in math
assessments; while Boys Read and
Write significantly worse than Girls.
This is a snippet of the 2019 NYS ELA Subgroup Report for the NYC Department of
Education.
If we were to rank reading levels by Race and Ethnicity using the designations used by
the DOE, the gender/ ethnicities
would rank in the following order:
● Asian Girls
● Asian Boys
● White Girls
● White Boys
● Hispanic Girls
● Black Girls
● Hispanic Boys
● Black Boys
The first step to attaining equity for Black Boys is to commit to measure how far behind
they are reading.
We are asking
all the principals we work with to commit to breaking out the data for all
subgroups, including Black Boys. We are
further asking that you formulate goals specifically for Black Boys.
If Black Lives Matter, then the Reading Levels of Black Boys must matter. Improving the
Reading Levels of Black Boys
will save Black Lives. You can make a difference, let us help you measure & monitor the
progress of all your students.
Talk to us about how we can help you with programming for your Black Boys.
