1. URBAN STRATEGIES
COUNCIL
African American Male
Achievement
&
Boys and Men of Color
Initiatives
Prepared by:
Junious Williams
Rebecca Brown
Alicia Olivarez
Sarah Marxer
1 www.urbanstrategies.org
2. Urban Strategies Council Mission
Work with partners to eliminate
persistent poverty by building
vibrant, healthy communities.
2
3. Urban Strategies Council…
is a social impact organization using
tools of research, policy,
collaboration, innovation and
advocacy to achieve equity and
social justice.
3
4. Why Focus on African
American Male
Achievement & Boys and
Men of Color?
4
5. Alameda County Population Projections
by Race/Ethnicity: 2000-2050
100% 7%
11% 9% 8%
15% 13%
90%
80%
21% 25% 28% 31% 33% 35%
70%
60% Black
20%
25% Asian
50% 29%
33% Hispanic
37% White
40% 41%
30%
43%
20% 37%
32%
27%
21%
10% 17%
0%
2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050
Source: State of California, Department of Finance, Race/Ethnic Population with Age and Sex Detail, 2000-2050.
6. All Californians…
…stand to benefit by ensuring that young men of color have the chance to grow
up healthy, to get a good education, and to make positive contributions to
their communities.
If California increased the graduation rate just 10% for African-American
and Latino males, the higher graduation rates would result in $7.39 billion in
additional income, tax revenue, social service savings and economic
productivity — over the course of the students’ adult life.9
A study from Columbia University’s Teachers College found that for each
youth added to the graduation rolls, taxpayers saved $127,000 in the form
of additional tax revenues paid by the graduates and in lower public health,
welfare, and criminal justice costs.10
In addition, a 2007 study found that African-American and Latino men
graduating high school generate $681,130 and $451,360, respectively, in
additional dollars for the state of California.11
9 Belfield, Clive and Levin, Henry. “The Economic Losses from High School Dropouts in California.” California Dropout Research Project. August 2007.
10 Levin, Henry, Clive Belfield, Peter Muennig, and Cecilia Rouse. 2007. “The Costs and Benefits of an Excellent Education for All of America’s Children.” Teachers College,
Columbia University. New York.
6
11 Belfield, Clive and Levin, Henry. “The Economic Losses from High School Dropouts in California.” California Dropout Research Project. August 2007.
7. Oakland stands to benefit, too…
If Oakland were to achieve the goal of 100% graduation
rate for all boys of color, taxpayers would realize an
additional benefit of $117 million over the lifetimes of a
single year’s high school graduates.
While the lifetime economic benefit of achieving a
graduation rate of 100% in a single year would be $117
million, if OUSD achieved a 100% graduation rate for boys of
color over a decade, the lifetime benefit to taxpayers would
be approximately $1.2 billion.
SOURCE: Fact sheet-Economic Benefits of Investing in the Education of BMoC. Prepared for the Assembly
Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color in California for the Oakland-Bay Area Hearing.
Prepared by Urban Strategies Council on January 20, 2012
7
8. National Efforts for Boys and Men of Color
Black Male Achievement Leadership & Sustainability Institute
(LSI)- Open Society Foundation, PolicyLink & Root Cause
http://leadershipandsustainabilityinstitute.com/
Campaign for Black Male Achievement- Open Society
Institute
http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/topics/black-male-
achievement
2025 Campaign for Black Men and Boys- The Ford
Foundation, The Twenty First Century Foundation, the
National Urban League & others
http://www.2025bmb.org/
8
9. National Efforts for Boys and Men of Color
City Leadership to Promote Black Male Achievement-
National League of Cities http://www.nlc.org/find-city-
solutions/institute-for-youth-education-and-families/at-risk-
youth/city-leadership-to-promote-black-male-achievement
Schott Foundation Black Male Initiative- The Schott
Foundation for Public Education
http://www.schottfoundation.org/funds/black-male-initiative
White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African
Americans- Executive Order from President Obama
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-
office/2012/07/26/executive-order-white-house-initiative-
educational-excellence-african-am
9
11. includes change agents from across the state of California who are
committed to improving the life chances of California’s boys and
young men of color. http://www.allianceforbmoc.org/
Statewide Partners
Regional Conveners
Oakland Fresno LA
11
12. Assembly Select Committee on the Status
of Boys and Men of Color
Alliance members partnered with the Committee to
organize hearings in Sacramento, Oakland, Fresno,
Los Angeles, and Coachella Valley and to solicit
recommendations from a diverse cross section of
stakeholders.
The Committee's draft action plan, which includes 65
practical and scalable recommendations can be found
here: http://www.allianceforbmoc.org/
12
14. Oakland-Alameda County Boys and Men of Color
Goals: Increase…
educational outcomes including academic
performance, graduation and readiness for
careers and/or post-secondary education;
participation in the labor force in “high
quality” jobs and careers; and
utilization of a fully-integrated “health
home” that improves health outcomes.
14
15. Oakland Boys and Men of Color (BMoC)
Leadership Table
Goal: 100% Graduation
Systems Leaders
Objectives: Alameda County Health
95+% attendance for all students Care Services Agency
Meaningful internship or paid employment Alameda County
for all high school students Probation Department
100% access and appropriate use of health
Alameda County Social
care and social services by OUSD students Services Agency
Oakland Unified School
The Leadership Table is working on: District
inter-agency data sharing; Oakland Human Services
A portfolio highlighting evidence-based Department
policies, practices and programs to improve Oakland Police
outcomes for BMoC; Department
a system of individualized education and Oakland Office of
wellness plans for boys of color; and Economic and Workforce
Development
economic and workforce development
15programs
16. BMoC Portfolio
Policies Juvenile
Health
Justice
Practices
Programs
Employment Youth
& Assets Development
Education
16
17. Oakland Boys and Men of Color (BMoC) Community
Partners Table Oakland Community
Partners
Allen Temple Baptist
The table has identified several opportunities for action in Oakland Church
and Alameda County in the areas of: East Bay Asian Youth
Center
Education East Oakland Building
1. Implementing Full Service Community Schools Healthy Communities
2. Reducing school push-out, drop-out and suspension Black Organizing
Project
Criminal and Juvenile Justice Ella Baker Center
1. Advocating for criminal and juvenile justice reform under Intertribal Friendship
California’s criminal justice realignment (AB109) and House
juvenile justice realignment Oakland Community
Organizations
Workforce Development and Employment Street Level Health
1. Leveraging public employment and procurement policies Project
2. Creating quality employment for BMoC through creation of The Unity Council
alternative business models which build community wealth The Mentoring Center
and ownership Youth Uprising
3. Linking economic development projects to requirements Youth Alive
for job creation for boys and men of color
17
18. Examples of Public Systems and Community Partner Work
The Unity Council Latino Men and Boys Program
EBAYC Boys and Men of Color Mentoring Project
The Oakland Unified School District Manhood
Development and AAMA
Alameda County Health Care Services Agency has
implemented an Emergency Medical Technician
Program
Social Services Fatherhood Initiative
18
19. Joint Systems Leader and Community Partner
Work
Community Communication Plan
the Initiative looks forward to its first joint project:
• to effectively communicate within public systems
and organizations, across communities of color, and
to the public and policy makers the importance of
improving the outcomes for BMoC; and
•to actively contribute to changing the narrative
around BMoC to an asset frame including stories
about their many successes and contributions to
family, community and society.
19
21. African American Male Achievement
Initiative
Began in fall 2010
Partnership:
Oakland Unified School District
East Bay Community Foundation
Urban Strategies Council
Partners in School Innovation
Focus: Eliminating disparities and
improving educational and social
outcomes for African American male
students in OUSD
21
22. Urban Strategies Council’s Role
1. Develop indicators, measures and targets for
goal areas and conduct analyses to determine
status of African American males in these areas
2. Literature reviews to better understand causes
of disparities and strategies for addressing
them
3. Special studies on key issues for African
American male students (three reports)
22
4. Policy analysis to inform interventions
23. Reports
Goal Areas, Indicators and Targets
Developed indicators and targets
Conducted longitudinal analysis
Compared across school levels
Compared across ethnic groups
Graduation Likelihood
Attendance
Suspensions
23
24. Goal Areas, Indicators and Targets
http://www.urbanstrategies.org/programs/schools/docs/A
AMAI%20Goal%20Data%20Packet%2004-04-11.pdf
25. Initiative Goal Areas
1. Achievement Gap (English
Language Arts and Math)
2. High School Graduation
3. Literacy (4th Grade)
4. Suspension
5. Attendance
6. Middle School Holding Power
7. Juvenile Detention (Incarceration)
25
26. Students Proficient or Higher in English Language Arts
(California Standards Test): Grades 2-11 2005-06 to 2010-11
100%
90% 2015 Target: 90%
79% 78%
80% 78%
76% 76%
73%
70%
60%
50% African American Males
White Males
40%
28% 29%
30% 25%
19% 20%
20% 16%
10%
0%
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
26
Source: Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)
27. Graduation Rate: 2008-09
100% 2015
Target:
98%
90%
80%
72%
70%
61%
60%
49%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
African American Males White Males OUSD Total (All Students)
Source: California Department of Education Research Files (OUSD calculations)
Note: Graduation rate equals the number of graduates divided by graduates plus
27
dropouts in grades 9-12.
28. Percentage of Students in All Grades Suspended Once or
More, 2005-06 to 2010-11
25%
20% 19%
18%
17% 17% 17% 17%
15%
African American Males
11% White Males
10%
9% 10% 10% 10% OUSD: All Males
10%
2015 Target: 5%
5% or fewer
3% 3%
3% 3% 3%
2%
0%
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
Source: Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)
28
Note: District average includes African American males.
29. Percentage of Students in All Grades Chronically Absent
(Absent 10% of School Days or More)
2006-07 to 2010-11
25%
24% 23%
23%
23%
20%
20%
16%
15% 15%
15% 14%
12%
African American Males
OUSD (All Students)
10%
2015 Target:
5% or fewer
5%
0%
2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
Source: Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)
29
Note: OUSD figures include African American males.
30. Percentage of African American Male Oakland Residents Ages
10-17 Detained by Alameda County Probation Department
20%
18% 17.2% (954 youth)
16.2% (903 youth)
16%
14%
12%
10%
8% 2015
Target: 8%
or fewer
6%
4%
2%
0%
2009 2010
30
Source: Alameda County Probation Department, Census 2010
32. How did we measure “Graduation Likelihood”?*
Academic
Achievement
Attendance
On-Course
to Graduate
At-Risk
Off-Course
Suspensions Retention
32
*Note: indicators varied by grade level
33. African American Males and OUSD Students in
Grades K-12, by Graduation Likelihood: 2010-11
African American Males All OUSD Students
Off
Course (K-
12)
Off Course
20%
(K-12)
34%
On Course
(K-12)
45% At Risk (K-
On
12)
Course
17%
(K-12)
63%
At Risk (K-
12)
21%
33
34. Off-Course African American Male Students, by
Risk Factor & School Level, 2010-11
Elementary Middle School High School
(877 students) (798 students) (504 students)
Chronically Absent 73% 38% 65%
Suspended Once or More 33% 73% 41%**
Poor Academic Performance* 28% 41% 63%
Retained (Left Back) 7% 0% 18%
*Below Basic ELA for Grades 2-5, F in English or Math for Grades 6-8, GPA below C for Grades 9-12
**In our rubric, off-course for high school was defined as having more than one suspension.
34
35. Recommendations for Supporting HS
Graduation
Early Warning System
AAM are Engaged in
Afterschool Programs
School-Based Health Centers
Reach AAM
Healthy School Climates
for AAM
High-
Quality, Effective
Instruction for
AAM
35
40. Selected Recommendation for Reducing Chronic
Absence
Data Collection & • Track attendance from start of year to intervene early
• Conduct research on relationship between chronic absence and
Analysis tardiness & truancy
Accountability & • Adopt school and district standards
Standards • Create district and school level plans for attendance improvement
• Designate single administrator responsible for attendance efforts
Policy & Process • Identify groups to focus on issues and interventions
• Include families and students in policy review and revision
Student, Family & •Communicate connections between attendance, achievement, and
Community graduation
•Problem solve with families and students
40
Engagement
42. Percentage Suspended Once or More by School Level
OUSD 2010-11
35% 33%
30%
African
25%
22% American
Males
20% 18%
17%
All OUSD
15% Students
11%
10% 9% 9%
7% 7% White
Males
5% 3%
2%
1%
0%
District Elementary Middle High
42
43. Percentage Suspended by Reason (Grade K-12)
OUSD 2010-11
10% 9%
9%
8% Proportion
7%
7% of Other
6% Students
Suspended
5%
4% Proportion
3% 3% of AAM
2% Population
2% 1% Suspended
1%
1%
0%
43
44. Top Three Offenses:
75% of suspensions of AAM
1. Disruption/defy authority
(38% of suspensions of AAM);
2. Caused/attempted/ threatened injury (28%
of suspensions of AAM);
3. Obscene act/ profanity/ vulgarity (9% of
suspensions of AAM).
44
45. Percentage of Students Suspended, by Times
Suspended, OUSD 2010-11
Non-African American Students African American Boys
1%
3% 9%
Not
9% Suspended
Suspended
Once
Suspended
More than
Once
82%
96%
45
46. Selected Recommendations: Suspension
• School- and district- • Focus interventions
level targets on offenses driving
• Accountability plans disparities
• Expand array of
interventions
Accountability Offense Focus
Records &
Process
Data
• Use site discipline • Track specific
committees behavior
• Create district-level • Require reporting of
intervention team referrals & classroom
suspensions
46
47. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CITY-OUSD WORK
Ensure city agencies collect and analyze data by gender
and ethnicity
Ensure city programs and services are responsive to
needs of BMoC
Leverage procurement and employment powers to create
jobs, business opportunities for BMoC
Support and align resources with the district’s full service
community school efforts
Use City-OUSD Partnership Committee as vehicle for joint
work on issues such as attendance, safety to and from
school, and other issues impacting achievement and
success of BMoC
47
48. FOR MORE INFORMATION
Oakland-Alameda County Boys and Men of Color
http://www.urbanstrategies.org/bmoc/
African American Male Achievement Initiative
http://www.urbanstrategies.org/programs/schools/AAM
AI.php; http://thrivingstudents.org/33
Building an Educational Equity Framework
http://www.urbanstrategies.org/programs/schools/docs/
Equity%20Framework%20Concept%20Paper_5.9.12final.
pdf
48
Hinweis der Redaktion
Who we are:a social impact organization using the tools of research, policy, collaboration, innovation, and advocacy to achieve equity and social justice.Our mission: to eliminate persistent poverty by working with partners to transform low-income neighborhoods into vibrant, healthy communities.
Who we are:a social impact organization using the tools of research, policy, collaboration, innovation, and advocacy to achieve equity and social justice.Our mission: to eliminate persistent poverty by working with partners to transform low-income neighborhoods into vibrant, healthy communities.
Our overall goal is to improve the health, wellness and life outcomes for BMoC throughout their life course.Our specific goals for Oakland Boys and Men of Color include significantly improving their:Educational outcomes including academic performance, graduation and readiness for careers and/or post-secondary education; Utilization of a fully-integrated “health home” that improves health outcomes. Participation in the labor force in “high quality” jobs and careers;
Our overall goal is to improve the health, wellness and life outcomes for BMoC throughout their life course.Our specific goals for Oakland Boys and Men of Color include significantly improving their:Educational outcomes including academic performance, graduation and readiness for careers and/or post-secondary education; Utilization of a fully-integrated “health home” that improves health outcomes. Participation in the labor force in “high quality” jobs and careers;
Explain validated, promising and innovative categories.The Leadership Table will use the portfolio to guide partner agencies and the public by promoting existing validated, promising and innovative polices, practices, and programs. Agencies have a pool of validated, promising and innovative strategies for boys and men of color to employ within their agencies, give preference to in contracting, provide funding to, or build other relationships with. The portfolio will build the capacity of local organizations to promote and secure more funding for effective strategies by creating a mechanism for evaluating new or growing policies, practices, and programs. In a time of economic crisis, austere policies, and budget cuts, the portfolio also offers public systems and community partners an opportunity to better leverage social, political, and creative capital towards strategies that most effectively address life outcomes for boys and men of color. In addition to supporting what works, the portfolio fosters innovation by creating pathways for promising practices to become validated. Taken together, the programs, policies, and practices in the BMoC Portfolio will: Address issues for boys and men of color across the life spanInclude a comprehensive array of interventions at the levels of policy, program, and practiceCatalyze transformation at the societal, institutional, neighborhood, and personal levelsInclude policies, programs, and practices in each of the priority issue areas: health, education, employment, safety and juvenile justice, and youth development Support specific ethnic and geographic communities of Oakland and Alameda County boys and men of color in culturally relevant ways Foster well being among sexual minority (GBTQQ), undocumented, foster care, disabled, and other vulnerable populations of boys and men of color
Our objectives for achieving these overall and specific goals include:Reducing involvement in the criminal justice system and exposure to violence;Reducing involvement in the foster care system when possible and increasing the effectiveness of services and transitioning for those young people who are best served by participation in the foster care system; Increasing quality effective services that address the effects of trauma/chronic adversity with an anchored focus on healing;Building the capacities of families, especially fathers, to support the positive development and success of BMoC;Improving the quality of built environments serving BMoC, especially schools;Increasing the availability of and participation in engagement activities that promote positive leadership development and cultural competency; Promoting and supporting youth advocacy and organizing;Increasing community control through civic engagement and leadership development for BMoC; Developing a positive sense of manhood among BMoC, which includes positively redefining masculinity and promoting respect for gay, bisexual and transgender BMoC; andDeveloping inter-ethnic understanding, cross-cultural competency and unity as a foundation for establishing a common agenda that advances improved outcomes for all BMoC.
Our METHODS for accomplishing our goals and objectives include:Advancing a policy and advocacy agenda that moves systems toward working together, encourages comprehensive and integrated approaches across systems, addresses system inequities and holds systems accountable for investment of public resources and improved outcomes (e.g., Interagency Children’s Policy Council, Youth Ventures Joint Powers Authority); Developing and supporting community development policies and practices which transform neighborhoods and create business, job and career opportunities for BMoC; Directly investing in young people as agents of change by hiring young people for the services they can provide in improving conditions and outcomes in their communities such as peer counseling and cascading mentorship with older youth mentoring younger youth;Recognizing the importance of engaging fathers, especially young fathers, and families in the positive development of boys of color and building their capacities to support their children;
Building the capacities of programs, organizations, and agencies most intimately involved with impacting the health and well-being of BMoC to serve them effectively, in a culturally and linguistically competent manner, and holding them accountable for doing so; Supporting youth, family and community organizing so that they become effective advocates for themselves and their communities, broaden their civic engagement and build power to participate with public systems in decision making about their lives and communities; Creating a locally- and regionally-based network of systems leaders, community-based organizations, faith and business leaders, and other stakeholders that will champion the issues of BMoC and move a change agenda; andWorking with law enforcement and corrections to develop policies and practices that decrease crime and violence, and improve their relationships with and their responsiveness to BMoC.
The thorniest indicators to develop were middle school holding power (because of the need to clarify the term) and incarceration/detention (because of the need to forge a new data-sharing agreement with the Alameda County Probation Department.For context: From 6th through 12th grades, nearly one in five OUSD students was an African American Male in 2010-11. Number of AAM in K-12: 6,415
ACHIEVEMENT GAP (ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS) A large gap exists between the percentage of AAM and White male students in OUSD scoring proficient oradvanced in English Language Arts on the California Standards Test. From 2005-06 through 2010-11, the percentage of AAM proficient or advanced in English Language Arts increased from 16% to 29%. The percentage of White males proficient or higher increased less dramatically over that time, so the gap between AAM and their White male peers decreased – from 57 percentage points in 05-06 to 49 percentage points in 2010-11. Exercise caution in interpreting these results, as White male enrollment is concentrated in the elementary grades, when students in all groups tend to be more likely to score proficient or advanced on the CST.2010-11 Enrollment in Grades 2-11African American Males: 4,097White Males: 1,293
GRADUATION The AAM graduation rate indicates that fewer than half of 9th graders are graduating from high school four years later. The AAM graduation rate is lower than the district-wide graduation rate and the rate for White males. Note: The graduation rate equals the number of graduates divided by graduates plus dropouts in grades 9-12. (National Center for Education Statistics formula)Number of Graduates: 2008-09African American Males: 280White Males: 48OUSD Total: 1,671
SUSPENSION The percentage of AAM students suspended once or more hovered around 17-19% from 2005-06 to 2010-11. The gap between the suspension rate for AAM and White males is very large.Enrollment in Grades K-12: 2010-11African American Males: 6,415White Males: 2,145
ATTENDANCE AAM students are more likely to be chronically absent than OUSD students as a whole. In 2010-11, the proportion of students who were chronically absent declined, both among AAM and for OUSD overall. Still, in 2010-11, one in five AAM students missed 10% of school days or more. In 2010-11, 1,267 AAM students in grades K-12 were chronically absent.
JUVENILE DETENTION (INCARCERATION) In 2009, 16.2% of African American male Oakland residents, ages 10-17, (903 youth) were detained by the Alameda County Probation Department. This includes pre- and post-adjudication detainment. In 2010, that percentage rose to 17.2% (954 youth).
African American males are more likely to be off course and less likely to be on course than students in the district as a whole (this would be more pronounced if we removed AAM from the comparison group).
In which areas are off-course African American boys struggling the most (i.e. are more of them off-course because of academic, attendance, or behavior problems)?Chronic absence is a key issue for AAM in elementary school and high school , with 73% of off-course AAM in elementary and 65% in high school displaying this risk factor. Suspension is a key issue for AAM in middle school, with 73% of off-course AAM displaying this risk factor. Poor academic performance affects nearly half of off-track AAM middle school students, and 63% of off-track high school students. More than one in six (18%) off-course AAM in high school were left back at the end of the 2010-11 school year.
Chronic absence means missing 10% or more of school days.
AAM missed more than twice as many days due to illness, on average, as other students, though illness was the leading cause of days missed for both AAM and non-African American elementary school students. For every absence reason, AAM missed more days than did other students.
At the high school level, unverified absences accounted for more days missed than any other type of absence, both for AAM and other students. AAM missed twice as many days due to unverified absences as did their peers.
Note that this is the percentage of all students suspended for each offense (e.g. 9% of African American boys in OUSD were suspended for disruption/defiance in 2010-11, while 3% of other students were suspended for that offense).
AAM were more likely to be suspended multiple times than non-AA students were to be suspended once.
Recommendations emerging from the report include:Accountability and Standards:Adopting school level and district-wide goals for suspension rates and for racial disparities.Holding school sites that exceed those standards accountable for developing annual targets and plans for reaching those standards.Offense FocusTarget the offenses that contribute most to the disparate suspension rate for AAM: defiance/disruption and cause/attempt/threaten injuryTo ensure clear behavioral standards and to evaluate which interventions and alternatives to suspension are most effective.Record Keeping and Data AnalysisAdapt the district record keeping and reporting system to record the specific conduct leading to suspensions for the three offenses contributing most to the suspension disparities for AAM.Require data collection on referrals for the target offenses, including what corrective actions and alternatives to suspension were used.Require reporting of Classroom Suspensions.ProcessUse site discipline committees as a vehicle for addressing disparities in suspensions at the school site level.Create an intervention team to assist schools in identifying and implementing prevention and corrective actions for the focus offenses.More detailed recommendations are available in the suspension report.With that, I’ll turn it over to Jean Wing from the Research, Assessment and Data department at OUSD who will begin to share some of the promising initiatives underway to address these issues.