On May 14, 2011, the eyes of American educators will focus on Chicago to see if the top educators in America can produce strategies and techniques to successfully educate Black boys.  The list of educational woes for Black boys and young men in the American education system are legendary and include lowest GPA’s, graduation rates, and test scores; highest suspensions, expulsion and dropout rates, leading to highest unemployment and incarceration rates.

Some of the best and brightest educators in America will arrive in Chicago with their skills, knowledge, wisdom and perseverance to show parents,  teachers, principals and school board members how to educate Black boys.  Phillip Jackson, Executive Director of The Black Star Project, the  educational not-for-profit sponsoring this conference says, “America can do whatever America wants to do.  We can go to the moon or wage multiple wars on the other side of the world.  Why does America lack the will to effectively invest its resources to educate Black boys?”

 

The list of educators who will come together for this conference is comprised of an all-star cast of some of the finest educators in America.  They include Paul Adams of the Providence St. Mel Schools,  100% of whose all-Black graduating high-school seniors are accepted at this country’s best colleges and universities for 30 straight years.  He will share his methodologies for producing great high schools. Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu, of African American Images, is an internationally known educator who will teach principals how to build elementary schools that produce academically high-performing Black male students.

Young Men from Urban Prep in Chicago, Illinois.

 

Umar Abdullah-Johnson, a nationally acclaimed school psychologist, is an expert on specialized services to boys and will show parents how to keep Black boys free from disruptive behavior-disorder labels and out of the stream of special education.  And Dr. Alfred Tatum from the UIC School of Education, will teach teachers to reconceptualize literacy instruction to help  Black boys learn to read well by 3rd grade and beyond.

 

Jackson says, “When we are able to successfully change the trajectory of education for Black boys in America, we will have made America better.  We will have made America stronger.  We will have made America more humanistic.  And if not, all Americans are to blame.”   This one-day conference will take place on Saturday, May 14, 2011 at the Ramada Inn Hyde Park in Chicago, Illinois.  For more information about this conference please call 773.285.9600 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 773.285.9600 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or visit http://www.blackstarproject.org.