Dr. Jerlando F.L. Jackson, the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was among a group of scholars who co-authored Advancing the Success of Boys and Men of Color in Education.
The report, “Advancing the Success of Boys and Men of Color in Education: Recommendation for Policymakers,” is authored by a group of male scholars who run research centers at their respective institutions that focus on researching the educational experiences of boys and men of color.
The joint report, which includes 15 policy recommendations, calls for “increasing the utilization of data, partnerships, training and evaluation” while suggesting that Pre-K through 12 schools and postsecondary institutions develop equity plans to improve the outcome disparities for boys and men of color.
The scholars — who represent both public and private historically Black colleges and universities and predominantly White institutions — have also called for the implementation of professional development structures to better train educators to effectively work with boys of color, and a data tracking system and scorecard to help identify Pre-K through 12 schools with disproportionately high suspension and special education placement rates and low participation in gifted education and other accelerated education programs.
“I think it’s pretty exciting,” says Dr. J. Luke Wood, a report co-author who serves as the co-director of the Minority Male Community College Collaborative (M2C3) at San Diego State University. “Through this collaboration, we wanted to provide policymakers and other thought leaders with important information to improve education outcomes for males of color.”
The 17-page report comes on the heels of the Obama administration’s ambitious My Brother’s Keeper initiative, which was launched earlier this year to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color and ensure that all young people can reach their full potential.
And though Obama has largely been praised for his effort in publicly addressing the real challenges that young men of color face, he has also been criticized within private circles, for not consulting enough with the nation’s top experts who have long spent time researching and analyzing the very obstacles that young men of color face.
