At The Root, Deron Snyder champions the idea of same-sex education for young black men as a way to overcome those dire statistics that have been making the news lately. All of this is based on the success of Chicago's Urban Prep, an all-male charter school in Chicago that sent all of its 2010 graduates to college. But Snyder tells us not to rely on the success of just one school but to investigate what that school does well that could be replicated.
There are no conclusive data on the overall and long-term impact of schools like Urban Prep. But the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette surveyed 33 experienced African-American educators on the potential of single-sex schools in 10 dimensions: "(1) changes in attitudes and behavior; (2) neutralizing effects of community distress; (3) access to role models; (4) access to committed instructors; (5) performance on tests and grades; (6) access to culturally relevant curricula; (7) student involvement in shaping the instructional environment; (8) reduction in negative behaviors and altered conceptions of masculinity; (9) enhanced sense of identity and positive peer influences; and (10) improved capabilities for positive relationships with females.
'There was significant agreement that all-male academies might produce all 10 benefits,' the paper reported. 'The highest levels of agreement were obtained for areas 2, 8 and 9.'
As a product of a same-sex college education myself, I can testify to its benefits. Though I tend to hesitate when we're talking about its benefits to men, as opposed to women, the statistical realities facing young black men surely mean its time for action. But I couldn't find numbers for Urban Prep that would resolve lingering questions about it (and a voicemail has so far gone unreturned) -- and that's what the dropout rate was before 2010 and what the college-retention rate is for their graduates. Those two things speak to the wider problem that no charter school can solve: nurturing high achievers is one thing, but it doesn't do much for the students who live in acute poverty, who lack stable food and safe housing, or who get to college only to find that they don't have the financial or emotional support to stay there. The problems young black men face in trying to achieve academically are broad and systemic. We can't solve them with a charter school here and a college-prep course there.
-- Monica Potts