Some of the biggest names in education will be in Philadelphia starting today for the College Board’s seventh annual A Dream Deferred conference, which will focus on the issues affecting African-American students. Metro spoke with Chad Lassiter, president of Black Men at Penn, at the University of Pennsylvania about it.
Why do African-American and Latino students constantly lag in graduation rates?
I think educators first and foremost have to recognize that they learn differently. I think that one of the things that we also have to recognize is we have to make the curriculum culturally relevant. When we make it culturally relevant and it highlights the strength of being a black male and Latino male, you’ll get buy-in from them.
What are some ways school districts are beginning to address this?
One of the ways that the Philadelphia School District has begun to address it is they had the African-American and Latino Male Dropout Task Force, which is a sustainable effort.
