New North Carolina Consortium to Try to Close Racial Achievement Gap

Black Issues in Higher Education, Dec 23, 1999

DURHAM, N.C. -- A dozen North Carolina colleges and universities have formed a consortium that will develop outreach programs to help public schools close the achievement gap between Black and White public school students.

State tests during the 1998-99 school year found just 49 percent of Black students scoring at or above grade level in reading and math tests, far short of the 79 percent passing rate for White students.

"We are 30 years into this process that we call integration," state schools Superintendent Mike Ward said earlier this month at a gathering at N.C. Central University. "It's simply wrong that gaps in performance and economic opportunity are still so stark."

The consortium led by NCCU plans to hold a retreat at the end of January to identify the best ideas for closing the gap statewide. Consortium members will seek local, state, federal and private funding.

The institutions will use about $100,000 in seed money from the state Department of Public Instruction to launch programs aimed at Black students.

One pilot program set to begin Feb. 5 will send 100 Durham public school third-, fourth- and fifth-graders to tutoring for about nine weeks in writing, language arts and math. Parents also will be involved.

In a program at Shaw University in Raleigh, Shaw students, faculty, staff and community members will help children in nearby schools with basic skills and character development.

William A. Thurston, executive director of Shaw's Center for Ethics and Leadership Development, says the students pledge to study every day and learn nonviolent conflict-resolution skills, spend time with mentors and tutors and are rewarded for their accomplishments.

NCCU Chancellor Julius Chambers says the achievement gap condemns minority children to "one of the most unpleasant lives imaginable."

"We have a real crisis today," Chambers said. "I don't know how many young minority children you see who have missed an opportunity at getting an education and are now out with really no life and no future. I've seen a bunch of them."