This May marked the anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education, a decision that aimed to establish equal access to quality public education for all students regardless of race. Seventy years have passed since the Supreme Court unanimously voted, and to this day, we are still seeing disparate outcomes for students by race, and in many cases, the most extreme of these outcomes impacting Black male students. Desegregating schools was the primary focus of Brown, but to fulfill that mandate and promise, we must take a more holistic approach and invest in systems that ensure all students thrive both inside and outside the classroom.
Progress is very much possible. While the potential implications of the alarming decrease in Black student enrollment in higher education — especially among Black men — should not be ignored, there’s good news still. A recent report from Schott Foundation for Public Education found that between 2012-2020, the Black male four-year high school graduation rate increased by 14%, cutting the racial gap between graduating Black and white students nearly in half and increasing the nation’s overall graduation rate by 4%. When states and localities focus on improving the academic outcomes for the lowest-performing group, it will elevate the outcomes for all students. Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO of PolicyLink, famously called this the curb-cut effect.
Change in graduation rates as significant as this rarely happens in silos and typically requires sustained investments in a local advocacy infrastructure needed to shift systems. Over the past decade, we’ve seen resources from philanthropic and advocacy organizations such as the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, the BMe Community, Forward Promise, Cities United, the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC), the National Youth Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, and the Obama administration’s My Brother’s Keeper catalyze the progress seen in Black student high school graduation rates.
In addition to those efforts, from 2014-2020, more than three dozen foundation leaders formed the Executive Alliance for Boys and Men of Color (EA) with the vision of all boys and men of color enjoying full opportunity and inclusion. The EA collectively invested more than $26 million to support grassroots organizing and advocacy campaigns, narrative change strategies, research and collective action. Though it is impossible to claim these investments were the only cause for the increase in graduation rates, it is undeniable that the combined efforts built momentum for more Black males to succeed. Investments matter.
Yet while progress for Black male students is being made, their high school graduation rates remain significantly below the national average. Black male students represent a very capable group of learners, yet they face barriers to opportunity that are socially and politically manufactured and inflicted. The existence of racial gaps in graduation rates highlights how existing social inequalities can impact an individual’s future potential and the direct benefits they contribute to their communities.
In a recent study examining high school graduation rates in 15 districts across the country, external barriers to success like poverty, unemployment and segregation were found to impact Black male graduation rates, one of the key indicators for future wellbeing and success. Black male students’ outcomes were better in metropolitan areas where there were lower levels of socioeconomic inequality, and rates decreased in areas with high levels of unemployment and poverty. Economic opportunities matter. Greater attention and investments must be made toward eliminating these barriers for Black male students to succeed.
On average, the school districts with the lowest Black male four-year graduation rates also possessed the lowest rates for all male students. Conversely, in the school districts where Black male four-year graduation rates were above 80%, the graduation rates for white and Latinx males in the districts were above 80% as well. This suggests that when Black males are supported in their journey to cross the graduation stage, others in the classroom also benefit. Again, the curb-cut effect.
We want all students to succeed regardless of the color of their skin or zip code. In order for that to happen, we must build the support needed for Black male students. It is paramount that philanthropic organizations, policymakers and school administrators advocate for communities and schools to be resourced around a common North Star: supporting Black males with “Loving Systems.” These are systems defined by their ability to provide the core supports you would provide children you love, including health and community resources, as well as school and financial policies that foster the unique potential of every student and ensure their needs are met.
Philanthropic organizations play a critical role in catalyzing and accelerating the building, resourcing and sustaining of Loving Systems. We must approach investments with the knowledge of how best to support students and families in their community, and how that support must often start with the group facing the greatest barriers to success. This is a call for philanthropic organizations to work with intermediaries to co-invest in philanthropic collaborations — like the Executive Alliance for Boys and Men of Color — designed to institutionalize policy and practices that create comprehensive ecosystems of success for Black males.
High school graduation remains one of the key indicators of future wellbeing and even life expectancy, but it is impacted by numerous external factors such as poverty, unemployment and segregation. We need cross-sector engagement and investment to build systems that extend beyond the classroom — because students do not just exist within school walls. When we come together and focus our energy on investing in Loving Systems that target support for Black males, we improve education access and success for all students.
Dr. John H. Jackson is President and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, where he leads the Foundation’s efforts to ensure a fair and substantive opportunity to learn for all students regardless of race or gender.
