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An Ann Arbor elementary school principal used a letter home to parents tonight to defend a field trip for black students as part of his school’s efforts to close the achievement gap between white and black students. Dicken Elementary School Principal Mike Madison wrote the letter to parents following several days of controversy at the school after a field trip last week in which black students got to hear a rocket scientist.

An Ann Arbor elementary school principal used a letter home to parents tonight to defend a field trip for black students as part of his school’s efforts to close the achievement gap between white and black students. Dicken Elementary School Principal Mike Madison wrote the letter to parents following several days of controversy at the school after a field trip last week in which black students got to hear a rocket scientist. “In hindsight, this field trip could have been approached and arranged in a better way," Madison wrote. "But as I reflect upon the look of excitement, enthusiasm and...

An Ann Arbor elementary school principal used a letter home to parents tonight to defend a field trip for black students as part of his school’s efforts to close the achievement gap between white and black students. Dicken Elementary School Principal Mike Madison wrote the letter to parents following several days of controversy at the school after a field trip last week in which black students got to hear a rocket scientist. “In hindsight, this field trip could have been approached and arranged in a better way," Madison wrote. "But as I reflect upon the look of excitement, enthusiasm and...

The proposal to put the science-lab cuts on the table was approved recently by Berkeley High's School Governance Council, a body of teachers, parents, and students who oversee a plan to change the structure of the high school to address Berkeley's dismal racial achievement gap, where white students are doing far better than the state average while black and Latino students are doing worse.The full plan to close the racial achievement gap by altering the structure of the high school is known as the High School Redesign. It will come before the Berkeley School Board as an information item at...

It seemed like a good idea -- take an elementary school class on a field trip to a historical plantation. But things turned awkward when the tour guide decided to choose black students to demonstrate how slaves were forced to pick cotton. The incident happened last Wednesday in Charlotte, North Carolina on a visit to the historic Latta Plantation. When the subject turned to slavery, tour guide Ian Campbell, who is black, picked three black students out of the mostly white class to illustrate slaves picking cotton. "I am very enthusiastic about getting kids to think about how people did...

The answer appears to be "no" according to her fellow students. Who's the racist? (click on the link for the video) We report, you decide.

Hampton University in Virginia made a huge mistake. They took Barack Obama's post racial world idea and, thinking it was already here, anointed a white chick as its "Miss Hampton University" pageant winner. Now some of the black students are mad that the traditionally black university named a white girl as "Miss Hampton U." Ooopsie. I guess we aren't in that era of Obama like we thought we were. I guess we aren't quite done with all that racial strife that we keep hearing about on the news, eh? I hate it when the man... er, the bro... is always...

Derrius Quarles leans back in his seat and methodically analyzes Aristotle's theory of truth during freshman honors English class at Morehouse College. He strides across campus in a navy blue tailored suit and a bold red sweater handing out business cards that boast "Student/Entrepreneur/Leader." But behind the 19-year-old's dauntless appearance is a past that few on campus know. When Quarles was 5, the state took him away from his mother. He spent his childhood bouncing from home to home before ending up on his own at 17 in an apartment on Chicago's South Side. His arrival at a prestigious, historically...

September 26, 2009 BY MARK J. KONKOL Staff Reporter/mkonkol@suntimes.com Will fewer black students get admitted to Chicago's magnet and selective enrollment schools next year? That's the question school watchdogs are asking after a federal judge this week lifted a nearly 30-year-old consent decree ordering the desegregation of Chicago Public Schools. The ruling will likely end the consideration of race as a factor in determining who gets accepted to some of the city's best-performing public schools. "Our primary concern is to ensure there is a fair and equal access to selective enrollment and magnet schools throughout the city," ACLU legal director...

A school district in Arizona has come under fire after a newspaper columnist highlighted the district's newly adopted racial policy and called it a "two-tiered form of student discipline: one for black and Hispanic students; one for everyone else." "TUSD principals and disciplinarians (assuming such creatures still exist) are being asked to set two standards of behavior for their students," MacEachern commented. "Some behavior will be met with strict penalties; some will not. It all depends on the color of the student's skin."

Cal Professor John Ogbu thinks he knows why rich black kids are failing in school. Nobody wants to hear it. The black parents wanted an explanation. Doctors, lawyers, judges, and insurance brokers, many had come to the upscale Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights specifically because of its stellar school district. They expected their children to succeed academically, but most were performing poorly. African-American students were lagging far behind their white classmates in every measure of academic success: grade-point average, standardized test scores, and enrollment in advanced-placement courses. On average, black students earned a 1.9 GPA while their white counterparts held...

Don't know what to say anymore

Van Jones, once again obsessing about race. What else is new? From IONS Conversations at the Edge, San Fransisco, December 2nd, 2005. "You've never seen a Columbine done by a black child. Never. They always say, 'We can't believe it happened here. We can't believe it's these suburban white kids.' It's only them. Now, a black kid might shoot another black kid. He's not going to shoot up the whole school." Of course blacks and Latinos NEVER commit crimes.VIDEO LINK

"You've never seen a Columbine done by a black child. Never. They always say, 'We can't believe it happened here. We can't believe it's these suburban white kids.' It's only them. Now, a black kid might shoot another black kid. He's not going to shoot up the whole school."

With friends like the Democrats, black people don’t need any enemies. The latest Democrat poster child comes from Missouri, where Governor Jay Nixon delivers metaphorical lashes to his black constituents. As The Beacon reports: “For the first time since 1971, there will be no African-Americans serving on the nine-person board [UM Board of Curators]. Each hails from one of the state’s nine congressional districts, and all require confirmation by the state Senate. There also is a non-voting student representative. The only African-American curator that had been on the board, Cheryl Walker, is officially off now that Nixon on Tuesday named...

The president of America's oldest black sorority is being sued over claims she misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars, including spending £550,000 on a wax statue of herself. In a lawsuit filed in Washington, members of Alpha Kappa Alpha allege that Barbara McKinzie, their international president, bought designer clothing, jewellery and lingerie with the sorority American Express card. She then redeemed points the purchases earned on the card to buy a big-screen television and gym equipment, the lawsuit said. The wax statue – along with another of AKA's first international president – was commissioned for the National Great Blacks in...

Black Frat Inducts Bill Clinton as Honorary Member By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS July 10, 2009 NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A historically black fraternity has voted to induct former President Bill Clinton as an honorary member. Phi Beta Sigma President Paul Griffin Jr. said Friday that Clinton is the first U.S. president to be inducted into a historically black fraternity. The fraternity voted Tuesday for Clinton's induction at its 95th Anniversary Conclave in New Orleans, La. Stevie Wonder, Al Roker, the Rev. Al Sharpton and jazz musician Ramsey Lewis are also honorary members of Phi Beta Sigma. The fraternity was founded...

Despite almost 50 years of large and accelerating efforts to improve the school achievement of African-American students, the gap between their achievement and that of whites and Asians remains about as large as ever. Yet proposals for what to do about it seem basically unchanged: Spend more money and divert existing money to reduce class size and train teachers better, have more students take a rigorous college prep curriculum, work on improving self-esteem, eliminate ability-grouped classes, use cooperative-learning techniques, and reassign top teachers to schools with a high percentage of African-American students. I have become especially doubtful about whether those...

Whoa … this isn’t a study that paints teachers in a positive light, but it doesn’t paint minority students in one either. We’re faced with some tough questions here. Do teachers prefer non-black students, or are black students more difficult for teachers on average? It should be noted that even black teachers are relocating, and it doesn’t completely focus on just black students. Other minorities are discussed as well as economic class.

A new report produced by a branch of the Virginia State Police portrays the state's colleges and universities as potential breeding grounds for terrorism. The 200-page report, intended for distribution to law enforcement, intelligence and military organizations, says "a wide variety of terror or extremist groups" have links to Hampton Roads and singles out the area's two historically black universities for special mention. It also cites the region's "diverse population due to the strong military presence." In addition, it mentions Regent University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia Beach, and a Chesapeake-based anti-abortion group. The report acknowledges that none of...