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Our Position on Education

Education Remains a Challenge

The most important challenge facing the Black community today is the education of our children.  Too many of our children drop out or are pushed out of school before earning a high school diploma.  Black youth who stay in school have average test scores below those for White and Asian students.  Black students who go on to two-year and four-year colleges and universities are less likely to graduate than those in other ethnic groups. Students of color represent over 40 percent of undergraduate college students enrolled in 2017, yet African American students’ rate of college persistence is more than 11 percentage points lower than their white counterparts and 18 percentage points lower than Asian students, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Current remedies for recruitment and retention issues include university offices of diversity and inclusion, as well as federal TRIO programs. However, more and more programs specifically designed to increase completion rates among students of color are being scaled back and defunded

This is a frightening reality as global competition continues to raise the level of career training and/or education needed to compete in business or get a living-wage job.  Closing the "opportunity and achievement gap" afflicting Black students is essential, if we want future generations to succeed at work, in business, and in life. 

It's time for policymakers and the Black community to do anything and everything necessary to bring all students -- including the 30% to 40% of struggling Black students -- up to international standards of achievement.

 

Becoming a Teacher in Washington State

Interested in teaching in Washington's K-12 schools? Learn the pathways to certification for new teachers, out of state applicants, former educators and current teachers looking to additional certificates here