McComb Educators: Where Have all the Black Boys Gone?

‘One Superintendent at a Time’

Mississippi educator Rhea Williams-Bishop believes last June’s gathering in Jackson “elevated the conversation and raised valid questions about the significance of black male achievement,” and says she promotes COSEBOC’s standards via her work as executive director of the non-profit Center for Education Innovation, based in Jackson.

Still, Williams-Bishop can’t point to any policy changes at the state level that resulted from the gathering. And without the state’s endorsement, the most a district can do is encourage better teacher training.

In one effort to boost black male achievement, the board of Alignment Jackson—a nonprofit that works with public schools in Jackson—brought together university faculty, lawyers and other leaders to develop and form ninth-grade academies within each public high school in Jackson. The group identified the need to focus on ninth-grade students and created a plan to reorganize schools to help make that happen.

Williams-Bishop said COSEBOC standards are being introduced in schools throughout Jackson via the district’s Cultural Competence/Relevance Committee, which she chairs. Walker of COSEBOC sees this as progress.

“Of course policy change is the goal,” Walker said. “We’re just not there yet, but we have several district leaders at the table. We’re getting buy-in, one superintendent at a time.”

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