African-American young men find it hardest to compete. In 2011, only 10 percent of African-American boys in the 8th grade could read at a proficient level, according to findings by the National Association of Educational Progress. Illinois was slightly lower, at 9 percent.
Phillip Jackson believes that black boys will achieve more if we overhaul the way we think about education. He founded the Black Star Project in 1996 to tackle the achievement gap.
The Black Star Project runs youth programs that build relationships between young people and their parents and community, including the Million Father March, which drew national attention when more than a million fathers walked their children to school in more than 600 cities last year.
A longtime education advocate, Jackson served as Chief of Staff of the Chicago Public Schools, among other titles, under Mayor Richard M. Daley. He has received several awards for his efforts to improve the lives of children of color, including the White House Champion of Change Award in 2013.
But Jackson claims his methodology is too extreme for some. “I am probably the most vilified man in American education,” he says, “because I believe that parents and the community are the primary teachers in a child’s life.”