Today's Thoughtful Thursday pays tribute to three African American women poets: Jessie Redmon Fausetz, Audre Lorde, and Natasha Trethewey. Jessie Redmon Fausetz (1882-1961) played an important part in the Harlem Renaissance as the literary editor of The Crisis, a magazine founded by W.E.B.Dubois. A graduate of Cornell University in 1905, she was a teacher before and after her stint [...]
Success Academy Charter Schools in New York City have had an impressive track record of helping students achieve impressive results on statewide reading tests. Their website boasts that this year 84% of their students (their "scholars") passed the mandatory English Language Arts (ELA) tests and 95% passed the math tests, making them the #1 school system in New York [...]
I began this process as I do with so many things for my youngest: follow the same game plan I worked out with my older two, minus the stress of trying to figure it all out. So off we went to Bed Bath & Beyond, list in hand, to collect the things he needed to make his college dorm [...]
Greetings GCP'ers! I'm back from a break from regular posting. This has been quite a busy time: Two of my three children had significant graduations in May: one son from high school, the other from college. The youngest is headed off to college in August, the other has already started his full time job and is moving to his [...]
Last weekend Wharton MBA's graduates heard an amazing speech from their fellow student Dante Pearson '17 at their graduation ceremony. And now you can too. Click here and listen to this thoughtful and insightful speech from this young brother. Such a level head, commanding presence and great thinking from such a young man. Look out for him--we will hear [...]
Not much good news has been coming out of D.C. lately, but today's inspiring story comes from Northeast D.C., where 36 year old Benjamin "Doc" Williams runs the all male Ron Brown College Preparatory High School. The only public single sex high school in D.C. opened its doors in September 2016 with 100 ninth graders and plans to add [...]
Last week GCP had the pleasure of attending Eagle Academy Foundation's annual awards breakfast where they celebrate the boys of their Eagle Academy schools and honor people who inspire their boys. The Eagle Academy Foundation supports a network of six all male, grades 6-12 college preparatory schools in challenged urban communities in the five boroughs of Manhattan and Newark. [...]
In celebration of two graduations in May in our household (one son from high school, one from college), today's Thoughtful Thursday presents poems for graduation from some very well known poets: Langston Hughes, Rudyard Kipling and Marge Piercy. These poems focus on dreams, give advice about becoming a man, and contemplate the new beginnings that graduations bring. Share them [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday celebrates the poet Kevin Young, who is now the Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. The Schomburg, located on 135th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem, is a leading research institution focusing exclusively on African-American, African Diaspora, and African experiences. Its collection includes letters, papers and other [...]
How important is it for our kids from lower-income households to have a Black teacher? Very important, it turns out. A recent study conducted by researchers at American University, U.C. Davis and Johns Hopkins reveals that having just one Black teacher in third, fourth or fifth grade reduced low-income Black boys' probability of dropping out of high school by [...]