Last Thursday, President Obama signed an Executive Order creating The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, which is designed to support, coordinate and strengthen the work of communities and federal agencies to ensure that African-American youngsters are better prepared for high school, college and productive and successful careers. He announced this Initiative last Wednesday night in [...]
Today's New York Times "Room for Debate" discussion takes on the topic of "The Hovering Parent", and asks a number of columnists whether helicopter parenting has started to "crash and burn". Have parents gotten so involved with managing their children's lives that they are stunting their development into young adults who can think for themselves and learn from their [...]
Have you heard about the commencement speech given by David McCullough Jr., an English teacher at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts, in which he told the graduating seniors "you are not special"? Rather than deliver the expected "go out and conquer the world" graduation speech, the teacher surprised the gathered body with comments like: You are not special. You [...]
Today's Wall Street Journal includes a story of how one family has started their son on the road to financial literacy using his allowance. The article, found here, features adorable Ryan Emah, a 7 year old second grader, who gets $3.00 a week from his parents for fufilling "basic expectations " like emptying the dishwasher and folding clothes. He [...]
A few days ago, GCP attended the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) 2012 Annual Awards Dinner in New York City. Founded in 1963, SEO began as a privately funded mentoring program designed to help underserved high school students get accepted to college. In 2005, SEO determined that more than mentoring was needed to ensure that students would not only [...]
A recent story from a Portland high school, found here, demonstrates what we already know -- young Black men (and women) can excel in challenging subject areas if given the opportunity. Portland's De La Salle North Catholic High School, which enrolls students from low-income backgrounds who come to 9th grade an average of 18 months behind academically, has an [...]
For the third year in a row, Chicago's Urban Academy Prep, an all male charter school in one of Chicago's toughest neighborhoods, will be sending its entire senior class of 85 young men to four-year colleges or universities. As reported in the Huffington Post article found here, the school also boasts an impressive record with respect to how their [...]
By now we imagine you are well aware that Black teenager Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by white Hispanic neighborhood crime watch volunteer George Zimmerman while Martin walked unarmed and alone in a residential neighborhood in Sanford, Florida, and that the Sanford police department has refused to arrest Zimmerman, accepting his claims that he was acting in self-defense [...]
Several New York City principals have suggested that the disproportionate number of Black and Hispanic students suspensions in NYC public schools can be traced to the failure of teachers and administrators to understand the street-wise origins of the students' aggressive behavior. In an article found here the principals suggest that these students are having trouble understanding that the combative [...]
Mission U.S., a free online history game created by producers at public television station WNET Thirteen, gives middle schoolers the chance to learn about American History while walking in the shoes of characters who are living it. In Mission 1: “For Crown or Colony?”, which was released in 2010, players take on the role of Nat Wheeler, a printer’s [...]