By Science Blog, October 14, 2019
Black youth in Los Angeles County face an accumulation of disadvantage, undermining their academic, social and economic success and placing them at greater risk of structural disenfranchisement — not in school, not working and ensnared in the criminal justice system, according to a new study Beyond the Schoolhouse: Overcoming Challenges & Expanding Opportunity for Black Youth in Los Angeles County, released today by researchers at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
“Poverty, poor environmental quality and other negative factors, as well as a lack of access to healthcare, recreational opportunities and other services are as much a part of the experience of Black youth in Los Angeles County as is their concentration in disadvantaged neighborhoods attending highly segregated, under -resourced schools that may be ill-prepared to meet their needs,” says Pedro Noguera, Distinguished Professor of Education and the founder of the Center for the Transformation of Schools at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. “This accumulation of disadvantage compounds the educational challenges facing Black youth and the schools that serve them.”
Despite California’s growing commitment to equity, on virtually every academic indicator – from achievement in mathematics and English to the completion of A-G requirements for entry into the CSU or UC systems of higher education, Black students in Los Angeles County consistently lag behind their non-Black peers. Black students also are more likely to face punitive discipline such as suspension or expulsion, have the highest rates of chronic absenteeism, and disproportionately attend schools the state has identified in need of targeted support that may lack critical resources needed to respond to the social and psychological needs of their students.
Comments (0)