Aisha Ray, senior vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, contributed a chapter to A Call for Change: Providing Solutions for Black Male Achievement. The ebook is part of an effort to provide concrete solutions for schools, communities, and policy makers to address the achievement gap for African American boys.Ray states in her chapter, “The foundation for addressing the educational crisis of black boys must be constructed during early childhood,” and proposes 12 actionable solutions based on what she terms “effective, evidence-based models.”
She also points out the larger societal benefits of implementing these strategies for early childhood education programs. “[T]he crisis of black boys represents a larger American failure that involves too many of its children,” she writes. “Addressing the crisis of black males will advance our nation’s capacity to solve the problems
of all of its youngest citizens.”
The Council of the Great City Schools commissioned the book following a 2010 report that sought to draw attention to the poor outcomes of African American males in urban schools.