Louisiana
Louisiana's Opportunity Gap
The Urgency of Now, a new report from the Schott Foundation for Public Education, finds that 49 percent of Black male students graduated from Louisiana schools in four years, compared to 63 percent of Latino male students and 63 percent of White male students. The report cites the dire "pushout' and "lockout" crises hurting students of color and denying them access to a fair and substantive opportunity to learn. For more info, including state and district data, visit blackboysreport.org.
View the report's Louisiana press release here.
"Get tough" school discipline policies aren't doing anything to make our schools safer. In fact, they're creating a school-to-prison pipeline and exacerbating the school pushout crisis that is drastically curtailing access to educational opportunities for students of color. In a powerful op-ed, Derrick Johnson, President of the Mississippi State Conference NAACP, and Gina Womack, Executive Director of Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children, write that what we need instead is to "get smart" with school discipline policies.
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I first heard the phrase "school-to-prison pipeline" twelve years ago in a meeting with a small group of Mississippi parents. Over a decade later, the movement to end school pushout has grown so strong that hundreds of advocates and organizers flocked to last week's first-ever U.S. Senate public hearing on the school-to-prison pipeline. The hearing alone was not the victory these advocates and organizer seek, but it was an important win on the road to implementing policies that keep students in school and learning, not lost in a maze of suspensions, expulsions, and court referrals.
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Need some help developing or advocating for policies in your state to tackle school pushout and end the school-to-prison pipeline? Then look no further than this newly released state policy guide from the Opportunity to Learn Campaign! The guide provides advocates and policymakers with recommendations for ending the ineffective and discriminatory practice of out-of-school suspensions as well as a summary of the significant action and legislative proposals that are already underway in states to address our national pushout crisis.
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Join the Opportunity to Learn Campaign (along with members of the Dignity in Schools Campaign, our partner in the Solutions Not Suspensions initiative) for a 60-minute webinar on October 3rd to learn how you can go from outrage over harsh school discipline polices to movement building! This webinar will examine how student organizers in Philadelphia were able to collect necessary data, build their coalition, and win a decisive victory bringing about alternatives to out-of-school suspensions.
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The Urgency of Now: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males finds that almost half of Black and Latino males do not graduate high school in four years. Without a policy framework that creates opportunity for all students, strengthens supports for the teaching profession and strikes the right balance between support-based reforms and standards-driven reforms, the U.S. will become increasingly unequal and less competitive in the global economy. Where does your state rank? Visit www.blackboysreport.org to learn more!
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