By George White
New America Media
If President Obama’s new initiatives for boys and young men of color are to succeed, educators must find ways to help underperforming students thrive under Common Core, the new and more rigorous academic standards that schools in 45 states are beginning to implement.
That’s the assessment of Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and chair of a new commission working on behalf of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. The commission and the initiative’s managers will launch their efforts at an education summit in Atlanta on March 28-29.
“Common Core has the potential to have a very a positive impact on learning but we have to think about implementation,” Hrabowski says. “We need to give teachers the professional development they need to implement these new standards. Some schools may need to provide additional time and instruction to help [underperforming] students adjust – more after-school and summer programs.”
Hrabowski is widely credited for making UMBC a top national source of African-American postgraduate degrees in science and engineering. He supports the more challenging Common Core standards but says educators must also address the lingering achievement gap.
