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Published Online: October 9, 2013
Published in Print: October 9, 2013, as Perception vs. Reality About Black Students and Educators
COMMENTARY
Upending Stereotypes About Black Students
By Leslie T. Fenwick
There's a troubling undercurrent to the national conversation
about the black-white gap in student achievement. The (mostly)
unspoken belief about black students is tied to broader
perceptions about black people. So, let's just say it: Some believe
the gap is a function of weak family and community structures,
male joblessness, drug use, and permissive cultural values—which
they assert predominate in the black community.
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Others believe that blacks constitute a community that is largely
beyond intervention and that no amount of funding or special
programs can fix what ails the perpetually troubled. An attendant
assertion is that blacks who do achieve have outsmarted stereotype vulnerability and are
outliers. Some say these blacks are exceptions and are successful because they embrace
and actualize a white cultural-value system.
These erroneous and insulting beliefs persist because they are buoyed by a constant
recitation of negative statistics about blacks in the research literature and unrelentingly
circulated in news accounts. Such wrongheaded assertions negate accurate and
meaningful portrayals of black people. Mostly, they misdirect formulation of educational
and social policy and skew funding priorities in education and elsewhere.
Regrettably, Americans have been socialized by the scholarly and journalism communities
to accept at face value negative data about blacks and been trained to be skeptical about
and question any positive information about black people. This is so because little positive
information of consequence about blacks is disseminated.
To understand what I mean, take this true-false test. How would you score?
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household check it. This is the highest percentage of any subgroup of U.S. parents
engaged in this critical school-affirming behavior.
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2. A much higher percentage of white parents than black parents attend PTA
meetings and parent-teacher conferences.
Helping Students Find a Good College Match
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False. Comparable percentages of black and white parents reported attending school
meetings, according to the same 2008 NCES study. Specifically, 90 percent of white
parents and 87 percent of black parents said they attended PTA meetings. Seventy-eight
percent of white parents and 77 percent of black parents reported attending parentteacher conferences.
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False. NCES data show that fewer black parents than white
parents report being very satisfied with the academic standards,
order, and discipline in their children's schools.
4. Most urban and center-city teachers and principals are
black.
False. According to surveys of schools and staffing conducted
“Let’s dump the
litany of negativity
and see where
more accurate and
nuanced research
and reporting about
black students and
adults take the
nation’s schools.”
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by the NCES, in 2003-04, nearly 90 percent of urban school
teachers were white, and almost 71 percent of center-city school teachers were white. In
the same academic year, approximately 88 percent of urban school principals and 62
percent of center-city school principals were white.
5. White educators are more qualified than black educators.
False. For decades, research has shown that African-American educators are the nation's
most credentialed and experienced subgroup of educators. As I wrote in Education
Week in 2000, they are more likely than their white peers to hold a master's or doctoral
degree in education and possess more years of experience as a classroom teacher when
they ascend to the principalship and more years as a principal when they ascend to the
superintendency.
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6. There are more black men in prison than in college.
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False. In fact, Ivory Toldson, of the Howard University School of Education, has
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conducted research that shows that there are more black men in college than in
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prison. His research indicated that, in 2009, 1.4 million black men attended college, and
840,000 black men were in prison.
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7. Black kids use more alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs than white kids.
False. White 12th graders use more alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs than black
12th graders. According to reports from the National Institute for Drug Abuse and the
Washington-based think tank Education Sector, use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs
has consistently been found to be less prevalent among African-American high school
seniors than their white peers. This finding also is true among African-American students
in lower grades, according to a 2011 study published in the Archives of General
Psychiatry.
8. Most black men don't work.
False. Although unemployment rates are higher for black men than for white men,
theU.S. Department of Labor reports (as an employment-to-population ratio) that nearly
60 percent of black men and almost 70 percent of white men were employed in January
2012.
9. More black people than white people attend church.
True. According to the 2010 Gallup Poll of Americans' Church Attendance, 55 percent of
African-Americans reported attending church weekly. That represented the highest
percentage of any U.S. racial or ethnic subgroup.
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Well, how did you score? The question-and-answer sets above are not meant to be a
"Jeopardy!" game of sorts ("Alex, I'll take African-Americans for $600"). Nor are they
about advancing a strengths-based or asset-based research perspective and good-news
fantasy about blacks.
Rather, these data sets (and numerous others like them) urge a deep interrogation and
interruption of the defamation of black people in research and media accounts. Such data
should encourage educational practitioners, researchers, policymakers, journalists,
funders, and everyday citizens to question the negative statistics we hear almost every
day about black boys and girls, black men and women, black families, and black
communities.
So, what can educators, researchers, and policymakers do about all this? Here are a few
recommendations:
• For principals and teachers. The worst images of black
SEE ALSO
culture have been manufactured and placed in broad
For more on the state of racial
equality in schools, see the latest
installment of Education Week's
OpEducation blog, a roundtable
opinion blog on K-12 education
issues.
circulation. As an antidote, educators must find, consciously
elevate, and celebrate the best of black culture in schools and
classroom. When schools put the best of black culture in
broad circulation (through serious and ubiquitous curricular content and instructional
materials), black students experience identity restoration, and all students learn
meaningful cultural appreciation.
• For researchers. The hallmark of science is replication—replication of what works. Yet
too much of the research about the black community is a litany of negativity. Researchers
can counter this litany by publishing empowering research. For instance, rather than
adding to the copious studies about black men in prison, why not examine the lives of
black men who work and have intact families? The latter body of research is almost
nonexistent—not because these men don't exist, but because researchers have seen little
value in examining their lives. With these types of studies, researchers will push beyond
the veil of negative statistics and arrive at more accurate and stereotype-shattering data.
• For policymakers. Direct policy formulation and funding initiatives at empowering
research and programs. For instance, historically black colleges and universities make up
just 3 percent of the nation's colleges and universities. Yet, HBCUs like Howard University,
where I serve as a dean, prepare the majority of black physicians, engineers, and
other STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) PhDs, and more than
50 percent of the nation's black teachers. These irreplaceable institutions should be
viewed by policymakers as engines of innovation worthy of deeper investment by federal,
state, and philanthropic agencies.
Let's dump the litany of negativity and see where more accurate and nuanced research
and reporting about black students and adults take the nation's schools and even the
nation itself.
Leslie T. Fenwick is the dean and a professor of education policy at the Howard University
School of Education. Portions of this essay are excerpted from the W.E.B. Du Bois
Distinguished Lecture, which she delivered at the American Educational Research
Association's April 2013 conference. The writer is a former urban school administrator,
teacher, and legislative aide in the Ohio Senate.
Vol. 33, Issue 07, Pages 28,32
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Upending Stereotypes About Black Students - Education Week
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"Guest Review: Why We Need More 'Black Militants' in Schools," (BookMarks Blog) September 4, 2013.
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17 comments
plthomas
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8:03 AM on October 10, 2013
It is uglier than even this exposes.
Much of how we handle educa on reform and the debate
surrounding that reform is simply a mask for the ugly reality
that the U.S. remains heavily racist and classist.
That the white and affluent "achieve" higher grades, to many,
remains an appropriate fact of some illusion about superiority.
I agree we must move beyond a deficit view of race and class,
but I also maintain we must name and confront racism (and
classism) as well.
Michael Holzman
Score: 1
Report Abuse
9:25 AM on October 10, 2013
Dear Dean Fenwick,
As a member of the choir I completely agree. In addi on to
the important points you make there are the fundamental
ins tu onal forces and individual decisions that enforce the
American caste system: property tax‐based school funding;
intra‐district resource alloca on; the priva za on of public
ins tu ons of higher educa on (cf: University of Wisconsin,
etc.); the a ack on public educa on in the name of choice;
policing, prosecutor and court prac ces and so forth.
Best wishes,
Michael
Parbar
Score: 2
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10:01 AM on October 10, 2013
Thank you, thank you, thank you! These sta s cs do not get
enough a en on in the broader culture.
kekemom
Score: 2
Report Abuse
12:27 PM on October 10, 2013
Yes ‐‐ got it. I agree with these asser ons. As a mom of a black
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child (who is doing fine in school, thank you), how do you then
explain the achievement gap? Why are black students not (as
an aggregate) doing much, much be er????
tyt1982
Score: 1
Report Abuse
12:48 PM on October 10, 2013
Dr. Fenwick, great true‐false test and overall ar cle. The thesis
of your ar cle focuses on unearthing stereotypes. However, I
cannot ignore the achievement gap. I would also be interested
in your considera on of poverty when we discuss the
achievement gap. I wonder why you chose to exclude poverty
in your true‐false test. There are surely stereotypes (as well as
truth, of course) with regard to low‐income black students and
their low‐income white peers.
ewcollins
Score: 0
Report Abuse
12:51 PM on October 10, 2013
The ra o of black men in college to black men in prison is 5:3.
What is the ra on of white men in college to white men in
prison?
ewcollins
Score: 1
Report Abuse
12:54 PM on October 10, 2013
Another myth among some is that even more funding and
even more special programs can eventually fix what ails the
perpetually troubled.
Michelle Henry
Score: 1
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2:47 PM on October 10, 2013
As a highly effec ve teacher that transferred into a school
graded as an F (almost 100% AA), I can see the stereotypes
being played out. If a black student has a higher rate of energy,
he or she is considered unruly. If you do not run your class like
a prison, you are automa cally deemed ineffec ve a er just 2
weeks. Allowing the children to innovate is frowned upon. If
you speak out, they black ball you and tell you: I can see to it
that you never work in this district again. These children can
and will do more if academics and not appearance became the
central focus. The kids are great but the system is not so great
1 reply
ericpollock
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11:48 PM on October 10, 2013
It is somewhat similar to the myths of Korean students.
Korean‐Americans have such a high gradua on rate from
college, while Koreans have a low rate of gradua on from
colleges.
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pdfordiii
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5:19 AM on October 11, 2013
A er 18 years teaching in urban Los Angeles, none of these
'myths' have been my reality. More specifically, they don't
pertain to the core issues young Black boys face in school, one
of them being not having a con nuum of quality educators
who either impart or encourage and nurture these young men
to acquire a body of knowledge and skill that empowers them
to learn and grow.
I have seen too many educators focus on 'inclusion',
'collabora on,' and 'cri cal thinking,' yet our young men
cannot read, write, speak, compute, and can't even tell you
that the Bal more Ravens reside in the state of Maryland, or
the Chicago Bulls reside in the state of Illinois, much less that
the arc of a jump shot is parabolic.
As for 'accurate' or 'nuanced' research, in 18 years I've never
had a researcher sit down with me or my colleagues at any
school I've taught to gather 'accurate data,' which is why I
o en ques on the 'research' that exists on so many educa on
topics.
David Sims
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9:47 AM on October 11, 2013
Here is what I think. I think that this page merely shows the
extent to which poli cal correctness has corrupted the
editorial staff of Educa on Week. The 'troubling undercurrent'
exists because there are people who are honest enough to say
what they think, even though their honesty might send them
to the unemployment line.
If the Atlanta CRCT scandal, and the similar but less
well‐known scandals in ci es like New York and Washington
DC, mean anything at all, it is that there is a black‐white
achievement gap, and that efforts to remedy that gap through
enhanced funding to majority black schools does not work.
Atlanta is an excellent example. The Atlanta school district's
per‐pupil funding is 44% above the state average. In addi on,
it received federal and private (Gates Founda on and GE)
grants during the decade 2000‐2010 that aggregated more
than $30 million. And what was the result? The actual
proficiency of the black students of that district was so poor
that the principals and teachers there had to engage in test
score fraud so that their schools would make AYP. And it was
specifically the schools having a black majority of students that
had the problems. You can't even blame it on "racism,"
because the district's leadership was nearly en rely black
throughout that decade (and s ll is).
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Stereotypes exist for reasons. Some mes the reasons are
poli cal, and in those instances the stereotype is usually false.
But other stereotypes grow organically from the experience of
people who, over me, no ce things about other people ‐ and
THOSE stereotypes are mostly accurate. The stereotype
concerning a black IQ deficit, leading to a gap in scholas c
achievement, are of the la er sort. It's one of the accurate
stereotypes.
Before anyone begins engaging in any cherry‐picking
excep onalism, let me say that I'm fully aware already of the
fact that there are black geniuses. Just because it has been
established, by decades of psychometric research, that
US‐resident blacks have an average IQ of 85 and a standard
devia on in IQ of 12.4 points, doesn't mean that there aren't
any blacks at all with IQs above 140. No, it merely means that
only one black in about 217000 will have an IQ that high.
Meanwhile, of course, one in 83 white people will have IQs
above 140, because the distribu on for US‐resident whites is
103 plus or minus 16.4 points. Given equal‐sized groups of
whites and blacks, the ra o of white geniuses to black
geniuses will be about 2600. Since there are about 5.5 mes
more whites than blacks in the United States, the expected
average ra o of white geniuses to black geniuses in the
country is about 14000. If an employer is hiring for a posi on
that requires genius‐level intelligence, and if he does not use a
speck of racism in his hiring choices, then he will have hired
thousands of white people before he hires his first black
employee.
2 replies
zep
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2:01 PM on October 11, 2013
Excellent info with which to fight explicit or implicit racist
percep ons. My fear however lies in the current quagmire.
CCSS appears to be a means by which to insure the bar is set
high for all our children; however, the standardiza on of ed &
its concurrent use of tes ng which by virtue of its being
standardized leaves it inevitably biased against mul ple
cultures, and historically we know which cultures will be
placed at a disadvantage through the selec on of the verbiage
tested, means that it will likely produce "evidence" of many of
these same mispercep ons.
@the_explicator
Score: 1
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3:09 PM on October 13, 2013
Could a larger implica on of these issues be manifested in
students? Could social condi oning be at play? Claude Steele's
work would suggest that's the case. Here are some of my
thoughts: h p://workonthework.blogspot.com/2013/08
/grit‐vivaldi‐and‐gap.html
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Shadow57
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/10/09/07fenwick_ep.h33.html
Score: 0
Report Abuse
9:36 AM on October 18, 2013
It is not racial! My observa ons are that when
parents/guardians are genuinely concerned about the
students, then the students perform be er in school and in all
other social ac vi es.
If children are not given boundaries, are not held to specific
expecta ons, are allowed to do whatever they want to do,
then they will usually make poor choices.
Schools and teachers can only do a small amount to help fix
this. The parents have to step up and be responsible.
Kamau Mposi
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12:30 PM on October 22, 2013
Schools are a tool of the culture (babylon) that produces
them. Teach the truth, historical and otherwise, and all of this
disappears. American‐Afrikan (and especially Afrikan) families
produce higher achieving students than any other
ethnic/cultural group of equivalent economic means.
kal
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3:39 PM on May 31, 2015
The dean makes some good points. First of all, I find most
black people to be more church‐going & spiritual. I think if we
can focus on the spiritual, we won't lose so many young black
young men to drugs or prison. America at heart has a poverty
of spiritual values. Second, I think there needs to be more
community mentorship. There are people out there like me
who volunteer their me to mentor. Why? Because I'm a
people advocate. What I don't advocate is throwing more
en tlements at people which dehumanizes them by conveying
a deeply racist message that they are inadequate to stand up
on their own 2 feet without the govt. there. This is simply way
of buying votes. 5 of my former student‐athletes possess
doctorates. 3 of them are African‐American: one is a
neonatologist, one is an associate professor at a southern ivy,
& one is a Howard U. alum den st. Go figure. I ventured down
an avenue where few people would go.
kal
Score: 0
Report Abuse
3:52 PM on May 31, 2015
I think as one commenter points out that our society rarely
commentates on black geniuses. They focus too much on the
celebri es making the headlines in bad ways. We don't focus a
lot on black people of stature maybe 'cause it doesn't sell
newspapers. But figure this: Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou,
Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Bertrand Russell, Randall
Pinke , Ben Carson, Herman Cain, Edwin Moses.
Ground Rules for Posting
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