http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4366
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4065
by Dana Boone
Some states have used the standardized test scores of fourth-graders to predict future http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4376 population. Worries abound in Des Moines with just 42 percent of African-American fourth-graders this year reading at grade level — and the results are getting worse as students advance through the Des Moines School District.
The fear is that prison will become the only option for some children unless parents begin taking more responsibility for their children’s education, agreed leaders, legislators, school officials and parents at a community meeting organized by the Education Brain Trust.
“We as a community cannot stand up and say, “It’s OK to send my child to prison,'” said the group’s leader Paulette Wiley to more than 60 residents who attended a kick-off meeting on Saturday at Moulton Extended Learning Center. “I don’t know if anybody else in the room is furious about that, but I’m not having it anymore.” The group will pay parents $25, plus give them a t-shirt and tote bag, to attend one of four upcoming “parent empowerment” meetings. About 35 parents on Saturday registered for the upcoming meetings. The advocacy organization’s theme is “Our children. Our responsibility. Our future.”
Wiley and others want to interrupt the “school-to- prison pipeline.” Researchers, officials and activists in Iowa and nationally continue to seek solutions to the racial disparities plauging prisons and schools.
Wiley said it’s time for action, not more talk and studies. Blacks must put aside their religious, political and personal differences and save their children from systems that are putting their future in jeopardy, she said.
Vince Lewis, principal of Des Moines’ North High School and a speaker at the event, said parent involvement includes modeling good behavior, overseeing homework, ensuring children get adequate sleep and good nutrition and attending school conferences and school events.
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