Experts Want a Focus on Black Boys' Nonacademic Skills

Washington

Schools should increase their attention to social and emotional development in the early grades as one way to prevent African-American boys from falling behind their peers, researchers said at a recent symposium on closing the achievement gap between African-American males and other student groups.

Panelists at the meeting hosted by the Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Service and the Washington-based Children’s Defense Fund last month also said that a significant portion of the dollars spent on incarcerating black males in this country would be better spent on high-quality early-childhood education.

Given the typically low graduation rates and scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress of black males, the symposium’s goal was to identify promising practices and policies to get them off to a strong start. It focused on how to influence the path for the nation’s 3.5 million black males under...