The District of Columbia public schools last week launched an effort aimed at improving outcomes for black and Latino male students.
Over the next three years, the school system will spend $20 million on mentoring programs, targeted grants, and a new, all-male college-preparatory high school in a high-need area.
The district plans to recruit 500 volunteers to mentor boys of color, with a particular focus on helping them read on grade level by 4th grade. It will open the new school in 2016, in partnership with Urban Prep Academies, a network of all-boys high schools in Chicago.
