Ms. Woods, who runs a high school program to help minority students do better, keeps coming across black students from stable, educated, middle-class families who have fallen behind despite seeming to have all the ingredients for success. To my surprise, the students were living in the better part of Evanston. Students were living with two-parent families who have college degrees. They have computers. They have personal tutors.
Nobody claims to have clear answers.
But from conversations with teachers, students, researchers and parents, the reasons seem to be multilayered, going beyond a student's socioeconomic status to include lingering racial inferiority complexes, peer pressure, low teacher expectations, curriculum, parental involvement and access to information, and vestiges of racism in schools. Some of the most compelling insights come from students like Akilah Rogers, who just completed her junior year at Evanston Township High School taking advanced placement and accelerated classes, and helped organize a day of student discussion about minority achievement this spring. Getting good grades was always connected to white people. Mass. But they still perform worse on average than whites. Evanston provides after-school, summer and weekend programs for struggling students, and honors and advanced placement courses are open to any student who wants to enroll.