- COSEBOC's Award Schools recognized for proven success in closing the achievement gap among boys of color -

(BLACK PR WIRE) – Chicago – At its annual meeting in Chicago on Friday, the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color will announce five new recipients of the COSEBOC School Award, which recognizes and rewards schools that have a proven track record of effective pre K-12 education of male students of color.

COSEBOC is a national network of schools and highly-respected educators, researchers, policy-makers and advocates focused on sharing and promoting promising approaches and initiatives that improve education at schools with significant populations of young men of color.

This years’ award schools are Best Academy in Minneapolis; Devonshire Elementary School in Charlotte, NC; Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington DC; and Merrillville High School and Salk Elementary, both in Merrillville, Indiana (Full summaries of each school can be found at http://www.coseboc.org/sites/coseboc.org/files/assets/COSEBOC-5AwardSchools.pdf).

“Identifying schools that have developed effective, creative and sustainable approaches and sharing those successes with other educators is the cornerstone of the work we do at COSEBOC,” said Ron Walker, Executive Director, COSEBOC. “The COSEBOC School Awards are proof and evidence of the fact that there are educational environments that work extremely well for boys and young men of color.”

The awards will be bestowed to school leaders at COSEBOC’s 7th Annual Gathering of Leaders on Friday evening, where teachers and students from each school will share their winning formulas for success with Gathering attendees. David Johns, who was recently appointed by President Obama as the executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, is scheduled to attend the awards dinner and address Gathering participants.

Along with the recognition, each school will receive a $10,000 grant. The COSEBOC School Awards are supported by the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, Open Society Foundations.

Through extensive research, COSEBOC has determined that the most effective schools combine a culture of high-quality instruction, whole school community engagement and high expectations, with a focus on social and emotional development, helping students develop their personal identities through a connection to their cultural and historical legacies, and instilling in students the responsibility to serve their communities.

The schools were selected based on a rigorous, three-stage selection process, the COSEBOC School Award’s blue ribbon panel determined that these five schools were successful in engaging and educating male students of color based on traditional measures of success, including test scores, graduation rates and college attendance.

“These five schools are unrepentant in their belief that students can succeed and soar to great achievement levels. Each is led by a principal who is determined to build great schools. Most importantly, they know that great schools are not an accident," said Walker.

About COSEBOC

The mission of the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC) is to connect, inspire, support and strengthen school leaders dedicated to the social, emotional and academic development of boys and young men of color.

COSEBOC is a networked learning community of educators, researchers, policymakers and caring adults that support school leaders with high quality professional development so they can realize this vision of making success an attainable goal for every male student of color. For more information about COSEBOC including membership, professional development opportunities or to view Standards and Promising Practices for Schools Educating Boys of Color, visit www.coseboc.org.  

NOTE: Officials from COSEBOC or any of the COSEBOC School Award recipients are available for further comment. Please contact Dave Bayless for interviews.