Olumuyiwa self identifies as a first-generation African-American whose parents are from Nigeria. He started off his education in Randolph and then moved to Boston in the seventh grade. He said he recalls that his first math class in Boston covered the same material he had in the fifth grade in Randolph.
“I thought they made a mistake,” Olumuyiwa said.
The latest report offers wide-ranging recommendations, including some that would likely stoke opposition.
For instance, it recommends converting every classroom in grades 4 to 6 into advanced-work programs. The program, a gateway into the exam schools, enrolls few black and Latino males. But the recommendation would probably stir debate about whether all students are ready for that rigor or whether advanced work would be watered down.
Other recommendations endorse efforts already underway, such as expanding early childhood education and the diversity of the teaching force, and stepping up efforts to train teachers on any unintentional biases against others of different races. That latter area could address why black and Latino males are disciplined or suspended at higher rates.
“Youth understand fairness far better than adults,” said Matt Cregor, staff lawyer with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice.
“When students don’t feel like they are being treated fairly or disciplined fairly they become disengaged and they could drop out,’’ he said. “We can’t risk disengaging youth this way if we want them to succeed.”