NAACP Report on Quality Education for Black Americans: An Imperative.

Overview & Synopsis

This report is a compilation of reports from ten Task Forces convened by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in May 1977. The challenge was to examine what quality education is, what it takes for the system to deliver quality education to every student, and why the system has failed with many black youths. Ways in which teacher education could be improved are discussed. Suggestions for changing curricula are made. There follows a discussion of the kind of teachers needed for quality education and of ways of assessing teacher performance. Special education for blacks is examined in light of Public Law 94-142. Guidance and counseling programs are analyzed in terms of counselor competencies and training requirements and curriculum implications at the elementary secondary level. The problem of intergroup relations and sources of ways to reduce intergroup hostility are examined. Urban education is defined, and recommendations are made for the development of programs. The types, role, and levels of administration appropriate to black education are examined. The role and responsibility of the student, parent, and community in the achievement of quality education are outlined. Finally, the implementation goals of desegregation/integration are discussed, including monitoring and the question of State responsibility. (MC)