Blog

These posts are the opinions of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of A+ Colorado.

Join this free A+ event, featuring Dr. Ivory Toldson: No Bad Stats: Debunking myths about Black students

By

Ivory A. Toldson, president and CEO of the QEM Network (Quality for Minorities), professor of counseling psychology at Howard University, and editor-in-chief of The Journal of Negro Education has released an important book for all those in education and supporting students: “No BS (Bad Stats): Black People Need People Who Believe in Black People Enough Not to Believe Every Bad Thing They Hear About Black People.”

Previously, Dr. Toldson was appointed by President Barack Obama to devise national strategies to sustain and expand federal support to HBCUs as the executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (WHIHBCUs).:

In the book, he addresses myths about Black students and debunks with them data and logic.

He will be sharing a keynote about his book and his research to the A+ Colorado community in a free webinar at 4 p.m. on April 7, followed by a panel of Black education leaders in Colorado. 

This event is co-hosted by Emerge Counsel, a law firm founded by Steve Weigler. Steve will be donating Dr. Toldson’s book to the first ~100  people who sign up for the webinar who opt-in to receive a free copy.

It’s additionally co-hosted by Dr. Annette Sills-Brown and The Education Center (TheEduCtr), which provides educational outreach to homeless and transitional housing parents & children.

A+ Colorado is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to ensuring every Colorado student can access an excellent education.

We will be announcing our panelists soon.

Sign up for the webinar

Sign up to join the free webinar here: Sign up |No Bad Stats: Debunking myths about Black students with author Dr. Ivory Toldson

Three of the myth’s that Dr. Toldson addresses, as he outlines in this article from the Washington Post:

Myth #1: More Black men are in prison than college

“Not only is ‘more black men in prison college’ false, it may lead to bad policy and practice for black boys. In my view, educators who believe their black male students have a better chance of ending up in jail than college might focus more on preventing delinquency, rather than preparing helping them realize their college potential.”

Myth #2: Tests prove Black students lag in reading ability

“Scoring errors, lack of motivation, fatigue, resentment and attention deficits can reduce the accuracy of standardized reading test scores. These sources of error may be more prevalent in predominantly black schools with substandard conditions.

Before writing off an entire school because of test scores, educators should become familiar with the specific assessments used, the circumstances by which the test was administered and the basic concepts of testing theory.”

Myth #3: Single mothers are to blame for problems among Black students

“In my 2013 analysis of more than 12,000 parents who completed the National Household Education Surveys-Parent and Family Involvement Survey, I found that parents who were black and Hispanic, nonnative English speakers, lived in unsafe neighborhoods and had less than a high school education were less likely to visit school for conferences with teachers and administrators or school activities. My study found that this lack of involvement with school was statistically associated with lower levels of academic achievement among their students.”

To learn more about Dr. Toldson and his work, see his full bio and research work here.