BOOK’s Mission
is to raise awareness around the need for high-performing schools in African American communities, and the need to expand and increase the awareness of educational options and school choice.
Let's have the conversation
BOOK initiates conversations with audiences that are ready to see measurable steps taken towards addressing the challenges of public education in the African American community. We are the leading voice in this movement for change, reform and choice in Georgia.
BOOK uses “roundtable” events as an engagement platform to establish and grow our influence in the African American community. This format initiates a community conversation focusing on the need for “community-wide approach” to tackling the student achievement gaps plaguing the African American community.
African American Students
academic performance statistics
Few would deny that the overall academic achievement and career readiness for African American students is a serious concern for our community. Statistics regarding African American students academic performance and matriculation into higher education reveal alarming findings.
NAEP data from 2015 indicates that, African American students lag behind other racial groups. For African American children in Georgia, 36% performed below the basic level, 45% scored at the basic level, 18% at the proficient level, and 1% at the advanced level (US DOE 2015).
In 2013, 61% of fourth graders and 71% of eighth graders in Georgia demonstrated mathematics skills at or below the basic level on the NAEP .
Only 34% of Georgia’s third graders read at grade level by the end of third grade.
Students who qualify for free or reduced priced school meals scored 25 points lower on the NAEP than their higher income peers.