Independent Black Institutions: African-Centered Education Models

Many have argued that the academic achievement of a large number of African American children across the country-as measured by standardized achievement tests, suspension rates, Special Education placement rates, and dropout rates-has deteriorated considerably over the last 20 years. Several factors have been identified as contributing to this dilemma, including teacher attitudes (Fine, 1991) and inadequate facilities (The Council of the Great City Schools, 1987). Of late, there has been much discussion about the potential benefits for African American students of African-centered curricula. Several urban school districts in the United States including Washington, DC, Dallas, Detroit, Buffalo, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Portland are using or considering using an African-centered approach to teaching. Indeed, Portland has gone quite far already in attempting to implement such a curriculum on a far-reaching scale. The Africancentered approach has been the foundation of most of the members of the Council of Independent Black Institutions (CIBI), based in Buffalo, New York, since 1972. Contrary to what some scholars say, it is not too early to judge the results of these curricula. While the dialogue about them is very interesting, much of it is unfortunately lacking in critical information, some of which I will share in the present article. The focus on African-centered curricula has occurred partly because parents and educators are looking for new ways to improve the education of African American children. Mention is often made of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville (New York City) controversy of the 1960s. This conflict, which ensued when African American parents and other community members sought local control of the public schools in their neighborhoods, was, in part, the outcry of African Americans for culturally relevant curricula for their children (Weusi, 1973). Rarely is it mentioned in the current dialogue that largely out of such controversies across the country grew a network of independent, African-centered preschools, elementary schools, and high schools that to this day address these issues. Others point out that low self-esteem is an obstacle to academic achievement for African American children. They assert that the African-