In partnership with 500 Men Making a Difference, and the administration at Boys and Girls High School, the Brooklyn Movement Center is seeking activists and educators to tutor students, on a volunteer basis, at Boys and Girls and help them pass the math regents.
The New York State Regents Examination in Integrated Algebra is a high stakes standardized test that all high school students must pass in order to graduate. Last year only 28% of Boys and Girls students passed the exam. At the very least, this widespread failure makes it difficult for literally hundreds of students to find living wage jobs, move on to the next stage in their educational careers, or both. At worst, it’s a significant factor in Bed-Stuy’s school-to-prison pipeline.
Boys and Girls is on the Schools Under Registration Review (SURR) list and is being threatened with closure. The math Regents pass rate determines graduation levels and is used by New York State as an indicator of academic achievement. In other words, the Regent’s is arguably the most important factor in determining if Boys and Girls will be permitted to remain open.
Clearly, the chronically poor performance of black and brown young people on these kinds of high stakes tests is part of a larger systemic failure. Helping Boys and Girls students pass the math Regents won’t change this, but in the meantime, it could possibly change the lives of a handful of our children.
Tutors will be asked to lead one-on-one sessions with a Boys and Girls senior during flexible time slots in the first two weeks of June.