{"id":4255,"date":"2013-04-05T02:05:59","date_gmt":"2013-04-05T06:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/?p=4255"},"modified":"2013-04-05T02:08:27","modified_gmt":"2013-04-05T06:08:27","slug":"how-have-african-american-educators-saved-my-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/2013\/04\/how-have-african-american-educators-saved-my-city\/","title":{"rendered":"How have African American Educators Saved My City?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research Question<\/em>: <\/strong>How have African American Educators Saved My City?<\/p>\n

Relevance:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>Over the past decade the New Haven Public Schools have been hiring more African American workers to be placed in the schools. Whether it consists of giving administrative positions to African Americans or hiring black athletic coaches, there is a noticeable difference in the increase in high school graduation rate and a decrease in murder rate. For long New Haven has been known as the \u201cmurder capital\u201d of Connecticut and at one point was considered one of the most dangerous cities to live in throughout the entire country. Personally, I have always felt safe being a resident in the inner city, however there are some who have the fear of being shot at on the way to school in the morning. Growing up in a home where my father is a high school principal, I hear it all the time about \u201chow he changed those kids\u2019 lives\u201d or \u201chow he got this group of students off of the streets and helped them find jobs.\u201d Having an African American leader within an urban school can ultimately change the learning culture. Seeing a men and women of color in the hallways motivates students to want to graduate; they want to \u201cbe like Mr. Jones when they grow up\u201d because he has a nice house, drives a nice car, and has a family, and guess what? He isn\u2019t white. \u201cMaking it out of the hood\u201d and then ultimately giving back is what these African American educators have done for the City of New Haven. Through my research I hope to display how African American educators\u2019 presence helped changed the struggling lives of the youth in New Haven. Also, to show how that has impacted the degree of violence within the city and how more seniors are graduating high school and going to college.<\/p>\n

Research Process: <\/strong><\/em>Initially, I thought my research process would be easy. Since I live in New Haven I can just look in the local newspaper to find instances of how African American educators benefit the community. I figured I wouldn\u2019t have to search everywhere around the web, or try to find many books in the library, or even search a bunch of databases. The first step I took was visited the New Haven Register website and search for \u201cprincipals\u201d. Many options came up. I scrolled down for a few minutes and nothing I was really looking for came up. Then I added \u201cNew Haven principals\u201d. Once many articles popped up that seemed relevant, I thought I was finished. After clicking on a few, they didn\u2019t really give me much. Because I know many of the teachers and principals in the high schools I decided to type their names in in the search bar. I actually found a lot of decent articles that would help. I needed sources from another website though. New Haven Independent, an online newspaper, covers stories in all of the sections in New Haven. Done by local writers, their stories are never biased so I knew that this is what I needed. I found a bunch of sources on graduation rate, crime rate, different articles on the hiring of multicultural administrators, and programs led by educators that help \u201cclean up\u201d the city. With the assistance of both newspapers I felt that they provided me with enough sources to help me find good research. They also provided links to other websites which will allow me to go deeper into to what I am specifically looking for.<\/p>\n

Bibliography:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c23% Of HS Grads Finished College Within 6 Years\u00a0 |\u00a0 New Haven Independent.\u201d New Haven Independent, n.d. http:\/\/www.newhavenindependent.org\/index.php\/archives\/entry\/23_high_school_grads_finish_college_in_6_years\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n