An afro-centered curriculum might help improve black student achievement, parents, teachers and community members said at the first meeting of the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 African American Student Achievement Committee.

“The culture needs to be taught, celebrated, a part of the curriculum,” said Noel Stewart, a teacher at Willard Elementary School, 2700 Hurd Ave.

Students would identify with a curriculum infused with black culture and would be motivated to work harder in school, parents said during the meeting at King Lab Elementary, 2424 Lake St.

The committee was formed as a response to the continuing achievement gap between black and white students in D65.

Stewart and others formed small groups to share their opinions on how to address black student achievement. The crowd of about 45 people then reconvened to share topics raised in groups.

Many suggested investigating afrocentric curriculums that have proven successful. Some said hiring black teachers and establishing teacher development programs or sessions would be necessary to ensure curriculums are well-taught and effective.

“Caucasians come in focused with a sense of entitlement,” Evanston Human Relations Chairwoman Schona Buranda said of black achievement. “African American students are not well-adapted to working with the current system.”

Susan Schultz, D65 assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said Tuesday afternoon that a change of the curriculum is a possibility the committee will explore but also said the district has not ignored diversity in the past.

“I think our curriculum as we see it now is multicultural in many ways, (for example) in terms of the text that has been selected,” Schultz said.

But incorporating black culture also means recognizing diversity among black students, Willard teacher Sheryl Phillips said.

“We can’t put everyone under one umbrella,” Phillips said. The district cannot use a “one size fits all” approach she said.

Group discussions also highlighted the need for involvement among black parents. Businesses, religious groups and Northwestern can provide resources to educate black students, groups said.

Superintendent Hardy Murphy attended the meeting and encouraged the committee to develop a plan to present to the school board before the D65 board discusses the budget in March.

“The important thing is that there is an opportunity to develop a voice and movement,” he said.

But Murphy opened the meeting by saying it wasn’t necessary to repeat past test data on the achievement gap.

“We know we have a challenge we need to address,” he said.

Board member Julie Chernoff and Jerome Summers also attended the meeting.

Summers said the greatest obstacle to improving black achievement is in changing the view most people in Evanston hold of the education of all students.

“I think Evanstonians need to tell the truth in the effects in how we educate our children,” he said.

Funding a new curriculum or hiring more black teachers is a priority for the budget if it will help black student achievement, Summers said. Summers also said he is willing to see if D65 should abandon the 60 percent rule if the rule is hindering the growth of black students. The rule prohibits more than 60 percent of the student body in a school from being of one race. Some people at the meeting said black students should attend schools in their community. But currently minority students are bused to comply with the rule.

Although this committee marks one of the district’s first efforts focused specifically on improving black achievement, D65 has taken steps to improve minority achievement in the past. The Two-Way Immersion program was developed to improve performance among Latino students. In the program, native Spanish-speaking and native English-speaking students are taught together in the same classroom.

The district also is involved in the national Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee, which examines achievement issues for all minorities. Like the African American Student Achievement Committee, the Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee brings together parents, teachers and community leaders.

The African American Student Achievement Committee’s next meeting is Oct. 18. The location is still being determined.

Reach Lensay Abadula at [email protected].