'Obama Effect' at school: Black parents volunteer, expect more

[Blue_Tires]

A new survey suggests that President Obama's victory last November had a positive effect not just on the academic expectations of black Americans — it may have raised parents' interests in volunteerism.
The "Obama Effect," documented last winter, showed that Obama's rise during the 2008 presidential election helped improve African Americans' performance on skills tests, which helped narrow a black-white achievement gap.


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In the new findings, African-American parents of children in K-12 schools say they're much more likely to volunteer in a classroom this fall, in effect narrowing a volunteering gap.

The survey, being released today by GreatSchools, a San Francisco non-profit that promotes parental involvement, finds a jump of 37 percentage points in the portion of African-American parents who say they'll volunteer in their child's school — 60% vs. 23% a year ago.

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In the same period, the percentage of white parents who plan to volunteer rose six points, from 47% to 53%.

"Clearly, this data is showing that the parent in chief, President Obama, is having an impact on parents' thinking, especially African-American parents' thinking," GreatSchools CEO Bill Jackson says. He notes that in several speeches, Obama has urged parents to turn off the TV, read to their children and attend parent-teacher conferences.

"That jump that we're seeing … is clearly a response to that," he says.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-08-06-obama-effect-schools_N.htm

I'm glad to see this...Folks have to know how incredibly unique this point in history is and that it is time to step up...

[Number23]

1. I absolutely love this

It is amazing what simply SEEING a black man in the White House has done for the collective self-esteem of black America. I think seeing Obama has more of an impact on black folks than HEARING what he actually says in his speeches.

I'm all for black parents expecting the world from their children. But the fact that simply seeing a black man in the White House has done so much already for the state of Black America speaks very highly to the fact that seeing is believing. You can put out all of the little platitudes about how egalitarian America is and how "everyone who wants to can succeed" (while trying desperately to ignore that everyone at the highest echelon of business, government, academia etc. are all white) but unless folks can actually SEE this, they have no reason to believe it.

[firedupdem]

2. Well said Number23! n/t