New Detroit is a metropolitan Detroit leadership organization working to identify and eliminate racial disparities in the region by building economic equity, social justice and racial understanding.
Our Mission:
New Detroit is steadfast in the belief that all children deserve a quality education. Since our inception in 1967, New Detroit has always served in a leadership role to convene those parties in search of educational excellence. Our reach extends from grassroots communities to boardrooms, from students and caregivers to administrators and policy makers. First and foremost, the effort must be about the children.
Why We Focus on Education
- Only 3 percent of Detroit’s 4th graders and 4 percent of its 8th graders meet national math standards (source: www.excellentschoolsdetroit.org).
- 2010 Michigan on-time high school graduation for African American students was 58%, compared to Latinos (64%), Native Americans (66%), whites (82%), Asians (88%) and 76% overall.
- Only 2 percent of Detroit’s high school students are prepared for college-level math and 11 percent for college-level reading (source: www.excellentschoolsdetroit.org).
- African-American males in Michigan have the lowest high school graduation rate in the country at 33%. White males in the state gradate at a rate of 74% (source: www.umich.edu).
- The achievement gap continues to persist as evidenced by the 2009 Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test – see chart (source: www.michigan.gov/mde).
- Nationally in 2008, the status dropout rate for white persons was 4.8% compared to 9.9% for black and 18.3% for Hispanic persons. “Status dropout rate” is defined as the percentage of 16- through 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in school and have not earned a high school credential (source: nces.ed.gov).