On June 21, Susan Leadem and Sue Woods of The College Sage attended the Charleston Forum. The Charleston Forum began in 2016 by a group of leaders who wanted to provide an outlet to discuss race following the shootings at Emanuel AME church. The community project strives to provide a dialogue that moves the race conversation forward, with no pre-set agenda but with a common purpose to improve race relations and equality within our community. College Sage attended the Charleston Forum because we aim to make a difference in education in our community.
The Forum discussed the State of Racial Disparities in Charleston County using a racial equality lens. In recent years, a racial equity lens has been used in many fields to identify injustice and structural barriers people of color face in education, employment, housing, health care, and even philanthropy. Racial disparities are differences in areas of life, such as education, wealth, health, and policing, that result in one group having a disproportionate burden of negative life outcomes. It is fair to say that in our past two years of providing pro bono college counseling services to students of need in the Charleston region, we have seen first hand the racial disparities that impact students in our community.
In Charleston County today, about 53% of students qualify for Medicaid services and/or free and reduced-price meals. Charleston County is home to the 20 poorest schools in the tri-county region with the five poorest schools being Chicora Elementary, Mary Ford Elementary, Simmons-Pinckney Middle, Greg Mathis Charter High, and Mitchell Elementary. African American residents in Charleston County are less likely to graduate from high school, obtain an associate degree, or complete a four-year education than their white counterparts. While white students in Charleston County graduate at a rate of 91%, black students graduate at a rate of 75%. Moreover, what these statistics fail to show are the day to day realities that we have witnessed in our two years of pro bono counseling: high school students who graduate yet struggle to read, high school students who “early-out” each school day and become “addicted” to the income from part-time jobs that take them off the track toward more education, graduating high school students who cannot fulfill the essay component of a scholarship application, high school students who search for the next meal, and high school students with not enough role models in their every day lives to demonstrate the value of education and financial success.
It’s no wonder then, that the statistics gap on college preparation performance in our community is wide. With regards to college preparation, the Forum discussed several statistics regarding SAT and ACT scores for college-bound seniors. “CCSD black seniors scored lower than white seniors on all three SAT tests: Critical Reading (average score of 410 vs. 546), Math (403 vs. 538), and Writing (395 vs. 523).” That is easily a 25% performance gap. And black students in Charleston obtained lower average ACT scores than their peers statewide. Overall, this report and Forum provide some important information about education in Charleston County. To read more about the report prepared by the College of Charleston Race and Social Justice Initiative, click here.
The College Sage aims to help all students achieve their dream school by providing pro bono college counseling and an annual $3800 scholarship. Three pro bono counselors – Susan Leadem, Cindy Smithy, and Sue Woods – work tirelessly to improve the prospects for college bound students of need. During the academic year of 2018, College Sage counselors visited the most needy high schools in our community 22 times where we held 102 one-on-one meetings with 31 students, in addition to directing the college application cycle for graduating high school students at Kids on Point. There is a significant need for pro bono counselors, mentors, role models, and literacy help in our community. For ideas and information on how you can get involved or donate resources, please contact us at thecollegesage@gmail.com. Let’s help get Charleston education on an ascent.
