Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 August 2003 — Page 3

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2003

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

PAGE A3

SCHOOL ► Continued from Page 1 ana Gov. Frank O’Bannon and attended by the governors of Kansas, Virgin Islands, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Arkansas, North Carolina, Michigan and North Dakota. Price urged governors “to reach out to the infrastructure of minority communities in your state” and say that “I need you to work together to help improve parental involvement and student achievement.” “We need to cheer our kids on," said Price, who suggested that local communities hold back-to-school parties, parades and other events to “encourage kids to be good readers, to encourage that every child achieves.” The CEO of the Cleveland (Ohio) Municipal Public Schools, Dr. Barbara ByrdBennett, told the governors about her district’s success in improving student attendance and achievement. “Accountability and responsibility are central,” said ByrdBennett, “in our district we’ve set benchmarks and targets that are not negotiable.” Dr. Byrd-Bennett declared that the middle school concept “is broken” and must be changed. In Cleveland, she’s created more K-8 schools. “In those schools test scores and attendance are higher,” said Byrd-Bennett, “than middle schools.” “We need new educational models for teen-agers,” Tom Vander Ark told the governors. The executive director/education of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said “nearly one-half the African-Ameri-can and Hispanic high students fail to graduate from high school.” “High school is the worst part of the educational problem,” Vander Ark stated, saying that America must raise its graduation rates “from 70 percent to 80 percent.” The Gates Foundation, funded by Microsoft’s billionaire founder, has embarked on an ambitious program of providing grants to school systems, including several million dollars to transform education in IPS’ high schools. Vander Ark says the nation’s schools need “a better data collection system.” He was joined in that criticism by Brad Duggan, president/CEO of Just for the Kids, a non-profit group that helps identify academic success in public schools. Duggan strongly criticized the collection of data by school districts saying the lack of accurate data and tracking of student performance was “a

major problem.” Duggan said that states should be able to gather nine critical data and verification components which would allow districts to create reports based, on how long students have been enrolled in the same school; follow students’ academic progress over time; identify whether middle or high schools are doing a good job with students at different academic levels and assess whether students who meet the state academic standards are ready for college. According to Duggan, Indiana gathers just three of those nine data and verification components. Price and Dr. Byrd-Bennett were two of three top AfricanAmerican experts and government officials who addressed the governors at their Indianapolis meeting. Indianapolis native Vicki Bailey, a former Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission member and the first African American to head an Indiana utility company (Cinergy/ PSI), addressed the governors in her current position capacity as Assistant Secretary, Office of Policy and International Affairs, Department of Energy. Bailey participated in a discussion on the natural gas shortage and was joined by Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor, addressed the governors in a public session and also a private meeting. And the nation’s only Black governor was here. Charles Turnbull is governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, an American territory. Gov. Turnbull and the governors of American Samoa, Puerto Rico and Guam are full members of the National Governors Association. Currently in his second term, Gov. Turnbull, a Democrat, told The Indianapolis Recorder that he was “pleased” to be in Indianapolis and complimented the city and state’s hospitality. It wasn’t all business for Gov. Turnbull and the other governors as they were feted at parties and receptions at the IndianaState Museum, White River State Park’s new outdoor amphitheater, Indianapolis Zoo and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Indianapolis Recorder was the only African-Ameri-can newspaper in the country accredited to cover this annual, national event.

Africa's population may jump 1 billion by 2050

NEW YORK (IPS/GIN) - Africa’s population may increase by more than 1 billion by 2050, and by that time six of the world’s 20 most populous countries will be African, says a report by the Population Reference Bureau. The recently published 2003 “World Population Data Sheet,” which predicts the numbers of people living in different countries in 2050, calculates that by then, Nigeria will have the world’s sixth largest population, 307 nnllion. The other African countries in the top 20, says the report, will be the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), ninth and also will have greatest increase of any African country; Ethiopia, 10; Egypt, 13; Sudan, 19; and Uganda, 20. Currently the top 20 only includes three African countries: Nigeria, ninth; Egypt,

15th; and Ethiopia, 17th. The world’s largest country now - China at 1.2 billion - will move down to second place by 2050. And today’s second place, India, will move up to the No. 1 position, with 1.6 billion. The world’s two fastest growing regions between now and 2050 will both be in Africa. The population of “Middle Africa,” as the report calls it, will grow to “193 percent of its current size by 2050; western Africa follows, increasing to 141’ percent of its 21003 population." In the central African country of DRC, Africa’s fastest growing country, the population is expected to rise from 56.6 million now to 181 million in 2050. But the report adds, “The population of HIV/AI DS-rav-aged southern Africa is projected to fall by 22 percent."

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