Spelman and Morehouse Colleges Host A Dream Deferred

May 2010

Programs and Services

In its sixth year, the College Board’s A Dream Deferred™ conference brought together education and community leaders to focus on the most critical issues affecting the education needs of African American students, and to discuss more paths to college success. This year’s conference, hosted by Spelman and Morehouse colleges, included a record number of 650 registrants from 26 states and the District of Columbia.

Attendees representing K–12, higher education, government agencies and nonprofits had the opportunity to hear panelists and presenters from across the country speak about breakthrough strategies, progress and areas of opportunity for African American students.

Beverly Tatum, president of Spelman College, kicked off the conference with the empowering plenary, “African American Students: From When and Where They Enter.” She challenged attendees to create higher levels of expectations in order to achieve success. “Avoid praising students for mediocrity,” Tatum charged. She provided a wealth of engaging statistics about unemployment, health and education in the African American community. “We must be able to acknowledge the problems in order to face them,” she said.

This year’s conference placed special emphasis on sharing best practices and new strategies for supporting African American students through sessions like “The Educational Crisis Facing Young Men of Color,” based on a College Board report issued February 2010. Ron Williams of the College Board, Hal Smith of the National Urban League and Edmund T. Gordon of the University of Texas at Austin led an insightful discussion on model programs that are positively impacting black males in higher education. “Simply focusing on high school graduation is insufficient. College success is the main goal,” Smith said when discussing the higher education efforts at the National Urban League.

Day one concluded with an afternoon plenary titled “Engaging African American Students in STEM” by Jeniffer Harper-Taylor, president of the Siemens Foundation. “We want to make sure we provide the appropriate resources to make students successful,” said Harper-Taylor. She emphasized that innovative ideas, specialized technology, high-quality teachers and no-cost outreach opportunities are key factors in providing a successful STEM learning environment.

Day two of the A Dream Deferred conference was held on the campus of Morehouse College. Bryant Marks, director of the Morehouse Male Initiative, led an energetic session titled “Incorporating the African American Male Experience into the Classroom.” His presentation focused on a nonacademic approach to teaching. “We can teach how we want to teach, or we can teach how they learn,” Marks said. He proceeded to show a video of a group of Morehouse students who won a curriculum proposal contest for composing an entertaining rap song about a topic learned in chemistry. This was an example of the student-centered approach to teaching.

Other sessions of the day included “Maintaining Excellence — Gifted African American Students,” presented by Sherri Arnold, Joy Davis and Lisa Williams of Maggie Walker Governor’s School, and “Parents and Peer Cultures for Academic Success,” presented by Chris Vick, leader of the African American Scholars Program at Brookline High School. Vick discussed how the development of in-school scholar programs can boost academic success. Many attendees of this session were inspired to start similar programs in their respective schools.

The final plenary featured keynote speaker John T. Grant Jr., executive director and chief operating officer of 100 Black Men of Atlanta. Grant’s presentation focused on the roles communities have played in creating opportunities for higher education. “Students are precious stones waiting to be processed, cut and polished into the true talents they are,” Grant said. He stressed that a strong foundation and nurturing community will encourage growth and success.

For information about presenting a session at A Dream Deferred 2011, send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .