Hip-Hop Education Reaches Youth in Low-Income, Marginalized, and Chronically Violent Communities
A new report suggests an emerging pattern of success among marginalized students participating in Hip-Hop education, leading to higher attendance and graduation rates. Re-Imagining Teaching and Learning: A Snapshot of Hip-Hop Education, released Friday, of a national scan of Hip-Hop educational programs by the Hip-Hop Education Center (H2ED Center) at the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education (Metro Center) at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
Key findings include:
- Programs indicated that students had higher attendance and graduation rates.
- 94.6% Parents support the courses and programs, either by contributing financially, volunteering their time, and/or enrolling their children in a program.
- Government agencies, foundations, institutions of higher learning, NGOs, internal staff, and students evaluated 100 out of the 212 Hip-Hop education programs.
“Hip-Hop–based education is empowering thousands of youth and adults in the U.S. and around the world to develop their identity, voice, and leadership in society,” said Martha Diaz, Co-Principal Investigator and Founding Director of the H2ED Center at the Metro Center. “We are pleased to present our findings and use this report as an opportunity to analyze, dialog, and harness Hip-Hop to catapult students and teachers to higher levels of success within both elementary and higher education.”
The report's findings will be presented at the upcoming meeting of the Hip-Hop Education Center Think Tank, “Rolling Deep, Moving Forward: Professionalizing Hip-Hop Education”, at New York University, November 11, 2011. Practitioners, teaching artists, community leaders, administrators, business professionals, and business professionals.