Success for Black Boys

Six-year-old Angelo Rorie plucked a "g" from among several rows of letters.

"We always leave gaps in our line," he said to classmate Nikolas Thornton, tucking the letter into a plastic pocket ahead of a card marked "ap."

With state testing six weeks away, Virginia Beach and other school divisions are struggling to reduce widespread gaps in reading performance between African American males and other students.

Boys like Angelo and Nikolas will be on the front lines of that effort. The two, kindergartners at Diamond Springs Elementary, read above grade level. But citywide, more than one in four African American boys reads below grade level when he reaches third grade.

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