In the face of mounting evidence that schools are losing alarming numbers of young black men, a small band of educators gathered recently in Brookline, Massachusetts, to bolster one response to the crisis: creating public schools designed to serve African-American males. Haunted by the specter of a bleak future for millions of young men--and aware that single-gender programs can face legal and political opposition--the two dozen principals were nonetheless united in their conviction that it is high time to build education programs that meet the academic and emotional needs of black boys. These school leaders formed a conference billed as "a contemplation on the education of black male students." The conference, co-sponsored by Wheelock College, The Panasonic Foundation, Eagle Academy, and the Delores Walker Johnson Center for Thoughtful Leadership, enabled principals to share promising practices for boys who have likely had to learn in crowded schools with inexperienced teachers, cope without fathers at home, and contend with pop culture's negative images of them. Principals' brainstorming sessions produced a range of suggestions for ways to better engage boys in school, from building more "action-oriented" story lines and real-world applications into the curriculum to creating schools with strong discipline and decorum that take advantage of the role-modeling and mentoring potential of men in their communities.