Graduation Rates: A Black and White Issue?
High school graduation rates are lower for black male students than white male students.
According to a Schott Foundation report, about half of black male students are failing in school.
And some cities are worse than others. Indianapolis has a 19 percent graduation rate and Detroit has a 20 percent graduation rate for black male students.
Your best bet is Ford Bend, Texas which has an 80 percent graduation rate for black male students.
Here are some more stats:
- For Grade 8 Reading, the national percentage of White, non-Hispanic male students scoring at or above the Basic level was 78% in 2007. The percentage of Black, non-Hispanic male students scoring at or above the Basic level in Grade 8 was 46% in 2007.
- For Grade 8 Mathematics, the national percentage of White, non-Hispanic male students scoring at or above the Basic level was 82% in 2007. The percentage of Black, non-Hispanic male students scoring at or above the Basic level in Grade 8 was 46% in 2007.
Do these numbers point to a race issue? What about black girls?
Black girls actually get pretty good grades, go to college at decent rates and graduate from college at very good rates, earning degrees as twice the rate of men. And these girls live in the same neighborhoods and go to the same schools as the black boys.
If black girls are doing well at the same schools, is high school graduation rates a race issue…or a gender issue?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 10:04 am and is filed under Race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
