Black Male High School Graduation Rates Improved, Still Drag Behind Whites

Averaged three-percentage point increase slightly narrows racial disparity in public school education

An education report released Wednesday shows more than half of young black men who graduated from high school in 2010 earned their diploma in the standard four years and improved the graduation rate that has lagged behind their white and Latino counterparts. The Schott Foundation for Public Education, which has tracked African American males in public schools since 2004, said 52 percent who entered ninth grade in 2006 graduated in fours years, compared to 78 percent of white males and 58 percent of Latino males. In 2009, the black male graduation rate was 47 percent. “At this rate it would take nearly 50 years for black males to graduate at the same rate as white males," said John Jackson, president and CEO of the Schott Foundation. (Associated Press)

[SUBSCRIBE TO LOOP 21 RSS FEED]