Black male grad rates: despair, and a ray of hope

09-13-2010

NPR

A new study reports that only 47 percent of black male students entering high school in the fall of 2003 graduated in 2008. For white males, the graduation rate was 78 percent. But one state, New Jersey, managed to raise its black male graduation rate by nearly 30 points. In the past few weeks, more than 400,000 young black men entered American high schools as freshmen. Four years from now, fewer than half of them will get diplomas. That's according to a new study from the Schott Foundation for Public Education. It found that only 47 percent of black male students entering high school in 2003 graduated in 2008. For white males, the graduation rate was 78 percent. Dr. John Jackson, the foundation's president and CEO, tells NPR's Guy Raz that those numbers are dismal largely because of the lack of resources in schools with high black populations. He says that when young black men are given opportunities to learn in schools with more resources, they perform well. (more…)

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