The Black Male Achievement Gap
Children in the United States are said to live in the land of opportunity and are told anything is possible. In the United States, parents of different racial, religious and cultural backgrounds share many of the same aspirations for their children, but there are invisible barriers that keep some children from progressing at the same rate as their peers. This is particularly true for African-American boys, who are twice as likely as white boys to be held back in elementary school, three times as likely to be suspended from school and half as likely to graduate from college--a phenomenon known as the black male achievement gap.
Black males, even when given the same educational and economic resources as their peers of other races, are likely to fall short of their counterparts in virtually every measure of academic success. It is perhaps the single most pressing problem black males face today. In order to remain competitive in the global marketplace and create a space of participation and collaboration where people of all races work together to address pervasive inequalities in American society in a collective, non-accusatory way, the American education system must be revamped.
Statistics: Black males are . . .
. . . more likely to attend schools that are under-resourced and performing poorly.
Currently, only 15% of black students attend schools that are well-resourced and high performing, while 42% attend schools that are both under-resourced and performing poorly.1 In high poverty and minority schools, students are 70% more likely to have a non-certified teacher in a specific subject, and only 40% of such schools offer physics courses and 29% offer calculus. 2
. . . less likely to obtain college degrees.
Only 16% of black males hold college degrees, compared to 32% of white males.3
. . . three times more likely to be suspended or expelled from school than their white peers, therefore missing valuable learning time.
Black students, most often males, are punished with out-of-school suspension nearly three times more often than white students.4
. . . 2.5 times less likely to be enrolled in gifted and talented programs, even if their prior achievements reflect the ability to succeed.
Only 3% of black male students are enrolled in gifted and talented programs.5
. . . 2.5 times more likely to be classified as mentally challenged by their schools.
3% of black male students are classified in this manner, as compared to only 1.4% of white male students. Black male students make up 20% of all students in the United States classified as mentally retarded, although mentally retarded students are only 9% of the student population as a whole.6
. . . more likely to have under-prepared and ineffective teachers.
Research of minority-dominant schools shows that 28% of their core academic teachers lack appropriate certification.7
. . . less likely to graduate from high school in four years than their white peers.
Only 52% of black males who entered high school in 2006 graduated in four years, compared with 78% of white non-Latino males and 58% of Latino males.8
. . . twice as likely to drop out of high school as their white peers.
In 2009, 4.8% of black students dropped out of grades 10 through 12, compared to 2.4% of white students.9
Sources:
1 Schott Foundation for Public Education. "National Opportunity to Learn Campaign. Federal Recommendations."
2 Toldson, Ivory A. and Chance W. Lewis. "Challenge the Status Quo."
3 Ibid.
4 Lewin, Tamar. "Black Students Face More Discipline, Data Suggests." The New York Times, March 6, 2012.
5 Black Alliance for Educational Options. "Urgent Need."
6 The Future of Children. "Special Education for Students with Disabilities: Analysis and Recommendations."
7 Black Alliance for Educational Options. "Urgent Need."
8 Gamboa, Suzanne. "High School Graduation Rate for Black Males Trails White Students." The Huffington Post, September 19, 2012.
9 Zhao, Emmeline. "High School Dropout Rates for Minority and Poor Students Disproportionately High." The Huffington Post, October 20, 2011.
What Researchers Are Saying
"If black male students were suspended and expelled at the same rates as white male students, half a million fewer out-of-school suspensions and at least 10,000 fewer expulsions would occur."
-- Schott Foundation for Public Education
"The problem with black male achievement is institutionalized, and the solution will demand deliberate systematic strategies that involve full cooperation between concerned citizens, parents, activists, teachers, school leaders and policymakers."
-- Ivory A. Toldson, Howard University
"Philanthropic investments in strategies to address the myriad challenges confronting black males will help in turn 'to lift all boats' for underserved, vulnerable and marginalized people and will ensure a brighter, stronger and more equal and open society for us all."
-- Open Society Foundations
The High School Drop-Out Crisis
Despite significant progress over the past decade, graduation rates for African-American and Hispanic students remain very low in many states and significant gaps persist. In an era of limited opportunities for those without high school diplomas to find jobs, one third of African-American students and 30 percent of Hispanic students are still not graduating high school.10
Examining why graduation rates for African-American and Hispanic students remain very low requires an in-depth look at the in-school experiences of these students and the messages they receive about school and achievement off school grounds.
In school:
- One in four African Americans and nearly one in five Hispanic students still attend high schools where graduating is not the norm. These "dropout factories" project a culture that frames dropping out as acceptable and common, something to give in to rather than fight.11Authority figures in schools, from superintendents to teachers, who put forth low expectations for their students only encourage students to be satisfied with that low level of achievement.12
- Fear of failure results in lack of trying. Students would rather it seem to their peers and parents that they are not trying and don't care, rather than be seen as trying and still struggling.13 Nearly half of the students interviewed for a report titled "The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts" said that a major reason for dropping out was a lack of engagement.14
Ronald Ferguson of Harvard's Achievement Gap Initiative and his peers find differences in the lives of students outside of school have impact on their attitudes about achievement:
- Images of successful African-American and Hispanic adults are not as accessible as images of successful white adults in the United States. Minority students who are not shown successful "future selves" for which to strive are not receiving the same positive reinforcement that white students receive.15
- An intergenerational study of African-American and European-American parenting practices, customs, knowledge and priorities found that practices such as creating a school-oriented home environment, allowing adolescents to make decisions and not burdening school attendees with too many chores had particularly important effects on the achievement gap. Messages students receive from their parents about school achievement through active, encouraging, verbal or non-verbal cues have an effect on achievement.16
- Being part of a community that lacks support systems--afterschool programs, neighborhood organizations, other families and informal social networks--that help parents and families succeed in school can impede achievement levels. W. Norton Grubb's study on inequality finds that resources are often allocated by family background or race: students from high socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to live in districts with high spending and well-credentialed teachers, while poor and minority students are more likely to be found in urban districts with lower levels of spending (especially relative to need), un-credentialed teachers, overwhelmed administrators and incompetent district staff. This pattern in resource inequality extends to the home, where overburdened parents lack a support system that should be provided by the school system.17
The 2013 "Building a Grad Nation" report from America's Promise Alliance states that a significant decrease in "dropout factory" schools shows that the nation is making progress. The organization says that by setting goals and accelerating efforts in states that matter most, the nation can achieve a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020.
Read the full report. The 2013 Update of Building a Grad Nation provides an analysis of the latest graduation rate data and a comprehensive review of efforts to accelerate student achievement from across the nation. To connect with different perspectives and to learn more about what is happening state to state to achieve a 90 percent graduation rate, visit the American Graduate Research Center.
10 America's Promise Alliance. "Building A Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic."
11 America's Promise Alliance. "Dropout Crisis Facts."
12 CNN Pressroom. "'GREAT EXPECTATIONS' Pursues Solutions for Meeting the Achievement Gap in Education."
13Excellence With Equity: A Social Movement for the 21st Century.
14 Bridgeland, John M. et al. Civic Enterprises: "The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts."
15Excellence With Equity: A Social Movement for the 21st Century.
16 Mandara, Jelani, Fatima Varner, Nereira Greene and Scott Richman. "Intergenerational Family Predictors of the Black-White Achievement Gap." Journal of Educational Psychology 101, no. 4 (November 2009): 867-78.
17 Grubb, W. Norton. "Dynamic Inequality I: Using NELS88 To Analyze Schooling Outcomes Over Time," Journal of Educational Psychology May 2006.