Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for July 26, 2008 BLACK MALE GRADUATION RATE

Illinois ranks 43rd for number of black male students graduating from high school, report finds

By Carlos Sadovi
Chicago Tribune reporter

Fewer than half of black male students across the country are graduating from high school, and the number is even lower in Illinois and Chicago, according to a national study released Friday.

The report by the Schott Foundation for Public Education, an educational think tank in Cambridge, Mass., culled graduation rates from the 2005-06 school year and found that Illinois ranked 43rd out of 50 states for the number of black male students graduating that year. The report was based on previously reported numbers in Chicago and Illinois.

In the city that year, only 37 percent of the 102,185 black male students graduated, compared with 62 percent of their white male counterparts, a 24 percent gap, according to the report released at a news conference at the UNITY '08 Convention for Journalists of Color at McCormick Place.

Chicago public schools have shown some improvement in more recent numbers. A year later, the number of black male students graduating went up by one percentage point. In 2007, that number climbed to a nearly 9-year-high when 40 percent of black male students graduated.

John Jackson, president and chief executive officer of the Schott Foundation, called the dropout rate a national problem.

"These results are not indicative of the potential and the ability of black males, but evidence of a failure of leadership . . . to insist that black males have access to the educational resources needed to succeed," he said.

Using 2005-06 figures, the report said Illinois' and Chicago's graduation rate for black male students was below the national average of 47 percent. Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and four other states had among the largest differences in graduation rates for black and white male students.

Jackson said the report signifies the need not only for increased leadership on all levels but on philanthropic communities to help fund programs he and others believe would improve graduation rates. Officials said there should be more funding for early childhood programs, increased teacher and educational funding and more single-sex schools, among other possibilities.

North Dakota, Arizona and New Jersey, which have more equitable funding for black and white students, have higher than average black male graduation rates, Jackson said.

"These males represent the future fathers and husbands in a community where 70 percent of children are born out of wedlock. They also represent the future teachers, pastors, professors and even presidents," Jackson said.

Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, said educators and leaders as well as presidential candidates need to address the issue. "This is not simply a political issue, it's not simply an educational issue, it's a moral issue for this very nation," he said.

Chicago Public Schools Chief Arne Duncan, who spoke alongside Jackson and Morial at the news conference, said the district has been working to improve the graduation rates of its black students and close the achievement gap between black and white students.