Pinellas County Public Schools
Inequities in Graduation Rates
Black male students in Pinellas County graduated at much lower rates in 2005/6 than the national average, as they had in 2004/5, as did White male students. Because of this the racial gap is narrower in Pinellas County than the national average. Although graduation rates are improving, fewer than one-third of the county's grade nine cohort of Black male students graduated on-time in the 2005/6 school year.
The Benchmark for graduation rates of Black male students for school districts enrolling more than 10,000 Black male students is 82% (Fort Bend, Texas).
|
Male Students |
Graduation Rate 2005/6 (est.) |
Graduation Rate 2004/5 |
||||||
|
Black Males |
Black |
White |
Gap |
Black |
White |
Black Change |
White Change |
|
|
USA |
4.3 mil. |
47% |
75% |
28% |
47% |
74% |
0% |
1% |
|
Florida |
326,757 |
38% |
60% |
22% |
35% |
56% |
3% |
4% |
|
Pinellas |
11,319 |
30% |
50% |
20% |
27% |
45% |
3% |
5% |
Discipline, Special Education, and Advanced Placement Inequities
The number of out-of-school suspensions given to Black male students in the Pinellas County public schools was equivalent to nearly twenty-seven percent of Pinellas County's Black, non-Hispanic male student population and the percentage of out-of-school suspensions given to White male students in Pinellas County was equivalent to ten percent in the 2004/5 school year, as reported to the Office of Civil Rights of the U. S. Department of Education.
White, non-Hispanic male students were admitted to Pinellas County's Gifted and/or Talented programs at more than four times the rate for Black, non-Hispanic male students, while Black, non-Hispanic male students were placed in Mental Retardation classifications at nearly five times the rate for White male students. If Black male students had been admitted to Gifted and/or Talented programs at the same rate as White male students, at least 450 more would be in those programs.
Black male students in the Pinellas County public schools in 2004/5 were allowed to participate in Mathematics Advanced Placement courses at a rate of about one-seventh and in Science Advanced Placement courses at a rate of about one-fourth that of White, non-Hispanic male students.