• Statewide
• Chicago

Inequities in Graduation Rates

Black male students in Illinois in 2005/6 graduated at lower rates than the national average, as they had in 2004/5, while White male students graduated at rates higher than the national average. Therefore, the racial gap is wider in Illinois than the national average and, because of the larger decline in the Black male graduation rate, the gap is becoming yet wider. Nearly half the Black students in the state are in Chicago schools. Sixty-three percent of the Black male students in the Chicago public schools failed to graduate with their cohort in 2005/6. The Illinois public schools outside Chicago are able to graduate their White, non-Hispanic male students at rates much higher than the national average, while they are unable to graduate most Black, non-Hispanic male students, falling short of the (low) national average in this regard.

The Benchmark for graduation rates of Black male students for states enrolling more than 10,000 Black male students is 74% (New Jersey).

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Evidence of Inequities

NAEP Grade 4 Reading results for Illinois are nearly identical to those for the nation as a whole for both Black and White, non-Hispanic male students.

Percentages Of White and Black Non-Hispanic Male Students At Each Achievement Level, Reading, Grade 4, 2007

At Grade 8, in line with national results, more than twice the proportion of the state's Black male students read at less than the Basic level than is the case for the state's White male students, and virtually none reach the Advanced level.

Percentages Of White and Black Non-Hispanic Male Students At Each Achievement Level, Reading, Grade 8, 2007

Over five times the share of Illinois' Black male students score below the Basic level in Grade 4 Mathematics as the state's White, non-Hispanic male students. The White group is near and the Black group is below national averages.

Percentages Of White and Black Non-Hispanic Male Students At Each Achievement Level, Mathematics, Grade 4, 2007

By Grade 8, nearly two-thirds of Illinois' Black male students score below the Basic level in Grade 8 Mathematics and not one percent reach the Advanced level.

Percentages Of White and Black Non-Hispanic Male Students At Each Achievement Level, Mathematics, Grade 8, 2007

Discipline, Special Education, and Advanced Placement Inequities

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The number of out-of-school suspensions given to Black male students in Illinois was equivalent to nearly twenty percent of Illinois' Black, non-Hispanic male student population. The number of out-of-school suspensions given to White male students in Illinois was equivalent to five percent of the state's White, non-Hispanic male enrollment in the 2004/5 school year, as reported to the Office of Civil Rights of the U. S. Department of Education. In proportion to enrollment, three times as many Black male students were expelled as were male White students.

Less than one-third the percentage of Black male students were admitted to district Gifted and/or Talented programs as White male students, while nearly three times as many were classified as Mentally Retarded. If Black male children had been admitted at the same rate as White male children to Illinois' Gifted and/or Talented programs, at least 8,000 more would have been in those programs.

More than six times as many male White students were allowed to take Advanced Placement Mathematics and Advanced Placement Science classes as male Black students, given their respective shares in the student population.