• Statewide
• Dallas
• Fort Bend
• Fort Worth
• Houston

Inequities in Graduation Rates

Black male students in Houston graduated at rates in 2005/6 that were average for their group, while White, non-Hispanic male students graduated at rates that were below average for their group. The racial achievement gap was narrower than the national average.

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).

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Evidence of Inequities

NAEP Grade 4 Reading results for Houston are above the average for those for the nation and the state for White, non-Hispanic male students and at the national average for Black male students. More than half of the district’sBlack male students read below the Basic level at Grade 4.

Percentages Of White and Black Non-Hispanic Male Students At Each Achievement Level (USA and State—2007, Urban—2005), Reading, Grade 4

At Grade 8 more than half of the district’s Black male students read at less than the Basic level and virtually none reach the Advanced level.

Percentages Of White and Black Non-Hispanic Male Students At Each Achievement Level (USA and State—2007, Urban—2005), Reading, Grade 8

Nearly one-third of Houston’s Black male students score below the Basic level in Grade 4 Mathematics, ten times as many as the district’s White, non-Hispanic male students.

Percentages Of White and Black Non-Hispanic Male Students At Each Achievement Level (USA and State—2007, Urban—2005), Mathematics, Grade 4

By Grade 8, over half of Houston’s Black male students score below the Basic level in Grade 8 Mathematics and virtually none reach the Advanced level.

Percentages Of White and Black Non-Hispanic Male Students At Each Achievement Level (USA and State—2007, Urban—2005), Mathematics, Grade 8

Discipline, Special Education, and Advanced Placement Inequities

The number of out-of-school suspensions given to Black male students in the Houston public schools was equivalent to twenty-four percent of Houston’s Black, non-Hispanic male student population and the percentage of out-of-school suspensions given to White male students in Houston was equivalent to six percent, in the 2004/5 school year, as reported to the Office of Civil Rights of the U. S. Department of Education. Twenty Black male students and five White male students were expelled.

Black, non-Hispanic male students were classified as Gifted/Talented less than one-sixth as often as White, non-Hispanic male students in the Houston public schools and classified as Mentally Retarded more than twice as often as their White classmates. If Black male students had been admitted to Gifted/Talented programs at a rate comparable to that of White male students, at least an additional 7,500 students would have been able to take advantage of those program resources.

Proportionate to enrollment, more than five times as many White male students as Black male students in the Houston public schools in 2004/5 were allowed to participate in Mathematics and over four times as many in Science Advanced Placement courses.