• Statewide
• Chicago

Inequities in Graduation Rates

Black and White male students in Chicago in 2005/6 graduated at lower rates than the national average, declining from 2004/5. Nearly two-thirds of Chicago's Black male students did not graduate with their grade 9 cohort. The racial gap is narrower in Chicago than the national average because the graduation rate for White male students is lower in relation to the national average than the graduation rate for Black male students. The graduation rate for Black students is less than half the Benchmark.

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

Three-quarter's of Chicago's Black male students read below the Basic level on the NAEP Grade 4 Reading assessment, more than twice the rate for White, non-Hispanic male students in the district.

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, twice as many of the district's Black male students read at less than the Basic level than White male students, and virtually none reach the Advanced level. This is, however, a distinct improvement from Grade 4 results.

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

In proportion to enrollment, over four times the share of Chicago's Black male students score below the Basic level in Grade 4 Mathematics as the district'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   (USA and State—2007, Urban—2005), Mathematics, Grade 4

By Grade 8, nearly three-quarters of Chicago'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 Chicago public schools was equivalent to fourteen percent of Chicago's Black, non-Hispanic male student population and the percentage of out-of-school suspensions given to White male students in Chicago was equivalent to approximately six 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 Chicago's Gifted and/or Talented programs at over five times the rate for Black, non-Hispanic male students and Black, non-Hispanic male students were placed in Mental Retardation classifications at a rate twice that for White male students. If male Black students had been admitted to Gifted and/or Talented programs at the same rate as White male students, at least 6,000 more would be in those programs.

Black male students in the Chicago public schools in 2004/5 were allowed to participate in Mathematics and Science Advanced Placement courses at very low rates compared to those of White, non-Hispanic male students.