Charleston
Inequities in Graduation Rates
Black and White male students in Charleston graduated at lower rates in 2005/6 than the national average.[1] The racial achievement gap is wider than the national average as less than one-third of the district’s Black male students graduate with their cohort, a graduation rate 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).
|
Male Students |
Graduation Rate 2005/6 (est.) |
Graduation Rate 2004/5 |
||||||
|
Black |
Black |
White |
Gap |
Black |
White |
Black Change |
White Change |
|
|
USA |
4.3mil. |
47% |
75% |
28% |
47% |
74% |
0% |
1% |
|
South Carolina |
142,496 |
38% |
59% |
20% |
37% |
56% |
1% |
2% |
|
Charleston |
11,489 |
34% |
66% |
32% |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Discipline, Special Education, and Advanced Placement Inequities
The number of out-of-school suspensions given to Black male students in the Charleston public schools was equivalent to twenty-two percent of Charleston’s Black, non-Hispanic male student population and the percentage of out-of-school suspensions given to White male students in Charleston was equivalent to seven percent, in the 2004/5 school year, as reported to the Office of Civil Rights of the U. S. Department of Education. Three hundred seventy Black male students and 50 White male students were expelled.
Black, non-Hispanic male students were classified as Gifted/Talented less than a sixth as often as White non-Hispanic male students in the Charleston public schools and classified as Mentally Retarded at more than three time the rate of their White classmates.
Proportionate to enrollment, more than eight times as many White male students as Black male students in the Charleston public schools in 2004/5 were allowed to participate in Mathematics Advanced Placement courses and more than ten times as many in Science Advanced Placement courses.