• Statewide
• Philadelphia

Inequities in Graduation Rates

Black and White male students in Pennsylvania graduated at higher rates in 2005/6 than the national average.[1] The racial achievement gap is close to the national average.

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 Pennsylvania are slightly above the national average for White, non-Hispanic males and slightly below average for Black male students. Well over half of the state’s Black male students read below the Basic level at Grade 4.

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

At Grade 8 nearly half of the state’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, Reading, Grade 8, 2007

More than one-third of Pennsylvania’s Black male students score below the Basic level in Grade 4 Mathematics, four times as many as the state’s White, non-Hispanic male students.

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

By Grade 8, half of Pennsylvania’s Black male students score below the Basic level in Grade 8 Mathematics and one percent reach the Advanced level.

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

The Benchmark for Black male students in Grade 8 Reading is Massachusetts, with 62% of Black male students scoring at or above Basic.

The Benchmark for Grade 8 Mathematics is Texas, with 63% of Black male students scoring at or above Basic.

Discipline, Special Education, and Advanced Placement Inequities

The number of out-of-school suspensions given to Black male students in Pennsylvania was five times that awarded to White male students in Pennsylvania 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, six times as many Black male students were expelled as were White male students.

Black male students were admitted to district Gifted and/or Talented programs at less than half of the rate of White male students, while more than twice as many were classified as Mentally Retarded. Many more Black male children were classified by the State of Pennsylvania as Mentally Retarded as Gifted/Talented. If Black male children had been admitted to Pennsylvania’s Gifted and/or Talented programs t the same rate as White male children, at least 3,000 more would have been in those programs.

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