• Statewide
• Jackson City

Inequities in Graduation Rates

Black male students in Mississippi graduated at slightly higher rates in 2005/6 than the national average, while the graduation rate for White male students was considerably lower than the national average. The racial achievement gap is therefore lower than 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 Mississippi are below those for the nation as a whole for both White, non-Hispanic and Black male students. Over two-thirds 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 the situation has improved slightly, although more than 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

Nearly half of Mississippi's Black male students score below the Basic level in Grade 4 Mathematics, three 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, more than half of Mississippi'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, 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 Mississippi was equivalent to eighteen percent of Mississippi's Black, non-Hispanic male student population. The number of out-of-school suspensions given to White male students in Mississippi was equivalent to eight 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, nearly twice 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 approximately a third of the rate of White male students, while three times as many were classified as Mentally Retarded. Nearly as many Black male children were classified by the State of Mississippi as Mentally Retarded as Gifted/Talented. If Black male children had been admitted to Mississippi's Gifted and/or Talented programs at the same rate as White male children, at least 7,000 more would have been in those programs.

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