• Statewide
• Kansas City
• St. Louis

Inequities in Graduation Rates

Black and White male students in Missouri graduated at higher rates in 2005/6 than the national average. The racial achievement gap is slightly 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 Missouri are below those for the nation as a whole for both White, non-Hispanic and Black male students. 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 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 Missouri'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, almost two-thirds of Missouri'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 Missouri was equivalent to nineteen percent of Missouri's Black, non-Hispanic male student population. The number of out-of-school suspensions given to White male students in Missouri was equivalent to six 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. More than three times as many Black male students in proportion to enrollment were expelled as were White male students.

Black male students were admitted to district Gifted and/or Talented programs at less than half 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 Missouri as Mentally Retarded than as Gifted/Talented. If Black male children had been admitted to Missouri's Gifted and/or Talented program at the same rate as White male children, at least 2,000 more would have been in those programs.

Proportionate to their share in the student population, nearly six 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 Black male students.