New Jersey | The Schott 50 State Report

Inequities in Graduation Rates

Black and White male students in New Jersey graduated at higher rates in 2005/6 than the national average, that for Black male students approximating the national average for White male students. The racial achievement gap is narrower than the national average despite the extraordinary graduation rate of White male students in the state.

The Benchmark for graduation rates of Black male students for states enrolling more than 10,000 Black male students is 74% (New Jersey).

Male Students		Graduation Rate 2005/6 (est.)			Graduation Rate 2004/5
	Black Males	Black	White	Gap	Black	White	Black Change	White Change
USA	4.3mil.	47%	75%	28%	47%	74%	0%	1%
New Jersey	125,019	74%	92%	19%	71%	93%	3%	-1%

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Evidence of Inequities

NAEP Grade 4 Reading results for New Jersey are above those for the nation as a whole for both White, non-Hispanic and Black male students. Nonetheless, approximately 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

Race	Jurisdictions	Below Basic	At Basic	At Proficient	At Advanced
White	USA	26	36	29	9
	New Jersey	16	37	35	11
Black	USA	59	30	10	1
	New Jersey	49	34	15	2

At Grade 8 more than half of the state's Black male students read at less than the Basic level and one percent reach the Advanced level.

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

Race	Jurisdictions	Below Basic	At Basic	At Proficient	At Advanced
White	USA	22	46	30	2
	New Jersey	12	45	40	2
Black	USA	53	39	8	#
	New Jersey	54	35	10	1

One-quarter of New Jersey's Black male students score below the Basic level in Grade 4 Mathematics, eight times as many as the state's White, non-Hispanic male students, but a considerably lower proportion than the national average.

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

Race	Jurisdictions	Below Basic	At Basic	At Proficient	At Advanced
White	USA	9	38	44	9
	New Jersey	4	30	53	14
Black	USA	38	47	14	1
	New Jersey	24	52	21	3

By Grade 8, however, the proportion of New Jersey's Black male students scoring below the Basic level in Grade 8 Mathematics has nearly doubled and only one percent reach the Advanced level.

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

Race	Jurisdictions	Below Basic	At Basic	At Proficient	At Advanced
White	USA	18	39	33	10
	New Jersey	12	34	38	16
Black	USA	54	35	10	1
	New Jersey	46	40	13	1

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 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 New Jersey was equivalent to fifteen percent of New Jersey's Black, non-Hispanic male student population. The number of out-of-school suspensions given to White male students in New Jersey was equivalent to five 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. 222 Black male students were expelled as were 11 White male students, although there were three times as many White as Black students in the state.

Black male students were admitted to district Gifted/Talented programs at approximately a third of the rate of White male students, while nearly three times as many were classified as Mentally Retarded. If Black male children had been admitted to New Jersey's Gifted and/or Talented programs at the same rate as White male children, at least 5,000 more would have been in those programs.

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