• Statewide
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg
• Cumberland County
• Guilford County
• Wake County

Inequities in Graduation Rates

Black male students in North Carolina graduated at higher rates in 2005/6 than the national average, while White male students graduated at lower rates than those for their group. The racial achievement gap is, therefore, narrower 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 North Carolina are average for the nation as a whole for both White, non-Hispanic and Black male students. Nearly 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 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

One-third of North Carolina's Black male students score below the Basic level in Grade 4 Mathematics, five 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, fewer of North Carolina's Black male students score below the Basic level in Grade 8 Mathematics than the national average, 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 North Carolina was equivalent to twenty-six percent of North Carolina's Black, non-Hispanic male student population. The number of out-of-school suspensions given to White students in North Carolina was equivalent to ten 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. 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/Talented programs at approximately a quarter of the rate of White male students, while more than three times as many were classified as Mentally Retarded. Many more Black male children were classified by the State of North Carolina as Mentally Retarded as Gifted/Talented. If Black male children had been admitted to North Carolina's Gifted and/or Talented programs had been admitted at the same rate as White male children, at least 20,000 more would have been in those programs.

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