The reality is this: The stats in the title of this article are
not surprising to the African American community because: - 54%
of African Americans graduate from high school, compared to more
than three quarters of white and Asian students. - Nationally,
African American male students in grades K-12 were nearly 2½
times as likely to be suspended from school in 2000 as white
students. - In 2007, nearly 6.2 million young people were high
school dropouts. Every student who does not complete high school
costs our society an estimated $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes,
and productivity. - On average, African American twelfth-grade
students read at the same level as white eighth-grade students.
- The twelfth-grade reading scores of African American males
were significantly lower than those for men and women across
every other racial and ethnic group. - Only 14% of African
American eighth graders score at or above the proficient level.
These results reveal that millions of young people cannot
understand or evaluate