There is very good news to report on the most maligned and vilified demographic in America: black youth.
The Center for Economic Policy Research reports that black students are now completing high school at the highest rates in history.
The study, called “Young Black America Part One: High School Completion Rates are at their Highest Ever,” was published by the Washington-based think tank. The report examines Census Bureau data for 20 to 24 year-olds, and compares high school completion rates around the country over the past 30 to 40 years.
“All in all, young blacks have experienced significant gains in high school completion rates during the past 13 years,” the report reads. “Given the importance of educational attainment in determining future wages, higher completion rates should, in theory, translate to higher wages.”
In 1975, Black Americans finished high school at a 75 percent rate, compared to 88 percent for whites and the overall 86 percent rate. In 2000, blacks completed high school at a 14 percent lower rate than their white counterparts. However, by 2013, the black completion rate rose to 86 percent, its highest-ever level, shrinking the Black-White gap to less than seven percent.
“I’m a young black woman and I wanted to answer the question of what’s going on with young blacks in America,” says Cherrie Bucknor, a Center for Economic Policy Research assistant and author of the paper. “Sometimes there are too many negative portrayals and negative stereotypes on young blacks, and I like the fact this was something positive to focus on.”
The gender break down also shows a noteworthy trajectory. In addition to slightly outpacing the rate for black boys (a trend that holds for all girls, across race), the completion rate for black girls is 89 percent, only five points lower than the rate for white girls.
While the gains of black girls were more gradual, black boys have experienced a rocky road to improvement in helping close the Black-White high school completion gap.
“The completion rate for black males followed the same trajectory, but 3 to 8 percentage points lower. Although black males experienced noticeable gains in completion rates during this century (an increase of 18.1 percent since 2000), their gains were not enough to offset the gains of other groups, leaving noticeable gaps in completion rates between black males and other groups,” the report stated.
“In 2013, the completion rate for black males (83.5 percent) was 5.9 percentage points lower than black females and 8.8 percentage points lower than white males.”
Atlanta Public School Supt. Dr. Meria Carstarphen found the report “encouraging.”
“Our work in Austin, Texas during my recent tenure there – where African-American graduation rates increased to 82.1% over a period of five years – demonstrated that with the right strategies and supports African-American students can and will graduate. While there is still much to do I hope that every school system in our country sees this data as evidence that when barriers are removed for this population of students wonderful outcomes are achieved,” Carstarphen said.