Yes We Can: The 2010 Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males

The overall high school graduation rate for black males in the U.S. is a dismal 47 percent -- but there's a success story being written in New Jersey. The state's Abbott plan demonstrates that when equitable resources are available to all students, systemic change at the state level can yield impressive results: it's the only state with a significant black male population to graduate more than 65 percent of black male students.

Check out this website, which is data portal that provides parents, educators, media, policymakers, elected officials—and anyone who cares about education and equity—direct access to important, alarming data on the devastating reality of education for Black males across all 50 states.

More on the findings: The 2010 report reveals that the overall 2007-8 graduation rate for black males in the U.S. was only 47 percent. Half of the states have graduation rates for Black male students below the national average. The report highlights concerns that New York's graduation rate for its Regents diploma is only 25 percent for Black male students. New York City, the district with the nation's highest enrollment of Black students, only graduates 28 percent of its Black male students with Regents diplomas on time. Overall, each year over 100,000 Black male students in New York City alone do not graduate from high school with their entering cohort. These statistics—and the other alarming data in this fourth biennial report— point to a national education and economic crisis.

Without targeted investments to provide the core, research-proven resources to help Black male students succeed in public education, they are being set up to fail.

... And What's Working: The report highlights the success of New Jersey’s Abbott plan, which demonstrates that when equitable resources are available to all students, systemic change at the state level can yield significant results. New Jersey is now the only state with a significant Black population with a greater than 65 percent high school graduation rate for Black male students.

By providing the public with this data, we hope to continue to spark action from advocacy and philanthropic communities to hold policymakers and school districts accountable for facilitating changes needed to provide Black male students the opportunity to learn and succeed.

For the full report, click the link below.