WASHINGTON – High school graduation rates in the United States are at their highest since 1974, according to a recent U.S. Department of Education report, but Black students graduated at a rate below other ethnic groups.
Of the 4 million public school students who entered 9th grade in the 2006-2007 school year, 78.2 percent, or 3.1 million, received high school diplomas in the 2009-2010 school year, an increase of more than two percentage points.
The report also detailed the achievement rates by states. Among U.S. jurisdictions, Nevada and the District of Columbia were the lowest, with rates of 57.8 percent and 59.9 percent, respectively. At the high end, Wisconsin and Vermont had graduation rates of 91.1 percent and 91.4 percent, respectively.
“The new NCES report is good news after three decades of stagnation,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement. “It’s encouraging that the on-time graduation rate is up substantially from four years earlier. And it’s promising that high school graduation rates are up for all ethnic groups in 2010 – especially for Hispanics, whose graduation rate has jumped almost 10 points since 2006.”
Among racial/ethnic groups, Asian/Pacific Islander students had the highest graduation rate at 93.5 percent. The rates for other groups were 83.0 percent for White students, 71.4 percent for Hispanic students, 69.1 percent for American Indian/Alaska Native students, and 66.1 percent for Black students.
“Our high school dropout rate is still unsustainably high for a knowledge-based economy and still unacceptably high in our African-American, Latino, and Native-American communities,” Duncan said.
Across the United States, more than 500,000 students who were supposed to graduate in the 2009–2010 academic year dropped out, a rate of 3.4 percent. That figure represents a decline from 4.1 percent in the 2008-2009 period.
Asian/Pacific Islander and White students had the lowest dropout rates, at 1.9 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. In increasing order, the dropout rate for Hispanic students was 5.0 percent; for Black students, 5.5 percent; and for American Indian/Alaska Native students, 6.7 percent.
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By Zenitha Prince
Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspaper
HOW COULD THAT BE WHEN AMERICA HAVE A BLACK PRESIDENT. INSTEAD OF OBAMA DEALING WITH THE BROKEN EDUCATION SYSTEM, ECONOMY AND JOBS, HE HAVE WASTED 4 YEARS WITH OBAMACARE, GUNS AND A BUNCH OF ILLEGAL CRIMINAL MEXICAN ALIENS.
It seems Annie you should have stayed in school, instead of criticizing Obama for attempting to assist you in forming a paragraph.
On a second note: explain to me how during those years, if “the lowest dropout rates were at 1.9 percent and 2.3 percent for some and, the dropout rate for Hispanic students was 5.0 percent; for Black students, 5.5 percent; and for American Indian/Alaska Native students, 6.7 percent.”
But: “Among racial/ethnic groups, Asian/Pacific Islander students had the
highest graduation rate at 93.5 percent. The rates for other groups were
83.0 percent for White students, 71.4 percent for Hispanic students,
69.1 percent for American Indian/Alaska Native students, and 66.1
percent for Black students”.
The numbers just don’t seem to add up!! At least not to me.
Yes Annie. Perhaps you SHOULD have stayed in school. What you call Obamacare is actually the first ever attempt to rein in the out of control for profit health insurance industry. Maybe you should read, (or have it read), it so you know what it actually is. As to the economy, well lets see, corporate profits are at an all time high, the stock market has fully rebounded, while the housing market has not, it is only because it was inflated to ridiculous levels and has now balanced itself to where it really should be. Jobs? Ummm..the President doesn’t create jobs. You know the job creators that the right wing loves to talk about? Yeah, we have been paying their extortion for years in the form of obscenely large tax breaks and subsidies with the promise of, “just give us more and we’ll bring back the jobs”. At this time, I call bullshit! The fact is, they can make a higher profit margin sending the jobs overseas and with the right spin, they don’t even lose any business because of idiots addicted to Fox News. All they had to do was tell you that it’s Obama’s fault for being unfair to us, trying to take more money from us, etc. And you still go buy their products with your welfare check! The ones wasting time have been the republicans in Congress. They have introduced bills on “traditional marriage”, families, “religious freedom”, abortion, and guns, but not ONE single bill that would help create jobs. NOT ONE! They have, however, worked very diligently to erase unions and the right to collectively bargain by convincing, once again, idiots, the the phrase “right to work” is somehow a good thing. You know, the unions that fought for 40 hour work weeks, fair pay, child labor laws, safe work conditions and benefits. Yeah, those unions. It truly is people like yourself that have the political discourse of this country down to about a third grade level. Thanks for that!