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7 Findings From the State of Black America Report That Prove the Black Community Still Has a Long Way to Go

Posted byBy Taylor Gordon | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Charter School Movement Grows As Obama Voices Plans To Expand System

Education Equality Is Actually Declining

Many people were finally convinced that the Black community wasn’t making swift or substantial progress, but the State of Black America report reveals that in some ways the community is being pushed several steps back. When it comes to education, there has been a decline in equality caused from insufficient funding for predominantly Black school districts and inexperienced teachers. The equality index for education in the Black community decreased from 76.7 percent last year to 76.1 percent.

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Black Students Lagging Behind White Classmates in Reading and Math

This is the unfortunate result of inequality in education. When seasoned teachers are only available to children in wealthy districts with predominantly white residents while predominantly Black school districts are plagued with budget cuts and school closings, Black students are left struggling academically. The report revealed that in many major cities, Black students were already far behind their white peers in math and reading proficiency by the fourth grade. In many cases, the gap widened exponentially by the eighth grade.

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