CHARLOTTE -- It didn't take the release of the Schott Foundation's report on the dismal fate of black males in public education to know there is a huge problem in U.S. public schools. I've been digging deeper into recently released N.C. test and graduation data, and the problem is evident here - though it wasn't talked about.
This didn't get talked about, either: White males are having performance and graduation problems, too. It was pronounced nationally and can be seen in pockets across North Carolina as well.
Clearly, though, the big problem is with black males.
The Schott report shows, in its words, that "the American educational system is systemically failing black males." The data make a compelling case.
Based on statistics for 2007-08 from 50 states and the District of Columbia, the report showed the high school graduation rate of black males at just 47 percent. Worse, in Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida, the rate didn't even reach 40 percent; New York's rate was just 25 percent. North Carolina's rate that year was 46 percent.
White males didn't do that much better, with graduation rates in Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida ranging from 57 percent to 59 percent. In Cleveland, 27 percent of black males graduated; just 30 percent of white males did. In Detroit, 27 percent of black males graduated, but just 19 percent of white males did.
Some of those trends are visible in N.C. statistics for 2009-2010, although there has been progress. In Hertford County, for example, just 44 percent of white males graduated; 64 percent of black males did. In mostly white Swain County schools, the white male graduation rate was 58 percent.
Statewide, the graduation rate for black males was 59.6 percent, and for white males it was 76.5 percent. In many N.C. districts, barely half the black male high school students managed to graduate in four years. Several don't manage that.
In Buncombe and New Hanover counties, just 45.6 percent of black males graduated in 2009-2010. In Whiteville, 48 percent graduated. In Pitt County, 42 percent graduated.
Neither Wake County nor Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools - the state's two largest districts - do very well in graduating black males, either. Just 53.4 percent of black males graduated from CMS in 2009-2010, and just 56.4 in Wake. That was 1,196 of 2,240 in CMS and 870 of 1,544 in Wake.
The black male graduation rate is particularly discouraging at some otherwise academically elite CMS schools. At Myers Park High, for instance, the black male graduation rate was an abysmal 41.6 percent. That's lower than at mostly black West Charlotte High, whose black male graduation rate was 46.3 percent. It's also lower than West Mecklenburg's 45.5 percent. Wake County fared better with all schools having black male graduation rates above 50 percent.
Fixing the graduation problem is daunting. But some places are well on the way to doing so. The Schott Foundation report took note of the Newark, N.J., school district, where the black male graduation rate was 76 percent. In states with a black enrollment exceeding 100,000, New Jersey topped the list for black male graduation rates (69 percent). No other state came close to that figure.
Guilford County Schools (in Greensboro.) made the Schott report's top 10 for black male graduation rates. I'm not surprised. Guilford put in place focused strategies to boost its graduation rates. The overall rate was 80.7 percent for 2009-2010. The black male rate was 69 percent.
What can bring success? The Schott Foundation lists several conditions found in successful districts. Among them: equitable resources and high-quality teachers to support students in mastering rigorous content; high-quality preschool to get at-risk students off to a good start; programs targeting needs attributable to poverty including intensive early literacy, small class size, after-school and summer programs plus social and health services.
Officials at the Schott Foundation say data show that black males do well in good schools that provide necessary resources and supports.
We know what happens when many of these students fail. They get involved in crime and drugs. They populate our homeless shelters and wind up on public assistance. They cost all of us. It's to our collective benefit to see to it that they get what they need to succeed.
Fannie Flono is a Charlotte Observer associate editor and columnist.
