The numbers were worse for black and Hispanic boys. Only 4 percent obtained a degree.
Today, more CPS students are getting college degrees – 14 percent — but the results are still unequal across race and gender, according to a new study by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago Schools Research. The difference is most stark when comparing the outcomes of boys of color: While the rate of degree attainment remains in the single digits for black boys, at 6 percent, the rate nearly tripled among Hispanic boys to 11 percent.
“These young black men have been failed by their parents, their communities, their teachers, their elected officials,” says Phillip Jackson, executive director of the Black Star Project, a Chicago group that seeks to eliminate the racial academic achievement gap. “We can’t hold the colleges responsible without holding the high schools and the elementary schools and the entire community responsible.”
The Consortium’s report does not address why the rate of degree attainment grew at such different levels between different demographics groups. But senior research analyst Kaleen Healey says there are two key pieces to consider when looking at whether you’ll graduate from college: your high school GPA and the college you attend. Black students tend to have lower GPAs, which affects the type of college they have access to – often those with lower overall graduation rates, she said.
Across racial groups, females continue to have higher degree attainment rates than their male counterparts. And Hispanic girls have now surpassed black girls.