29 Nebraskans Per Day Drop Out;

Minorities Fare Poorly Here

 

            If the national publication, Education Week, is to be believed, then minority graduation rates in Nebraska are worse than the national average, and 29 students per day drop out of Nebraska's high schools, a report is projecting.

 

Two groups provoke major concerns: the high-school graduation rate for black males in Nebraska has fallen to 36.1%, and for female American Indians, it's an incredible 21%. That means if you're an African-American boy in Nebraska, you have only about a one-in-three chance of graduating from high school with a diploma, and if you're a Native American girl, it's only a one-in-five chance.

 

            Ed Week used data from the National Center for Education Statistics (http://nces.ed.gov/ccd) in 2005 to come up with the data. Its   (study) discloses that Nebraska's graduation rate is sixth in the nation. The Cornhusker State's graduation rate for whites is 84.4%, compared to a 77.6% average nationwide. But Nebraska's graduation rates of American Indians, Hispanics and blacks fall short of national averages, which in themselves are pretty poor:

 

            Nebraska Hispanics: 55% graduation rate

            National Hispanics: 57.8%

 

            Nebraska blacks: 42.4%

            National blacks: 55.3%

 

            Nebraska American Indians: 28.9%

            National American Indians: 50.6%

 

            The five states with higher graduation rates than Nebraska (79.6%) are New Jersey (83.3%), Iowa (82.8%), Wisconsin (880.5%), Pennsylvania (80.4%) and Vermont (80.2%).

 

See the Nebraska information on:

http://www.edweek.org/media/ew/dc/2008/40sgb.ne.h27.pdf

 

6/9/08