The Independent Weekly reports that this Sunday in Raleigh, the NAACP will hold a forum to discuss its concerns with the new Wake County school board.
I hope the meeting’s leaders discuss the following information Sunday. It is clear that while Wake’s public system serves some families well, the policies of the past few years have not served minorities well. It is morally indefensible that so many kids are being left behind by the system.
In October, the district issued an analysis of the ultimate measure of its work – graduation rates. The results are not encouraging for diversity’s desired beneficiaries.
The four-year graduation rate for African American and Hispanic students is declining. For black students, it fell from 69.9 percent in 2006 to 63.4 percent in 2009. For Hispanics, the graduation rate dropped from 57.7 to 51.1 percent during the same time period.
Male students continue to be the academic anchor for both groups. The 2009 graduation rate for black males was 57.4 percent and a paltry 45.5 for Hispanics.
