The Council of the Great City Schools released a fascinating report on the achievement gap between white and black kids. According to the New York Times,
Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.
Poverty alone does not seem to explain the differences: poor white boys do just as well as African-American boys who do not live in poverty, measured by whether they qualify for subsidized school lunches.
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Although the outlines of the problem and many specifics have been previously reported, the group hopes that including so much of what it calls ?jaw-dropping data? in one place will spark a new sense of national urgency.
?What this clearly shows is that black males who are not eligible for free and reduced-price lunch are doing no better than white males who are poor,? said Michael Casserly, executive director of the council.
