U.S. still has ‘Miles to Go’ to increase Black students’ educational opportunities

Oct. 30, 2024 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Alan Richard, arichard@southerneducation.org, (202) 641-1300

ATLANTA – Seventy years following the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, many Black students across the nation still do not have access to equitable educational opportunities in early childhood, K-12, or higher education compared with other students, a new Southern Education Foundation (SEF) report shows.

Miles To Go: The State of Education for Black Students in America, an in-depth data report, was released today by SEF, a nonpartisan organization founded in 1867. 

The report highlights data and research findings on a wide range of persistent inequities that many Black students still face today – from limited access to high-quality early childhood education to inequitable K-12 school funding, less-experienced teachers, fewer opportunities to take advanced courses, harmful school discipline practices, and lower rates of college affordability and access. 

“We still have much work to do to ensure that all students in this country — especially Black students — have access to the education they need and deserve,” said Raymond C. Pierce, the president and CEO of the foundation. “Working together, we can address the challenges outlined in this report and strengthen our nation and every community.” 

The new report revives SEF’s influential Miles To Go series of publications that stretches back decades and featured a 1998 report on Black students’ education in the South.

“This report compiles data at all levels of education to show that so-called ‘achievement gaps,’ which we focus on too often in education, are only symptoms of the real issue — that many Black students face substantial opportunity gaps, meaning they simply aren’t afforded the same learning opportunities as other students,” added Max Altman, SEF’s director of research and policy and the lead author of the report. “We owe all students an equal opportunity to succeed, and our failure to address these systemic issues in education holds all of us back.”

The new SEF report presents a wide range of federal data and research findings to examine some of the most critical issues facing Black students today, including:

• Racial segregation: The report reveals that racial segregation in K-12 schools is increasing. By one measure, school segregation has returned to levels not seen since the 1960s, the decade after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown that segregated schooling was unconstitutional.
• K-12 school funding disparities: In many states, school funding systems do not meet the needs of today’s students. School districts with the highest percentages of students of color receive about 13% less in average state funding than districts with the lowest rates of students of color. Annual per-student spending in the 17 SEF states averaged $14,416 in the 2021-2022 school year – about 16.6% less than the U.S. average of $17,280.  
• Early childhood education: Only about 4% of Black children under age 6 in the U.S. participate in high-quality state pre-K programs  – even though research shows that high-quality early childhood programs can improve student achievement and lifelong success. Another major issue is that child-care costs have soared in recent years.
• Teacher shortages and diversity: Teacher shortages across the nation are exacerbated by the relatively sparse numbers of Black educators, stemming in part from former and present inequities in teacher employment and training. Only 6.1% of U.S. teachers were Black nationwide in 2021. Research shows that having a diverse set of teachers benefits all students in many different ways.
• College affordability: Black Americans are disproportionately burdened by college-tuition debt. Four years after graduation, Black college graduates owed an average of 188% more on student loans than White students borrowed, a recent analysis found.
• College enrollment: Only about 12.5% of college students are Black. Disproportionately low numbers of Black students have the same access to Advanced Placement (AP) courses as many of their peers.
• College success: Black students complete degrees at considerably lower average rates than many of their peers.
  • For two-year degrees, Black full-time students had a two-year degree completion rate of 26.7% within three years, compared with 34.6% for all students. 
  • For four-year degrees, Black students’ had a four-year degree completion rate of 45% within six years, compared to 64% for all students.  
• School discipline: Black students face punitive school discipline at much higher rates than other students – despite research that clearly shows Black students’ behaviors are not worse than their peers. 
  • More than one in three Black male students in grades 6-12 in 2019 had been suspended from school at some point.
  • Nationwide, Black children in pre-K were suspended or expelled at about three times higher than the rate for Black students in grades K-12. In fact, Black students accounted for 43.3% of pre-K suspensions while only representing 18.2% of states’ pre-K enrollment in 2017-2018 (the latest year available) but.
  • In the South, 13 of 17 states had higher out-of-school suspension rates for Black students than the national average in the same year. South Carolina suspended 18.3% of Black students that year – or more than one in six Black students.
  • Black students were expelled from school nationwide at more than three times the rate of Hispanic and White students the same year.  
  • Black girls were expelled at more than five times the rate of White girls and more than 3.5 times the rate of Hispanic females.
  • Black girls were suspended at nearly three times the rate of White girls and 3.5 times the rate of Hispanic girls in 2017-18. More Black girls were suspended than White girls – 322,000 compared with 192,000 – even though nearly three times as many White girls (24.3%) were enrolled as Black girls (8.9%) in 2017-18. 
• Students’ academic performance: Black students’ average test scores in reading and math are significantly lower than those of other students. Black students’ academic outcomes, however, are only symptoms of the opportunity gaps detailed in the report.

To access the full report, click here. For interviews or additional information, contact SEF Communications.

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The Southern Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supported by partners and donors committed to advancing equitable education policies and practices that elevate learning for students from low-income families and students of color in the southern states. We develop and disseminate research-based solutions for policymakers and grow the capacity of education leaders and influencers to create systemic change.