Three out of four black boys in California schools don’t meet reading and writing standards, according to data obtained by CALmatters from the state Department of Education.
The data shows, for example, nearly 80 percent of black boys in the fourth grade failed to meet state reading standards.
Black boys trail far behind their female counterparts in reading and writing. More than half of black boys scored in the lowest category on the English portion of the test, according to a report in the NY Daily News.
The disparity in reading and writing performance between black boys and girls is not raising alarms in California.
“I wouldn’t put this in the same category of severity or concern as other achievement gaps,” said Tom Loveless, an education researcher for the Brookings Institution “But there needs to be greater awareness of this.”
At this pace, there will be a sharp decrease in college admissions by black boys in California in the coming years.
“If boys don’t read as well as girls, and if that persists all the way through K-12, it means when you reach certain thresholds like college, it places the males at a disadvantage,” says Loveless. “The ability to read well has a lot to do with the ability to get into college and the ability to do well while you’re in college.”
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