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October 15, 2008, 08:39 PM ET
The Achievement Gap Is Growing
No Child Left Behind passed into law in 2001 with bipartisan support, but not because folks on the Left suddenly became enamored of standards and testing, and not because folks on the Right suddenly found their trust in the U.S. Department of Education. It passed because of its emphasis on the racial achievement gap, the gaping differences between white/Asian students and black/Hispanic students.
Since then, not much evidence of gap closure has emerged at the most important level, 12th-graders, and a recent report from the American Council on Education finds a worse pattern in higher ed. The full report isn’t out yet, but the press release from last week lists several troubling findings.
The report compared educational attainment for two age groups, 25-to-29-year-olds and people 30 and up.
One, among Asians and whites, the younger group proved to have more education (measured by actual degrees earned) than the older group, a sign to ACE of educational advancement progressing with each generation. Older whites came up with 37 percent having at least an associate degree, younger ones with 41 percent. Older Asians rated 54 percent, younger ones 66 percent.
Two, among blacks, education attainment rates were the same for both age groups (24 percent with at least an associate degree), while among Hispanics attainment rates differed, with the older group at 18 percent and the younger at 16 percent. This is the most worrisome trend, the ACE reports.
Other key findings:
— African-Americans age 18 to 24 have remained at a 76-percent high-school completion rate for 20 years, while Hispanics had improved that rate from 59 percent to 68 percent.
— College enrollment by African-Americans rose 46 percent between 1995 and 2005, while enrollment by Hispanics rose 66 percent.
— Minorities represent 17 percent of higher-ed administrators, 16 percent of full-time faculty, and 13 percent of college presidents.
Plus a remarkable gender difference: Since the mid-90s, the number of Asian men getting Ph.D.‘s dropped by 10 percent, while the number of Asian women jumped fully 74 percent.
(Image incorporates photo by Flickr user Jason Rogers)
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