If you want to shutdown the school to prison pipeline, then you have to get serious about attending to the legacy of structural racism in our education system. Black students are suspended or expelled at triple the rate of their white peers, according to the U.S. Education Departments 2011-2012 Civil Rights Data Collection, a survey conducted every two years. Five percent of white students were suspended annually, compared with 16 percent of black students, according to the report. Black girls were suspended at a rate of 12 percent -- far greater than girls of other ethnicities and most categories of boys. At the same time, minority students have less access to experienced teachers. Most minority students and English language learners are stuck in schools with the most new teachers. Seven percent of black students attend schools where as many as 20 percent of teachers fail to meet license and certification requirements. And one in four school districts pay teachers in less-diverse high schools $5,000 more than teachers in schools with higher black and Latino student enrollment.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 21:45:19 +0000