THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 6, 1996 TAG: 9609060554
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 80 lines
Young adult African Americans who are now in their late 20s graduated from high school at the same rates as whites, an unprecedented change that educators say could herald greater black economic success and equality.
The Census finding, released Thursday, was the first to show equal graduation rates between the two races.
``It's really highly significant,'' said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of the nation's largest 50 urban school districts.
``There has not been a time when there was not a gap in graduation rates of whites and blacks,'' he said. ``It's not an indication that all gaps have been eliminated and the mountain has been scaled, but it's an extremely positive indicator that the effort of a lot of schools that have been focusing on dropout prevention has been bearing fruit.''
Between 1985 and 1995, the Census Bureau reported, the proportion of high school graduates among blacks aged 25 to 29 jumped 6 percentage points - from 81 percent to 87 percent - and caught up with the rate for whites in the same age group. The white graduation rate was also 87 percent in 1985.
``It gives us an idea of where we are going in the future,'' said Jennifer Day, the demographer who wrote the report.
She noted that the change is all the more remarkable, given that ``educational attainment is a very hard number to move.''
Despite the news, some educators expressed concern that academic requirements for employment were still rising faster than education was spreading. Also, recent reports on high school students' academic performance might indicate black and white graduates have not performed equally well.
To high school officials around the country, the statistics were a welcome indication that programs they have adopted are working.
``It used to be that some youngsters would skip out of class and go hang out at the 7-11,'' said Henry Fraind, associate superintendent of Dade County Public Schools in Miami.
But strict truancy laws and attendance programs have changed that in his city, he said. ``When kids are being watched, they'll usually do the right thing,'' he said.
Mark Robertson, a principal at Franklin High School in Seattle, credited alternative programs that appeal to more students.
``There are simply more opportunities in education now than there have been in the past,'' he said.
And, he said, high school students are getting the message from the changing economy.
``Without an education, the opportunity to work is just not there like it used to be,'' he said. ``A high school education is the baseline to being gainfully employed. The parameters have shifted up.''
By focusing on the young adult age group, the bureau wanted to provide a glimpse of what America might look like in the future, as these adults will eventually take over the economic marketplace.
The gains made in African-American high school graduations mirror the historical gains made by women: There is no difference in rates of high school education at all ages between the sexes, and young adults of both sexes have substantially the same rates of college graduation - 25 percent.
Since college students are drawn from the pool of high school graduates, the rise in black high school graduations may signal the start of an eventual shift in college graduations as well.
``We are going to increase our numbers,'' said Janice L. Nicholson, who handles admissions at Howard University, a historically black institution in Washington. ``And with more people graduating, there is some increase in the competition and the standard improves as well.''
The biggest concern among educators is whether the trend will continue. One factor may dampen the celebration: The National Assessment of Educational Progress, which measures student proficiency at 9, 13 and 17 years of age in reading, writing, math and science, and is a predictor of high school graduation rates and future academic progress, is not optimistic about the future.
``The white-black achievement gap narrowed in the '70s and the '80s,'' said Nabeel Alsalam, a statistician at the National Center for Education Statistics, ``but has not narrowed further in the '90s.''
Jane Hannaway, who directs educational research at Washington's Urban Institute, added, ``The question is, 10 years from now, is this a trend that will keep going?''
KEYWORDS: HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION STATISTICS by CNB