Report
Love is the Foundation for Life: Schott Report on Black Males in Public Education
The Schott Foundation for Public Education’s new report, Love is the Foundation for Life: Schott Report on Black Males in Public Education, outlines the systemic opportunities and institutional barriers Black male students face and offers cross-sector recommendations for building the supports needed to improve education and life outcomes. The research findings were produced in partnership with the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools.
The report highlights several key findings impacting Black males in public education:
- Between 2012 and 2020, Black students experienced the highest graduation rate improvement of all groups, cutting the racial gap between graduating Black and white students nearly in half and increasing the nation’s overall graduation rate by 4%.
- Following the pandemic in 2021, Black life expectancy declined by four years (six years lower than whites), largely driven by the decline in the Black male life expectancy by five years, which represented the largest decline of any race or gender subgroup.
- High school graduation is a key factor in positively impacting life expectancy. Improvements in K-12 and higher education levels contribute nearly 10 months to the average life expectancy in a county for each standard increase in educational achievement.
- While there was an overall improvement in graduation rates for Black male students across all 15 districts analyzed, only one district, Mobile County, AL (88%), had a graduation rate above the national average (86%).
- Among the 15 districts analyzed, Detroit, MI (54%), Philadelphia, PA (59%), Baltimore City, MD (65%), Minneapolis, MN (65%), and Oakland Unified (71%) had the five lowest four-year graduation rates for Black males.
See all findings and recommendations in the full report:
