New Report Update Finds Progress Toward Equity for California’s Black Students Alarmingly Slow

For Immediate Release
April 22, 2022

Contact:
Mariel Matze, [email protected] , 650-380-1973

The Education Trust–West Revisits Signature Black Minds Matter Report

Oakland, Calif – Today, The Education Trust—West (Ed Trust—West) released an update to their signature 2015 report Black Minds Matter, revisiting how well California early learning programs, K-12 school districts, and higher education systems are serving Black students and families. Unfortunately, it finds that despite progress in supporting Black students in recent years, the pace of progress is alarmingly slow.

“A state as resource-rich as California cannot claim to lead the nation in progressive values, yet produce data this dismal about how it supports its Black students. That was true in 2015, and it’s sadly still true in 2022,” said Ed Trust–West executive director Dr. Christopher J. Nellum. “When we have so many research-based strategies for supporting Black students’ success at hand, neither state nor local leaders have any excuse for failing to invest in and implement what we know works.”

Key Report Findings:

• Only 16% of Black four-year-olds are enrolled in transitional kindergarten.
• Half of all schools in California do not employ a Black teacher—leaving 78,000 Black students without a single educator in the school building who shares their racial background.
• On recent state assessments, only 2 out of every 10 Black students were at grade level in math.
• Because nearly half of school districts don’t require students to complete A-G courses to graduate, and some high schools don’t even offer a full A-G course sequence, only 43% of Black students are eligible to attend California public universities when they graduate high school.
• Dual enrollment courses (college classes offered to high schoolers) are a powerful college access tool, yet few community colleges enroll a representative number of Black students.
• Almost one in three Black 12th graders (29%) in California did not submit a financial aid application, according to the most recent available data.
• Black student graduation rates at California Community Colleges, the California State Universities, and the University of California are all below average.

More recently, Ed Trust–West released Momentum: A Policy Agenda for Accelerating Racial Equity in California’s Education Systems in 2022, which summarizes bold statewide policy changes that would accelerate educational equity and support Black students and families.

More recently, Ed Trust–West released Momentum: A Policy Agenda for Accelerating Racial Equity in California’s Education Systems in 2022, which summarizes bold statewide policy changes that would accelerate educational equity and support Black students and families.