Land Conservation Measures May Be Widening the Racial Wealth Gap
A new study by researchers at the University of Rhode Island and the University of Illinois finds that protecting open space from development increases the value of surrounding homes. But a disproportionate amount of that newly generated wealth goes to high-income White households.
Brookings Institution Study Examines the High School Graduation Rate Gap by Race and Gender
In some states, the on-time high school graduation rates for specific sub-groups are quite low. In Michigan, for example, only 61 percent of Black boys graduate high school on time, compared to 75 percent of Black girls, 81 percent of White boys, and 87 percent of White girls.
Special Education Teacher Shortage Has Huge Impact on Black Students
A new study finds that special education is the No. 1 teacher shortage area in 48 states. At the same time, a growing number of students of color have been identified as having a disability.
The Racial Disparity in Incarceration Rates Has Declined but Remains Large
In 2020, Black adults were imprisoned at 4.9 times the rate of White adults, down from 8.2 times in 2000. Much of the decline was due to a reduction in prison time for drug-related offenses. However, in 2020, Black individuals comprised approximately 13 percent of U.S. residents but accounted for 56 percent of homicide victims and 39 percent of those arrested for homicide.
New Study May Help Reduce the Vast Racial Disparity in Prostate Cancer
Black men are more than twice as likely as other men to die from prostate cancer. A new study led by researchers at the University of Southern California identified nine new genetic risk factors for prostate cancer, seven of which are found either largely or exclusively in men of African ancestry. This new information can help patients understand their cancer risk and decide how early and often to get screened.
Black Scholars Are Underrepresented Among “Super Principal Investigators” on NIH Grants
Super principal investigators have three or more concurrent grants from the National Institutes of Health. In 2020, just 1 percent of all Black principal investigators were super principal investigators. For Whites, 4.1 percent of all principal investigators were super principal investigators.
Blacks Are Making Progress in Leadership Positions at Athletic Powerhouse Universities
But the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida notes that Blacks are only 9.9. percent of the head football coaches at the 131 colleges and universities that make up the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. African Americans made up 49 percent of the football players at these schools.
New Center at the University of Pennsylvania to Address Racial Gap in Maternal Health
Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women in the United States, which has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed country and the problem is getting worse.
African Americans Making Progress in STEM Fields, But a Large Racial Gap Remains
A National Science Foundation report finds that blacks were 14 percent of the U.S. population between the ages of 18 and 34 in 2020. They earned 10 percent of the associate's degrees awarded in science and engineering fields, 9 percent of the bachelor's degrees, 11 percent of the master's degrees, and just 7 percent of the doctoral degrees.
The Generational Damage From the Unequal Incarceration Rates of African Americans
Overall, 40 percent of American adults have ever had immediate family incarcerated, 34 percent have ever had extended family incarcerated, and more than half of adults have ever had any family incarcerated. For Blacks, 60 percent of adults have experienced an immediate family member’s incarceration, 53 percent have experienced extended family incarceration, and 74 percent have experienced either of those events.
Addressing the Very Low Numbers of African Americans Earning Doctorates in Geography
A study by researchers at Michigan State University found that between 1997 and 2019, 4,918 doctoral degrees were awarded by U.S. universities in the discipline of geography. Only 86 of these doctorates, or 1.64 percent, were awarded to African Americans. The differential awarding of degrees was related to the differential funding by race to support the completion of doctoral degrees in the field.
Harvard-Led Study Finds Racial Disparities in Opioid Relief for Dying Cancer Patients
In a study of 318,549 Medicare patients over the age of 65, researchers found that Black patients were 4.3 percentage points less likely to receive any opioid and 3.2 percentage points less likely to receive long-acting opioids near the end of life than White patients. Researchers also found that when Black patients received opioids, they tended to receive lower doses.
New Study Documents the Racial Gap in Student Loan Debt of Medical Residents
A new study led by Louisa W. Holaday, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, finds that nearly 90 percent of all Black medical residents had accumulated debt from their medical training. A majority of Black residents (59.9 percent) had debt from premedical education loans.
Black-Owned Businesses Are Still a Small Fraction of the American Economy
In 2020, there were 140,918 U.S. Black- or African American-owned businesses across all sectors of the economy. They had annual sales of $141.1 billion and employed 1.3 million people. Thus, Black-owned businesses accounted for only 2.4 percent of all firms in the nation with paid employees. They employed just 1 percent of all employees.
The Black Percentage of School Principals Has Declined in Recent Years
Overall, during the 2020-21 school year, 78.4 percent of school principals were non-Hispanic White and 9.5 percent were Black or African American. In the 2017-18 school year, Blacks were 11 percent of all school principals.
The Rate of Workplace Fatalities for Black Americans Reaches an All-Time High
In 2021, 653 African Americans died from work-related injuries. This was up 20.7 percent from 2020. African Americans made up 12.6 percent of all work-related fatalities due to injury. This was the highest percentage recorded since statistics on workplace fatalities have been collected.
A Severe Lack of Teacher Diversity in the Nation’s K-12 Schools
A new report from the U.S. Department of Education finds that 80 percent of the nation's K-12 teachers are White, while only 45 percent of the students in these schools are White. African Americans are 6.1 percent of all teachers in public schools but 15 percent of all students.
How the COVID-19 Pandemic Impacted the Racial Gap in Unemployment
In 2020, when the pandemic struck, 19.4 percent of the Black civilian workforce (those who were employed or seeking work) experienced unemployment at some point during the year. More than 4.2 million Black workers were unemployed at some point during the year.
The Significant Racial Gap in Marriage Rates in the United States
In 2021, nearly 54 percent of the White population over the age of 15 was married compared to 31.2 percent of the Black population. Only 27.5 percent of the White population had never been married compared to half of the Black population.
Legislation Aims to Boost Racial Diversity in the Management of Higher Education Endowments
Women- and minority-owned asset management firms currently control only 1.4 percent of the over $82 trillion in managed assets in the United States compared to the 98.6 percent of assets controlled by firms owned by White men.
Racial Differences in the Age of Doctoral Degree Recipients in the United States
On average, Whites who earned doctorates in 2021 were 31.4 years old when they received their doctoral degrees. For African Americans, the average age was 36.6. Some 24.7 percent of all Blacks who earned doctorates in 2021 were over the age of 45. For Whites earning doctorates in 2021, only 8.7 percent were over the age of 45.
The Very Wide Racial Gap in College Graduation Rates
New data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that nearly 68 percent of all White students entering four-year colleges seeking a bachelor's degree in 2015 had graduated within six years. But only 45.7 percent of Black students had earned a bachelor's degree within six years. The racial gap was even larger at price, not-for-profit colleges and universities.
The Persisting Racial Gap in Scores on the SAT College Entrance Examination
The results showed that only 19 percent of African American test takers met the college and career readiness benchmark for both reading and mathematics, the lowest level of any racial or ethnic group. Some 53 percent of Whites met the readiness benchmarks in both reading and mathematics. Some 54 percent of all Black test takers did not meet the minimum benchmark in either reading or mathematics. For Whites, the figure was 21 percent.
Scores on the ACT College Entrance Examination Drop and Large Racial Gap Persists
For the fifth year in a row, the average score for African American students dropped. The most striking statistic is that only 5 percent of all Black test takers were rated ready for college-level courses in all four areas of English, mathematics, science, and reading. Whites were nearly six times as likely as Blacks to be prepared for college-level work in all four areas.
How Introductory STEM Courses Weed Out Blacks and Other Underrepresented Students
Researchers found the association between low performance in an introductory STEM class and failure to obtain a STEM degree is stronger for Black and other underrepresented minority students than for other students, even after controlling for academic preparation in high school and intent to obtain a STEM degree.
The Persistent Black-White Poverty Gap Hinders African American Access to Higher Education
In 2021, 18.1 percent of all Black families were living in poverty. For non-Hispanic White families, only 5.7 percent were living below the poverty threshold. The Black-White family poverty rate gap where African American families are about three times as likely to be poor as White families, has remained virtually unchanged for more than a half century.
Study Finds Little Progress for African Americans in Academic Radiology
In academic radiology in 2019, Blacks were 3 percent of the assistant professors and 2 percent of the associate professors and full professors. The proportion of Black or African American department chairs was 5 percent in 2019. These percentages have not changed significantly since 2010.
Racial Differences in Attrition Rates at Medical Schools in the United States
The study found that students who were from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, and also from a low-income family who lived in an underresourced neighborhood had a dropout rate that was nearly four times the rate of White students who were not from a low-income family and did not live in an underresourced neighborhood.
Why Is The College Board No Longer Releasing Racial Data on Advancement Placement Test...
In years past, JBHE has published reports on the racial gap in participation in the Advanced Placement program of The College Board. Now, The College Board has decided to withhold data from the public on the racial breakdown of AP test scores.
Student and Faculty Diversity Reduces the Black-White College Graduation Rate Gap
A study led by Nicholas A. Bowman, Mary Louise Petersen Chair in Higher Education at the University of Iowa, finds that college graduation gaps between Black and White students tend to shrink when there are more students of color or faculty of color on campus.
Study Finds Higher Levels of Black Maternal Mortality Due to Effects of Racism ad...
The data revealed a much greater disparity between women of color and White women than had been determined in other studies. The authors found that maternal mortality rates for Black women in their early 20s are consistent with those of White women in their mid-30s or older.
New Report Shows Diversity Efforts in High-Tech in Academia and the Workforce Have Stalled
Despite comprising 15 percent of the K-12 student population, Blacks make up just 6 percent of students taking advanced placement computer science courses. In 2020, only 8 percent of bachelor's degrees conferred in computer science were earned by Black graduates, a decrease since 2016.
The Growing Racial Wealth Gap and Its Impact on Higher Education
If we exclude home equity, the median net worth of non-Hispanic White households in 2019 was $79,010. For Blacks, the median net worth - excluding home equity - was $3,630. Thus, Whites had nearly 22 times as much wealth as Blacks when we exclude the value of homes. Four year earlier, Whites held only a 12-to-1 advantage.
Grading the Schools With the Largest Athletic Programs on Their Diversity in Leadership Posts
The latest report on the status of women and racial and ethnic minorities in leadership positions at the 130 educational institutions in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the NCCA has been released by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida. These are generally the schools with the nation's largest athletic programs.
How the COVID-19 Pandemic Influenced College Enrollment Rates
A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center finds that college enrollment rates for 2020 high schools graduates have fallen significantly, especially for students from schools with a large percentage of students from low-income or underrepresented groups.
Comparing the Black Population to the Number of Black Doctors by State
Blacks are 10 percent or more of all practicing physicians in the District of Columbia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Maryland. Georgia fares far better than most southern states. Blacks make up 31 percent of the population and 16.3 percent of the doctors.
