Vast Majority of Hispanic and Black Students Can't Perform at High School Levels, But Are Graduated Anyway

By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner at Wirepoints: [Doug here: see my important comments below]

It’s shameful. Chicago Public School officials want to celebrate a record graduation rate when much of the other data shows they are failing Chicago’s children.

Only 26 percent of CPS 11th-graders can read and do math at grade level, according to the latest Illinois Report Card data, and yet last week the district proudly announced that 84 percent of students graduated from CPS in 2021 – a new record high. 

First of all, color us skeptical about that record high rate. Everyone knows that the city’s children were underserved by remote learning – the failures were reported ad nauseum by the press. Announcing record graduation rates is a way for district officials to sweep those failures under the rug.

But there’s a more fundamental problem: the graduation rate distracts from the fact that CPS officials are pushing out poorly educated children. 

Only 26 percent of Chicago 11th-graders are proficient in English Language Arts and only 27 percent proficient in math according to 2019 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) data.

Nearly 83 percent of students in CPS are either black or Hispanic, and, unfortunately, they have the lowest scores.

Just 14 percent of black 11th-graders are proficient in English Language Arts and just 13 percent are proficient in math. Hispanics aren’t much better, with just 25 proficient in reading and 27 percent proficient in math.

Pushing students through the system under “social promotion” only sets up thousands of children for failure every year.

“Social promotion” starts early at CPS. Just 30 percent of black children can read at grade level in the third grade, and just 37 percent of Hispanics can. Nevertheless, those students are sent on to the next grade year after year.

And when they do finally graduate, about 60 percent of students that attend community college end up having to take remedial courses.

CPS is in deep trouble, as we’ve documented recently, with more than 100,000 kids having left the district since 2000. And that’s despite a doubling in per student funding. CPS’ operating spending has risen from $8,000 to $18,000 per student since 2000, a 121 percent increase in per student spending and more than double the 50 percent increase in inflation.

There are plenty of reasons for inner city families to leave Chicago. The homicides, the ever-increasing cost-of-living, the lack of opportunity – we talked about all of those issues and more in our recent podcast with South Sider Devin Jones. And poor education is high on the list, for sure.

Unsurprisingly, the farce continues. District officials now say they want to hit a 90 percent graduation rate by 2024.

[Notes from Doug: 

• The vast majority of Black and Hispanic kids can't do high school senior-level work nationwide. The national dropout rates for both groups are >50% even though many states require kids to "attend" high school until 18 (link) years old. The ones that remain until the 12th grade, only 10 to 15% (blacks) can perform proficiently in math and reading, but many are graduated and a surprising number of these kids go to "college" by accepting Government student loans.
• See my post: Race Realism: Teaching Black Kids (at high school) is Nearly Impossible
  
• The students that can't do 12th grade work but still graduate often accept Gov't student loan debt and go on to "college" for remedial courses.(colleges are cashing-in baby!) Other ones that don't graduate often go into the military (or drug dealing).
  
• Colleges and the military are now giant government welfare wards for kids that have no other options.  Very little of the government student loans to minorities will be repaid.
  
• Because our economy has been disastrously de-industrialized by the past 5 or 6 administrations BY GLOBALIZATION (to raise corporate profits), there are very few options for employment FOR EVERYONE in our country, thus the giant welfare functions of the military and now "colleges."
• There used to be a path to Black colleges that would accept black kids that at least "attended" high schools.  In fact, before 1964 and de-segregation, most black kids attended neighborhood (black)  high schools and then many went to Black Colleges. That was a great thing and everyone was happy. 
• Now, because of the "equality" narrative, the happy path is largely disrupted by DEMOCRAPS and the Supreme Court (due to "separate but unequal").  But not everyone or every group is academically equal. The "Supremes", the Leftists, Liberals and now Blacks could not/cannot accept this obvious truth and the entire society is being disrupted as a consequence.  Suddenly, all white people are racist because blacks can't do high school level work.  But it's always been that way and probably will be for 100s of years.
• Grading scandals and Test Score cheating scandals are very common in school districts with large minority populations. There is great pressure to keep up the appearance of "equality" but it doesn't really exist.  People are trying hard to hide it, but it's just the way it is. 
  
• Vocational High Schools to teach trades and other job skills are an obvious need. They used to be more widely available.  I suspect that they don't exist now because they would have too many brown and black faces that would reveal basic racial inequality of intellectual ability and WE CAN'T HAVE THAT! So kids and the nation suffer instead.  We can't even talk about it.
  
• The Democrat's Hart Celler Immigration law passed in 1965 has INTENTIONALLY caused US demographics to shift dramatically to brown and black immigrants taking the US population from about 85% white to 58% today(and dropping rapidly).  This has been an intentional effort to create a more "compliant" and less-skilled workforce. IT IS IN PLACE SO THAT DEMOCRAPS CAN BUY THE VOTES OF THIS LOWER INTELLIGENCE POPULATION---AND IT'S WORKED.  No one, including Republicans, have the balls to fix this.  It's also the reason no one fixes our unchecked illegal immigration at our Southern Border.  It's part of a larger plan to DUMB DOWN our population with people more likely to vote "Democrat."  What's good for our nation is not the concern of Washington DC.  Only (false) narratives reign supreme.]
• Damn the Democrats to Hell.
• Fuck Joe Biden