This is what the data shows us for K-12.
- 67% of California Black children do not read or write at grade level.
- 86% of Black students are not at grade level in science.
- 31% of Black students have completed their A-G requirements, (necessary for admission to a California State college or university) as opposed to 49% of White students and 70% of Asian students.
- 77% of Black students graduate high school, in contrast to 88% of White students and 93% of Asian students.
In higher education, the Lumina Foundation in their State of Higher Education series examined Black Californians in higher education. Lumina stated, “California’s higher education institutions play a critical role for social and economic mobility for Black residents. In The State of Higher Education for Black Californians, published in February 2021, we found that Black students in California have made substantial gains worth celebrating. These gains include significant increases in access to college-level coursework in high schools, rising numbers of Black students taking and passing transfer-level coursework in their first year at a community college, and major growth in associate and bachelor’s degrees awarded to Black Californians. While a growing number of Black Californians have a college education, however, stark gaps continue to persist. For example, 36 percent of Black men ages 25-64 have a college degree compared to 56 percent of white men. Forty-one percent of Black women have a college degree compared to 59 percent of white women, a gap of 18 percentage points. In addition, a third of all Black men and women have some college but no degree.”