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Are Black students more likely to drop out of school than students of other races?

Thursday, February 18, 2021
By Lauralei Singsank
NO

The rate at which students withdraw before graduating high school is similar across all races. In 2017, 5.5% of Black students withdrew from school. That same year, the dropout rate was 3.9% among whites, 4.4% among American Indians and Alaska Natives, 4.7% among Asians and 6.5% among Hispanic students.

Socioeconomic status has a higher correlation to dropout rates than race, according to a 2019 report from EducationData.org. Students from low-income families are 2.4 times more likely to drop out of high school than their middle-class peers and ten times more likely to drop out than students with higher socioeconomic statuses.

In 2008, former President Obama stated that children who grow up without a father in their household are nine times more likely to drop out of school, but there is no recent data to support this sentiment.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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