"California study: Truancy data show racial divide" Associated Press September 13, 2014
SAN DIEGO — Black elementary school students in California missed more school last year than children from any other group, according to findings from a study released Friday that mirror national research from the US Education Department.
Taken together, the findings show racial disparities in US education — from access to high-level classes and experienced teachers to discipline — begin at the earliest grades.
Black elementary students in California were chronically truant at nearly four times the rate of all students during the last school year, the attorney general’s office report showed.
The report follows findings this year from the Education Department’s civil rights arm that indicated black students are more likely to be suspended from public schools — even as preschoolers.
Similar to the national findings, black students in California missed more than twice as many days of school per student due to suspensions than white students and were suspended up to three times more than white students in first and second grades, the report said.
None of the data explained disparities or why the students were suspended.
To do so could be considered, well, racist.
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