Data shows inequality in public schools for minority students

Minority students face inequality in public schools across the country and in North Carolina, according to data released in March by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. 

The statistics, which were taken for the 2009-2010 school year, reveal that children who are Latino, black or of Native American heritage are more likely to be suspended and expelled and less likely to receive educational opportunities than white or Asian-American students.

The report also examined inequality at the pre-kindergartner level, and found that children as young as 4 years old were being treated differently because of their race.

Black students in North Carolina made up 41 percent of students who were held back a grade. Advanced Placement classes were comprised of only 5 percent of Latino students, according to 2009-10 estimates. 

About 78 percent of students enrolled in one AP class were white, according to the same estimates. 

Erika Wilson, an assistant professor at the UNC School of Law, said the study is reflective of a greater racial inequality in the state and in the country. 

“We’ve always known that education is a driving force in social mobility” Wilson said. “Brown vs. Board of Education acknowledged that when you deny education to African-American children — and exclusion seems to be the order of the day in public schools — these children are prevented from learning, and their life chances are certainly reduced.

Wilson said data collection is key to helping solve racial inequality. 

"North Carolina needs to take a particular effort in collecting information on the state level to see where discrimination is most severely implemented," she said. 

Dana Thompson Dorsey, an assistant professor at the UNC School of Education, said she shares the concern that students from ethnic minorities are being denied an education. 

“Students from ethnic minorities are being routinely suspended and expelled, which means they are missing out on an education, which means they might not pass the grade or graduate, and they might not get jobs," she said. "They may have nowhere to turn."

Thompson Dorsey said schools are not obliged to provide alternative education for students that are expelled, and many students who are expelled fall behind and contribute to the number of minorities who are unemployed or are in prison. 

Matt Ellinwood, a policy analyst at the North Carolina Justice Center, said the results of the report are "shocking, but not surprising." 

He said low-income students, who are often minority students, end up attending low-income schools.

“Low-income students are those who are most at risk of having little or no access to good resources or a good education, and low-income schools are disproportionately made up of ethnic minorities," he said.  "Higher-income students are overwhelmingly more likely to go to pre-school, whichdeleted comma SALE studies have suggested, have a big impact on later opportunities.”

Ellinwood said he advises school administrators to scrap or limit zero tolerance policies in favor of Positive Behavioral Intervention Support, an initiative that would tackle students’ problems before they result in antisocial behavior in schools.

“There is an emerging area of research that suggests that disciplinary measures removing students puts them behind, which makes it much harder to catch up students who can’t follow, have home problems, haven’t had enough food, then have behavioral problems," he said. "Suspensions send them a message that they don’t belong in school, which is a dangerous cycle that discourages them from pursuing higher education.”

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