Issues in Urban Education

Nationally,

• Fourth graders growing up in low-income communities are already three grade levels behind their peers in high-income communities.
• Only 7% of low-income 8th grade students complete a bachelor's degree within 12 years.
• About 50% of them won’t graduate from high school by the time they are 18 years old.
• By twelfth grade, African Americans are typically four years behind their more affluent peers.  These students are finishing High School with a Junior High education.
• Those who do not graduate from high school will earn approximately $17,000 annually, and those who only graduate from high school but do not attend college will earn only $20,000 annually – both below the national poverty level. 
• The resulting social chaos from a lifetime of such low earnings potential is extreme.Only 1 in 10 will graduate from college.

In Memphis,

• 97% of African-American children attend public schools.  49% of white children attend public schools.
• More than half of all children living in Memphis live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty (as defined by neighborhoods in which at least 20% of households live beneath the poverty level).
• Half of children living in high poverty neighborhoods change schools at least once per year.  Changing schools is associated with academic under-performance.
• Approximately 5,000 young men and women turn 19 every year in Memphis without a High School diploma. Shelby County residents who work without a High School diploma earn, on average, $17,000 annually.  College graduates earn $44,700 annually.

It doesn't have to be this way.  These statistics can change.