Colleges already know how to close gaps in the graduation rates of black and white students, but too few have been willing to take the steps needed to do it, according to a report being released today by Education Sector, a Washington-based research group.
The reportâ??based heavily on the graduation-rate data that the Education Department collects from collegesâ??says that, nationally, the six-year graduation rate of black students at four-year colleges is about 20 percentage points lower than the graduation rate for white students. But the report identifies several institutions whose black students are at least as likely as their white peers to earn degrees in a timely manner and says that research on those colleges suggests that nothing is preventing other institutions from duplicating their success.