Understanding The Black-White Graduation Gap In Wisconsin

Air Date:
Heard On The Morning Show
 In this photo taken by Feature Photo Service for IBM: 17-year-old Oscar Tendilla, who took just 3.5 years to complete a six-year, IBM-inspired program that confers both high school diplomas and associates degrees, graduated in a commencement exercise held by New York City College of Technology at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY on June 5, 2017. Jon Simon/Feature Photo Service for IBM

Wisconsin had the largest gap in the nation in high school graduation rates between white and black students in 2017, with black students trailing their white peers by nearly 30 percent. It’s the third year in a row that the state has had the largest black-white high school graduation gap in the country. This hour, we’ll delve into why this problem is so severe in Wisconsin. We’ll also take a look at how Chicago managed to close its racial graduation gap by more than 16 percentage points over 5 years.

Episode Credits

  • Kate Archer Kent Host
  • Colleen Leahy Producer
  • Kyla Calvert Mason Guest
  • Jenny Nagaoka Guest
  • Laura Porterfield Guest