I learned some disturbing information today. In a report titled “Most black children grow up in neighborhoods with significant poverty” by the Education Policy Institute (link and chart) I learned that:

Among children born between 1955 and 1970, 62 percent of black children were raised in neighborhoods with at least a 20 percent poverty rate, compared with only 4 percent of white children, according to the Pew report. This gap persists even when the poorest families are excluded from the analysis. Among children from the upper three income quintiles, almost half of black children — 49% — lived in high-poverty neighborhoods, defined as those with at least a 20% poverty rate. Only one percent of white children from the upper three income quintiles lived in high-poverty neighborhoods.

Call me naive but, I’m so blown away by this last number I’m not quite sure what to say. I will say one thing though. It’s no wonder 25% African Americans are having such a difficult time graduating high school.  But, it seems at first blush, compared to the approximately 82% of European-Americans who graduate our African American students are doing an unbelievably great job under trying conditions.