African-American elementary students in California were chronically truant at nearly four times the rate of all students during the last school year, according to a state report released Friday, that said poverty and suspensions were contributing factors.
The report by the California attorney general's office is the first time the data has been broken down according to race and income levels. Officials say such data is needed to address the problem.
It comes as new research from the U.S. Education Department's civil rights arm earlier this year has found racial disparities in American education, from access to high-level classes and experienced teachers to discipline, begin at the earliest grades.
Black students are more likely to be suspended from U.S. public schools -- even as tiny preschoolers, according to the March report by the Education Department's civil rights arm.
[For more of this story, written by Julie Watson, go to http://www.mercurynews.com/fam...ican-american-pupils]
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