PHILADELPHIA – A report by the Penn Graduate School of Education Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education says that most of the schools in the NCAA's six major sports conferences have weak graduation rates for their African-American male student-athletes by almost any measure.
Data from the four-year study of athletes from the schools that comprise the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12, and SEC show that on average, 50.2 percent of African-American male student-athletes graduated within six years and that 96.1 percent of the schools graduated African-American male student-athletes at rates lower than student-athletes overall.
Northwestern of the Big Ten led the way with a graduation rate of 83 percent for its African-American male student-athletes, well above the average undergraduate rate for all schools studied, regardless of race: 72.8 percent. Notre Dame ranked second (81 percent), followed by Villanova and Penn State (78 percent each).
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