“Through Different Lenses: West Virginia School Staff and Students React to School Climate” is available from The Education Alliance.
African-American students attending middle or high school in West Virginia have a lower opinion of the quality of their schooling than white students, according to a survey of more than 2,931 students in the state.
Commissioned by the Charleston, W.Va.-based Education Alliance, the report found that African-American students rated their schools significantly lower than their white peers did in seven out of eight categories: academic expectations, instruction, course-taking, counseling about education options, respect, mentoring and caring relationships, and fairness. Only in the area of student relationships were black students’ and white students’ responses comparable.