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years, precipitated substantially by the minimal resources which have tradi-
tionally been committed to schools with predominately minority populations.

Black educational levels in the city have tended to lag ten years behind those
of the total population. In 1960, the median years of education for Blacks
was 9.1 years, the same median experienced by the entire population in 1950.
And, in 1970, the median years of school completed by all Blacks, 10.4 years,
matched the 1960 figure for the total population.

Results of the city-wide standardized testing program during 1976-77 showed that
a larger proportion of Milwaukee Public School children scored in the "below
average" category than did a comparable national sample of students. Further,
minority students were more likely to have lower test scores than non-minorities.
Fifteen out of the twenty schools with the lowest ranks on the mathematics test
of the Metropolitan Achievement Test had enrollments with over 90% minority
students.⁴ In addition, high school test scores in math and reading for the
1975-76 school year revealed that five of the six high schools scoring well be-
low the national average were schools with predominately Black populations.

The Milwaukee Public School data which is available from the past several years
also shows that Black students are disproportionately affected by problems which
are obstacles to learning--truancy, suspensions, and dropping out.

Truancy is a serious educational problem. During the 1976-77 school year, six
of the seven schools with average absenteeism over 25 percent were mostly Black.⁵
Frequent absence from school obviously limits the educational experiences of
these students.

In addition, Black students are more frequently suspended from school for dis-
ciplinary reasons. In 1976-77, Black students represented just under a third
of the student enrollment but they received 57.0 percent of the suspensions.⁶
Desegregating school systems, such as Milwaukee's, often experience an increasing
suspension rate among minority students. Suspensions of Black students in
desegregated secondary schools did increase during Milwaukee's first year of
the desegregation process.⁷

Students who drop out of school are frequently inadequately prepared to be a
part of the labor force they are entering. Over 1,800 students dropped out of
the Milwaukee Public Schools in 1976-77.⁸ While available data does not allow
the determination of the racial composition of these students, four of the five
schools with the highest drop out rates were predominately Black.⁹

Housing
Young Black families who have migrated to the City of Milwaukee over the past
twenty-five years came in search of improved living conditions. One of the
most fundamental of these living conditions is decent, safe, and affordable
housing. While housing conditions in Milwaukee undoubtedly represented a
substantial improvement for many rural Blacks, the data indicates that Blacks
in the city have not achieved housing conditions which are equal to those of
non-Blacks.