The U.S. Department of Education recently released a 180-page report presenting data on educational attainment of people in various racial and ethnic groups in the nation. The report contains data on African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, American Indians and other ethnic groups.

Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups 2017, reported that the makeup of school children in the United States in the 21st century is becoming more Hispanic, more Asian, less black and less white. The report says that that between 2000 and 2016, the percentage of U.S. children ages 5–17 who were White decreased from 62 percent to 52 percent and the percentage who were black decreased from 15 to 14 percent. In contrast, the percentage of school-age children from other racial/ethnic groups increased: Hispanics, from 16 to 25 percent; Asians, from 3 to 5 percent; and children of Two or more races, from 2 to 4 percent.

The report also found that in 2014, the percentage of children under age 18 living in poverty based on the official poverty measure was highest for Black children (37 percent), followed by Hispanic children (31 percent), and White and Asian children (12 percent each)

The report has detailed tables on enrollments, educational achievement, retention, student behavior, degree attainments, and outcomes of education. Some of the key points from the section on post-secondary education related to African-American students are:
* The gender enrollment gap for Black students in higher education is wider than for any other racial or ethnic group.
* Some 85 percent of all Black students in U.S. higher education received some type of financial aid grant. This was the highest percentage of any racial or ethnic group.
* About 72 percent of Black students took out a student loan, again the highest rate among any racial or ethnic group.
* The percentage of African American students who entered college in 2008 and had earned a bachelor’s degree with in six years, was the lowest among all racial and ethnic groups.
* In 2014, the median annual earnings of Blacks with at least a bachelor’s degree was lower than the median annual earnings of similarly educated people from all other racial and ethnic groups.