A new report from the U.S. Department of Education tracks the educational progress of students who were sophomores in high school in the year 2002 through the year 2012

The data shows that 19.8% of the African American high school sophomore in 2002 had gone on to earn at least a bachelor’s degree over the next decade. This is less than half the rate for whites. Nearly 40% of white high school sophomores in 2002 had earned a bachelor’s degree by 2012. The results showed that another 7.5% of black sophomores in 2002 had earned an associate’s degree, but no higher degree, as had 9.1% of white high school sophomores in 2002. Nearly 5% of black high school sophomores in 2002 never completed high school compared to 1.8% of whites.