African Americans Are Falling Further Behind in STEM Degrees

A new report from the U.S. Department of Education shows that the number of African Americans earning degrees in the so-called STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics increased only slightly in the 2001 to 2009 period. In 2001, blacks earned 31,341 degrees in these fields. By 2009, blacks earned 32,488 degrees in STEM disciplines. This is an increase of 3.7 percent.

During this period, there was an overall increase of 12.4 percent in the number of degrees awarded in STEM fields. In 2009, blacks earned 7.5 percent of all degrees in STEM fields. In 2001, the figures was 8.1 percent.