COLLEGE GAP DEEPENS FOR BPS GRADS

Even as the number of Boston Public Schools graduates finishing college is on the rise, the number of male students and black and Latino students getting a degree still lags behind their female, white and Asian peers, a new report finds.

The report, released yesterday by the Boston Private Industry Council, finds more than 38 percent of BPS students for the class of 2011 had finished college within six years after high school graduation. That’s up from about 25 percent in 2000. The actual number of students graduating within that six-year window rose from 735 students for the class of 2000 to 1,304 for 2011.

The report is part of Success Boston, an initiative between the city, The Boston Foundation, BPS, the PIC, University of Massachusetts Boston, Bunker Hill Community College and 35 other area colleges, aimed at boosting the number of BPS graduates who go on to college and earn a degree.

“Education is the most effective tool we have for moving people upwards in our economy. We will continue our work in opening more doors of opportunity for young people to learn and develop the skills necessary to become part of Boston’s talented workforce,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh said in a statement.

While officials hailed the gains in college graduation over the past decade, BPS graduates continue to fall behind their national peers. Across the U.S., the six-year college completion rate of students was 61.7 percent compared to 55.2 percent for the BPS class of 2011.

The report also finds differences between gender and race. Female BPS graduates are about 11 percent more likely to go to college than male graduates.

The report also found first-year college enrollment rates for black and Latino students fell behind white and Asian students, with 64.8 percent for Hispanic/Latino graduates, 68.1 percent for black students, 78.3 percent for white graduates, and 84 percent for Asian graduates.

There is also a significant gap among white, black, Latino and Asian students when it comes to finishing college in the six years after high school, the report found. The college completion rate for Asian students is 74.4 percent. White students have a 66.2 percent completion rate. College completion rates are lower for Latino students at 43.6 percent and black students at 42.7 percent.

“As higher education institutions, we must continue to strive to meet both the academic and nonacademic needs of our black and latino students, through coaching, support systems and by removing obstacles to student success,” Pam Eddinger, president of Bunker Hill Community College, said in a statement.