Factors Accounting for the Test Score Gap Between Anglos and Minorities

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A clear and persistent gap in test scores at all levels of education has existed between Anglos and minorities which have puzzled researchers for decades. While not all individuals of a minority group score less than all Anglos, a member of a racial minority group is still more likely to have lower test scores. Being that minority racial groups – African Americans and Hispanics – are growing relative to the aggregate American population demographics, it’s imperative for researchers studying the field of student achievement to identify this problem, discover the factors which lead to it, and use their research to bring about reform to help close the test score gap between these racial groups. The issue is of central importance for society since numerous societal institutions besides educational institutions rank individuals by their test scores to demonstrate competency, and there exists a limited number of openings for employment. Thus, there exists competition to secure minimum test scores to be granted access to these jobs and institutions. If certain racial groups are, on average, scoring lower, than this will mean members of these racial groups will be underrepresented in societal institutions. Only via reducing the test score gaps between Anglo and minority racial groups can there exist equitable representation.

Greater representation for racial minorities in society often means more social and economic opportunities available like poverty reduction, neighborhood improvements, and greater racial equality. Reducing or eliminating the test score gap for racial minorities while they are still students can help prevent the disenfranchisement and economic inequality seen presently in minority neighborhoods. The test gap dilemma...

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...ss Toward Equity?Educational Researcher January 2002 31: 3-12, doi:10.3102/0013189X031001003

4) Rothman, Robert. "Closing the Achievement Gap: How Schools Are Making It Happen." Journal of the Annenberg Challenge. 5.2 (2002): Print.

5) The Black-White Test Scope Gap: Why It Persists and What Can Be Done

Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips

The Brookings Review

Vol. 16, No. 2 (Spring, 1998), pp. 24-27

(article consists of 4 pages)

Published by: The Brookings Institution

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20080778

6) Warikoo, Natasha, and Prudence Carter. "Do Catholic High Schools Improve Minority Student Achievement?." American Educational Research Journal. 79.1 (2009): 366-394. Print.

7) Zeith, Timothy. "Do Catholic High Schools Improve Minority Student Achievement?." American Educational Research Journal. 22.3 (1985): 337-349. Print.

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