On average African-American and Hispanic students in high school can read and do arithmetic at only the average level of whites in junior high school

New York Times:

When President George W. Bush signed his sweeping education law a year into his presidency, it set 2014 as the deadline by which schools were to close the test-score gaps that have persisted between non-Asian minority students and non-Hispanic whites since standardized testing began.

Now, as Congress prepares to consider reauthorizing the law next year, researchers in half a dozen recent studies, including three issued last week, are reporting little progress toward that goal. Despite concerted efforts by educators, the test-score gaps are so large that, on average, African-American and Hispanic students in high school can read and do arithmetic at only the average level of whites in junior high school.

"The gaps between African-Americans and whites are showing very few signs of closing," Michael T. Nettles, a senior vice president at the Educational Testing Service, said in a paper he presented recently at Columbia University. One ethnic minority - Asians - continues generally to fare as well as or better than whites.

The reports and their authors, in interviews, portrayed an educational landscape in which test-score gaps between whites and black or Hispanic students appear in kindergarten and worsen through 12 years of public education.

Some researchers based their conclusions on federal test results, while others have cited state exams, the SAT and other widely administered standardized assessments. Still, the studies have all concurred: The achievement gaps remain, perplexing and persistent.

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