Institutional Racism

Study (ECLS-K) and the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88), LoGerfo,
Nichols, and Reardon (2006) claim that black students score 5.49 points lower than
white students and Hispanic students score 4.83 points lower than white students on
reading tests. These differences in initial status are compounded by differences in
reading gains made during high school. Specifically, between ninth and tenth grades,
white students gain slightly more than black students and Hispanic students, but white
students gain less than Asian students. Between tenth and twelfth grades, white
students gain at a slightly faster rate than black students, but white students gain at a
slower rate than Hispanic students and Asian students.
In eighth grade, white students also have an initial advantage over black and Hispanic
students in math tests. However, Asian students have an initial 2.71 point advantage
over white students and keep pace with white students throughout high school.
Between eighth and tenth grade, black students and Hispanic students make slower
gains in math than white students, and black students fall farthest behind. Asian
students gain 2.71 points more than white students between eight and tenth grade.
Some of these differences in gains persist later in high school. For example, between
tenth and twelfth grades, white students gain more than black students, and Asian
students gain more than white students. There are no significant differences in math
gains between white students and Hispanic students. By the end of high school, gaps
between groups increase slightly. Specifically, the initial 9-point advantage of white
students over black students increases by about a point, and the initial advantage of
Asian students over white students also increases by about a point. Essentially, by the
end of high school, Asian students are beginning to learn intermediate-level math
concepts, whereas black and Hispanic students are far behind, learning fractions and
decimals, which are math concepts that the white and Asian students learned in the
eighth grade. Black and Hispanic students end twelfth grade with scores 11 and 7
points behind those of white students, while the male-female difference in math scores
is only around 2 points.
Standardized Test Scores
The racial group differences across admissions tests, such as
the SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, MCAT, LSAT, Advanced
Placement
Program examinations and other measures of educational achievement, have been
fairly consistent. Since the 1960s, the population of students taking these assessments
has become increasingly diverse. Consequently, the examination of ethnic score
differences have been more rigorous. Specifically, the largest gaps exist between white
and African American students. On average, they score about .82 to 1.18 standard
deviations lower than white students in composite test scores. Following closely behind
is the gap between white and Hispanic students. Asian American students overall
performance were higher than those of White students except Asian American students
performed one quarter standard deviation unit lower on the SAT verbal section, and
about one half a standard deviation unit higher in the GRE Quantitative test. However,
in the new current version of the SAT, Asian-American students
of Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese, Indian and Han Chinese descent have scored higher
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