Race and Academic Achievement

Average scores for high-school seniors on the National Assessment of Educational Progress standardized test were the same for multiracial students and their white peers, according to a study by The Brookings Institution. The study found that such students are more likely to be enrolled in schools with higher populations of white and Asian students, and these schools apparently improve students’ odds of academic achievement, as compared to other low-income students of color. Notwithstanding the lower incomes, the study finds, “multiracial students have the same average test scores as whites on math, science, and writing”. The study’s findings tell the story of how race, class and privilege influence educational success. But underlying that finding is the very strong likelihood that those schools are more resourced, which supports claims that the so-called achievement gap is really a resource gap. And this is a function of the institutional racism that students of color face at every turn.

Rothwell, J. (2017). Multiracial adolescents show no test score gap with whites. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/research/multi-racial-adolescents-show-no-test-score-gap-with-whites/