SAT scores reveal disturbing trend

Hidden within the positive statistic showing a 5 percent rise in the number of California high school students taking the SAT in 2008 is a disturbing trend. While more white and Asian students are taking the SAT and scoring above 500 on each of the college preparatory test’s three parts, the gap in scores is widening between them and African-American and Latino students. New numbers released Tuesday by the California Department of Education show Asian students scored an average of 514 in writing, white students scored 537, while African-American students averaged 436 and Latinos 444.

The gap is pretty much the same for the critical reading subtest. In this category, black and Latino students were about 100 points or more behind their Asian and white counterparts reports the Daily News.

The gap between white and Asian students and Latino and black students in SAT scores also was evident in the dropout rate statistics released a month earlier.

Why are so many students lagging behind? Why are black and Latino students not scoring as well as white and Asian students on the SAT?

These questions must be asked in the community, in the school board room and around the dinner table.

While a student’s SAT score should not be the be-all and end-all for getting into a top university, it does matter. A lot. Lower scores could account – in part – for fewer black and Latino students attending top colleges.

The ramifications are numerous, and mostly unstudied. But the nagging achievement gap in SAT scores and the higher dropout rates for black and Latino high schoolers are numbers that parents and educators should not ignore.