tional Testing Service (ETS) under contract with the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Before NAEP, no nationally representative data existed for making test-score comparisons across time for school-aged children. Relying heavily on data from NAEP, this chapter summarizes and offers tentative explanations for trends in reading and math scores among Black, Hispanic, and White children from the early 1970s through 1996. Neither American Indians and Alaska Natives nor Asians and Pacific Islanders was separately identified in NAEP during the period examined here and, therefore, neither of these groups is addressed.

Black-White and Hispanic-White achievement test-score gaps of 30 years ago were neither genetically preordained nor otherwise immutable. The headline is that progress has occurred. Average scores for all groups are higher. Racial disparity is lower. NAEP data show that the Black-White reading-score gap for 17-year-olds narrowed 45 percent since 1971. The Hispanic-White gap narrowed 27 percent since 1975—the first year Hispanics were distinguished separately. The mean gap in math scores has fallen by 33 percent for Blacks and 35 percent for Hispanics, compared with Whites. These and other numbers show that Black and Hispanic children have made important progress since the early 1970s, both absolutely and relative to Whites.¹ For Blacks especially, however, progress has been variable—at times rapid, but at other times halted or even reversed. The reasons for this variability are not clear. Changes in such areas as parenting, curriculum, teacher skill, and class size occur unevenly over time and might well be part of the story. Popular culture might be important as well

The chapter begins with a review of test-score trends for Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites. The middle of the chapter tries to explain the pattern of stops and starts in progress for teenagers, especially Black teenagers. The last third of the chapter reviews some ideas and evidence about how communities of student’s peers, parents, and teachers affect education incentives and standards differently for Black youth.

To determine trends, the content of the NAEP trend assessments has remained virtually constant since they began for reading in 1971 and for

Front Matter (R1-R30)

1. Introduction (1-20)

2. An Overview of Trends in Social and Economic Well-Being, by Race (21-39)

3. An Overview of Racial and Ethnic Demographic Trends (40-102)

4. Hispanics in a Multicultural Society: A New American Dilemma? (103-134)

5. Trends Among American Indians in the United States (135-169)

6. Political Trends and Electoral Issues of the Asian Pacific American Population (170-199)

7. Contemporary Immigration and Dynamics of Race and Ethnicity (200-242)

8. The Changing Meaning of Race (243-263)

9. Racial Attitudes and Relations at the Close of the Twentieth Century (264-301)

10. Racial Trends and Scapegoating: Bringing in a Comparative Focus (302-317)

11. Affirmative Action: Legislative History, Jhudicial Interpretations, Public Consensus (318-347)

12. Test Score Trends Along Racial Lines, 1971 to 1996: Popular Culture and Community Academic Standards (348-390)

13. Residential Segregation and Neighborhood Conditions in U.S. Metropolitan Areas (391-434)

14. Geography and Apportunity (435-468)

Appendix A: Acronyms (469-471)

Appendix B: Agenda: Research Conference on Racial Trends in the United States (472-476)

Appendix C: Biographical Sketches (477-484)

Index (485-530)