Sociology

From the beginning of time, there has been a racial scoring gap in college admission test scores and other standardized tests.  The biggest gap is between white and black students.  The Scholastic Assessment Test has been revised.  In the past, the best possible score was 1600 the College Board used a 200 to 800 scoring scale for both the mathematical and verbal sections. As of 2006, the best, combined score is 2400.  They added a writing section to the test.  In spite of that addition, there is still a significant racial gap in test scores.  There is also a considerable gap in test scores based on family income.  A higher family income resulted in a higher test score.   Statistically, blacks have scored the lowest on SAT tests.  However, in 1995, Skylar Byrd made a perfect score of 1600.  At that time, she was a 15-year old junior at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School the school is 98 percent African-American (Hawkins, 2). Byrd also had a grade point average of 3.76 out of 4.0 and was planning for college (Jet, 1).  No student from the Washington, D.C. public school system has made a perfect score since the early 1970s (Jet, 1).  According to the Educational Testing Service, only twenty-five of 1.8 million test takers scored 1600 in 1994 (Jet, 1).

Beginning in 2006, students that took the SAT had to complete a writing section in addition to the verbal and math sections with a possible 2400 score on the SAT.   Some experts believed that the people who score the new writing section will be able to detect the race of the writer by the vocabulary and subject matter of the students essay (JBHE, 1).  This was obviously based on racial stereotypes.  Any intelligent student is not going to use slang or improper language in an essay.  Further, these same experts believed that the test scorer might wish to be lenient on minority students by grading on a curve.

From 2006 to 2009, SAT averages of all students declined slightly from year to year.  Last year, there was a widening gap between Asian American students and other groups.  They gained thirteen points from the previous year while American Indians gained two points other groups saw a decline in their scores.  Many of the growing number of colleges that are going SAT-optional have expressed discomfort with tests on which there are such starkand growingdifferences in averages by race and ethnicity (Jaschik, 1).  In 2009, the average SAT score for Asian Americans was 1623. For American Indians, it was 1448.   For whites, the average score was 1581.  Puerto Rican students saw the biggest change from the previous year in which the total score dropped nine points to 1345.  Still, black students had the lowest combined score of 1276.

What is the reason that black students have the lowest SAT scores  A USA TODAY report analyzed that students who complete a core curriculum with more advanced classes and prepared well for the test were among the strongest performers (Marklein, 2).   For instance, those students that are enrolled Honors courses will be better prepared.  Typically, that is only a small number of students at the school. Black males in gifted programs are oddity, more than black females.  Many schools use the Jackie Robinson approach when placing them in honors courses.  They put one of two African American students in a class of all-White students with a White teacher (Kunjufu, 78). When Black topics arise, the attention of the entire class is on that one or two African American students. Theyre expected to be spokespersons for the entire Black race.

In 2005, the average black SAT score rose seven points however, the average white score improved by nine points.  The average score for black students was 864 while the average score for white students was 1068, which is a 17 percent difference (JBHE, 2).  Some believe that family income has an impact on test scores however, blacks from families with incomes of 100,000 or more still scored eighty-five points below whites from all income levels in 2005.  They scored ten points below the average score of white students from families whose income was less than 10,000 (JBHE, 3).  So even the poorest white student scored higher than a black student from an excellent background.  In 2009, SAT scores that were based on family income only showed a gradual increase based on incomes ranging from 20,000 to over 200,000.  The scores ranged from 1321 to 1702 (Jaschik, 2).  There was a noticeable growth from the previous year.

On the other hand, some believe that there is discrimination favoring black applicants over white or Asian American applicants for medical school.  Black admittees to medical school had substantially lower MCAT scores than other groups.  The odds ratio favoring black applicants over whites was 21 to 1 in 2005 (Clegg, 2).  For example, blacks with an MCAT score of 43 and an undergraduate GPA of 3.8 have a 91 percent chance of admission compared to 73 percent of Hispanics, 33 percent of whites, and only 19 percent of Asian Americans (Clegg, 2).  The maximum score is 45.   Also, there are very few African Americans that attend medical school compared to Whites and Asian Americans.  The same holds true for law school.  Black admittees have much lower LSAT scores than other groups, but are still favored during the admissions process (Clegg, 2).

Finally, in 2010, there are still racial scoring gaps with college admission tests.  For many schools, test scores are not as relevant as grades and references.  For others, they may use test scores to diversify the incoming student body.  Biases will most likely always exist.  Some minority students with high grade point averages may not score well on an admissions test. On the other hand, there will be some with average grades that will have high test scores. It will be based on a students preparation.