By the way, something to consider is that the achievement gap diminishes during the summer, which means that schools are actually increasing the achievement gap. Tweaking the tests won't fix this - it's institutional racism, which is typically not intentional or even understood by those who run schools and develop education policy.

Here are 10 more things wrong with tandardized tests:

http://daisybrain.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/ten-reason-to-actively-oppose-standardized-state-tests-in-schools/

I accidentally deleted a letter there. "tandardized" isn't very standardized of me, is it?

I apologize for the long posts (and so many) but it seems that I'm taking on a whole board here and some of these lies or misconceptions need clear explanations that require more than one or two sentences.

About the disproportionate amount of black welfare recipients, did you miss this part?

"Social Security, which is another form of welfare, although it is often mistaken for an individual insurance program, then whites are the ones who are crowding the trough. We receive almost twice as much per capita, for an aggregate advantage to our race of $10 billion a year -- much more than the $3.9 billion advantage African Americans gain from their disproportionate share of welfare."

The percentage of American college students who are minorities has been increasing. In 1976, 15 percent were minorities, compared with 32 percent in 2007. Much of the change from 1976 to 2007 can be attributed to rising numbers of Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander students. During that time period, the percentage of Asian or Pacific Islander students rose from 2 percent to 7 percent and the Hispanic percentage rose from 4 percent to 11 percent. The percentage of Black students was 9 percent at the beginning of the time period and it fluctuated during the early part of the period before rising to 13 percent in 2007. Nonresident aliens for whom race/ethnicity is not reported made up 3 percent of the total enrollment in 2007. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=98

So what's the myth about black people not valuing education or going to college?

Again look at the numbers, the actual data, it doesn't lie.

John, my little friend, cut your losses and move on. Champion some other cause. Maybe gay marriage. Or supporting the Mosque at Ground Zero.

You're going up against Mother Nature here. She will grind you and your gerrymandered statistics to dust. Forget the nejhro. He is an anthropoligically insignificant artifact.

The coming tidal wave of asian and meztizo immigrants will not only supplant, they will effectively reduce the numbers of the black race in America to a fraction of what it is now.

If you don't believe me, just look out your window.

Would you consider yourself a racist?

And the Oscar for "White Person With The Most Liberal White Guilt" goes to ....

John L!! John L!!

"When they see large numbers of members of their culture driving luxury vehicles and living in nice homes due to their education then they'll aspire to also own those things and emulate these role models' path to success."

This statement clearly demonstrates some of the problem. Success should NOT be measured by how much crap one can buy. I have a Master's Degree and can't afford any of those things, yet still consider myself successful. I work in a field that makes huge strides towards improving the environment and quality of life of those far less fortunate than me (despite the fact that I'll probably never own a huge house or ostentatious car). I'm grateful for the opportunity to work in an area that I feel is so important and therefore consider myself successful.

Similarly, I have a friend who is a "specialized" teacher in the P.S. system. She too has a Master's Degree and works with kids who are severely disabled, often because of their mothers' drug abuse while they were in the womb. She drives a 12-year-old falling apart car with dents all over, yet most of the paraprofessionals (i.e. those who make less than her) at her school live in the projects yet drive brand new EXPENSIVE vehicles. When you'd rather have an expensive vehicle than raise your kids outside of gang-infested projects, you've got a serious problem on your hands. Granted, I don't know the race of the people she's talking about, and it doesn't really matter, but the point is that valuing material crap before education won't get you very far in life, regardless of skin color.

Finally, can we all agree to stop using the term "minority" in this thread. Statistically speaking (and, let's face it, "minority" is a statistical term), Asians are minorities, even more so than blacks and Hispanics in NYC. Many of you are using the term incorrectly. If you mean black and/or Hispanic, just say it.

quit the bullshit"it's racism"theme already,it's getting very old.that theory is a crutch used by the africans to drive testing to the point that even a monkey could pass most of these tests.blame whitey,blame the chinese,blame the government.i feel for the africans who try and raise a family in the african neighborhoods,they truly have it the hardest.just trying to keep your kids from getting shot,getting pregnant,getting addicted to drugs and then going to school and "told you ain't keeping it real"because you want to be a good student.it ain't whitey and it ain't the chinese whose keeping the african down.

Absolutely correct. It seems that no matter how much in the way of welfare, free health services, free section 8 housing, free food stamps, affirmative action jobs, scholarships, grants, or anything that White people give to Black people will EVER be enough. And god forbid you are a right person who opposes the dispossession of your own race or the slow diminishing of the political clout of your race - That would be racist! And as the true bigots like John L tell us, any White person who dares stand up for his or her rights is racist and deserves violent retaliation by Blacks.

Funny how "racism" is supposedly the explanation yet Asians do as well as Whites in virtually all aspects of society. White people must only be racist to Hispanics and Blacks! Odd given that Hispanics look no more different than White people than Asians do. So if it truly was a matter of "skin color" then wouldn't it stand to reason that Asians and Hispanics would be equally the victims of "racism" and get equal results?

Of course the racist excuse is BS and is becoming more and more clear to everyone with half a brain as each day passes.

Damn I gave you too much credit.

I told you already, I'm not interested in your opinions. All the statistics I stated above are cold hard facts. That's not what I "think" because opinions are irrelevant.

Men lie, women lie, but numbers don't.

Excuses, excuses.

Does it occur to anyone that the same "model minority" that excels in school is the same one that speaks English as a SECOND language and gets it's ass kicked in the school yard? Talk about having it rough.

These cries of "poor miserable victimized minority-you" by misguided bleeding heart liberals are NOT going to help a student graduate, grow into a productive member of society -- nevermind get into college. It's a flat-out disservice to the kids who need to do better. The liberal is NOT the friend of the student that wants to do better.

Stop making excuses for those who deliberately squander their opportunities and their children's opportunities. The more you make excuses for this demographic, the more you insult them and hobble them. If you're always favoring an ankle, making excuses for it, giving it less weight-bearing load, it's only going to get weaker; it's called atrophy -- use it or loose it. Think about the corollary: does ANYONE in their right mind say: let's lower the standards of the game, handicap the big guys, so we can let the players, who never bother with training, on the gridiron?

My brothers and I were the first full generation in our family to all go to college. We weren't born here. We had to learn the language. We had to learn the culture. We wore the most UN-COOL clothes because that's all our parents could afford. We three brothers shared ONE present every Christmas growing up. But we were NEVER short on books and school supplies. We were the "CHINKs" every white, black, hispanic kid made fun of for all 12 grades. We got picked on in the halls, picked last on the ball field. You name the racist act; we got plenty of it. But we got into college. We got decent paying jobs... well sorta, most of the time.

Not that I recommend this, but my parents whipped the shit out of me for getting one "C" on my report card. Far from perfect parenting, but for them, our family name & pride was at stake in their estimation-- "what do you think the neighbors think?!" Education, free or not, racist or not, equally distributed or not, was the most highly valued duty, achievement and asset in our house.

I was ALWAYS told: the teacher IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Find me a parent who's saying that to their child these days.

The funds for researching this "gap" is a wasted. It isn't complicated. And it isn't about race. A race doesn't do the worst because of its race. A race, or any group, does the worst on tests, because their home/life values put EVERY FUCKING THING ELSE AHEAD OF EDUCATION. A group does the best on test because their home/life values put EDUCATION AHEAD of everything else -- meaning money went to books and extra classes instead of bling, iPods, iPhones, smartphones, vintage Nikes, brand new hip clothes every month, etc.

I'm sure there are other ways (I hated getting the shit whipped out of me for those "C"s), but my parents' hard-ass way was one way to make sure we GOT an education, and became moderately responsible productive members of society.

I hear you, everything you said makes perfect sense. You're obviously an intelligent person so please bear with me. See it all works great until the part about "We got decent paying jobs" that's when the comparisons break down. Please look up at my Hierarchy of Discrimination list. You'll notice that Asians aren't at the top but they're far from the bottom. Then look up at the statistics of black college graduates unemployed and the ratio to white college graduates unemployed. This isn't a myth, it's a fact.

Now John what if after doing so well in school and borrowing tons of money to go to college you couldn't find a job because of your skin color? What if someone else, possibly even less qualified than you, got the job because of they're higher on the hierarchy list, over and over again? How many generations of this systematic racism do you think it would take before the whole culture would say "fuck it, what's the point? They're not going to hire me anyway" and starts to question the value of an education as a form of escaping their economic situation? What if even a white convicted felon had an easier time finding a job than a black law abiding citizen? Asians do not suffer this type of discrimination in this country and, again, if you can prove to me that they do please show me the data, show me a study, I'm not interested in sob stories or opinions, show me statistics.

And let's be fair there's a lot of hard working recent immigrants both black and hispanic that come here with the same values and work ethic and they push their kids to getting an education. But then reality hits and they find themselves with a piece of paper that still doesn't overcome the fact that their skin is black.

I'm not totally letting blacks or hispanics off the hook because obviously they need to do better but the reality is that due to racism it is MUCH harder for them to succeed even when they get an education.

You know when the hispanics and blacks opinion on education will change when racism is no longer a barrier and they see people of their culture or race succeeding due to their education. When they see large numbers of members of their culture driving luxury vehicles and living in nice homes due to their education then they'll aspire to also own those things and emulate these role models' path to success but right now since the only ones they see doing this are rappers, drug dealers and ball players that's what they see as their path to success.

I hope these don't come off as excuses, because there is no excuse just reasons. Unfortunately this won't cease anytime soon because until minorities are no longer oppressed they'll continue to rebel and go against the system and as long as minorities do this then racism will persist which leads to more oppression.

It's just a downward spiral of ignorance on both sides.

Sorry, John. This didn't post as a reply the first time around, so let's try again.

"When they see large numbers of members of their culture driving luxury vehicles and living in nice homes due to their education then they'll aspire to also own those things and emulate these role models' path to success."

This statement clearly demonstrates some of the problem. Success should NOT be measured by how much crap one can buy. I have a Master's Degree and can't afford any of those things, yet still consider myself successful. I work in a field that makes huge strides towards improving the environment and quality of life of those far less fortunate than me (despite the fact that I'll probably never own a huge house or ostentatious car). I'm grateful for the opportunity to work in an area that I feel is so important and therefore consider myself successful.

Similarly, I have a friend who is a "specialized" teacher in the P.S. system. She too has a Master's Degree and works with kids who are severely disabled, often because of their mothers' drug abuse while they were in the womb. She drives a 12-year-old falling apart car with dents all over, yet most of the paraprofessionals (i.e. those who make less than her) at her school live in the projects yet drive brand new EXPENSIVE vehicles. When you'd rather have an expensive vehicle than raise your kids outside of gang-infested projects, you've got a serious problem on your hands. Granted, I don't know the race of the people she's talking about, and it doesn't really matter, but the point is that valuing material crap before education won't get you very far in life, regardless of skin color.

Finally, can we all agree to stop using the term "minority" in this thread. Statistically speaking (and, let's face it, "minority" is a statistical term), Asians are minorities, even more so than blacks and Hispanics in NYC. Many of you are using the term incorrectly. If you mean black and/or Hispanic, just say it.

There are physical and psychological/intellectual differences between races. I get that this is a taboo subject but to think otherwise is to ignore clear evidence from the world we live in.

Why are fastest american runners almost always african american? And distance running is dominated by kenyans/etheopians? Why is the NBA and NFL dominated by AA - with almost no asians?

If you watched the world cup, did you wonder why the French team was 50% minority? Do you think this is representative of the population of France?

Why are math/science PhDs overwhelmingly male? And majority Asian?

Of course there are exceptions, and sociological and cultural issues play a part - but the when you look at general data clear patterns emerge. Unfortunately, one of those patterns reflects a racial heirarchy in school performance: Asian, White, Hispanic, Black.

Why is it that so many Asians and Hispanics have immigrant parents who barely speak English, or are immigrants themselves, and yet they do better in school than black students, most of whom were born in the U.S.? Shouldn't being native speakers of the language without the disruption of immigration give black students an advantage over Hispanic and Asian immigrants?

Because youth who grow up in immigrant households, esp. Asians, tend to have a stronger sense of work ethic (for better or for worse, sometimes against their own interest)

People who are born and raised here (even some of the multi-generational Asian-American families) tend to have a loftier sense of entitlement and prospects of their futures. Also, they're more ingrained into American culture and media. Since when did you see your favorite pop star promoting extracurriculars or calculus?

Also, I remember growing up with a girl whose parents immigrated straight from Lagos. Really hard working family. Their parents spoke terrible English and spoke to their kids in Yoruba, so she was essentially fluent, and English was her second language. She went on to graduate in the top 10% of her class and later went to Brown. So it's not exclusive to any particular ethnic group, but it is partially dependent upon how you are raised.

I'm sure one can find exceptions everywhere. The metric in this article, however, is in the general populace (i.e., taking each race as a whole and seeing how well the race does -- as a whole -- in certain standardized test).

I would be more ready to approach socio-economic background rather than ethnic background when it comes to preparedness for these standardized tests. Again, there exist exceptions even in socio-economic brackets. My main point is, it's not so much ethnicity as it is taught values. They can be correlated, though.