Ethnic Gap Widens in SAT College Exam Scores : Education: Results raise alarms that schools are failing to prepare nonwhites. The good news is that more minorities are taking the entrance tests.

The gap in performance on college entrance exams between whites and ethnic groups widened this year, alarming education advocates who said American schools are failing to provide minority high school students with enough rigorous courses to prepare them for college.

Much of the disparity, however, resulted from sharp increases in the number of Latinos and African Americans taking the tests, the College Board reported Tuesday.

Nationally, math scores on the SAT college entrance exam sank one point from 1998’s 27-year high of 512. The verbal score remained mired at 505 for the fourth straight year.

Overall SAT scores for white students rose one point over 1998, while overall scores for the largest ethnic groups stayed the same or declined.

African Americans scored 422 on math, down four points from 1998, and 434 on verbal, the same as last year. Mexican Americans had a score of 456 on math, also down four points, and 453 on verbal, the same as in 1998.

In California, the average math score dropped two points to 514, three points above the national average. That decline ended a four-year streak of improvement.

On the verbal portion, California students’ average score stayed at 497 for the second year. That result was eight points below the national average in both years.

This latest round of scores was released as minority students in California wage legal battles on two fronts over what they contend are unequal opportunities in higher education.

Last February, eight black, Latino and Filipino American students sued UC Berkeley, accusing the University of California’s flagship campus of discriminatory policies that kept them from being admitted in 1998. That suit contended that Berkeley’s admissions officers assign too much weight to the SAT achievement tests.

In July, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit on behalf of four Inglewood High School students, alleging that the scarcity of advanced placement classes in inner-city schools deprives tens of thousands of African American and Latino high school students of access to the best public universities. Success in AP classes offers extra grade points and thus can improve a student’s chances of being accepted at a prestigious college.

The complaints reflect the agitation surrounding the recent ban on affirmative action, a policy that helped many minority students gain entry to the state’s elite universities over nearly three decades.

With affirmative action programs threatened or in tatters throughout the nation, college administrators are seeking ways to identify and recruit talented minority students that will withstand legal challenges.

SAT scores are a closely watched measure of student achievement because they are required by 90% of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities. Through the years, they have reflected sweeping social and demographic changes.

The standard for the SAT scores was set in 1941, based on the results of 10,000 college-bound students, almost all of whom came from privileged backgrounds. Of more than 1.22 million students in the Class of 1999 who took the test nationally, one-third were minority students, up from 25% a decade ago. The number of Mexican American and other Latinos taking the test has soared by more than 70% since 1989, the College Board said.

“The primary reason for [the gap in scores] is the phenomenal growth in the number of students from those groups taking the tests,” said Gretchen Rigol, an official with the College Board, the nonprofit New York-based group that sponsors the college entrance exam. “That is actually the good news behind that bad news.”

Gaston Caperton, the College Board’s new president and a former governor of West Virginia, posed the question that has long been asked by critics of the SAT.

“Is the SAT biased?” he asked at a Washington news conference. “It is a measure of students’ readiness for college. It describes what currently exists.”

What unfortunately exists, he added, is a system of schools nationwide in which some have far more resources--better teachers, more high-level academic courses, more funding--than others.

He vowed that his group will do its part to go beyond mere test administration and soon offer new initiatives to help students connect with colleges.

Among planned programs he mentioned are a new SAT online learning center, where students would get tips on how to answer questions, and online discussions with experts on how to interpret scores.

“We want to make sure [students and parents] see the SAT as a gateway, not a gate, to the future,” he said.

But far too often, critics say, minority students stumble over the SAT.

As a high-stakes measure, said Eugene Garcia, dean of the Graduate School of Education at Berkeley, the SAT “is disproportionately putting some students at risk for not meeting the measure.” Minority students, particularly Latinos, are disadvantaged, he said, because their schools have “less high levels of instruction and fewer AP classes.”

In 1997, Garcia proposed dropping SAT scores as a criterion for UC admissions. That proposal was rejected, but many campuses, including Berkeley and UCLA, are relying less on the SAT in selecting their students.

His research shows that neither SAT scores nor grade point average predicts well whether a student at UC Berkeley will graduate.

“I’d say they’re not a good predictor at an elite university like Berkeley, so they’re probably even less so at other UC schools,” he said.

Delaine Eastin, the state superintendent of public instruction, applauded California’s results while noting that much progress needs to be made.

“The good news is that more California students than ever before are taking these tests, which means that more of our students are preparing themselves for college,” she said.

California’s demographics stand in stark contrast to those of the rest of the nation, she noted. Nine percent of California’s test-takers had parents who did not receive high school diplomas, compared with 4% nationally. Fifty-seven percent are minority students, contrasted with 33% nationally.

Nationwide, 8% indicated that they spoke another language before they learned English; in California, it was 19%.

In the Los Angeles Unified School District, where more than three-quarters of students are African American or Latino, the average verbal score stayed the same at 433 (72 points below the national average). The district’s math score dropped by five points to 447.

Eastin expressed concern that girls’ scores continued to lag those of boys in California. And she was dismayed that, whereas 51% of SAT takers nationwide have completed 20 or more academic courses, in California the percentage was 37%, the same as last year. In California, the average test taker completed 18.3 courses of study in six academic areas, compared with 19.4 nationally.

“Students who take more courses clearly do better on the exam,” she said.

Groves reported from Los Angeles and Cooper from Washington.

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Difference in a Decade

Average SAT scores nationwide for racial and ethnic groups in 1989 and this year.

Verbal

American Indian / Alaska Native

1989: 462

1999: 484

Asian / Pacific Islander

1989: 483

1999: 498

Black

1989: 428

1999: 434

Latino*

1989: 466

1999: 463

Mexican American

1989: 459

1999: 453

Puerto Rican

1989: 437

1999: 455

White

1989: 523

1999: 527

Math

American Indian / Alaska Native

1989: 461

1999: 481

Asian / Pacific Islander

1989: 545

1999: 560

Black

1989: 421

1999: 422

Latino*

1989: 466

1999: 464

Mexican American

1989: 462

1999: 456

Puerto Rican

1989: 438

1999: 448

White

1989: 515

1999: 528

* Other than Mexican American and Puerto Rican

Source: The College Board

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Score Disparity

How California average SAT scores compare to national averages:

Average Math Score

National: 511 (512 in 1998)

California: 514 (516 in 1998)

Average Verbal Score

National: 505 (for fourth straight year)

California: 497 (for second straight year)

Average 1999 SAT scores nationwide for racial and ethnic groups:

Verbal

American Indian / Alaskan Native: 484

Asian / Pacific Islander: 498

Black: 434

Latino*: 463

Mexican American: 453

Puerto Rican: 455

White: 527

Math

American Indian / Alaskan Native: 481

Asian / Pacific Islander: 560

Black: 422

Latino*: 464

Mexican American: 456

Puerto Rican: 448

White: 528

* Other than Mexican American and Puerto Rican

Source: The College Board