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.