The black-white test score gap
By: Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips, editors.
Contributors: Jencks, Christopher.; Phillips, Meredith.
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Washington, D.C
Language: eng
Number of pages: 523
Subjects: Discrimination in education -- United States; Educational tests and measurements -- United States; Test bias -- United States
Description: The test score gap between blacks and whites - on vocabulary, reading, and math tests, as well as on tests that claim to measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence - is large enough to have far-reaching social and economic consequences. In their introduction to this book, Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips argue that eliminating the disparity would dramatically reduce economic and educational inequality between blacks and whites.

Indeed, they think that closing the gap would do more to promote racial equality than any other strategy now under serious discussion. The book offers a comprehensive look at the factors that contribute to the test score gap and discusses options for substantially reducing it.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The black-white test score gap : an introduction / Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips; title: Test bias, heredity, and home environment. Racial bias in testing / Christopher Jencks; title: Race, genetics, and IQ / Richard E. Nisbett; title: Family background, parenting practices, and the black-white test score gap / Meredith Phillips, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Greg J. Duncan, Pamela Klebanov, and Jonathan Crane; title: How and why the gap has changed. Black-white test score convergence since 1965 / Larry V. Hedges and Amy Nowell; title: Why did the black-white score gap narrow in the 1970s and 1980s? / David Grissmer, Ann Flanagan, and Stephanie Williamson; title: The impact of schools and culture. Does the black-white test score gap widen after children enter school? / Meredith Phillips, James Crouse, and John Ralph; title: Teachers' perceptions and expectations and the black-white test score gap / Ronald F. Ferguson; title: Can schools narrow the black-white test score gap? / Ronald F. Ferguson; title: The burden of "acting white" : do black adolescents disparage academic achievement? / Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig; title: Stereotype threat and the test performance of academically successful African Americans / Claude M. Steele and Joshua Aronson; title: Do test scores matter?  Racial and ethnic preferences in college Admissions / Thomas J. Kane; title: Scholastic aptitude test scores, race, and academic performance in selective colleges and universities / Fredrick E. Vars and William G. Bowen; title: Basic skills and the black-white earnings gap / William R. Johnson and Derek Neal; title: Commentary. The role of the environment in the black-white test score gap / William Julius Wilson.