The Black-White Test Score Gap Through Third Grade

This article describes basic facts regarding the Black-Whitetest score gap over the first four years of school. Black childrenenter school substantially behind their White counterparts inreading and math, but including a small number of covariateserases the gap. Over the first four years of school, however,Blacks lose substantial ground relative to other races; averaging0.10 standard deviations per school year. By the end of thirdgrade, there is a large Black-White test score gap that cannotbe explained by observable characteristics. Blacks are fallingbehind in virtually all categories of skills tested, exceptthe most basic. None of the explanations we examine, includingsystematic differences in school quality across races, convincinglyexplain the divergent academic trajectory of Black students.