Schools blamed for racial gap in SAT scores

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More minority students than ever before took the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in 2001, but the group's president said Tuesday that more should be done to close widening racial gaps in exam results.

"Tests are not the problem," said College Board President Gaston Caperton at a Washington news conference. "Students are not the problem. The problem we have is an unfair education system in America -- an unequal education system."

Average 2001 SAT scores among minority students continued to trail scores among whites in both verbal and math categories, with the exception of Asian-American students, who outperformed all others in math.

In addition, average scores by African-American, American Indian and Hispanic students trailed average results among whites by a larger margin in 2001 then they did a decade ago.

MORE STORIES • Education secretary sells presidential plan   • ACT scores show little improvement   • SAT math scores hit 30-year high

Minorities comprised more than a third of the 1.3 million people who took the 2001 SAT, compared with 28 percent in 1991.

"2001 seniors are the largest number and the most diverse group in (the test's) history," Caperton said. The largest increase in the gap between white and non-white GPAs from 1991 to 2001 was among white and Puerto Rican students. The average GPA for Puerto Ricans who took the SAT was .14 lower than their white counterparts in 2001 than it was in 1991.

The SAT is one of two assessment exams in the United States that are widely used as a major factor in determining a student's acceptance to colleges and universities. The other is the ACT Assessment.

This year ACT national averages showed trends similar to the SAT. Average ACT results among Black and Latino students over the past five years dropped, while scores for white students rose slightly, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

But the SAT and ACT recently have been targeted by critics who accuse the tests of being unfairly culturally weighted against women, minorities and lower economic classes.

Last year, Ethnic NewsWatch reported that the Educational Testing Service was researching possible ways to re-interpret SAT scores so test takers from low-income or non-white backgrounds could be more accurately evaluated.

Other critics say the SAT isn't an accurate assessment of a student because it does not follow typical high school curriculum as closely as the ACT exam.

Agreeing with that argument, California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo announced in July it would no longer require SAT results for admission, favoring instead the ACT, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

More than 300 schools, most of them small, private institutions, have dropped their SAT requirements, according to the newspaper.

Caperton defended the SAT, saying it "tests your ability to read and comprehend and answer questions. It tests your ability to solve math problems using basic math, algebra and a little geometry -- basically your ability to think in words and numbers."

The former West Virginia governor denied that standardized tests have barred minorities from opportunities in higher education.

"I don't think we pay our teachers well enough," Caperton said. "I don't think we're attracting enough teachers and the teachers of less quality are usually going into the areas where we need the most improvement and where we need the best teachers ... and that's what we would like to do something about."

Overall, 2001 SAT statistics did show some promising figures. 2001's average verbal score was one point higher than last year's, and the highest since 1987. Math scores averaged the same as 2000's 30-year high.

Average exam scores for minorities rose slightly from 2000 to 2001 on the verbal portion of the exam, although the minority average remained virtually the same on the math portion of the test.

Cheating scandals test schools
July 23, 2001
Putting American students to the test
April 26, 2001
Software aims to relax pre-test jitters
April 26, 2001
Survey reveals concerns about 'teaching to test'
January 22, 2001
SAT math scores hit 30-year high
August 29, 2000

College Board

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.