Herald Was Wrong that Blacks and Hispanics Are Narrowing Education Gap

Actual Numbers Are Depressing, Says Harvard Professor

By MassNews Staff
May 2002

A Boston Herald story last month that black and Hispanic students are "narrowing the achievement gap" in Massachusetts is "unfounded," says Stephan Thernstrom, Winthrop Professor of History at Harvard.

The paper had reported that the gap in math scores of white 8th-graders and those of their black and Hispanic classmates narrowed by 10 points between 1992 and 2000.

According to the article, the state ranked third in the nation in the progress it made on this front.

This is not true, says Prof. Thernstrom. "In fact, the raw numbers provided by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reveal that in these years, the gap between white and black students nationally narrowed by a trivial one point. In Massachusetts it actually widened by a point."

He reports that there was some progress by Hispanics in the state. "They did narrow the gap from 37 to 30 points, but that was a pretty small step in the direction of equal achievement."

Prof. Thernstrom says the actual numbers are depressing. "The depressing truth," he says, "is that, on the most recent NAEP 8th-grade exam, in 2000, 51% of the state's Hispanic pupils and 57% of its African Americans score at the dismal 'Below Basic' category. That is well behind Texas, North Carolina, Indiana, and Virginia, all of which spend a good deal less per pupil than the Commonwealth does."