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Quantifying the Gap

The debate over America's "education gap" -- the divide that separates wealthier, predominantly white students from those who are poorer and of color -- is being waged at local school board meetings, in the halls of congress and in your local newspaper. But just how big is that gap -- and how can it be quantified?
The debate over America's "education gap" -- the divide that separates wealthier, predominantly white students from those who are poorer and of color -- is being waged at local school board meetings, in the halls of congress and in your local newspaper. But just how big is that gap -- and how can it be quantified?

On March 6th, in the second of the Tisch three-lecture series, Teachers College researcher Richard Rothstein estimated the gap in percentile points, presenting new data showing black youth trailing on eight broad outcomes measures. By assigning percentile rankings on a national distribution to "the average white student" and "the average black student," Rothstein is able to show that the overall "educational equity gap" between black and white 17-year olds stands at just under 20 percentile points.

This article, written by Laurie Beck, appeared in April 4th, 2006 on www.tc.edu, and can be accessed using the following link: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news/article.htm?id=5570.

Published Wednesday, Apr. 5, 2006

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