TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fryer,Roland G.
AU  - Levitt,Steven D.
TI  - The Black-White Test Score Gap Through Third Grade
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 11049
PY  - 2005
Y2  - January 2005
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11049
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11049.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Roland G. Fryer, Jr
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Littauer Center 208
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/495-9592
Fax: 617/495-8570
E-Mail: rfryer@fas.harvard.edu

Steven D. Levitt
Department of Economics
University of Chicago
1126 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL  60637
Tel: 773/834-1862
Fax: 773/702-8490
E-Mail: slevitt@midway.uchicago.edu
AB  - This paper describes basic facts regarding the black-white test score gap over the first four years of school. Black children enter school substantially behind their white counterparts in reading and math, but including a small number of covariates erases the gap. Over the first four years of school, however, blacks lose substantial ground relative to other races; averaging .10 standard deviations per school year. By the end of third grade there is a large Black-White test score gap that cannot be explained by observable characteristics. Blacks are falling behind in virtually all categories of skills tested, except the most basic. None of the explanations we examine, including systematic differences in school quality across races, convincingly explain the divergent academic trajectory of Black students.
ER  -