Why do African-Americans do so badly on standardized tests?

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some1sgot2

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While the answer to this question has a lot to do with the home, it's also has a lot to do with the child.

I'm black and I live in a very affluent suburb which is mainly Caucasian. And yes, it does seem as though whites do better than black on the SAT here. But I think that has very much to do with how much effort the student is willing to put in. Here, most white families are willing to pay for Kaplan and Princeton Review and private tutors; however, I haven't noted many black families doing that.

Another reason is personal motivation. My sister, also black, took the SAT and got a 2300. She didn't do any prep courses or have a private tutor. She simply bought The Official SAT Study Guide and did a couple of practice tests. It all depends on how much effort you're willing to put in for a good score.
 
Here's an excerpt from a Standford University study I found:

Black children from the wealthiest families have mean SAT scores lower than white children from families below the poverty line.

Figure 3 shows how math SAT scores increase with family income for both whites and blacks, confirming Professor Guinier. However, black students from families earning more than $70,000 (1995 dollars) score lower than white students whose families earned less than $10,000. Figure 4 shows more of the same for the verbal SAT. Here too, the wealthiest blacks score below the poorest whites. (Complete data can be found in Appendix B.)
 
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