Editing Education in the United States (section)

====Racial achievement differences====
{{Main|Racial achievement gap in the United States}}
[[File:NAEP-reading-trends-race-2004.png|thumb|[[National Assessment of Educational Progress|NAEP]] reading long-term trends for ages 9 (light gray), 13 (dark gray), and 17 (black) from 1970 to 2000]]
The racial achievement gap in the U.S. refers to the educational disparities between Black and Hispanic students compared with Asian and Caucasian students.<ref>{{cite web |date=December 3, 2008 |title=Students Affected by Achievement Gaps |url=http://www.nea.org/home/20380.htm |access-date=September 21, 2013 |publisher=NEA}}</ref> This disparity manifests itself in a variety of ways: African-American and Hispanic students are more likely to receive lower grades, score lower on standardized tests, drop out of high school, and are less likely to enter and complete college.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ansell |first=Susan E. |date=September 10, 2004 |title=Research Center: Achievement Gap |newspaper=Education Week |publisher=Edweek.org |url=http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/achievement-gap/ |access-date=September 21, 2013}}</ref>

Several reasons have been suggested for these disparities. One explanation is the disparity in income that exists between [[African Americans]] and [[White American|Whites]]. This school of thought argues that the origin of this "[[wealth gap]]" is the slavery and racism that made it extremely difficult for African-Americans to accumulate wealth for almost 100 years after slavery was abolished. A comparable history of discrimination created a similar gap between Hispanics and Whites. This results in many minority children being born into low socioeconomic backgrounds, which in turn affects educational opportunities.<ref>Singham, Mano. 2005. The Achievement Gap in U.S. Education: Canaries in the Mine. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education.</ref>

Another explanation has to do with family structure. Professor [[Lino Graglia]] has suggested that Blacks and Hispanics are falling behind in education because they are increasingly [[African-American family structure|raised in single-parent families]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Parker |first=Kathleen |date=December 13, 2012 |title=Reluctant First Father |pages=7A |newspaper=[[Florida Today]] |location=[[Melbourne, Florida]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=December 11, 2012 |title=Lino Graglia, UT Law Professor, Decries Single Motherhood, Black Test Scores, And Affirmative Action (VIDEO) |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/lino-graglia-affirmative-action_n_2278180.html |access-date=February 18, 2015 |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com}}</ref> Other scholars, meanwhile, have long and continuously argued against this myth of the black family, pointing instead to class and race-based oppressions along social and economic lines, as discussed below.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tenhouten |first=Warren D. |year=1970 |title=The Black Family: Myth and Reality |journal=Psychiatry |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=145–173 |doi=10.1080/00332747.1970.11023622 |pmid=5443875}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sylvester |first=Elaine I. |year=1995 |title=The Black Family Structure: A Viable Structure or a Myth? |journal=Intertext |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Zagier |first=Alan Scher |date=January 10, 2017 |title=The dangerous myth of the 'missing black father' |pages=A2 |newspaper=Washington Post |location=Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Olivas |first=Michael A. |year=1998 |title=Professor Graglia, Meet My Father |journal=Bilingual Review |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=106–107}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Roberty Coles & Charles Green |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IYa-AwAAQBAJ |title=The Myth of the Missing Black Father |publisher=Columbia U.P. |year=2010 |isbn=978-0231143530}}</ref>

Other explanations offered for the racial achievement gap include: social class, [[institutional racism]], lower quality of schools and teachers in minority communities, and civil injustice. Most authors mention several such factors as influential on outcomes, both in the United States<ref>{{cite book |last1=Herrnstein |first1=Richard J. |title=The bell curve: intelligence and class structure in American life |title-link=The bell curve: intelligence and class structure in American life |last2=Murray |first2=Charles |publisher=Free Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-02-914673-6 |edition=[4. Dr.] |location=New York, N.Y. |author-link1=Richard Herrnstein |author-link2=Charles Murray (political scientist)}}</ref> and worldwide.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lynn |first=Richard |title=The global bell curve: race, IQ, and inequality worldwide |publisher=Washington Summit Publishers |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-59368-028-2 |location=Augusta, Ga.}}</ref>
[[File:Distributions_of_SAT_Math_Scores_by_Race_or_Ethnicity.png|center|frameless]]