ABSTRACT
With the passage of the University of California Regents’ resolution SP1 and California’s Proposition 209 in California, which banned the consideration of race and ethnicity in public university admissions, there has been an increased sense of urgency about the need to better prepare underrepresented students for competitive college admissions. California schools have been in a protracted period of reform for the last two decades, and while academic achievement appears to be inching upward for all students (Chavez, 2002), the gaps between majority and some minority students remain large, and in some cases, are growing. Importantly, the differences in performance between Latino, Native American, and African-American students, on the one hand, and Asian-American and white students on the other, are significant across all quantitative measures of academic accomplishment—grade point average (GPA), test scores, and rank in class (see tables 1 and 2). Grade Point Averages, 1983, 1986, 1990, 1996 California High School Graduates by Ethnicity https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
ETHNIC GROUP
1983
1986
1990
1996
GAIN 1983–96
White
2.69
2.65
2.74
2.90
.21
Asian-American
2.96
2.96
3.11
3.19
.23
Black
2.26
2.29
2.33
2.41
.15
Latino
2.42
2.44
2.44
2.55
.13
Source: California Postsecondary Education Commission, 1998 Profile of California's College-Going Students College Board Data, 1998 https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">BLACK (8,868)
MEXICAN-AMERICAN (18,494)
LATINO (6,606)
ASIAN-AMERICAN (29,889)
AMERICAN INDIAN (1,415)
WHITE (56,217)
% of School Population
8.7
37
4.3
11.1
0.9
37.8
% of SAT I Takers
6.2
13
4.6
21
0.9
39.5
Average GPA
2.86
3.08
3.09
3.36
3.12
3.33
SAT I Scores:
Mean Verbal
433
442
450
488
489
532
Mean Math
428
452
456
550
497
540
% Who Are in the Top 10% of Class
9
14
14
23
16
24
Note: These numbers are based on unpublished data from the College Board, 1998. The first row of entries gives the representation of the group in the high school population. The second row gives the representation among those who take the SAT I. For example, black students constitute 8.7% of the high school population but only 6.2% of SAT takers; likewise, while 37% of the high school population was of Mexican origin in 1998, only 13% of SAT takers were.