ABSTRACT
Th e underachievement of African American and Hispanic students relative to their Caucasian peers continues to be one of the most highlighted issues in any discussion of public education in the United States. In 2004-2005, the high school dropout rates for youth ages 16 to 24 were approximately 12% among African Americans and 24% for Hispanics compared with 7% for Caucasians (NCES, n.d.). Th ese disparate patterns of school achievement begin as early as the fourth grade administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) examinations, where African American and Hispanic students lag at least one standard deviation behind their Caucasian peers in math and reading (NCES, n.d.). At the same time, Asian Americans, academically outperform most other students. Fourth grade reading scores for this population on the NAEP equal those of Caucasians, their scores in mathematics are signifi cantly better than all other groups and their rates of high school graduation are the highest in the nation at over 96%. Although variations in socioeconomic status (SES) account for some of these diff erences, they have not proven to be the entire story. Moreover, the repeated emphasis on between group diff erences also masks the large heterogeneity within racial and ethnic categories.
