Editing SAT (section)

=== Association with race and ethnicity ===
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| caption1 = SAT Verbal average scores by race or ethnicity from 1986–87 to 2004–05
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A 2001 [[meta-analysis]] of the results of 6,246,729 participants tested for cognitive ability or aptitude found a difference in average scores between black and white students of around 1.0 [[Standard deviations|standard deviation]], with comparable results for the SAT (2.4 million test takers).<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Roth|first1=Philip L.|last2=Bevier|first2=Craig A.|last3=Bobko|first3=Philip|last4=Switzer|first4=Fred S.|last5=Tyler|first5=Peggy|date=June 2001|title=Ethnic group differences in cognitive ability in employment and educational settings: a meta-analysis|journal=Personnel Psychology|volume=54|issue=2|pages=297–330|doi=10.1111/j.1744-6570.2001.tb00094.x|citeseerx=10.1.1.372.6092}}</ref> Similarly, on average, Hispanic and Amerindian students perform on the order of one standard deviation lower on the SAT than white and Asian students.<ref>Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities: Average SAT scores for 12th-grade SAT-taking population, by race/ethnicity: 2006</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=2006|title=Average SAT scores for 12th-grade SAT-taking population, by race/ethnicity: 2006|url=http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2007/minoritytrends/figures/figure_14.asp|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627045146/http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2007/minoritytrends/figures/figure_14.asp|archive-date=June 27, 2015|website=Institute of Educational Sciences|publisher=The College Board, College Bound Seniors, 2006}}</ref><ref>Abigail Thernstrom & Stephan Thernstrom. 2004.  No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning. Simon and Schuster</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Jaschik|first=S|date=June 21, 2010|title=New Evidence of Racial Bias on the SAT|url=http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/21/sat|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150101233215/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/21/sat|archive-date=January 1, 2015|website=Inside Higher ED}}</ref> Mathematics appears to be the more difficult part of the exam.<ref name="Hobbs-2019" /> In 1996, the black-white gap in the mathematics section was 0.91 standard deviations, but by 2020, it fell to 0.79.<ref name="Smith-2020">{{Cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Ember|last2=Reeves|first2=Richard V.|date=December 1, 2020|title=SAT math scores mirror and maintain racial inequity|url=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/12/01/sat-math-scores-mirror-and-maintain-racial-inequity/|access-date=January 30, 2021|website=Brookings Institution|archive-date=January 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127040928/https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/12/01/sat-math-scores-mirror-and-maintain-racial-inequity/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2013, Asian Americans as a group scored 0.38 standard deviations higher than whites in the mathematics section.<ref name="Hsin-2014">{{Cite journal|last1=Hsin|first1=Amy|last2=Xie|first2=Yu|date=June 10, 2014|title=Explaining Asian Americans' academic advantage over whites|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=111|issue=23|pages=8416–8421|doi=10.1073/pnas.1406402111|pmid=24799702|pmc=4060715|bibcode=2014PNAS..111.8416H|doi-access=free}}</ref>
[[File:Distribution of SAT scores by race-ethnicity.png|center]]
Some researchers believe that the difference in scores is closely related to the overall achievement gap in American society between students of different racial groups. This gap may be explainable in part by the fact that students of disadvantaged racial groups tend to go to schools that provide lower educational quality. This view is supported by evidence that the black-white gap is higher in cities and neighborhoods that are more racially segregated.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Card|first1=D.|last2=Rothstein|first2=Ol|year=2007|title=Racial segregation and the black–white test score gap|url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/586961tt|url-status=live|journal=Journal of Public Economics|type=Submitted manuscript|volume=91|issue=11|pages=2158–84|doi=10.1016/j.jpubeco.2007.03.006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103110326/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/586961tt|archive-date=January 3, 2019|access-date=September 10, 2018|s2cid=13468169}}</ref> Other research cites poorer minority proficiency in key coursework relevant to the SAT (English and math), as well as peer pressure against students who try to focus on their schoolwork ("[[acting white]]").<ref name="JBHE">{{cite web|title=The Widening Racial Scoring Gap on the SAT College Admissions Test|url=http://www.jbhe.com/features/49_college_admissions-test.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151216002550/http://www.jbhe.com/features/49_college_admissions-test.html|archive-date=December 16, 2015|access-date=December 14, 2015|publisher=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education}}</ref> Cultural issues are also evident among black students in wealthier households, with high achieving parents. [[John Ogbu]], a Nigerian-American professor of anthropology, concluded that instead of looking to their parents as role models, black youth chose other models like rappers and did not make an effort to be good students.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ogbu|first1=John U.|title=Black American Students in An Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement (Sociocultural, Political, and Historical Studies in Education)|date=January 3, 2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-8058-4516-7|location=New York|pages=16, 164}}</ref>

One set of studies has reported differential item functioning, namely, that some test questions function differently based on the racial group of the test taker, reflecting differences in ability to understand certain test questions or to acquire the knowledge required to answer them between groups. In 2003, Freedle published data showing that black students have had a slight advantage on the verbal questions that are labeled as difficult on the SAT, whereas white and Asian students tended to have a slight advantage on questions labeled as easy. Freedle argued that these findings suggest that "easy" test items use vocabulary that is easier to understand for white middle class students than for minorities, who often use a different language in the home environment, whereas the difficult items use complex language learned only through lectures and textbooks,  giving both student groups equal opportunities to acquiring it.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Freedle|first=R.O.|year=2003|title=Correcting the SAT's ethnic and social-class bias: A method for reestimating SAT Scores|journal=Harvard Educational Review|volume=73|pages=1–38|doi=10.17763/haer.73.1.8465k88616hn4757}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Crain|first1=W|year=2004|title=Biased test|journal=ENCOUNTER: Education for Meaning and Social Justice|volume=17|issue=3|pages=2–4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=2011|title=Editorial Biased Tests|url=http://files.campus.edublogs.org/blogs.leeward.hawaii.edu/dist/c/124/files/2011/10/BiasedTests-ths23o.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411214918/http://files.campus.edublogs.org/blogs.leeward.hawaii.edu/dist/c/124/files/2011/10/BiasedTests-ths23o.pdf|archive-date=April 11, 2019|access-date=May 14, 2019|website=files.campus.edublogs.org}}</ref>  The study was severely criticized by the ETS board, but the findings were replicated in a subsequent study by Santelices and Wilson in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|title=New Evidence of Racial Bias on SAT|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/21/sat|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928213051/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/21/sat|archive-date=September 28, 2015|access-date=September 10, 2015|website=insidehighered.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Santelices|first1=M.V.|last2=Wilson|first2=M.|year=2010|title=Unfair treatment? The case of Freedle, the SAT, and the standardization approach to differential item functioning|journal=Harvard Educational Review|volume=80|issue=1|pages=106–34|doi=10.17763/haer.80.1.j94675w001329270}}</ref>
[[File:Students who scored 600 or more on the math SAT.gif|center]]
There is no evidence that SAT scores systematically underestimate future performance of minority students. However, the predictive validity of the SAT has been shown to depend on the dominant ethnic and racial composition of the college.<ref>Fleming, Ol (2002). Who will succeed in college? When the SAT predicts Black students' performance. The Review of Higher Education, 25(3), 281–96.</ref> Some studies have also shown that African-American students under-perform in college relative to their white peers with the same SAT scores; researchers have argued that this is likely because white students tend to benefit from social advantages outside of the educational environment (for example, high parental involvement in their education, inclusion in campus academic activities, positive bias from same-race teachers and peers) which result in better grades.<ref name="Jencks">Jencks, C. (1998). Racial bias in testing. The Black-White test score gap, 55, 84.</ref>

[[Christopher Jencks]] concludes that as a group, African Americans have been harmed by the introduction of standardized entrance exams such as the SAT. This, according to him, is not because the tests themselves are flawed, but because of labeling bias and selection bias; the tests measure the skills that African Americans are less likely to develop in their socialization, rather than the skills they are more likely to develop. Furthermore, standardized entrance exams are often labeled as tests of general ability, rather than of certain aspects of ability. Thus, a situation is produced in which African-American ability is consistently underestimated within the education and workplace environments, contributing in turn to selection bias against them which exacerbates underachievement.<ref name="Jencks" />
[[File:Average SAT Scores by Racial and Ethnic Group 2018.PNG|center|frame|2018 SAT combined scores by race and ethnicity]]
Among the major racial or ethnic groups of the United States, gaps in SAT mathematics scores are the greatest at the tails, with Hispanic and Latino Americans being the most likely to score at the lowest range and Asian Americans the highest. In addition, there is some evidence suggesting that if the test contains more questions of both the easy and difficult varieties, which would increase the variability of the scores, the gaps would be even wider. Given the distribution for Asians, for example, many could score higher than 800 if the test allowed them to. (See figure below.)<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Reeves|first1=Richard V.|last2=Halikias|first2=Dimitrios|date=February 1, 2017|title=Race gaps in SAT scores highlight inequality and hinder upward mobility|url=https://www.brookings.edu/research/race-gaps-in-sat-scores-highlight-inequality-and-hinder-upward-mobility/|access-date=February 16, 2021|website=Brookings Institution|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216202033/https://www.brookings.edu/research/race-gaps-in-sat-scores-highlight-inequality-and-hinder-upward-mobility/|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Distributions of SAT Math Scores by Race or Ethnicity.png|center]]

2020 was the year in which education worldwide was [[Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education|disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic]] and indeed, the performance of students in the United States on standardized tests, such as the SAT, suffered. Yet the gaps persisted.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Jaschik|first=Scott|date=October 19, 2020|title=ACT and SAT Scores Drop|work=Inside Higher Education|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/10/19/act-and-sat-scores-drop-2020|access-date=January 30, 2021|archive-date=January 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122155456/https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/10/19/act-and-sat-scores-drop-2020|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the College Board, in 2020, while 83% of Asian students met the benchmark of college readiness in reading and writing and 80% in mathematics, only 44% and 21% of black students did those respective categories. Among whites, 79% met the benchmark for reading and writing and 59% did mathematics. For Hispanics and Latinos, the numbers were 53% and 30%, respectively. (See figure below.)<ref name="Smith-2020" />
[[File:SAT College-readiness Benchmarks.png|center]]