Among students with the same high grades, ACT scores differ substantially by race/ethnicity, a pattern the report flags as possible racial bias¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2008 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2011: tool and model accuracy changes quickly

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Among students with GPAs of 3.5 or higher, African American students scored on average five points below white students and Latino students three to four points below white students. → Elaine Allensworth 2008

Evidence¶

Elaine Allensworth 2008¶

Elaine Allensworth, Macarena Correa, Steve Ponisciak. (2008). From High School to the Future: ACT Preparation–Too Much, Too Late. Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/high-school-future-act-preparation-too-much-too-late

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Comparative analysis of CPS and national ACT data by GPA band and race/ethnicity (Figure 6) finds score gaps by race at the same grade-point levels, smaller but still evident at lower GPA levels.

"Among students with a GPA of 3.5 or higher, African American students scored, on average, five points below white students, and Latino students scored three to four points below white students."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Race and Ethnicity — predictor: outcomes differ by group: a gap reflecting circumstances and treatment, not a cause

Related Claims¶

• SAT scores underpredict the academic performance of high school girls, who average lower scores than boys despite higher grades — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• Systematic racial, ethnic and gender differences in grades persist among students with the same test scores, attendance, courses and teachers — related
• CPS students make smaller improvements on sequential EPAS tests from grade to grade than students nationally with the same prior scores — related
• Race, ethnicity, and class affect teacher perceptions and teacher behavior, including persistence with struggling students — related
• Asian and white CPS students score consistently higher than Latino and African-American students in reading and math, and Asian students score significantly higher in math than white students — related
• Student test effort differs substantially across student gender and racial subgroups — related
• ACT scores show significant subgroup misprediction by race, ethnicity, and gender that HSGPA models do not, and school-level variance is smaller among students with the same ACT score than the same HSGPA — related
• Teacher-assigned grades are susceptible to systematic biases, including halo effects and ethnicity-based grading differences (review-reported) — related