PassageOneQuestions52to56arebasedonthefollowingpassage
The35percentofAfrican-Americanyouthlivinginpovertyarethemostvisiblevictimsofwhatisoftencalledtheachievementgap
Butblackchildrenofallsocioeconomiclevelsperformworseonnationaltestsandgraduateinfewernumbersthantheirwhitemiddle-classpeers
A2009studybytheU
DepartmentofEducation’sNationalCenterforEducationStatisticsfoundthatAfrican-Americanstudentsscored,onaverage,26pointslowerthanwhitestudentsontheirreadingandmathtests
Somesay,asHarvardpsychologistRichardJ
HerrnsteinandAmericanEnterpriseInstitutepoliticalscientistCharlesMurraydidintheir1994book,TheBellCurve,thatthecauseisgenetic
AndthoughTheBellCurvehasbeendiscreditedinscientificcircles,theideathatIQissomehowlinkedtoracehasbeenslowtoretreat
Others,likeCornellUniversityresearchersGaryEvans