U.S. school reinforces inequalities between Black children, their peers: VOX

NEW YORK, June 16 (Xinhua) -- For many Black children in the United States, their first encounter with the discrimination that will trail them their whole lives comes from the school system, where they are five times more likely to attend a segregated school than their white counterparts, reported VOX on Wednesday.

"This early exposure to segregation is one of many possible factors contributing to what's known as the racial achievement gap -- the gap between Black and white students' test scores," said the report. "Education experts have looked to a number of factors as root causes of the gap: family income, single parenthood, school resources."

A study by Francis Pearman, an assistant professor at Stanford University's Graduate School of Education, showed other components may be at play. According to Pearman, it comes down to what he refers to as "sorting mechanisms." These are the ways students are separated from one another and into different academic experiences.

"Why is it that communities with elevated rates of racial bias have higher levels of Black-white test score disparities?" Pearman asked.

"It's partially explained by the fact that this is partially a story of racial segregation. But there's a couple other sorting mechanisms that also play out," he added.

Black children are less likely to be tested for gifted programs and more likely to be put in special education than their white counterparts. The gap decreases when children are tested for gifted enrollment across the board, according to the report.

"The other big pathway is with regard to discipline," Pearman said.

Communities where residents have higher levels of anti-Black bias also see a major difference in how Black and white students are disciplined: While Black students make up about 15 percent of total students, they make up 36 percent of all expelled students, the report said.