Maryland county works to narrow racial gap on SAT

Jet, April 7, 1997

Prince George's County (MD) has initiated a program aimed at narrowing the Scholastic Aptitude Test's (SAT) scoring gap between Black and White students.

The program, Equity 2000, is sponsored by The College Board, the same agency that sponsors the SAT. The Board has determined that successful completion of algebra and geometry in high school is the common denominator among students who do well on the SAT, and ultimately, in college.

Prince George's County, the largest school district in Maryland, has a student population that is roughly 74 percent Black. The system's goal under Equity 2000 is to achieve 100 percent enrollment of its high school students in algebra I and geometry by the year 2000, according to Black Issues In Higher Education.

With a grant from Equity 2000, the district is training teachers from K-12 to integrate methods that will make students more comfortable with math. The district also has eliminated subjects such as consumer math and general math.

Schools in the district have developed support programs which include after-school programs, a homework hotline, special tutoring labs, parent workshops, and student field trips to colleges and universities.

The district has experienced phenomenal growth in the number of students who take advanced courses. In 1990, 53 percent of the district's ninth-graders were enrolled in algebra I. By the end of the 1994-95 school year, 90 percent were enrolled.

However, the district's SAT scores have stayed the same. But officials point to the fact that among Black students, the scores did not decline as they had in the past ten years.

The district expects it to be a while before the results are seen on SAT scores.

Equity 2000 currently has 14 clients around the country.