The Educated Reporter: An achievement gap AMONG blacks?

The Educated Reporter: An achievement gap AMONG blacks?

An achievement gap AMONG blacks?

by Linda Perlstein

Take a look at this list of black high school students honored in Montgomery County, Md., recently for their “outstanding achievement in academics, community service and leadership.” Notice anything interesting?

Judging from their names and some information I dug up online, about three-fifths of them are African, in a school district where I think immigrants are by far the minority among blacks. This list, you know if you pay attention to this sort of thing, is not unusual.

We are aware of the immigrant paradox, but most people think about it in terms of Latinos. Musing out loud: If the performance of (first- or second-generation) immigrant black students exceeds the performance of the descendants of American slaves, does that distort what we know about the achievement gap? What does it