The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) will release the results of a special study conducted to further explore the achievement gaps between Black and White students observed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The study explored public schools' demographic composition, in particular, the proportion of Black students enrolled in schools (also referred to “Black student density” in schools) and its relation to the Black-White achievement gap. This NCES study, the first of its kind, used the 2011 NAEP grade 8 mathematics assessment data. As reported earlier, Black students at the national level, on average, scored 30 points lower than their White peers in 2011.
