At hundreds of Texas high schools, Black students complete advanced courses less often than their own test scores predict.
Take every Texas high school with at least 40 Black students, 429 campuses in all, and compare two gaps inside the same building: the White-Black gap on the Algebra I state test (which nearly everyone takes, so it measures preparation fairly) and the White-Black gap in completing advanced or dual-credit courses.
If course placement simply followed preparation, the two gaps would match. They don't.
429 Texas high schools: score gap vs. course gapEach dot is a school. Dots above the dashed fit line place Black students in advanced courses less than their own test-score gap predicts. Orange dots: schools where Black students score equal or higher yet complete advanced courses far less.
~6 ptsCourse gap at equal test scoresWhere Black and White students score the same, White students still complete advanced courses about 6 points more
14Schools where Black students outscore White peers but access lesse.g. MacArthur HS (Irving): Black students outscore White on Algebra, yet complete advanced courses 51% vs 74%
halfHow much preparation explainsThe correlation between the two gaps is 0.50. Placement is only about half-explained by scores.
This can't be a preparation story at those campuses. Something between scoring well and sitting in the advanced classroom is filtering students out: counseling, recommendations, scheduling, or self-selection under low expectations.