At hundreds of Texas high schools, Black students complete advanced courses less often than their own test scores predict.
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College Board's description of the AP program, one of the advanced-course routes the access measure counts. Captured 2026-08-01. Screenshot: College Board
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 score equal or higher yet 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.
How does your school compare?
Every Texas campus, every student group, 2012–2025.
