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More Blacks Are Competing in Advanced Placement Programs, But the Racial Scoring Gap Is Widening --- The number of blacks taking academically challenging Advanced Placement courses in high school has surged. The bad news is that the racial scoring gap on Advanced Placement tests continues to be large and in fact has increased in recent years.

The State of Black Student Freshman Enrollments at the Nation’s Highest-Ranked Colleges and Universities --- Once more, this year The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education has completed its survey of admissions offices at the nation’s highest-ranked colleges and research universities. Again, we calculate and compare the percentages of African-American students in this fall’s entering freshman classes.

Disappointing Progress in Enrollments of Low-Income Students at America’s Most Selective Colleges and Universities --- Over the past three years nearly all of the nation’s highest-ranking colleges and universities have increased their commitment to more financial aid for low-income students. Yet, according to government figures, almost all of these institutions have seen a reduction in low-income students on their campuses.

JBHE’s Annual Citation Rankings of Black Scholars in the Social Sciences and the Humanities --- For the fifteenth consecutive year, JBHE publishes its citation rankings of black scholars in the social sciences. In each of our previous surveys, the black scholar with the highest citation count in social science journals was Harvard University Professor William Julius Wilson. But this year in citation counts, David R. Williams of the Harvard School of Public Health is the new leader.

No Black Colleges or Universities Listed Among the World’s 1,000 Highest-Rated University Web Sites --- There are nearly 15,000 higher education institutions worldwide. A total of 35 black colleges and universities have Internet offerings that are ranked among the world’s top 4,000 college and university Web sites. But no HBCU cracked the top 1,000.

If Spelman Is Hurting, How Can Other Black Colleges Survive? --- The nation’s most prestigious and financially strong black college has taken drastic measures to weather the current financial crisis. This raises ominous questions as to how black colleges with far fewer financial resources can survive the current downturn.