African-American Scores on Literacy Assessment Tests Are Below Those of Students in Many Third World Nations

A new report from the U.S. Department of Education shows that black high school students in the United States trail youth in many Third World countries in measures of functional literacy. American students of all races score well in world rankings, but still trail students in nations such as Korea, Canada, Japan, Australia, and Switzerland. But African-American student scores on literacy tests are significantly below those of American students as a whole and are lower than the scores of students in such nations as Turkey, Chile, Greece, Russia, and Slovenia.

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