Study Finds Placement Hurts Minority Students

African-American and Latino students are falling behind in math and science because school districts are more likely to put them in classes for those with lower skills, according to a study released this week by the Rand Corp. in Santa Monica.

Such student sorting narrows the opportunity of low-income and inner-city minorities to learn science and math, and those students have fewer materials and less-qualified teachers, according to the nationwide study in which 1,200 public and private schools were surveyed and 6,000 teachers questioned.

“Our analyses reveal clear and consistent patterns of unequal opportunities to learn mathematics and science,” said Jeannie Oakes, principal author of the report and a professor of education at UCLA.