Educational Under‐Achievement in Different Ethnic Groups

Abstract

Summary All children attending the maintained primary schools of an education authority in the West Midlands were tested for reading ability and listening vocabulary in the term before entry to junior schooling. Children from West Indian and Asian families are compared with indigenous children on national and local norms for these two tests. The statistics of test scores are used to measure under‐achievement in reading. Although West Indian and Asian children are significantly below the mean of local indigenous children in reading skill, it is shown that they are not under‐achieving, and that they tend to higher achievement than samples of indigenous pupils matched for the social and familial features of the ethnic minorities. Some aspects of the psychometric model which results in this finding are examined.