Jason Richwine and some Hispanic data

 

It was in a Woody Allen film that our earnest hero was waiting in line to watch a movie while having to listen to a poseur in front of him talking nonsense about the concept of “the medium is the message”. Frustrated at hearing this idea being mis-represented, Woody turns behind him, and gets the progenitor of the idea, Marshall McLuhan, to step forward and give an authoritative explanation of what he really meant, thus putting the braggart in his place. Woody turns to the camera and says “If only real life were like this”.

It just so happens I can help correct some of the views being expressed by random commentators on the Jason Richwine affair. Heiner Rindermann and I have written a paper on this very topic of scholastic achievement which is online at Intelligence. The paper version will be out in December, but here is a preview.

http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S0160289613000895

Ability rise in NAEP and narrowing ethnic gaps? Heiner Rindermann^a, James Thompson^b

• http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/10.1016/j.intell.2013.06.016, How to Cite or Link Using DOI

Abstract

US National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results from 1971 to 2008 enable four different effects to be distinguished: Cohort rise effects, gap-narrowing between ethnic groups, trends due to demographic changes in by NAEP listed or not listed ethnic groups. NAEP means and percentiles in reading and mathematics were transformed to conventional IQs and SDs. The total increase from 1971 to 2008 was in the scale of 4.34 IQ points (dec = 1.17 IQ per decade). The ability distribution became more homogenous (down from SD = 15.00 in 1971 to SD = 13.56 in 2008). Increases were larger for youngerstudents (9-year olds: 2.02 IQ per decade; 13-year olds: 1.20; 17-year olds: 0.30); larger at the lowerability level (10th percentile dec = 1.79 vs. 90th percentile dec = 1.03). The largest increase was for Blacks (Whites dec = 1.29 IQ, Hispanics 2.27, Blacks 3.04). White–Hispanic-differences were reduced from 11.59 to 8.46 IQ, White–Black from 16.33 to 9.94 IQ. If the racial composition of the population had not changed, the mean gain for the 17-year-old group would have been 2.47 IQ points higher. Had the gap between Whites and the two other groups not narrowed, the mean gain would have been 1.70 IQ points lower. Demographic change has accounted for a loss of 2.47 IQ points and according to cognitive human capital theory $2001 GDP per capita per year, but total ethnic gap-narrowing has provided a gain of $1377.

Keywords

• Intelligence;
• FLynn effect;
• White–Black-differences;
• Human capital

 

 

The snapshot shows that the gap between the blue line for European Americans and the red line for Hispanic Americans narrowed in the early 1980s, but remains substantial. Same picture for African Americans.

In summary, if one uses scholastic data as a measure of ability, then there was some significant narrowing of the White/Hispanic gap in the early 1980’s, but that reduced gap has persisted thereafter. This finding discomforts those who predicted that the gap would never change, and those who said it was closing fast and would shortly disappear. Both are wrong, are partially right. Funny thing, facts. The same happened to African-American scholastic achievement, which had been the focus of much attention, Hispanic achievement somewhat less so.