The Kent School District in October released the district’s results in a recent round of college assessment tests and while the district generally did well compared to state and national averages, African-American scores continue to lag behind, highlighting what many call the “achievement gap.”

“Our inequalities are present and a real cause for concern,” Bob Isenberg said, director of assessment.

Isenberg said though the scores are trending up, the gap between the district’s African-American students and others do show a cause for concern, despite Kent scores being higher than the state and national average, and higher than they have ever been, though “that’s not saying much,” he added.

“With segments of our population, even if the trend looks better, it’s certainly not enough,” he said.

In a presentation before the school board earlier this month, Isenberg highlighted the scores from several tests, including the SAT, ACT, Advanced Placement exams and International Baccalaureate tests.

SAT scores were broken out into a series of graphs and scores.

In total, students from the Kent School District scored an average of 522 (out of 800) on the Reading portion of the test. The average score for public schools in the state is 520 and the national average is 496.

In the math section, KSD students scored an average of 547, well above the state average of 529 and the national average of 510.

“Math is a priority,” Isenberg said. “If it’s math, we do well.”

In the writing portion of the exam, KSD students averaged a 503, one point higher than the state average of 502 and 16 points higher than the national average of 487.

But while the scores were generally good, looking at an ethnic breakdown of the averages shows a clear discrepancy, especially with the scores for African-Americans.

In reading for example, black students in Kent scored a 460, which while below the overall average for the district is still higher than the state and national average for the group, which are 447 and 425, respectively.

In math, African-Americans averaged 462, below the district average of 547, but above the state and national averages for black students of 441 and 423, respectively.

The pattern repeats again in writing, where African-Americans score a 433 average compared to a 503 district-wide, though still above the state (431) and national (416) figures.

The breakout numbers are based on smaller groups. For example, 842 students in Kent took the SAT exam last year, or about half the graduating seniors. Of those taking the test, 479 were white while only 57 were black, or 6.7 percent. District-wide black students represent 10.6 percent of the student population.

Isenberg said there were high-performing students across all ethnic groups, but said the lack of African-Americans in some of the more rigorous classes and college tests was disappointing.

Africans Americans represent 3 percent of all KSD students enrolled in AP courses this past spring, for example.

“What we did find is looking at patterns of rigorous courses, African-Americans as a group were underrepresented right from middle school on,” he said. “If students aren’t exposed to rigor they are not going to be able to show the skills a rigorous test requires.”

After the presentation to the board, School Board Member Bill Boyce, the lone African-American of the board, said the district must do a better job of addressing the lower-than-average scores from minority groups.

“We should be embarrassed by it,” he said. “Being an African-American, I am embarrassed by it.”

Boyce, who was recently re-elected to another term on the board, said he would dedicate his next two years to trying to address the problem.

“I don’t want to see that same report again,” he said.

New Superintendent Edward Lee Vargas was hired in part because of his experience is dealing with the achievement gap and said this past week that the gap seen in scores in Kent is “unacceptable.”

“Clearly we know our kids can achieve at high levels if we do the right things,” he said.

Vargas also called the gap between scores a “civil rights issue” that needs to be addressed.

“I really believe it’s a moral issue,” he said. “It’s about equity and excellence for all.”

Alliance for Diversity and Equity co-chair Dale Smith said the Alliance has been studying this issue for years.

“This is right at the core of what the Alliance is working on,” he said. “We’ve consistently identified this as an area of concern.”

Though the district has taken steps in recent years and instituted new programs and ideas aimed at raising minority scores, Smith also said the assessment presentation shows there is still more to do.

“They mean we’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “We have to get very serious as a community.

This isn’t OK.”