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Equal opportunity for all has always been the focus and aim of higher education in US. There however always been a gap between the white and black education. Black students have always been lagging behind as compared to the white students. Various studies have been conducted time and again to monitor the disparity in progress with various student sections.

According to a latest study released by the Department of Education, the academic gap between a black and a white student studying in the Southern States has decreased to a great extent as compared to the Northern States. Interestingly, this gap was always wider for ages.
The data was based on maths scores and reading capabilities of white and black students. This data was collected and analyzed in depth through the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP federal tests.

The past twenty years has seen a dramatic turnaround and improvement among the black in the Southern States. In the Northern States however, the improvement of black students as compared to the white have been very slow and negligible. So, it is evident that the blacks of Southern States such as Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky are performing to achieve as compared to those of Northern and Midwestern states such as Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois and Connecticut.
A study was conducted on this by the NCES or National Centre for Educational Statistics. This kind of study is aimed purely at motivating further study and research and is not conclusive evidence or offers no hypothesis to explain the reason behind the changes in the black-white achievement pattern.

According to education administrators, it is definitely possible to close this gap between student groups significantly. However, progress being very slow, the gap still remains wide. It is bound to take some time before something concrete can be achieved in this direction.
Groups advocating education are not very happy with this report. However, they are happy to be able to identify areas that have influenced narrowing the gap and working on it more to speed up the process.

There is a strong need to initiate and work on closing achievement gaps by bringing in comprehensive and effective reforms in the education system as was seen in states such as Arkansas and Delaware. These states initiated positive reform methods focused on areas such as accountability, literacy and linking standards to instructions. 

There are many education trusts and non profit organizations working towards motivating schools and other educational institutions to focus on such problems and improve standard of education. NAEP conducts such studies and releases reports once every two to four years. Students are assessed in both maths and reading. The latest study showed a wide gap between the blacks and whites.

Some educationalists opine that it is not possible to use reports of such studies to determine whether there was any impact of programs like No Child Left Behind Law were effective enough to have a significant impact on the levels of achievement of students.