Even if they come from affluent families or attend highly rated schools, black students in Ohio continue to lag far behind their white peers in school, according to an analysis of data from state standardized exams

On more than two dozen state tests given to students in kindergarten through high school in 2012, the average passage rate among black students was 64%. On average, 87% of white students passed. Average passing rates among affluent white students in 2012 topped those of affluent black students by 16 percentage points. Poor, white students outperformed black students from poor and wealthy families. The poverty rate among blacks in the United States - 25.8%, according to Census data - is higher than any other race except Native Americans. Sixty-one percent of black students in Ohio pass the third-grade reading test, compared with 87% of white students. That’s important because one study found that students who don’t read proficiently by third grade are four times less likely to graduate by age 19. It’s 19 times less likely for poor students who don’t read well by third grade. Some of the widest gaps in Ohio are in urban schools, which have long struggled to improve scores among large minority populations. In 2010, less than 5% of black students passed the Ohio third-grade reading exam at Lincoln Park Elementary, a majority black school at the time. More than 70% of white students at the Columbus school passed. But even in suburban districts, including Dublin, Worthington and Westerville, there are schools where whites routinely outperform blacks by wide margins. McVay Elementary School in Westerville has had some of the widest gaps in third-grade reading proficiency between black and white students for the past five years. The smallest gap in that period was 20 percentage points. “When you’re talking about a racial gap, it’s a pretty uncomfortable subject,” Principal Amy Miller said. “But you have to just say, ‘This is our data and it’s telling us something matters here, and we need to figure out what to do about it.’ ”