To assist in the development of policies to eliminate the subtle inequities which inhibit the mathematics achievement of many Black youths, it is suggested that the redesign of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment study Black students' opportunity to learn mathematics. Recommendations for the redesign of the NAEP mathematics assessment and its reporting formats are based on a cross-sectional study of mathematics achievement data on 14,289 Black, White, and Hispanic 17-year-old students from the third NAEP assessment. Achievement on the algebra or pre-algebra subtests was evaluated against mathematics course enrollment. Other variables studied included grade level, school racial composition, curriculum type, achievement level, race or ethnicity, and affective responses. Results indicated significant racial and ethnic differences in enrollment by curriculum (general versus academic) and in achievement. Schools' racial composition also appeared to affect achievement. Preliminary test item analysis suggests the need to use additional criteria in determining item bias for Blacks. Because it is a valuable database for research, it is strongly recommended that NAEP broaden its scope to include measures of the opportunity to learn mathematics as a standard variable and to report school achievement impacted by school culture, classroom processes, and significant others. It is further recommended that NAEP restructure cognitive items on which Black students perform poorly to explore the causes for these response patterns. Changes in NAEP's affective and background measures are also proposed. (GDC)