This study investigated whether individual change over time in mathematics and language differs from student to student and whether individual parameters of each of these domains were related within domain. The study also attempted to gain an understanding of individual change in student academic achievement through the application of one of the more powerful analytical tools, covariance structure analysis. The study also investigated whether the pattern of interrelationships among the individual achievement growth parameters were the same for African American and white students. The study used panel data from the Louisiana State Department of Education school data files. Wave 1 had 50,907 students, 24,030 of whom were African American, and wave 2 had 47,003 students, of whom 22,262 were African American. The final wave had 50,157 students, with 23,982 African Americans. For all 3 waves, the subset of students with records for grades 4, 6, and 7 was 26,051. The Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and other norm-referenced tests were administered as part of the state assessment program. Results of this study suggest that initial status differences in achievement levels between African American and white students are rather stable, and in some comparisons, actually increase over time. These differences might be predictive of later differential dropout rates between the two groups. The study also shows that differences between African American and white students become smaller over years of schooling, suggesting that early childhood experiences associated with differing home environments may be somewhat diminished by the effects of schooling over time. Six appendixes provide supplemental information about student achievement. (Contains 7 tables, 8 figures, and 85 references.) (SLD)