– When the authors use the new test scores, they find that variance is substantial at the start of kindergarten and does not grow but actually shrinks over the next two to three years. This finding, which was not evident in the original Great Equalizer
study, implicates the years before kindergarten as the primary source of inequality in elementary reading and math.
– Total score variance grows during most summers and shrinks during most school years, suggesting that schools reduce inequality overall.
– Changes in inequality are small after kindergarten and do not replicate consistently across grades, subjects, or cohorts. That said, socioeconomic gaps tend to shrink during the school year and grow during the summer, while the black-white gap tends to follow the opposite pattern.
– Socioeconomic gaps tend to shrink during the school year and grow during the summer, while the black-white gap tends to follow the opposite pattern.
– Inequality in basic reading and math skill originates mainly in early childhood, before kindergarten begins.
Current Selections
ClearInequality in Reading and Math Skills Forms Mainly before Kindergarten: A Replication, and Partial Correction, of ‘‘Are Schools the Great Equalizer?’’
Academic Achievement Trajectories of Adolescents from Mexican and East Asian Immigrant Families in the United States
What are the growth patterns of academic achievement of adolescent students from immigrant families?
Exposure to Classroom Poverty and Test Score Achievement: Contextual Effects or Selection?
How does exposure to classroom poverty affect student test achievement?
Students Changing Schools or Students' School Changes: Factors that Shape Trajectories of Exposure to School Segregation
1) Are there distinct trajectories of exposure to school segregation among a nationally representative sample of public school students?(2) If so, what is the relative importance of student school mobility and school segregation trajectories on membership in each distribution?
Ethnic Matching, School Placement, and Mathematics Achievement of African American Students from Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade
1) Do African American students perform better on mathematics achievement test when taught by an African American teacher? 2) What is the effect of African American teachers on the mathematics outcomes of African American students by gender, school poverty, percentage of minorities in school, and type of community?