2008 - Inequality and Black-White Achievement Trends in the NAEP

Attribution: Magnuson, Katherine, Rosenbaum, Dan T., & Waldfogel, Jane
Researchers: Dan T. RosenbaumJane WaldfogelKatherine Magnuson
University Affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Email: kmagnuson@wisc.edu
Research Question:
Examining how recent changes in economic inequality and related social dimensions of inequality relate to trends in Black-White test score gaps. Links between inequality and black-white achievement trends for nine-years-olds are analyzed.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Russel Sage Foundation
Journal Entry: Steady Gains and Stalled Progress: Inequality and the Black-White Test Score Gap, Chapter 1, pp. 33-65
Year: 2008
Findings:
  • Controlling for child’s characteristic and average characteristics of families from same race group in that child’s state does help explain a portion of Black-White test score gap in math and reading.
  • Parental education particularly important
  • When state income inequality rises, the test score gap decreases but it is not contained to Black and White students.
  • In 1978, Black students scored 30.7 points lower (0.85 standard deviations) than White students on math tests
  • In 1990, Black students sharply gained in math scores which continued for the decade, with another sharp gain in 2004
  • In 1975, Black students scored 30.5 points (0.74 standard deviations) less than White students on reading test
  • No significant gain on reading test scores for Blacks except in 2004.
  • For both Blacks and Whites, income inequality is associated with lower math and reading scores
  • This inequality is slightly larger for Whites than for Blacks
  • Rising economic inequality negatively affects the achievement of Whites and Blacks but has little bearing on the Black-White test score gap
Keywords: Academic AchievementAchievement GapAfrican AmericanIncome GapMathReadingRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Secondary Survey DataAnalysis Methods: Fixed Effects Regression Models Sampling Frame:9th graders
Sampling Types: RandomAnalysis Units: StudentData Types: Quantitative-Longitudinal
Data Description:
  • Used scores from 9th graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress Long-Term Trend data (NAEP-LTT) from 1975-2004.
  • Combined data with March Current Population Survey (CPS)
  • Used only states and years which had at least twenty-five Black children with assessment data for at least two years with CPS data also available.
  • Controlled for child’s characteristic and average characteristics of families from same race group in that child’s state.
  • DV: Reading and math test scores
  • IV: Race and sex, parental education/newspaper receipt, maternal education/age, family structure, income inequality and poverty (measured as 50th percentile to 10th percentile median income of state)
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts