- In the NICHD data set, substantial black-white gaps in mathematics and ELA skills are present at the beginning of kindergarten even after accounting for virtually the same set of family background characteristics that Fryer and Levitt used in their studies.
- Evidence sheds no light on the role of class size in influencing student achievement in classes with thirty-five or forty-five students.
- The amount of time teachers devote to mathematics instruction influences how much mathematics children learn.
- Student body composition matters, and the percentage of students living in poverty is a better indicator of the challenges schools face in enhancing student achievement than is the racial-ethnic composition of the student body.
- The coefficients on the racial-ethnic mix of the student body are not statistically significantly different from zero in this model, but the percentage of student living in poverty is a strong, statistically significant negative predictor of student achievement. This supports that the important characteristic of the student body is the percentage of students living in poverty. Schools serving high concentrations of students from poor families face especially large challenges, ones that relatively few schools have been able to consistently master.
- Shows that less conventional measures of school quality, including composition of the student body and how instruction time is spent, are important predictors of student achievement.