– 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?’’
Pressurizing the STEM Pipeline: an Expectancy-Value Theory Analysis of Youths' STEM Attitudes
Through the lens of expectancy-value theory (EVT), what are the potential factors that influence STEM attitudes in the context of computing intervention?
Student–Teacher Ethno-Racial Matching and Reading Ability Group Placement in Early Grades
– Overall, 68% of students in the kindergarten sample and 69% of first grade students were assigned to teachers who share their ethno-racial identity.
– Overall, 38% of kindergarten and 71% in first-grade classes use ability grouping for reading.
– 27% of African American kindergartners were placed in low ability groups compared with 25% of Latino/a kindergartners and 18% of White kindergarten students.
– Around 44% of African American and 46% of Latino/a first graders were placed in low ability groups compared with 37% of White first graders.
– Having a same-race teacher has no direct and independent effect on student placement in higher ability groups in the kindergarten.
– By first grade, placement with same-race teachers has a strong positive and significant effect on Latino/a students’ ability group placement and a marginally positive effect on African American students’ ability group placement.
– Once previous ability group placement is controlled for, placement with same-race teachers continue to be a positive and significant predictor of Latino/a students’ ability group placement in the first grade.
– Teachers’ perceptions about students’ learning abilities are influenced to a certain extent by student–teacher ethno-racial congruence resulting in significant postive effects on higher group placements in kindergarten and first grade.
– Both African American and Latino/a students are significantly less likely to be placed in higher reading ability groups compared with White students.
– Male kindergartners are significantly less likely to be placed in higher ability groups.
– The higher the percentage of African American students in class, the more likely students will be placed in higher ability groups.
– Students from higher SES are more likely to be placed in higher ability groups. However, as the average classroom SES increases, students are significantly less likely to be placed in higher ability groups.
Does it Matter Who Your Schoolmates Are? An Investigation of the Association between School Composition, School Processes and Mathematics Achievement in the Early Years of Primary Education
(1) What are the effects of school composition with regard to prior math achievement, SES, ethnicity and sex on mathematics achievement at the end of the second grade? (2) Are there differential school composition effects? In other words: are all students affected equally by their school composition or are some specific subgroups more sensitive to their school composition than others? (3) Do certain school processes mediate the association between school composition and mathematics achievement at the end of the second grade?
Foundations of Mathematics Achievement: Instructional Practices and Diverse Kindergarten Students
Do teachers’ instructional practices differentially affect the mathematics achievement of kindergarten students whose backgrounds differ in terms of their race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and mathematic academic readiness?
Peer Effects in Urban Schools: Assessing the Impact of Classroom Composition on Student Achievement
This study evaluates the effects of classroom peers on standardized testing achievement for all third- and fourth-grade students in the Philadelphia School District over 6 school years.
Racial Segregation and the Black/White Achievement Gap, 1992 to 2009
H1:As black/white school dissimilarity increase, the black/white achievement gap increases H2:As exposure of black students to white students increases, the black/white achievement gap decreases H3: As exposure of black students to other minority students increases, the black/white achievement gap increases or remains stable H4: As black students become increasingly isolated by themselves, the black/white achievement gap increases.
Trust as a Mediator of the Relationships Between Poverty, Racial Composition, and Academic Achievement: Evidence from Michigan's Public Elementary Schools
Test the relationship btw trust and achievement / assess whether links btw academic achievement, SES, racial composition are mediated by trust levels
Ability Grouping Practices in Elementary School and African American/Hispanic Achievement
Examines the impact of ability grouping practices on the achievement gains among African Americans and Hispanics during elementary school.
Harming the Best: How Schools Affect the Black-White Achievement Gap
Study the impact of school quality on the B-W achievement gap & particularly its evolution across different parts of the achievement distribution.
Intellectual Role Taking: Supporting Discussion in Heterogeneous Elementary Science Classes
How to work with teachers to develop approaches to engage all students in asking each other questions and deeply engaging relevant conceptual ideas?
Can No Child Left Behind Close the Gaps in Pass Rates on Standardized Tests?
Quantify the degree to which the worst-performing schools can realistically increase their pass rates and thereby narrow the gap in pass rates.
Ethnic and Socioeconomic Class Composition and Language Proficiency: A Longitudinal Multilevel Examination in Dutch Elementary Schools
Ascertains the impact of ethnic and socioeconomic composition of pupils’ school classes on language proficiency.
Within-School Segregation in an Urban School District
Examine patterns in and evaluate the severity of within-school segregation across ethnic groups, grades, boroughs, and years.
Who's Left Behind? Immigrant Children in High and Low LEP Schools
Examines differences in the provision of educational services to LEP students across schools with varying proportions of LEP student enrollment
"We Value Diversity, but…" Academic Achievement of White, Middle Class Elementary Students in Segregated and Integrated Schools
Does academic achievement of elementary school children from white, middle class backgrounds differ depending on the racial makeup of their school?
Student Segregation and Achievement Tracking in Year-Round Schools
Studied multitrack year-round education (MT-YRE) schools (system that differentiates school attendance groups) in California.
Elementary School Teachers' Perceptions and Attitudes to the Educational Structure of Tracking
Explores teachers’ attitudes and perceptions about tracking in three NY State public schools.
Difficult from the Start: Implementing the Brown Decision in the Kansas City, Missouri Public Schools
History of school desegregation in Kansas City, Missouri.
Educational Benefits of Racially and Ethnically Diverse School
Summarizes research on school desegregation and the benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in K-12 schooling.
Why Public Schools Lose Teachers?
Why Public Schools Lose Teachers? Understanding of the effects of salary and other school factors on teacher transitions.
The New Segregation
Overview of US national demographic trends in school segregation and the results of research on immigrant children from Puerto Rico.
White Flight and White Return in Norfolk: A Test of Prediction
Compares prediction of continuing white flight In Norfolk to what actually happened there during the 1980s.
School Integration and the Academic Achievement of Negroes
Integration effects on Blacks achievement.