FIGURE 2. Development of Income Achievement Gaps in Reading,
Kindergarten–8th grade
Educational
success has become
increasingly
essential to
economic success.
•
Spring G3
•
Spring G5
• Spring G8
•
•
•
•Spring G1 Spring K
Fall G1 Fall K
academic success. Economic policies
that reduce inequality; family support
policies that ensure children grow up
in stable, secure homes and neighborhoods; and early-childhood education
policies that promote cognitive and
social development should all be part
of a comprehensive strategy to close the
economic achievement gap.
Nonetheless, schools do have a key
role to play in the efforts to reduce this
gap. Among the school-based strategies
that might be most effective, I suggest
three specific areas.
First, states and school districts could
devote a greater share of their resources
and efforts to the earliest grades,
including kindergarten and preschool.
Because achievement gaps are self-perpetuating, the earlier we intervene to
reduce them, the more effective we will
be at eliminating them in the long run.
Second, growing evidence suggests
that more time in school (for example,
extending the school day or year or providing after-school or summer-school
programs) may help to narrow academic
achievement gaps—if the added time is
used effectively (Dobbie & Fryer, 2011;
National Center on Time and Learning,
2012). Although the evidence is far
from conclusive at this point, it appears
to be a strategy worth pursuing.
Third, states and school districts can
Average Difference in Standardized Test Scores
Between 90th & 10th Income Percentile Families
In standard deviation units
1. 50
1. 25
1.00
. 75
. 50
. 25
5
.00
7
9 11
Age of student
13
15
Source: Adapted from “The Widening Socioeconomic Status Achievement Gap: New Evidence
and Possible Explanations” (p. 100) by S. F. Reardon, in R. J. Murnane & G. J. Duncan (Eds.),
Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances, 2011, New York:
Russell Sage Foundation.
do more to ensure that all students have
equal access to high-quality teachers,
stimulating curriculum and instruction,
and adequate school resources (
computers, libraries, and the like). The
United States has grown more residentially segregated by income over the
last four decades (Reardon & Bischoff,
2011), meaning that schools have,
in many places, become increasingly
segregated by income as well. School
districts can work against this growing
segregation by developing student
assignment systems that promote socio-economic diversity within schools.
widening income inequality in the
United States over the last four decades.
But it is a symptom with real and
important consequences.
If we do not find ways to reduce the
growing inequality in education outcomes, we are in danger of bequeathing
our children a society in which the
American Dream—the promise that one
can rise, through education and hard
work, to any position in society—is no
longer a reality. Our schools cannot be
expected to solve this problem on their
own, but they must be part of the
solution. EL
Important Consequences
The widening income achievement gap
is a symptom of a confluence of trends
that have accompanied and exacerbated
1Analysis of data from the National
Assessment of Educational Progress
(Rampey, Dion, & Donahue, 2009) and
from the 12 studies suggests that the
income achievement gap is not widening
