Working Paper: NBER ID: w25648
Authors: Eric A. Hanushek; Jacob D. Light; Paul E. Peterson; Laura M. Talpey; Ludger Woessmann
Abstract: Rising inequality in the United States has raised concerns about potentially widening gaps in educational achievement by socio-economic status (SES). Using assessments from LTT-NAEP, Main-NAEP, TIMSS, and PISA that are psychometrically linked over time, we trace trends in SES gaps in achievement for U.S. student cohorts born between 1961 and 2001. Gaps in math, reading, and science achievement between the top and bottom quartiles of the SES distribution have closed by 0.05 standard deviations per decade over this period. The findings are consistent across alternative measures of SES and subsets of available tests and hold in more recent periods. At the current pace of closure, the achievement gap would not be eliminated until the second half of the 22nd Century.
Keywords: SES; achievement gap; education; longitudinal study
JEL Codes: H4; I2; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| SES (I20) | student achievement (I24) |
| SES-achievement gap (I24) | closure over time (C41) |
| SES-achievement gap (1961 cohort) (I24) | learning difference (J24) |
| Cohorts over time (C41) | SES-achievement gap trends (I24) |