Skill Gaps in Children from Different Race/Ethnic Groups

A study based on the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study has examined the causes of school entry skill gaps in reading and math between Black and Hispanic children. Sources of Educational Inequality: The Growth of Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Test Score Gaps in Kindergarten and First Grade, was delivered at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

There are large skill gaps at kindergarten entry, and these gaps widen in the summer. Socioeconomic differences play an important role in these gaps when starting kindergarten and these gaps grow during the summer.

Continued growth in the skill gaps is due in part to differences in the schools attended by the groups and in part is due to differences between the groups in rate of learning at the same schools. During the kindergarten year, these gaps grow bigger between socioeconomic groups and white and minority students, even those attending the same schools. In first grade, differences between schools attended by the different race/ethnic groups contribute to the continued growth of skill gaps in math and reading.

Sources of Educational Inequality: The Growth of Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Test Score Gaps in Kindergarten and First Grade, is available online at www.pop.psu.edu/general/pubs/working_papers/psu-pri/wp0305R.pdf.

Population Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, 601 Oswald Tower, University Park, Pa 16802-6211, 814.865.0486 (voice), 814.863.8342 (fax), www.pop.psu.edu (web), sean@pop.psu.edu (e-mail).