Trends in U.S. SES-Achievement Gap

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. At the current pace of closure, the achievement gap would not be eliminated until the second half of the 22nd Century.

Here you can find a short non-technical overview on this topic.

Research paper:

Long-run Trends in the U.S. SES-Achievement Gap (with E.A. Hanushek, J.D. Light, P.E. Peterson, and L.M. Talpey). Education Finance and Policy 17 (4): 608-640, 2022 [tweet]

Non-technical contributions:

The Achievement Gap Fails to Close (with E.A. Hanushek, P.E. Peterson, and L.M. Talpey). Education Next 19 (3): 8-17, 2019

US Achievement Gaps Hold Steady in the Face of Substantial Policy Initiatives (with E.A. Hanushek, P.E. Peterson, and L.M. Talpey). VOX, 15.4.2019

Brief video in Intellections series of PolicyEd: