A new report from the  released this week studied the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on disparities in reading, mathematics, and science achievement among racial and ethnic groups of elementary students in the United States.

Among other things, the study looked at which SES factors best explain existing achievement gaps, along with disparities among high-achieving students. The authors analyzed two sets of data from the federal Early Child Longitudinal Study, from 1998-99 and 2010-11.

The study’s resulting analysis “a broad set of family SES factors explains a substantial portion of racial achievement gaps: between 34 and 64 percent of the Black-white gap and between 51 and 77 percent of the Hispanic-white gap, depending on the subject and grade level.”

“Racial achievement gaps in schools are well documented and remain a significant cause of concern in education. Troubling too is that the role of socioeconomic disparities in mediating these gaps remains unresolved,” the “While SES accounts for much of the racial achievement disparities, closing these gaps requires a comprehensive approach, including improving school quality and supporting family stability.”

The institute’s study used a broad set of measures of family background, including parents’ education, family finances, household structure, and “household opportunity factors.” The latter measure refers to academic, enrichment, and familial activities.

The authors of the study, University of Albany’s Eric Hengyu Hu and Paul L. Morgan, identified the following key findings from their analysis:

• Racial achievement gaps decrease significantly when controlling for the SES factors (though SES explains more of the Hispanic-white gap than the Black-white gap).
• Of all the SES factors analyzed, household income best explains the Black-white gap in academic achievement and mother鈥檚 education best explains the Hispanic-white gap.
• SES indicators, and the extent to which they explain racial/ethnic achievement gaps, are stable over time (1998-99 and 2010-11).
• SES also helps explain racial and ethnic excellence gaps (differences in the proportions of student groups within the highest achievement levels). The SES factors explain a larger share of Hispanic-white excellence gaps than Black-white excellence gaps across the board.
• The Black-white achievement gap grows as students age through elementary school, while the Hispanic-white gap shrinks.

Key findings from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s study.

To close such gaps, the authors recommend investments in early childhood education and income supplements, such as expanding child tax credits.

“Because achievement gaps are already evident by elementary school, including as early as kindergarten, investing in high-quality early childhood education programs, especially in underprivileged communities, may be beneficial in mitigating the effects of socioeconomic disparities,” the report says.

In addition to early childhood investments, the authors also propose the following solutions:

• Support programs to help parents earn their high school diplomas or higher education credentials.
• Economic support and financial aid for low-income families.
• Addressing racial and ethnic disparities, including the adoption of 鈥渃urricula that reflect diverse cultures and programs that specifically support underrepresented students,鈥� and student-teacher racial and ethnic matching.

“Whatever the approach, there is no denying the urgency of making the U.S. educational system more equitable,” the report says. “…The time to act is now. By enacting comprehensive and inclusive policies, we can narrow achievement gaps and create a more just educational landscape for the next generation.”

You can download and read the full study .

A look a gaps in North Carolina

Achievement gaps — also known as opportunity or equity gaps — follow national trends in North Carolina.

, following the start of the pandemic, only 51% of students tested as grade-level proficient. Proficiency was even lower among historically disadvantaged students, at 33% for Black students, 40% for Hispanic students, and 35% for economically disadvantaged students.

While those rates slightly increased during , gaps and low proficiency rates persist.

More highlights from the report

Thomas B. Fordham Institute President Michael J. Petrilli wrote in the report’s foreword that “the vast racial disparities in socioeconomic conditions and prenatal and early-life health experiences explain the achievement gaps we see between racial and ethnic groups, at least at school entry.”

Citing by economists Roland Fryer and Steven Levitt, “Understanding the Black-White Test Score Gap in the First Two Years of School,” Petrilli writes that this suggests that “universal, race-neutral interventions designed to improve the academic, social, economic, and health conditions of the poor would lift all boats and would also narrow racial gaps.”

Using data from the federal Early Child Longitudinal Study — data cited by Fryer and Levitt, along with more recent data — Petrilli said the report aimed to answer a few questions:

• Had the relationship between socioeconomic achievement gaps and racial/ethnic achievement gaps shifted?
• Was the Black-white gap still growing during elementary school?
• And how did all of this look for the white-Hispanic gap and for subjects beyond just reading and math?

Here is a look at the measures explored in the institute’s paper.

The institute鈥檚 study found that family socioeconomic factors explain more 鈥渙f the Black-white achievement gap in first grade reading than in other subjects and grade levels.鈥� The report proposes this may be the case because parents play a larger role in teaching language skills to young children than they do for math and science.

鈥淭he advantages of high SES鈥攁nd disadvantages of low SES鈥攖hus show up more for students鈥� initial reading skills than for their math and science ones,” the report says. “As students get older and benefit from classroom instruction, their relative advantages and disadvantages start to matter less.”

However, while the gap narrows with age, there is still a gap. According to the report, this likely means “we still haven鈥檛 closed the ‘school quality gap’ between Black students and their white peers.”

As mentioned above, the report also found that family socioeconomic factors 鈥渆xplain more of the Hispanic-white achievement gap than the Black-white achievement gap.鈥�

According to the report, this could be because Hispanic children in Spanish-speaking families 鈥渉ave latent potential that is obscured by their lack of English skills.鈥�

The report also suggests that non-socioeconomic factors, racism, and bias affect Black children at higher rates than their Hispanic peers.

“For lower-income Black children, who are more likely to experience deep, persistent poverty than other groups, the combination of ‘adverse childhood experiences’ might exacerbate inequalities,” the report says. “And for middle class Black children, bias, stereotype threat, and related factors might be especially at play. This might also be why the Black-white achievement gap grows over the course of elementary school, while the Hispanic-white gap shrinks.”

Petrilli concludes: “When it comes to the interplay between race, poverty, and schooling, the honest read is that it鈥檚 complicated. What鈥檚 undeniable, though, is that much hard work remains, especially when it comes to providing effective schools to marginalized students, especially those who are Black. Let鈥檚 keep at it.”

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

A new case study released in June highlights  as a leader in improving student success and closing racial equity gaps.

, from the , documents changes implemented at Forsyth Tech under the leadership of president Janet Spriggs. Forsyth Tech used strategic planning to improve the student onboarding experience, which has resulted in higher completion rates and closed racial equity gaps.

鈥淏y focusing on the student experience and implementing strategic changes in our advising and support services, we have made significant strides in improving completion rates and closing equity gaps,鈥� Spriggs said. 鈥淲e are proud of the progress we have made and remain committed to ensuring that all students at Forsyth Tech have the support they need to succeed.鈥�

When Spriggs became president of Forsyth Tech in 2019, three-year completion rates were behind the national average. Only 12% of Hispanic/Latino students and 6% of Black students graduated within that three-year span. The goal highlighted in the case study was to improve student success by making significant changes to the student onboarding, enrollment, and advising processes through what they called the 鈥淪tudent Experience of Onboarding鈥� project.

Forsyth Tech used the strategic planning process to tie changes in onboarding to broader institutional goals. Spriggs promoted a campus culture that was 鈥渙pen to change and driven by data rather than by adherence to the status quo,鈥� the case study said. Researchers said the president鈥檚 collaboration with key stakeholders across campus brought the college together to implement the changes.

The case study is part of a larger series of case studies that accompany a . Each case study highlights 鈥渓eader moves鈥� that promote systemic institutional change.

The Forsyth Tech case study highlights several leader moves made by Spriggs to improve student success. One such move was to create a shared vision with expectations and pacing.

The college鈥檚 mission is to meet students where they are, and Spriggs used this mission to create a shared vision around making the college 鈥渟tudent ready鈥� rather than saying students were not 鈥渃ollege ready.鈥� As part of this shared vision, Forsyth Tech restructured student support services to proactively reach out to help with enrollment and registration. 

According to the case study, data collection was an important part of implementing change. As part of the 鈥渟ensemake and learn鈥� leader move, Forsyth Tech grew their capacity for data collection and tracking on campus to help keep stakeholders aware of student performance as well as equity gaps.

The case study highlights the leadership context, which it defines as the internal and external factors that 鈥渟hape a leader鈥檚 change landscape鈥� and influence their decision-making. Being a community college with a mission to serve students from all backgrounds helped Spriggs get buy in from faculty and staff for the project, she said. 

The case study also identified two levers, which it defines as opportunities to amplify change.

The first lever Forsyth Tech used was the strategic planning process, which they leveraged to get buy in for the project. The second lever was external partnerships. Forsyth Tech collaborated with the , , and the National Academic Advising Association (), which helped validate the new onboarding and advising approaches.

According to the case study, the overall completion rate at Forsyth Tech improved to 31% as a result of this project. In terms of closing equity gaps, the completion rate gap for Black students decreased by 15 percentage points, and Hispanic/Latino students are now completing at higher rates than white students.