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Race and Ethnicity
Race and Ethnicity, Social Class, and Early Achievement Gaps
Family social class explains up to 80 percent of racial and ethnic achievement gaps.
Updated September 21, 2024 Reviewed by Devon Frye
Key points
- Racial and ethnic achievement gaps are already very large by elementary school.
- Differences in family social class by race and ethnicity are also very large by elementary school.
- Family social class explain up to 80 percent of racial and ethnic achievement gaps in U.S. elementary schools.
- Economic and educational policies by kindergarten may help lessen large racial and ethnic achievement gaps.
Racial and ethnic achievement gaps are already large by the time kids reach elementary school. One explanation for these achievement gaps is the greater likelihood that Black and Hispanic students experience economic disadvantage before elementary school. Another is biased and discriminatory practices occurring in U.S. elementary schools.
Yet to what extent economic disadvantage largely explains racial and ethnic achievement gaps during elementary school is currently unclear. Prior work has analyzed cross-sectional or older longitudinal datasets and used limited measures of family socioeconomic status.
We conducted a series of descriptive statistics and regression analyses to better understand how family socioeconomic status as well as additional home environmental factors explain racial and ethnic achievement gaps during elementary school. We did so in analyses of two nationally representative cohorts and using measures of parental education and occupation, family income, household structure, and the home environment (e.g., emergent literacy activities, family rules on watching TV, parental warmth) measured by kindergarten. We published these findings in a new report.
What did we find? We found that Black-White and Hispanic-White achievement gaps in reading, mathematics, and science achievement are already very large by first grade. These gaps are still large in third and fifth grade.
The average level of mathematics achievement of Black students is about .70 of a standard deviation lower than White students by first grade. Achievement gaps between Black and White students increased in mathematics and reading across elementary school. By fifth grade, Black students averaged mathematics achievement that was about .80 of a standard deviation lower than White students. Hispanic students averaged mathematics and science achievement in fifth grade that was about .60 of a standard deviation lower than White students.
We then observed large differences in family socioeconomic status by race and ethnicity. For example, about 60 percent of Black and Hispanic students were living in low-income families. The contrasting percentages for White and Asian students were 20 and 25 percent, respectively. About 50 percent of Black students were being raised in two-parent households. The contrasting percentages for Asian, White, and Hispanic students were about 95 percent, 90 percent, and 80 percent.
These early socioeconomic differences substantially explained racial and ethnic achievement gaps during elementary school. Adjusting for socioeconomic factors in kindergarten reduced the Black-White and Hispanic-White reading achievement gaps in first grade by 70 and 80 percent, respectively. Between 40 percent to 50 percent and 70 percent to 80 percent of the reading, mathematics, and science achievement gaps between Black-White and Hispanic-White students in fifth grade were explained by socioeconomic factors measured in kindergarten. These factors also helped explain racial and ethnic differences in advanced levels of reading, mathematics, and science achievement.
What do our findings mean? Our findings suggest that efforts to address racial and ethnic achievement gaps should begin by elementary school. By this time, the achievement gaps are already very large.
Economic policies designed to lessen children’s early exposure to economic disadvantage, which would disproportionately benefit Black and Hispanic families, would be expected to substantially lessen racial and ethnic achievement gaps during elementary school. Examples of such evidence-based policies include the earned income tax credit, cash transfers, and helping low-income families access high-quality early childcare and education.
Addressing biased and discriminatory practices might also be helpful, particularly for Black students. Without these and additional economic and educational policies, racial and ethnic achievement gaps in U.S. schools will continue.
