AERA Open - Cross-national Differences in Socioeconomic Achievement Inequality in Early Primary School: The Role of Parental Education and Income in Six Countries

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Adam

This article compares how strongly socioeconomic status (SES) relates to literacy skills at ages 6–8 using data from France, Germany, Japan, Rotterdam (Netherlands), the United Kingdom, and the United States. It tests whether the SES–literacy association depends on how SES is measured (parental education, income, or both), and whether early inequality mirrors patterns seen after lower secondary schooling. Results show marked cross-country differences that are largely insensitive to SES measurement and appear rooted in the early childhood period.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Conceptual background: SES, stratification, and opportunity

Data and methods

International large-scale assessment evidence and cross-national comparison

Findings

Cross-country differences in early achievement inequalities

Conclusion

Country context and early childhood roots of educational inequality

AERA Open January-December 2024, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 1–18 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584241299794 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2024. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) Cross-national Differences in Socioeconomic Achievement Inequality in Early Primary School: The Role of Parental Education and Income in Six Countries Jascha Dräger German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) Elizabeth Washbrook University of Bristol Thorsten Schneider Leipzig University Hideo Akabayashi Keio University Renske Keizer Erasmus University of Rotterdam Anne Solaz Institut national d’études démographiques (INED) Jane Waldfogel Columbia University Sanneke de la Rie Statistics Netherlands Yuriko Kameyama Keio University Sarah Kwon University of Chicago Kayo Nozaki Osaka University of Economics Valentina Perinetti Casoni University of Bristol Shinpei Sano Kobe University Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). Dräger et al. Alexandra Sheridan Institut national d’études démographiques (INED) Chizuru Shikishima Teikyo University This paper presents comparative information on the strength of the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and literacy skills at ages 6–8, drawing on data from France, Germany, Japan, Rotterdam (Netherlands), the United Kingdom, and the United States. We investigate whether the strength of the association between SES and literacy skills in early-to-mid childhood depends on the operationalization of SES (parental education, income, or both) and whether differences in inequalities at the end of lower secondary schooling documented in international large-scale assessments are already present when children have experienced at most two years of compulsory schooling. We find marked differences in SES-related inequalities in early achievement across countries that are largely insensitive to the way SES is measured and that seem to mirror inequalities reported for older students. We conclude that country context shapes the link between parental SES and educational achievement, with country differences rooted in the early childhood period. Keywords: achievement gap, social stratification, comparative education, regression analyses, secondary data analysis, effect size, educational inequality, international large-scale assessment studies, ex-post harmonization, student achievement, primary school entry, cross-national research Analysis of data from international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) like PISA at age 15 shows that stratification in educational achievement by family socioeconomic status (SES)—“the relative position of a family or an individual on a hierarchical social structure, based on their access to, or control over, wealth, prestige and power” (Willms & Tramonte, 2019, p. 289)—is pervasive. Parental SES determines early disparities in educational achievement and attainment and casts a long shadow in terms of its implications for the persistence of (dis)advantage across generations (Boudon, 1974; Breen & Müller, 2020). According to PISA, however, the relationship between SES and achievement is not uniform across countries. Equality of opportunity varies greatly across contexts, even among modern, high-income, democratic countries. Cross-national research that furthers understanding of the macro-level factors that shape educati

FAQs

What age range and outcomes does the study focus on?

The study examines literacy skills at ages 6–8 and the association with socioeconomic status (SES) across six countries.

Which SES measures are compared in the analysis?

SES is operationalized using parental education, parental income, or a combination of both to test whether the SES–literacy link changes with measurement.

What do the results indicate about cross-country inequality patterns?

The study finds marked differences in SES-related early achievement inequalities across countries that are largely insensitive to how SES is measured and that seem to mirror inequalities reported for older students.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Adam