States as Sites of Educational (In)Equality: State Contexts and the Socioeconomic Achievement Gradient

Oct 15, 2026

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Socioeconomic achievement gaps remain central to education research, yet little is known about how and why between-district gaps differ across US states. Using data from the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA), the study characterizes state-level socioeconomic achievement gradients and their growth from Grades 3 to 8. It links gradient levels and growth to funding equity, preschool enrollment patterns, teacher distribution, income inequality, and segregation, finding substantial state variation and a positive association with between-district income segregation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time55 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

State role in shaping educational inequality

Defining the socioeconomic achievement gradient

Research approach and measures

AERA Open July-September 2019, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 1–22 DOI: 10. 1177/2332858419872459 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2019. [http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) States as Sites of Educational (In)Equality: State Contextsand the Socioeconomic Achievement Gradient Heewon Jang Sean F. Reardon Stanford University Socioeconomic achievement gaps have long been a central focus of educational research. However, not much is known about how (and why) between-district gaps vary among states, even though states are a primary organizational level in the decentralized education system in the United States. Using data from the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA), this study describes state-level socioeconomic achievement gradients and the growth of these gradients from Grades 3 to 8. We also examine state-level correlates of the gradients and their growth, including school system funding equity, preschool enrollment patterns, the distribution of teachers, income inequality, and segregation. We find that socioeconomic gradients and their growth rates vary considerably among states, and that between-district income segregation is positively associated with the socioeconomic achievement gradient. Keywords: socioeconomic achievement gap, between-district income segregation, Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA) Introduction The association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and children’s academic performance—the socioeconomic achievement gap—is large and has grown in the United States in the past few decades (Hanushek, Peterson, Talpey, & Woessmann, 2019; Reardon, 2011b) .1 This is likely due, at least in part, both to widening income inequality and to an increased focus on educational success as central to economic success. In combination, these trends have led to increases in economic segregation (Owens, 2016; Reardon, Bischoff, Owens, & Townsend, 2018) and growing disparities in parental investments in children’s education (Duncan & Murnane, 2011; Kornrich & Furstenberg, 2013) . As a result, rich and poor children today grow up in families and neighborhoods that provide very different levels of educational opportunities and supports than was the case 50 years ago. These socioeconomic disparities and the corresponding socioeconomic achievement gap are key features of today’s landscape of educational opportunity. A great deal of literature on socioeconomic disparities in educational outcomes has focused on family, neighborhood, and school factors shaping achievement gaps (Reardon, 2011b; Sirin, 2005) . This is true of much of the literature in the sociology of education since the Coleman report (Coleman et al., 1966) . The role of school district context, and of between-district inequality and the state-level forces that shape such inequality, has been less central in the sociological literature, however. This is less true in the economics and public policy literatures, where there is considerable scholarship on the role of state and local school funding distribution policies and early childhood education policies. Some of this literature suggests that state-level policies are important in shaping local educational contexts and educational inequality (Jackson, Johnson, & Persico, 2016; Lafortune, Rothstein, & Schanzenbach, 2018; Valentino, 2018; Wong, Cook, Barnett, & Jung, 2008) . This is unsurprising. States are key organizational levels in the decentralized education system in the United States. They set policy, distribute the large majority of public school funds, license teachers, and oversee curricula and accountability. Districts in turn have considerable leeway in allocating funds, assigning teachers and students to schools, and setting local priorities and foci. Both states and districts play roles in determining the availability and quality of pre

FAQs

What does the study investigate regarding socioeconomic achievement gaps across states?

It examines how state-level contexts and processes are associated with between-district socioeconomic achievement gradients and how those gradients grow from Grades 3 to 8.

How is a state’s socioeconomic achievement gradient defined in the article?

It is defined as the average difference in test scores between two districts that differ by 1 SD in average parental socioeconomic status.

Which factors are analyzed as correlates of the gradients and their growth?

The article examines school system funding equity, preschool enrollment patterns, teacher distribution, income inequality, and segregation at the state level.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Cart