The Economic Achievement Gap in the US, 1960-2020 - CEPA Working Paper No. 21-09 - Preliminary/Partial Draft: For Discussion

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Sarah

Has the gap in average standardized test scores between students from high- and low-income families widened, narrowed, or stayed stable over the last three decades? The paper connects test-score disparities to unequal educational opportunities in the US and to economic mobility, arguing that widening signals growing educational inequality, while narrowing suggests more equity-enhancing changes in early childhood or K-12 schooling. Because test scores shape college admissions and labor-market prospects, trends in the gap may forecast later mobility shifts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages35

Reading Time1 h 28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Research focus and motivation

Prior studies and key findings

Method reconciliation approach

CEPA Working Paper No. 21-09 The Economic Achievement Gap in the US, 1960-2020: Reconciling Recent Empirical Findings AUTHORS sean f. reardon Stanford University ABSTRACT Has the gap in average standardized test scores between students from high-and low-income families widened, narrowed, or remained stable over the last 3 decades? The question is important both because the achievement gap is measure of how (un)equally educational opportunities are distributed in the US, and because the disparity in educational outcomes is a leading indicator of the degree of economic mobility. If the gap is widening, it suggests that children’s educational experiences and opportunities in early and middle childhood – in their homes, neighborhoods, childcare and preschool programs, and K-12 schools – are becoming increasingly unequal, a sign that the growing economic inequality in the US has led to a parallel growth in educational inequality. A narrowing gap, however, would suggest the opposite: changes in early childhood or K-12 schooling have been equity-enhancing, even in the face of increased economic inequality among families. And because test scores and the skills they measure are valued in college admissions and the labor market, the trend in the test score gap may predict the trend in economic mobility several decades later. VERSION November 2021 Suggested citation: Reardon, S. F. (2021) . The Economic Achievement Gap in the US, 1960-2020: Reconciling Recent Empirical Findings. (CEPA Working Paper No. 21. 09) . Retrieved from Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis: [https://cepa.stanford.edu/wp21-09](https://cepa.stanford.edu/wp21-09) The Economic Achievement Gap in the US, 1960-2020: Reconciling Recent Empirical Findings sean f. reardon Stanford University November 2021 Preliminary/Partial Draft: For Discussion Direct correspondence to sean f. reardon ([sean. reardon@stanford.edu](sean. reardon@stanford.edu)) . The Economic Achievement Gap in the US, 1960-2020: Reconciling Recent Empirical Findings Has the gap in average standardized test scores between students from high-and low-income families widened, narrowed, or remained stable over the last 3 decades? The question is important both because the achievement gap is measure of how (un)equally educational opportunities are distributed in the US, and because the disparity in educational outcomes is a leading indicator of the degree of economic mobility. If the gap is widening, it suggests that children’s educational experiences and opportunities in early and middle childhood – in their homes, neighborhoods, childcare and preschool programs, and K-12 schools – are becoming increasingly unequal, a sign that the growing economic inequality in the US has led to a parallel growth in educational inequality. A narrowing gap, however, would suggest the opposite: changes in early childhood or K-12 schooling have been equity-enhancing, even in the face of increased economic inequality among families. And because test scores and the skills they measure are valued in college admissions and the labor market, the trend in the test score gap may predict the trend in economic mobility several decades later. A number of recent papers have attempted to measure the trend in the income achievement gap. Sirin (2005), in a meta-analysis of published studies on the association between academic achievement and socioeconomic status, finds that the average correlation between the two declined from studies published prior to 1980 to those published in the 1990s. Reardon (2011), using data from a dozen different nationally-representative studies, estimated that the gap grew by 30-40% between cohorts born in the 1970s and 1990s. Reardon and Portilla (2016) (hereafter RP2016) used three nationally representative samples of kindergarteners born from 1993-2005 to estimate that the income achievement gap narrowed by 10-15% over that period. Chmielewski (2019), using several d

FAQs

What timeframe and metric does the paper examine?

It examines changes in standardized test-score gaps between students from high- and low-income families across roughly 1960 to 2020, focusing on the “90-10 income achievement gap” concept used in prior work.

Why does the paper treat the achievement gap as important?

Because the gap reflects how unequally educational opportunities are distributed in the US and acts as a leading indicator of economic mobility.

How does the paper explain different prior findings?

It aims to understand and reconcile divergent estimated trends by reexamining the methods and data used in major studies, with emphasis on three core papers.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Sarah