Seasonal Dynamics of Academic Achievement Inequality by Socioeconomic Status and Race/Ethnicity

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 443-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Quinn ◽  
North Cooc ◽  
Joe McIntyre ◽  
Celia J. Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Test Score ◽  
School Year ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Test Score Gaps ◽  
Kindergarten Class

Early studies examining seasonal variation in academic achievement inequality generally concluded that socioeconomic test score gaps grew more over the summer than the school year, suggesting schools served as “equalizers.” In this study, we analyze seasonal trends in socioeconomic status (SES) and racial/ethnic test score gaps using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011 (ECLS-K:2011), which includes more school-year and summer rounds than previous national studies. We further examine how inequality dynamics are influenced by the operationalization of inequality. Findings are consistent with a story in which schools initially accelerate relatively lower-achieving groups’ learning more so than higher-achieving groups; however, this school-year equalizing is not consistently maintained and sometimes reverses. When operationalizing inequality as changes in relative position, the reversal of school-year equalizing is more pronounced.

scholarly journals Are We Trending to More or Less Between-Group Achievement Inequality Over the School Year and Summer? Comparing Across ECLS-K Cohorts

AERA Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 233285841881999 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Quinn ◽  
Q. Tien Le
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Summer Vacation ◽  
School Year ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Recent Cohort ◽  
Hispanic White ◽  
Over Time

Scholars have argued that schools are “equalizers” because inequalities in test scores by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) grow faster over summer vacation than over the school year. In this study, we use nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Classes of 1998–1999 and 2010–2011 to examine the extent to which such patterns have changed over time. Results suggest that more between-group equalizing by race/ethnicity and SES occurred over kindergarten in the recent cohort. However, this was often followed by more inequality widening over summer and more widening or less narrowing over first grade in the latter cohort. The net result was that in recent years, inequality tended to widen more (Black-White) or narrow less (SES and Hispanic-White) over the first 2 years of schooling.

Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Disparities in STEM Career Aspirations at the Intersection of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Status

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 525-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guan Saw ◽  
Chi-Ning Chang ◽  
Hsun-Yu Chan
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Career Aspirations ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Stem Career ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Low Ses Students ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Stem Career Aspirations

Analyzing the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), this study examined the cross-sectional and longitudinal disparities in STEM career aspirations at the intersection of gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES). Results indicated that female, Black, Hispanic, and low SES students were less likely to show, maintain, and develop an interest in STEM careers during high school years. Compared with White boys from higher SES background, girls from all racial/ethnic and SES groups, as well as Black and Hispanic boys from lower SES groups, consistently had lower rates of interest, persistence, and developing an interest in STEM fields.

scholarly journals Do Schools Reduce or Exacerbate Inequality? How the Associations Between Student Achievement and Achievement Growth Influence Our Understanding of the Role of Schooling

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 728-774
Author(s):  
Hanna Dumont ◽  
Douglas D. Ready
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
School Level ◽  
Achievement Growth ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Academic Inequality ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Parallel Growth ◽  
Kindergarten Class

This article explores how the associations between student achievement and achievement growth influence our understanding of the role schools play in academic inequality. Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011 (ECLS-K:2011), we constructed parallel growth and lagged score models within both seasonal learning and school effects frameworks to study how student- and school-level socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds relate to student learning. Our findings suggest that seasonal comparative scholars, who generally argue that schools play an equalizing role, and scholars focused on school compositional effects, who typically report that schools exacerbate inequality, come to these contrasting findings not only because they ask different questions but also because they treat student initial achievement differently when modeling student learning.

scholarly journals Trends in medical and surgical admission length of stay by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status: a time series analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnab K Ghosh ◽  
Orysya Soroka ◽  
Mark A Unruh ◽  
Martin Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Median Income ◽  
Adverse Health Outcomes ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Fourth Quartile ◽  
Zip Code ◽  
Surgical Admission

Length of stay, a metric of hospital efficiency, differs by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES). Longer LOS is associated with adverse health outcomes. We assessed differences in average adjusted length of stay (aALOS) over time by race/ethnicity, and SES stratified by discharge destination (home or non-home). Using the 2009-2014 State Inpatient Datasets from three states, we examined trends in aALOS differences by race/ethnicity, and SES (defined first vs fourth quartile of median income by zip code) controlling for patient, disease and hospital characteristics. For those discharged home, racial/ethnic and SES aALOS differences remained stable. Notably, for those discharged to non-home destinations, Black vs White, and low vs high SES aALOS differences increased significantly from 2009 to 2013, more sharply after Q3 2011, the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Further research to understand the impact of the ACA on hospital efficiencies, and relationship to racial/ethnic and SES differences in LOS is warranted.

Racial/ethnic disparity in obesity among US youth, 1999–2013

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruopeng An
Keyword(s):  
Survey Design ◽  
Ethnic Disparity ◽  
Theil Index ◽  
Obesity Prevalence ◽  
Obesity Epidemic ◽  
Fundamental Goal ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Abstract Background: One fundamental goal in the Healthy People 2020 is to achieve health equity and eliminate disparities. Objective: To examine the annual trends in racial/ethnic disparity in obesity among US youth from 1999 to 2013. Subjects: Nationally representative sample of 108,811 students in grades 9th–12th from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) 1999–2013 surveys. Methods: Body mass index (BMI) was calculated based on self-reported height and weight. Obesity in youth is defined as BMI at or above 95th sex- and age-specific percentile of the 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts. Multiple logistic regressions were conducted to estimate the annual prevalence of obesity by race/ethnicity, adjusted for gender and age group and accounted for the YRBSS survey design. Between-group variance (BGV) was used to measure absolute racial/ethnic disparity in obesity, and the mean log deviation (MLD) and the Theil Index (T) were used to measure relative racial/ethnic disparity in obesity, weighted by corresponding racial/ethnic population size. Results: The obesity prevalence among non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic African Americans, non-Hispanic other race or multi-race, and Hispanic increased from 10.05%, 12.31%, 10.25%, and 13.24% in 1999 to 13.14%, 15.76%, 10.87%, and 15.20% in 2013, respectively. Both absolute and relative racial/ethnic disparity in obesity increased initially since 1999 but then steadily declined starting from mid-2000s back to around its original level by 2013. Conclusion: The obesity epidemic in youth is marked by salient and persistent disparity pertaining to race/ethnicity. No improvement on racial/ethnic disparity in obesity among American youth was observed during 1999–2013.

scholarly journals Mechanisms of Stratification in In-Person Instruction in the Wake of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica McCrory Calarco ◽  
Max Coleman ◽  
Andrew Halpern-Manners
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Full Time ◽  
School Year ◽  
High Risk Family ◽  
Parental Availability ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Full Time Employment ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Remote Learning

In this mixed-methods study, we ask why participation in in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic varied by race/ethnicity and SES. We consider three possible mechanisms—stratified access to in-person instruction, stratified risks related to in-person instruction, and stratified parental availability to support remote learning. We use data from a national online survey fielded through Ipsos in December 2020 with a probability sample of 2,016 US parents with at least one child under 18. We analyze both closed-ended and open-ended questions regarding parents’ decisions about school-age children’s participation in in-person instruction during the 2020-2021 school year. After accounting for differences in access, risk, and parental availability, we found no significant racial/ethnic or SES differences in parents’ likelihood of choosing in-person instruction. Instead, access, risk, and parental availability were strongly predictive of these decisions. Our qualitative analyses further clarified how access, risk, and parental availability influenced families’ decisions regarding in-person school. Families with limited availability tended to choose in-person instruction because of the challenges of combining remote learning with full-time employment. Meanwhile, families who had high-risk family members and lived in communities with high rates of viral transmission tended to choose remote or homeschooling, particularly if they also had a family member who could provide support at home. We discuss the implications of these findings for efforts to understand and address the inequalities in students’ and families’ outcomes in the wake of COVID-19, concluding that families’ decisions were driven largely by pandemic and pre-pandemic inequalities in families’ lives.

scholarly journals Variation in early childhood parental investment in a US birth cohort: The effects of race, socioeconomic status and place.

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey Sparks
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Birth Order ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Parental Investment ◽  
Residential Location ◽  
Rural Residence ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Parental investment can take many forms. This often takes the form of embodied capital. The ability to invest in a child may be compromised by the socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity and residential location of the parents. In addition, differential investment by sex may also play a role. This analysis uses data from a survey of children to examine disparities in parental investment by SES, race/ethnicity and residential location. Results indicate that after controlling for parental SES, children of certain racial/ethnic groups face a disparity in parental investment. This disparity is exacerbated by low parental SES, rural residence, sex and birth order.

A transdisciplinary approach to understand the epigenetic basis of race/ethnicity health disparities

Epigenomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas A Salas ◽  
Lauren C Peres ◽  
Zaneta M Thayer ◽  
Rick WA Smith ◽  
Yichen Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Cancer Research ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Disease Burden ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Biological Anthropology ◽  
Transdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Health disparities correspond to differences in disease burden and mortality among socially defined population groups. Such disparities may emerge according to race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status and a variety of other social contexts, and are documented for a wide range of diseases. Here, we provide a transdisciplinary perspective on the contribution of epigenetics to the understanding of health disparities, with a special emphasis on disparities across socially defined racial/ethnic groups. Scientists in the fields of biological anthropology, bioinformatics and molecular epidemiology provide a summary of theoretical, statistical and practical considerations for conducting epigenetic health disparities research, and provide examples of successful applications from cancer research using this approach.

scholarly journals Geographic Differences in the Dietary Quality of Food Purchases among Participants in the Nationally Representative Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS)

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Vadiveloo ◽  
Elie Perraud ◽  
Haley W. Parker ◽  
Filippa Juul ◽  
Niyati Parekh
Keyword(s):  
Diet Quality ◽  
Ethnic Disparities ◽  
Healthy Eating Index ◽  
The South ◽  
Food Acquisition ◽  
The West ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Objective grocery transactions may reflect diet, but it is unclear whether the diet quality of grocery purchases mirrors geographic and racial/ethnic disparities in diet-related diseases. This cross-sectional analysis of 3961 households in the nationally representative Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey evaluated geographic and racial/ethnic disparities in grocery purchase quality. Respondents self-reported demographics and recorded purchases over 7 days; the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2015 assessed diet quality. Survey-weighted multivariable-adjusted regression determined whether there were geographic and racial/ethnic differences in HEI-15 scores. Respondents were, on average, 50.6 years, non-Hispanic white (NHW) (70.3%), female (70.2%), and had attended some college (57.8%). HEI-15 scores differed across geographic region (p < 0.05), with the highest scores in the West (57.0 ± 0.8) and lowest scores in the South (53.1 ± 0.8), and there was effect modification by race/ethnicity (p-interaction = 0.02). Regionally, there were diet disparities among NHW and non-Hispanic black (NHB) households; NHWs in the South had HEI-15 scores 3.2 points lower than NHWs in the West (p = 0.003). Southern NHB households had HEI-15 scores 8.1 points lower than Western NHB households (p = 0.013). Racial/ethnic disparities in total HEI-15 by region existed in the Midwest and South, where Hispanic households in the Midwest and South had significantly lower diet quality than NHW households. Heterogeneous disparities in the diet quality of grocery purchases by region and race/ethnicity necessitate tailored approaches to reduce diet-related disease.

scholarly journals Difficulty Orientations, Gender, and Race/Ethnicity: An Intersectional Analysis of Pathways to STEM Degrees

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Nix ◽  
Lara Perez-Felkner
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Mathematics Ability ◽  
Engineering Mathematics ◽  
Predicted Probability ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Mathematics Difficulty

Is there a relationship between mathematics ability beliefs and STEM degrees? Fields such as physics, engineering, mathematics, and computer science (PEMC) are thought to require talent or brilliance. However, the potential effects of difficulty perceptions on students’ participation in STEM have yet to be examined using a gender and race/ethnicity intersectional lens. Using nationally representative U.S. longitudinal data, we measure gender and racial/ethnic variation in secondary students’ orientation towards mathematics difficulty. We observed nuanced relationships between mathematics difficulty orientation, gender, race/ethnicity, and PEMC major and degree outcomes. In secondary school, the gap between boys’ and girls’ mathematics difficulty orientations were wider than gaps between White and non-White students. Mathematics difficulty orientation was positively associated with both declaring majors and earning degrees in PEMC. This relationship varied more strongly based on gender than race/ethnicity. Notably, Black women show higher gains in predicted probability to declare a mathematics-intensive major as compared to all other women, given their mathematics difficulty orientations. This study’s findings show that both gender and racial/ethnic identities may influence the relationship between mathematics difficulty orientation and postsecondary STEM outcomes.

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