Panel:
Rising Income Inequality and Educational Outcomes for Poor Children
(Education)
Friday, November 4, 2016: 8:30 AM-10:00 AM
Columbia 1 (Washington Hilton)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Panel Organizers: Richard Murnane, Harvard University
Panel Chairs: Gerard Robinson, American Enterprise Institute
Discussants: Timothy Smeeding, University of Wisconsin - Madison and Kurt J. Bauman, U.S. Census Bureau
During the last several decades, inequality in family incomes in the U.S. has grown substantially. So have gaps in educational outcomes between children from low- and higher-income families. There is some evidence supporting a causal relationship between these trends. For example, inequality in spending on child enrichment has increased substantially. However, there is little knowledge of the mechanisms through which growing family income inequality may have contributed to inequality in educational outcomes. The three papers proposed for this session would contribute to this knowledge. In turn, the knowledge could inform public policy discussions about the promise of different strategies to close income-based gaps in educational outcomes. A paper by sociologist Ann Owens of USC examines the impact on educational outcomes of increasing school segregation by income. A paper by Melissa Kearney (U of Maryland) and Phil Levine (Wellesley) examines the extent to which income inequality affects high school graduation rates. A paper by Richard Murnane and Sean Reardon examines trends in the use of different kinds of private schools by families from different parts of the family income distribution.
