Panel:
Opening the Black Box: Racial and Socio-Economic Disparities in the Untested Early Grades
(Education)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
The early elementary grades (kindergarten through 2nd grade) play an important role in our educational system. First, teachers in these grades are tasked with laying an academic foundation upon which future learning can build. Second, the first years of grade school are critical to sustaining the academic boost that more and more students receive by virtue of attending a prekindergarten program (Magnuson, Ruhm & Waldfogel, 2007).
Though the early elementary grades are seen as developmentally important, education policy in the United States has traditionally shifted stakeholders’ focus away from grades K through 2. Federal policies such as the Every Student Succeeds Act and its predecessor No Child Left Behind, for example, mandated that standardized assessments be given to students in grades 3 through 8. The wealth of student achievement data produced by these assessments has led scholars to thoroughly explore issues of equity beginning in 3rd grade. The early elementary grades, meanwhile, remain relatively understudied as a result of these data constraints.
Existing research has used nationally representative data to document student achievement at kindergarten entry and explore the relationship between these early skills and academic outcomes in later grades. However, data limitations have inhibited researchers’ ability to answer important questions regarding how early gaps change over time, how these gaps relate to achievement gaps observed on standardized tests in later grades, and what mechanisms might drive these disparities. Using new data and unique approaches, the papers included in this panel update and provide further nuance to the disparities revealed by prior research.
“Trends in Children’s Academic Achievement at School Entry: 2010 to 2017” uses a large, nationally-weighted NWEA dataset to document how gaps at school entry have developed between 2010 and 2017. The authors of “Racial and Socio-Economic Disparities in the Relationship Between Kindergarten Skills and 3rd Grade Proficiency: New Evidence from Virginia” examine how the relationship between students’ skills at kindergarten entry and their proficiency on a high-stakes assessment in 3rd grade vary across subgroups. “And Then Comes Testing: How Schools Reallocate Classroom Time When High-Stakes Testing Begins in 3rd Grade” looks at how accountability pressures during the early grades might differentially impact instructional practices in elementary schools serving high concentrations of low-income and non-white students. Lastly, the authors of “Can a Child Be Poor and Gifted? Socioeconomic Gaps in Receipt of Gifted Services” use data from both kindergarten cohorts followed by the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K) to document discrepancies in receipt of gifted services between low-income and high-income students.
Taken together, these papers provide a rare glimpse of the magnitude of opportunity and achievement gaps during the early elementary grades. They also point to several mechanisms underlying these gaps that represent exciting directions for future research. This discussion will provide stakeholders with a more holistic view of disparities in educational opportunity and attainment during the early elementary grades that will help inform equity-based approaches to early learning.
