Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

We examine gaps in school readiness between children from low- and high-income families in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, making use of large-scale and very detailed surveys that follow cohorts of children from school entry until the end of primary school, and until the start of high school in the US.  We find substantial inequality of school readiness and achievement in all four countries, but particularly in the US. Children from low-income families lag well behind their counterparts from high-income families in reading at school entry in all four countries, but the extent of inequality is significantly greater in the US.  As children move through school, this inequality does not lessen but rather widens, as the achievement of low-income children tends to lag compared to their more advantaged peers. We explore reasons for the greater inequality in the US, and also consider policy implications.