Chasing the American Dream

Children dream big. If you were to ask any young person what they want to be when they grow up, their answers will typically display a common theme focused on educational success and economic stability. However, for many, these dreams are often deferred. Moreover, the economic crisis of the last few years has driven many to ponder what role socioeconomic mobility, or a lack thereof, might play in shaping and cementing the nation’s concentration of wealth. In the recent paper, “Middle Childhood Success and Economic Mobility,” the Brookings Institution’s Social Genome Project endeavors to both define and clarify the existing gaps in childhood competencies-–what children know and can do–and measure how these gaps potentially impact adulthood success.

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998, the authors first set out to measure gaps in achievement among children in “middle childhood,” the period between early childhood and adolescence. The authors focused on gaps in three core competencies: cognitive and academic skills, social-emotional skills, and physical health. The social-emotional subgroup is composed of self-regulation and behavior, which have been found to be as important as academic skills in educational success.

By the fifth grade, 62 percent of children displayed core competence in all three domains. Though this figure implies that more than half of middle childhood students are reaching their relevant benchmarks, drilling deeper into the data highlights how disparate performance is among student groups. For instance, while 71 percent of white students attain core competencies, only 55 percent of Hispanic students and 39 percent of black students display the same level of achievement (although Hispanic and white children performed comparably on measures of social-emotional skills).  A sizable achievement gap is also apparent between girls and boys, with girls outperforming boys. On average, 69 percent of girls demonstrated core competencies, compared with only 55 percent of boys. Likewise, students living in poverty lagged behind their more advantaged peers by 29 points. Among disadvantaged children, only 40 percent showed core competencies.

The results also revealed a significant relationship between the level of maternal education and student performance. For example, mothers with a college degree are 20 percent more likely to have children who achieve all of the competencies than those who do not. Interestingly enough, when all else is equal, the level of maternal education has a larger impact on achievement than a parent’s marital status and socioeconomic status.  For instance, children with a married mother are 6 percent more likely to exhibit core competences, while those above the poverty line are 9 percent more likely.  Perhaps even more telling are the researchers’ findings on kindergarten readiness as a predictor of elementary school success. Controlling for race, gender, and socioeconomic characteristics, children that were prepared for kindergarten are 29 percent more likely to exhibit core competences in the fifth grade. Furthermore, once school readiness is factored in, the gap in the other areas decreases.

Given that the achievement gap widens with age, the authors posit that the findings indicate the importance of early childhood intervention on the academic, social-emotional and physical performance of individuals throughout both middle childhood and adulthood. They note that Hispanic and black children have historically either been underserved or received lower quality instruction through programs such as Head Start.

One suggestion is whole school reform, in which curriculum, teacher training, and testing is changed simultaneously. The authors make references to the Success for All (SFA) program, where students achieved performance in reading skills that was well above their peers. Social-emotional Learning (SEL) programs could also be a starting point given recent findings indicating that participants showed marked improvements in both conduct and academic performance.

While there are no easy answers, the authors suggest that improving the quality of education could pay large dividends. Extrapolating from their results, the authors suggest that programs that improve school quality and student performance could raise students’ lifetime income by up to $21,500.

Feature Photo: cc/mrcharly