To Narrow the Achievement Gap, Policymakers Need to Look Beyond the Classroom

Social and economic conditions shape children’s school and life outcomes and cannot be fixed primarily by school reform, according to a new report by University of New South Wales lecturer Leila Morsy and EPI research associate Richard Rothstein. In Five Social Disadvantages that Depress Student Performance: Why Schools Alone Can’t Close Achievement Gaps, Morsy and Rothstein examine five social class characteristics that hinder students’ academic achievement: parenting practices that impede children’s intellectual and behavioral development, single parenthood, parents’ irregular work schedules, inadequate access to healthcare, and lead exposure.

“While policymakers generally understand that family and community characteristics affect performance, they are perplexed about addressing their impact,” said Morsy. “Though not all lower-social-class families have each of these characteristics, all have many of them. Pushing policies that address these social class characteristics might be a more powerful way to raise the achievement of disadvantaged children than school improvement strategies.”

The paper features analysis of new research regarding lead poisoning, which reduces cognitive ability and causes adverse behavioral incomes in affected children, who are disproportionately low income and African American. Higher lead exposure in early childhood is correlated not only with lower average verbal and reading abilities, but also with increases in teenage aggressive behavior, teenage criminal behavior, and teenage pregnancy.

The social and economic conditions of parents also have a large influence on the school and life outcomes of children. Low-wage workers, who are disproportionately African American and less educated, are more likely to have irregular work schedules that make it difficult to place children in high-quality child care centers and to establish regular home routines in which children can thrive. Lower-social class parents also engage in fewer educationally supportive activities with young children. Finally, children of single parents—most often single mothers who are likely to be low-income, African American, and less educated—typically have lower test scores, are more likely to drop out of school, and have greater emotional and behavioral difficulties.

“Closing the education achievement gap by improving the outcomes of lower-social-class children means we need to reform their social conditions,” said Rothstein. “Policymakers should focus on improving the living conditions of these children and their families. That is likely to have a palpable impact on closing the achievement gap.”

The authors provide policy recommendations to address each of the characteristics. Because the five social and economic characteristics examined in the paper interact, improving one could have a positive effect on the others—for example, decreasing lower-class children’s lead poisoning could reduce single parenthood; more predictable work schedules for parents could provide them with opportunities to read more frequently to children.

The five specific characteristics analyzed in the report were chosen because new research has become available that demonstrates their impact on children’s school and life outcomes. Other social and economic characteristics that are not addressed in this report also strongly affect youth outcomes. Morsy and Rothstein will address additional characteristics in subsequent reports.

Featured

  • Image courtesy of MiEN Company

    6 Ways to Pull Off a Major District Construction Project

    Designing and building a large-scale project on a K–12 campus is a monumental undertaking that requires the right blend of ideas, funding, design and execution to get it right. The process also relies on multiple partners, each of which has to handle its respective aspect of the project while also keeping the district’s broader mission and goals in mind.

  • Greenheck Launches Optics Sensors for Kitchen Hoods

    Greenheck recently announced the launch of factory-installed optics sensors as an enhanced option for its kitchen ventilation hoods, according to a news release.

  • Creating a First and Lasting Impression with Thoughtful, Sustainable Design

    Clemson University’s Nieri Family Alumni and Visitors Center serves as the new front door to campus, anchoring the Tiger experience through each step in the student journey.

  • University of Kentucky Stormwater Harvesting System Receives Award

    The Utilities and Energy Management team from the University of Kentucky recently received a Grand Award at the 2025 Engineering Excellence Awards, according to a university news release. The award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Kentucky was for the university’s Central Utility Plant (CUP) Stormwater Harvesting System, which activated in fall 2023.

Digital Edition