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No rich child left behind

From the NYT:

… consider two children, one from a family with income of $165,000 and one from a family with income of $15,000. These incomes are at the 90th and 10th percentiles of the income distribution nationally, meaning that 10 percent of children today grow up in families with incomes below $15,000 and 10 percent grow up in families with incomes above $165,000. [He should be looking at the income dist of families w/ children, but you get the idea.]

In the 1980s, on an 800-point SAT-type test scale, the average difference in test scores between two such children would have been about 90 points; today it is 125 points. This is almost twice as large as the 70-point test score gap between white and black children. Family income is now a better predictor of children’s success in school than race. 

The same pattern is evident in other, more tangible, measures of educational success, like college completion. In a study similar to mine, Martha J. Bailey and Susan M. Dynarski, economists at the University of Michigan, found that the proportion of students from upper-income families who earn a bachelor’s degree has increased by 18 percentage points over a 20-year period, while the completion rate of poor students has grown by only 4 points.

UO has several programs to help reduce the college enrollment and completion gaps: SAIL, OYSP, and PathwayOregon come to mind. Some focus on on income, some on race and ethnicity. It’s all good. You’re part of UO? Pick one, and volunteer to help. (Thanks to John Topanga for the tweet). 4/27/2013.

3 Comments

  1. Anonymous 04/28/2013

    Why do you always have to be anti-university?

    • Anonymous 04/28/2013

      Anti university? Did you actually say that?

      Check out the history of SAIL… started by the same person who started UOM.

    • UO Matters 04/28/2013

      I’m guessing “anti-university” was a sarcastic response to Barbara Altmann’s open letter. FWIW I’m also “indelibly associated” with the union. And responsible for many frivolous public records requests. And a frequent defamer of Randy Geller. Bedtime.

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