SchoolDistrictSocioeconomicStatus,Race,andAcademicAchievement

SeanF.Reardon

StanfordUniversity




PreliminaryDraft,fordiscussion

Version:April,2016

TheresearchdescribedherewassupportedbygrantsfromtheInstituteofEducationSciences
(R305D110018),theSpencerFoundation,andtheWilliamT.GrantFoundation.Thepaperwouldnothave
beenpossiblewithouttheassistanceofRossSanty,MichaelHawes,andMarilynSeastrom,who
facilitatedaccesstotheEdFactsdata.Thispaperbenefittedsubstantiallyfromongoingcollaborationwith
AndrewHo,DemetraKalogrides,KennethShores,ErinFahle,andBenShear.Someofthedatausedinthis
paperwereprovidedbytheNationalCenterforEducationStatistics(NCES).Theopinionsexpressedhere
aremyownanddonotrepresentviewsofNCES,theInstituteofEducationSciences,theSpencer
Foundation,theWilliamT.GrantFoundation,ortheU.S.DepartmentofEducation.Direct
correspondenceandcommentstoSeanF.Reardon,sean.reardon@stanford.edu,520CERASBuilding
#526,StanfordUniversity,Stanford,CA94305.

 SchoolDistrictSocioeconomicStatus,Race,andAcademicAchievement

HowmuchdoesacademicperformancevaryamongschooldistrictsandcommunitiesintheU.S.?

Howmuchofthatvariationisduetothesocioeconomiccontextoftheschoolsandthesocioeconomic

backgroundofthestudents?Howdotestscoresvarybyracewithinandbetweendistricts?

ThisshortreportusesnewdatafromtheStanfordEducationDataArchivetoinvestigatethesequestions.

Itisaworkingdraftthatwillbeupdatedinthenextfewweeks.Theintendedpurposeistohighlightkey

patternsofacademicachievementacrossthecountry;infuturepapersIwilladdadditionalmoredetailed

analyses.

TestScoreData

ThetestscoredatausedherecomefromtheStanfordEducationDataArchive(SEDA),which

includesestimatesoftheaveragetestscoresofstudentsinalmosteverypublicschooldistrictinthe

UnitedStates(seda.stanford.edu).Theseestimatesarebasedonroughly215millionstateaccountability

testscores(representingmorethan40millionstudents)onmathandEnglishLanguageArts(ELA)testsin

grades38intheyears20092013ineverypublicschooldistrictintheUnitedStates.Detailsonthe

sourceandconstructionoftheestimatesisavailableontheSEDAwebsite.

Thescoresareplacedonacommonscaleacrossstates,grades,andyears,sothatperformance

canbemeaningfullycomparedacrossplaces.ThescaleIusehereisoneinwhichtestscoresare

standardizedinrelationtotheaveragenationalperformanceforeachgradelevel.Althoughscoresare

availableforeachschooldistrictineachyearfrom2009to2013andeachgradefrom3to8,Iusea

versionoftheSEDAdatathataveragesthesescoresacrossgradesandyearstocreateasingleaverage

scoreforeachdistrict;IalsopoolthescoresacrossmathandELAforpresentationalsimplicity,sincethe

twoareveryhighlycorrelatedatthedistrictlevel.Theresultingmeasureisscaledsothatavalueof0

indicatesthatstudentsinadistrictscore,onaverage,atthenationalaverageofstudentsattheirgrade

level;aunitdifferenceinthescalecorrespondstothenationalaveragedifferenceinscoresbetween

studentsinadjacentgrades.

Ialsoestimatetheaveragewithingrade(acrosscohort)changeinscoresforeachdistrictandthe

averagewithincohort(acrossgrades)changeinscoreswithineachdistrict.Themeasureoftherateof

changeacrossgradeshasameanof1byconstruction(studentsscoresincreasebyonegradelevelon

averageeachyear);largervaluesindicatestudentsinadistrictmakefasterthanaveragegrowth(soa

growthrateof1.1wouldindicatethatstudentscoresinthatdistrictgrow10%fasterthanaverage,or

aboutahalfgrademorethanaveragefrom3rdto8thgrade).

MeasuringAverageSocioeconomicStatusAmongStudentsEnrolledinaSchoolDistrict

Inordertomeasurethesocioeconomiccharacteristicsofthefamiliesofchildren,Iusedatafrom

theAmericanCommunitySurvey(ACS).TheACSincludesdetailedsociodemographicdataforfamilies

livingineachschooldistrictintheU.S.;thesetabulationsareavailablethroughtheSchoolDistrict

DemographicSystem(SDDS).Iusedatafromthe200610SDDStabulationsbecausetheyinclude

tabulationsoffamilycharacteristicsamongfamilieswithschoolagechildrenenrolledinpublicschools.

Inparticular,Iusesixmeasuresofthesocioeconomiccompositionoffamilieslivinginadistrict

withchildrenenrolledinpublicschools:1)medianfamilyincome;2)percentofadultswithabachelors

degreeorhigherdegree;3)povertyrate;4)unemploymentrate;5)SNAPeligibilityrate;6)thepercentof

familiesheadedbyasingleparent.Eachoftheseisavailableseparatelybyrace/ethnicity(forracial/ethnic

groupsofsufficientlocalpopulationsize).

Iconstructameasureofeachdistrictsaveragesocioeconomicstatusasthefirstprincipal

componentofthesixmeasuresabove.Thismeasureisstandardizedtohaveameanofzeroanda

standarddeviationof1.Togiveasenseofhowthismeasureisscaled,Table1describestheaverage

characteristicsofschooldistrictsatvariousvaluesoftheSEScomposite.

Table1:

AverageFamilySocioeconomicCharacteristics,atVariousDistrictSESCompositeValues

SESComposite
3 2 1 0 1 2
MedianFamilyIncome $24,038 $31,026 $39,634 $53,029 $78,644 $136,804
%WithBAorHigher 13.5% 14.9% 14.6% 18.3% 32.3% 62.4%
PovertyRate 48.0% 37.6% 25.9% 14.7% 6.0% 1.6%
SNAPEligibilityRate 50.0% 39.9% 27.6% 15.5% 5.6% 0.2%
UnemploymentRate 10.5% 8.0% 6.0% 4.5% 3.4% 2.6%
SingleParentFamilyRate 51.9% 41.9% 31.7% 22.2% 14.6% 10.0%

Ialsoconstructthesamesocioeconomicstatuscompositeseparatelybyrace.Idothisby

applyingthesamescoringequationtotheracespecificsocioeconomicdistrictcharacteristics.Thismeans

thatthescaleofsocioeconomicstatusisdirectlycomparableacrossrace/ethnicgroups.Icomputerace

specificSESonlywheretheSDDStabulationsofACSdataincluderacespecificmeasuresforall6ofthe

variablesinthecomposite(whenagivenracialgroupistoosmallwithinaschooldistrict,theSDDS

tabulationsarenotavailable).

ThedataIusehereincludes11,280schooldistrictsforwhichIamabletocomputea

socioeconomicstatusvariableandforwhichtheSEDAdataincludemeasuresofacademicachievement.

Districtsnotincludedinthesamplearepredominantlyverysmalldistrictsforwhichsamplesaretoosmall

forSDDStoreportsocioeconomiccharacteristicsorthathavefewerthan20studentstotalpergrade(in

whichcasetheSEDAdatadonotincludeestimatesofaveragetestscores).The11,280districts

collectivelyenroll3.7millionstudentspergrade(over90%ofallpublicschoolstudentsintheU.S.)

Whenreportingracespecificaveragetestscores,Ilimitthesampletodistrictbyrace

combinationsforwhichtherewereatleast200studentspergradeandatleast100studentsofagiven

racepergradeinthedistrict.Thisrestrictionensuresthattheracespecificmeansarehighlyreliable.The

sampleincludes1,514districtsforwhichSEDAincludesaveragetestscoresforwhitestudents;946with

scoresforblackstudents;and1,115withscoresforHispanicstudents.Thesedistrictsinclude46%ofall

whitestudents;78%ofallblackstudents;and74%ofallHispanicstudents.

Table2belowdescribestheaveragesocioeconomiccompositevaluesamongdistricts,weighted

byeachrace/ethnicgroupsenrollment.ThetoprowindicatestheaverageSESamongall11,280districts

inoursample,weightedbyracial/ethnicenrollment.Theaveragewhitestudentisenrolledinadistrict

withSESlevels0.94standarddeviationshigherthantheaverageblackstudent;and0.63standard

deviationshigherthantheaverageHispanicstudent.Amongthe1,514districtsforwhichIhavewhite

meanscores,theaveragewhitestudentisinadistrictwheretheaverageSESis0.17,butwherethe

averageSESamongwhitestudentsis0.56.Inotherwords,whitestudentstypicallyattendschooldistricts

wheretheirwhitepeersarefrommoreadvantagedfamiliesthantheirnonwhitepeers.Thepatternis

theoppositeforblackandHispanicstudents.Theaverageblackstudentattendsschoolinadistrictwhere

herblackpeersarefarpoorerthanhernonblackpeers;thesameholdsforHispanicsthoughthe

discrepancyisnotaslarge.

Thesebetweenandwithindistrictdiscrepanciesareimportantforunderstandingbetweenand

withindistrictracialdisparitiesinacademicachievement,asweshallseebelow.

Table2:

AverageDistrictSocioeconomicCharacteristics,byRace/EthnicGroup

Group
White Black Hispanic
AverageDistrictSES(inallDistricts) 0.30 0.64 0.33
AverageDistrictSES(inRaceSampleDistricts 0.17 0.63 0.28
AverageSESofSameRaceinDistrict 0.56 1.99 0.96
N(districts) 1514 946 1115
Note:Meansareweightedbyracespecificdistrictenrollment.

AverageAcademicPerformance,bySchoolDistrictSocioeconomicStatus

Ibeginbyexaminingthepatternofassociationbetweendistrictsocioeconomicstatusand

averageacademicachievement.Beforedoingso,itisimportanttonotethataveragetestscoresina

districtshouldnotbeinterpretedasameasureofschoolquality.Testscoresandacademicperformance

moregenerallyareshapedbymanyfactorsotherthanschools.Theyareshapedbychildrensfamilies,

theirhomeenvironments,theirneighborhoodcontexts,theirchildcareandpreschoolexperiences,

afterschoolexperiences,andbytheirschools.Knowingthatchildreninaparticularcommunityscored

higher,onaverage,thanthoseinanothercommunitydoesnottellusthattheschoolswerebetterinthat

community.Averagetestscoresaremoreappropriatelyinterpretedasameasureoftheeducational

opportunitiesavailabletochildrenlivingwithinadistrict.Moreover,whilemathandELAtestscoresarea

proxyforthedesiredoutcomesofschooling;theydonotmeasureallaspectsofchilddevelopmentthat

students,parents,andsocietyvalue.

Withthatinmind,Figure1plotstheaveragetestscoresineachofthe11,280schooldistricts,

Figure1

AcademicAchievementandSocioeconomicStatus
USSchoolDistricts,20092013

AverageAchievement(GradeLevels)
4

5
4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3

<Poor/DisadvantagedAffluent/Advantaged>

againsttheaverageSESlevelofthestudentsenrolledinthedistrict.Thebubblesintheplotareweighted

bythesizeofthedistrict.

Severalthingsarestrikinginthisfigure.Firstistheobvious,andverystrong,relationshipbetween

districtsocioeconomicstatusandaverageacademicachievement.Thedistrictlevelcorrelationbetween

thetwois0.78;thestudentlevelcorrelation(thatis,thecorrelationweightedbydistrictenrollment),is

0.84.Studentsinmanyofthemostadvantagedschooldistrictshavetestscoresthataremorethanfour

gradelevelsabovethoseofstudentsinthemostdisadvantageddistricts.Thesocioeconomiccontextofa

schooldistrictisaverypowerfulpredictorofstudentsacademicperformance

Ofthe1,000poorestdistrictsintheU.S.,only68(6.8%)havemeantestscoresatorabovethe

nationalaverage.Thesearemostlysmalldistricts;theycollectivelyenrollabout7,000studentspergrade

(lessthantwotenthsofonepercentofallstudentsintheU.S.).Likewise,ofthe1,000mostaffluent

districtsintheU.S.,only16(1.6%ofdistricts,collectivelyenrollingfewerthan1,000studentspergrade)

havemeantestscoresatorbelowthenationalaverage.Inotherwords,wehavelittleevidencethatwe

knowhowtoprovideadequateeducationalopportunitiesforchildrengrowingupinlowincome

communities.

Secondisthefactthat,despitethisstrongassociationbetweenSESandaverageacademic

performance,thereareschooldistrictswiththesamelevelofSESbutwithmeaningfullydifferentaverage

testscores.TheresidualstandarddeviationaroundthefittedregressioncurveinFigure1is0.64.Roughly

5percentofdistrictshaveaveragescoresmorethanonegradelevelabovewhatwewouldpredictbased

ontheirsocioeconomicstatus;another5percenthaveaveragescoresmorethanonegradelevelbelow

whatIwouldpredict.Thisvariationisnotconfinedtosmalldistricts;evenamonglargeschooldistricts

(highlightedinFigure2),thereissubstantialvariationinaveragetestscoreamongschooldistrictswith

similarsocioeconomicprofiles.

Figure2

AcademicAchievementandSocioeconomicStatus
100LargestUSSchoolDistricts,20092013

AverageAchievement(GradeLevels)
4

5
4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3

<Poor/DisadvantagedAffluent/Advantaged>

Racial/EthnicDifferencesinAverageAchievement

Figure1showstheaverageperformanceofallstudentsineachschooldistrict.Butevenwithin

thesamedistrict,therearelargeracialdifferencesinaverageachievement.InFigure3,eachbubble

correspondstoarace/ethnicgroupwithinaspecificschooldistrict.Thepointsareplottedagainstthe

averagedistrictSES(ofallstudents).SoonecanthinkofthisfigureastakingeachpointinFigure1,and

breakingitintomultiplebubbles,eachofwhichisplacedverticallyaboveorbelowtheoveralldistrictdot

inaccordancewiththatgroupsaveragetestscores.

Notethattheonlypointsshownherearethosecaseswherethereareatleast100studentsofa

givenracepergradeinadistrict,andwherethereareatleast200studentspergradeoverallinthe

district.Manydistrictsaretoosmalltomeetthisthreshold,andevenamongthosewithatleast200

students,manydonothavemorethanonegroupwithatleast100studentspergrade.Thereforemany

districtsdonotappearatallinFigure3;someappearonlyforonerace;othersappearfortwoorthree

groups.

Figure3illustratesthattheracialachievementgapsareverylarge,evenamongstudentsof

differentrace/ethnicitieswhoattendschoolswithsimilarsocioeconomicconditions.Theverticaldistance

betweenthethreegroupsisquitelarge.Onaveragewhitestudentsscoreoneandhalformoregrade

levelshigherthanblackandHispanicstudentsenrolledinsocioeconomicallysimilarschooldistricts.

TheotherstrikingfeatureofFigure3isthatthereareveryfewschooldistrictswhereblack

studentsscore,onaverage,atorabovethenationalaverage.Infact,ofthe946schooldistrictswithat

least100blackstudentspergrade,thereareonly18districts,enrollingatotalofroughly3000black

studentspergrade(onehalfofonepercentofallblackstudentsintheU.S.)inwhichblackstudents

averagetestscoresareatorabovethenationalaverage.

Figure3

AcademicAchievementandSocioeconomicStatus,byRace/Ethnicity
USSchoolDistrictsWith100+StudentsofaGivenRace/Ethnicity,20092013

AverageAchievement(GradeLevels)
4

2
WhiteStudents 3
HispanicStudents
4
BlackStudents
5
5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3
<Poor/DisadvantagedAffluent/Advantaged>
OverallDistrictSocioeoconomicStatus

Onereasonforthelargeracial/ethnicdisparitiesinachievementmaybethatevenamongthose

wholiveindistrictswithsimilarsocioeconomicconditions,blackandHispanicstudentsarepoorer,on

average,thanwhitestudents(seeTable2above).Figure4presentsthesamesampleofdistrictsasFigure

3,butnoweachrace/ethnicgroupisplacedhorizontallyinrelationtoitsowngroupsaverage

socioeconomicstatuswithinthedistrict.Blackstudentshave,onaverage,lowerlevelsofSESthan

Hispanicstudents,whointurnhavelowerSESthanwhitestudents.Figure4showsthatthesedifferences

explainsome,butnotallofthedifferencesinacademicachievementbetweenwhiteandnonwhite

students.EveninschooldistrictswhereblackstudentshaverelativelyhighSES,theyscorefarbelow

(morethanagradelevelbelow)whitestudentsindistrictswherewhitestudentsthesamesocioeconomic

status.Clearlyracialdifferencesinsocioeconomiccontextandconditionsarepartofthereasonforblack

andHispanicstudentslowerachievementthanwhitestudents,buttheyarenotthewholereason.

Figure4

AcademicAchievementandSocioeconomicStatus,byRace/Ethnicity
USSchoolDistrictsWith100+StudentsofaGivenRace/Ethnicity,20092013

AverageAchievement(GradeLevels)
4

2
WhiteStudents 3
HispanicStudents
4
BlackStudents
5
5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3
<Poor/DisadvantagedAffluent/Advantaged>
RaceSpecificDistrictSocioeoconomicStatus

GrowthinAcademicPerformanceAcrossGrades

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 TheSEDAdataincludeatleastoneyearoftestscoresfor10cohortsofstudents,thosewho

enteredkindergartenfromFall2000throughFall2009(theearliestofthesecohortswouldbeexpected

tobein8thgradein2009,thefirstyearoftheSEDAdata;thelatestofthesewouldbeexpectedtobein

3rdgradein2013,thelastyearoftheSEDAdata).Mostofthesecohortsareobservedfor2ormoreyears,

sowecanestimatetheaveragechangeintestscores,withincohorts.Theseestimatesareplottedin

Figure5inrelationtosocioeconomicstatus.

NotablehereistheSESgrowthrategradient.Averagetestscoresgrowmoderatelyfasterin

higherSESschooldistrictsthaninlowSESdistricts.Theslopeofthefittedlineisabout0.04,meaning

thatdistrictsthatdifferby1standarddeviationinSESdifferbyabout4%intheannualgrowthrateof

theirstudentsperformance.Thismeansthatstudentsinthemostaffluentschooldistrictsgainalmost1

yearmoreofacademicperformancegrowthbetweenthirdandeighthgradethandothepoorestschool

districts.

Figure5

AcademicAchievementGrowthandSocioeconomicStatus
100LargestUSSchoolDistricts,20092013
1.50
AverageGrowth(Grades/Year)
1.25

1.00

0.75

0.50

4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3

<Poor/DisadvantagedAffluent/Advantaged>

11

ThismeansthatperformancedisparitybetweenhighandlowSESdistrictsislargerin8thgradethanin3rd

grade.Figure6displaysthis;itshowsthefittedregressionlineoftheassociationbetweenschooldistrict

averagetestscoresandSESforeachgradefrom38.Thelineisroughly20%steeperby8thgrade.

DistrictSESAchievementGradient,byGrade
USSchoolDistricts,20092013

AverageAchievement(GradeLevels)
5

2
Grade3 Grade6
3
Grade4 Grade7
4
Grade5 Grade8
5
4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3

<Poor/DisadvantagedAffluent/Advantaged>

Conclusion

Thedatahereprovidealook,unprecedentedindetail,atthepatternsofacademicachievement

acrossschooldistrictsintheU.S.Theyshowseveralkeythings:

1. Thevariationinacademicachievementamongschooldistrictsisverylarge;studentsinsome

districtshavescoresmorethan4gradelevelshigherthanothers.

2. Thisvariationisveryhighlycorrelatedwiththesocioeconomiccharacteristicsoffamiliesinthe

localcommunity.Itisnotclear,however,howmuchoftheassociationisduetodifferencesinthe

qualityofschooling,orintheopportunitieschildrenhavetolearnanddevelopoutsideofschool,

intheirhomesandneighborhoods.

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 3. Theassociationbetweencommunitysocioeconomicstatusandacademicperformancegrows

steeperaschildrenprogressthroughschool.Again,itisnotclearwhetherthisresultsfrom

differencesinthequalityofschoolsinhighandlowincomecommunities,orbecauseof

differencesinchildrensoutsideofschoolopportunitiestolearn.

4. Racial/ethnicdisparitiesinacademicperformancearelarge,bothoverallandwithinindividual

schooldistricts.TheaveragewithindistrictwhiteblackandwhiteHispanicachievementgapsare

roughly2.0and1.5gradelevels,respectively.Moreover,extremelyfewblackandHispanic

studentsliveinschooldistrictswhereaverageachievementisatthenationalaverageforgrade

level.

5. Partofthewithindistrictracialachievementgapsaretheresultofracial/ethnicdisparitiesin

familysocioeconomicbackground.Buteveninplaceswherewhiteandblackorwhiteand

Hispanicstudentscomefromfamilieswiththesamesocioeconomiccharacteristics,racial/ethnic

achievementgapsarepresent,andsubstantial.

Together,thesefindingssuggestthatsocioeconomiccontextisapowerfulforceshaping

childrenseducationalopportunitiesandsuccess.Butpovertyisnotdestiny;inequalityisnotinevitable.

Thereareplaceswherechildrenofagivensocioeconomicbackgroundperformmuchbetteronteststhan

childreninotherplaceswiththesamebackground.Itisessentialthatwelearnfromsuchplacessothat

wecanimproveeducationalopportunitiesforchildrenwhodonothavetheopportunitytogrowupinan

affluentcommunity.

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