Written part

Team members
Santiago Ferreira
Emely Pereira
Mariana Miglionico
Teacher
Tania Núñez

Original text
Newspaper “The guardian” article
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/jul/01/schools.uk4

Schools
Summer opens up 'Harry Potter divide' in achievement

Donald MacLeod
Tue 1 Jul 2003 17.04 BST

A "Harry Potter divide" in the achievement of schoolchildren opens up in the summer

holidays, according to a leading American economist.

Alan Krueger, director of Princeton University's survey research centre, said middle
class families encouraged their children to read over the long summer break while children
from poorer families did not and their reading skills atrophied. He investigated this
phenomenon two years ago when the previous JK Rowling adventure was all the rage in the
US, he recounted in a lecture at the London School of Economics yesterday.

Test scores showed pupils from lower socioeconomic backgrounds did worse at the
beginning of the school year and their performance improved the longer they were in school.
Professor Krueger, who was chief economist at the US department of labour for a year under
the Clinton administration, believes much of the gap between the attainment of rich and poor
children opens up during the summer, and dubbed it the Harry Potter divide. He argued that
the actual time spent in school is important for children's attainment and the creation of
"human capital", which in turn has a decisive effect on people's earnings as adults.

The good news for policy makers is that school - and university - does work when it
comes to improving economic performance, but the bad news is that there appears to be no
quick fix or magic bullet - such as computers and information technology. Improving
educational attainment takes time - students', families' and teachers' - and is expensive.

Better teacher/pupil ratios have been proved to work, notably in the famous Tennessee
STAR experiment started in 1986, said Professor Krueger, who has been following up the
subsequent progress of the primary school pupils taught in smaller classes (15 to a teacher)
compared with those in standard classes of 22. Although the initial gap in achievement
decreased from about 5% in tests to 3%, it persisted to college age. College aspirations were
higher, SAT scores at high school were better and there was some evidence that arrests
among adult males were lower, he said. The largest effects were seen in children eligible for
free school meals, African-American and inner city pupils, with boys showing more
differences than girls in the short run. Professor Krueger suggested that smaller classes with
more individual attention from teachers was having a socialisation effect. "Children who
were having the most difficulty were learning to become students," he said.

More education measured by years in school, undergraduate and further degrees are
closely correlated to better earnings over the population in all countries. Research projects by
Professor Krueger have looked at whether there is a direct causal link - rather than, say,
people who are naturally harder workers getting better qualifications and jobs. In one study
he looked at twins and found that individuals did earn about 11% more for each year of
education. In a very large study of American children who had stayed longer in school
because of their birth dates he also found a link with earnings, confirmed by UK research on
the effects of raising the school leaving age. "Students who wanted to drop out at an early age
seem to benefit from being made to stay on," he concluded.

Summary
The article written by Donald MacLeod on July 1, 2003, addresses the disparity in
academic performance among children from families with a solid economic position and
those who lack similar resources, according to economist Alan Krueger, director of the
survey research center at Princeton University. This gap is particularly accentuated during the
summer, as it highlights the importance of reading during periods of rest as a crucial factor
for success in the educational sphere. This phenomenon is referred to as the "Harry Potter
divide," in reference to the time when the Harry Potter saga was at its peak and its influence
on promoting reading, resulting in improved reading skills and academic performance in the
formal educational environment.
This division underscores the relevance of long-term individual economic success for
those who have stronger reading skills, and at the same time, it indicates that there are no
quick or short-term solutions to improve education for students in general. However, it is
suggested that measures such as reducing the student-to-teacher ratio and providing
individualized attention may have a positive impact on academic performance. It also
emphasizes that the time children spend in school is crucial for their educational success and
future income. Furthermore, it mentions the STAR experiment in Tennessee, which
demonstrated that smaller classes with personalized attention support this idea with positive
effects on academic performance, especially for children receiving free school meals and
students from urban areas.
The economist also highlights that education and the level of schooling are strongly
correlated with higher income levels in the population of all countries. Additionally, various
studies have shown a causal relationship between the number of years of education and
income, suggesting that education plays a fundamental role in improving people's economic
situation.

Translation
El artículo escrito por Donald MacLeod el 01 de Julio de 2003 aborda la disparidad en
el rendimiento académico entre niños pertenecientes a familias con sólida posición
económica y aquellos que carecen de recursos similares según el economista Alan Krueger,
director del centro de investigación de encuestas de la Universidad de Princeton. Esta brecha
se acentúa especialmente durante el verano ya que resalta la importancia de la lectura,
durante los periodos de descanso, como un factor crucial para el éxito en el ámbito educativo.
Este fenómeno es denominado como la “división Harry Potter”, en referencia a la época en
que la saga de Harry Potter estaba en su apogeo y su influencia en la promoción de la lectura,
lo que resultaba en una mejora de las habilidades de lectura y el desempeño académico en el
entorno educativo formal.
 Esta división subraya la relevancia del éxito económico individual a largo plazo para
aquellos que tengan más habilidades en la lectura, y al mismo tiempo, indica que no existen
soluciones rápidas ni a corto plazo para mejorar la educación de los estudiantes en general.
No obstante, se sugiere que las medidas como la reducción de la proporción de estudiantes
por docente y la atención individualizada puedan tener un impacto positivo en el rendimiento
académico. Asimismo, enfatiza que el tiempo que los niños pasan en la escuela es crucial
para su éxito educativo y sus ingresos futuros. Por otro lado, menciona el experimento STAR
en Tennessee, que demostró que las clases más pequeñas con atención personalizada apoya
esta idea con efectos positivos en la actuación escolar, especialmente en niños que recibían
comidas escolares gratuitas y estudiantes de áreas urbanas.
El economista también destaca que la educación y el nivel de escolaridad están
fuertemente correlacionados con mayores ingresos en la población de todos los países.
Además, diversas investigaciones han demostrado que existe una relación causal entre la
cantidad de años de educación y los ingresos, lo que sugiere que la educación desempeña un
papel fundamental en la mejora de la situación económica de las personas.

Key terms
Achievement gap - education - reading skills - economic income
Brecha en el rendimiento - educación - habilidades de lectura - ingresos económicos

Source

WordReference.com: English to French, Italian, German & Spanish Dictionary,

https://www.wordreference.com/. Accessed 6 September 2023.

MacLeod, Donald, and Professor Krueger. “Summer opens up 'Harry Potter divide' in

achievement.” The Guardian, 1 July 2003,

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/jul/01/schools.uk4. Accessed 6

September 2023.