Rising income inequality and
widening gaps in education

Rising income inequality in the United States is exacerbating long-standing racial and ethnic gaps in, among other things, education outcomes. Today, black and Hispanic children are far more likely than non-Hispanic white children to grow up in poverty. And on average, children of color score lower on math and science tests than their non-Hispanic white peers. These two trends are not coincidence; families’ financial security affects children’s ability to reach their academic potential. In order to close the academic achievement gap, we must address rising income inequality in America.

Click on a button to view gaps

2000 – 2012 PISA Test Scores

What they mean:

The Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, is an international test that measures high school students’ reading, mathematics, and science ability.
Today, racial gaps in these test scores persist across the United States.

Academic achievement gaps are, in part,
a product of income inequality…

A host of factors influence a child’s performance in school, but research has found that a family’s income level plays a significant role as well.

By age 2, children from low income families
are 6 months behind their peers in critical language development and learning skills.

By age 6, children from wealthy families
will spend 1,300 more hours on enrichment activities such as music lessons.

The gap between high- and low-income children
on math and reading achievement test scores is higher today than it was 50 years ago.

See Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane, eds., Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011); Anne Fernald, Virginia A. Marchman, and Adriana Weisleder, “SES differences in language processing skill and vocabulary are evident after 18 months,” Developmental Science 16 (2) (2013): 234–24.

Preparing tomorrow’s workforce

Today, 50.3 percent of students in K-12 public schools across America are children of color.* These children are the future of our workforce, and we need to ensure that they are equipped with the skills our future economy needs. Over the next few decades, our economy will need a swath of people entering the workforce to fill the jobs left by retiring Baby Boomers and created by economic growth. The majority of these new workers will be people of color and the children currently in our classrooms. In fact, by 2030, 51 percent of the 83 million workers entering the workforce will be people of color. In order to ensure that these workers enter the labor force with the skills our future economy requires, our nation needs to start closing the academic achievement gap today.

* Correction, March 30, 2015: This interactive has been corrected to reflect that 50.3 percent of students are children of color in K-12 public schools.

Slide bar to view tomorrow’s workforce

2015 WORKFORCE BY GENERATION

Whites
 
Baby Boomers
 
 
Generation X
 
 
Millennials
 
 
Post-Millennials
 
 
Post-Millennials 2
 
 

People of Color
 
Baby Boomers
 
 
Generation X
 
 
Millennials
 
 
Post-Millennials
 
 
Post-Millennials 2
 
 

Source: Analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by Juan Carlos Guzman of the University of Notre Dame. For the purposes of this simulation, those born after 1946 are considered Baby Boomers; those born after 1965 are Generation X; those born after 1984 are Millennials; those born after 2003 are Post-Millennials; and those born after 2022 are Post-Millennials 2.

Experiences outside of the classroom
impact academic achievement

Consider a U.S. school with 150 children: 50 are non-Hispanic white, 50 are Hispanic, and 50 are black. Each of the marbles below represents one student. All of these students have experiences outside the classroom that affect their performances in school. For example, children who have difficulty accessing health care or whose parents struggle to put food on the table are also disadvantaged in the classroom.

Where children fall within the distribution of test scores isn’t random, it is, in part, a product
of the level of inequality they face outside of the class room.

Children in the US

Black
Hispanic
White

Children of color are less likely
to attend preschool.

Children not attending
preschool (2012)
  • 51% white
  • 63% Hispanic
  • 51% black

Children of color are less likely
to grow up in a financially secure home.

Children living
in poverty (2013)

  • 14% white
  • 33% Hispanic
  • 39% black

Children of color are less likely
to be covered by health insurance.

Children not covered by health insurance (2012)
  • 5% white
  • 12% Hispanic
  • 6% black
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Average scores

Black
Hispanic
White
421
455
506

Black and Hispanic students, on average, have much lower reading and math scores on the PISA tests than non-Hispanic white students.

Black, Hispanic & White
506

Increasing children of colors' access to key resources outside of school would go a long way toward closing the academic achievement gap.

Closing academic achievement gaps
will benefit all Americans

By investing in policies that help close the achievement gap, future workers will enter the labor force with greater skills, leading to a more productive economy. Ultimately, this increased productivity will mean higher incomes for all Americans and will
grow our economy.

See Robert Lynch and Patrick Oakford “The Economic Benefits of Closing Educational Achievement Gaps”
(Center for American Progress, 2014)