Wei-Jun Jean Yeung Caroline H. Persell New York University
This project combines theories of community and social inequalities with insights from developmental psychology to test hypotheses about how family and out-of-home inequality contributes to the black-white achievement gap at different developmental stages. The study focuses on four important clusters of factors that have not received adequate attention in previous literature: (1) intergenerational resources such as grandparents' education and wealth, 2) racial inequalities in children's communities and schools, 3) family interactions, and 4) how community factors interact with individual children and families over a child's life course. The investigators will analyze data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development Supplements (PSID-CDS) and the U.S. Census. This database is uniquely suitable because it is the only current national dataset that includes educational assessment data for children from preschool to high school years and contains long family histories on children's parents and grandparents that can be matched to census data over three decades. These data allow for analysis across multiple generations and multiple contexts to help further identify factors that contribute to the large and persistent black-white gap in cognitive achievement.
The PIs hypothesize a two-step process in the creation of educational achievement gaps by race. Family social and economic factors and home environment explain racial educational achievement differences among very young children. These early achievement differences, in combination with community and intergenerational inequalities, contribute to later achievement gaps among older children. The data will be analyzed using advanced statistical techniques that can handle multiple variables together, such as regression analyses and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The analysis is expected to yield a richer understanding of the progression of racial educational disparities over a child's life course and the sources of the enduring educational disadvantages of black children.
In addition to theoretical contributions, findings from this project will have important implications for policy interventions such as the No Child Left Behind Act and affirmative action. The research findings will be integrated with education in multiple ways. First, the PIs will collaborate with graduate and undergraduate students on this project. Second, this research will be incorporated into courses taught by PIs to undergraduates such as Introduction to Sociology, Sociology of Education, Race and Education, Social Stratification, Sociology of the Family, Social Problems, and Research Methods. Third, findings will be incorporated into other projects conducted by PIs such as "Developing a National Model for a College-level Introduction to Sociology Course," and an advanced placement-type course for American high schools that the American Sociological Association will be distributing on its website.
