Whither Opportunity? The American Dream, Then and Now: Examining the Relationship Between Increasing Economic Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

The session is designed to work toward two goals. (1) To educate participants about the central finding from the project, the evidence that supports it, and multiple and competing perspectives on what impact it should have on economic and educational policies and practices. (2) To provide participants with an opportunity to engage in facilitated discussion with others about the ideas that will be presented.

Test score differences between rich and poor children are much larger now than thirty years ago, as are differences in rates of college attendance and college graduation. It appears that economic inequality in the United States is undermining the very institutions, such as schools, that have traditionally worked to promote economic equality. For example, the gaps in achievement and behavior between high-income and low-income children are larger in grade 5 than in kindergarten, and this pattern continues through high school. For many low-income students, education is operating as an engine of downward mobility. Consequently, it is likely that many of the proposals for improving the life chances of children who are currently not faring well in schools may not work. Whither Opportunity provides powerful empirical evidence about how the stunning rise in economic inequality makes steeper the uphill climb facing the United States if we want to reclaim the historic linkage between education and equality.

Sub Unit

• Presidential Session

Cosponsor

• Division B - Curriculum Studies

Chair

• Diana E. Hess, Spencer Foundation

Participants

• Richard J. Murnane, Harvard University

• Greg Duncan, University of California - Irvine

• Deborah Loewenberg Ball, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Diana E. Hess, Spencer Foundation

• Charles M. Payne, University of Chicago

• Dan Goldhaber, University of Washington