How the Hardening of the Class Stratification System Affects At-Risk Children and Literacy Development

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium describes how these class stratification patterns influence student learning, in the very early years, and as students’ transition to independent reading in their uses of new media. It argues that the intensification of class status has given rise to a new set of self-reinforcing mechanisms that have deepened inequality to literacy development and information capital. The first paper sets the stage focusing on the beginnings of social class inequality and patterns that emerge in children’s behavioral and cognitive patterns and its effects on literacy development in the primary grades. The second and third papers describe aspects of a 10-year ethnography in two neighborhoods, one of poverty and the other of privilege, and how differences in access to resources early on and later translate into differential opportunities for learning. Our discussant, an economist and former New York Times education reporter focuses on the implications of these studies for educational reform. He argues that without serious and far-reaching educational and societal reforms, students who live in concentrated poverty will not have a fighting chance.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Section 5: Social Context of Research on Schools and Communities

Chair

• Whitney A. LeBoeuf, University of Pennsylvania

Papers

• Examining the Unique and Cumulative Effects of Risk Factors on Literacy Growth for Students From Grades 1-3 - John Fantuzzo, University of Pennsylvania; Whitney A. LeBoeuf, University of Pennsylvania; Benjamin Brumley, University of Pennsylvania

• Class Stratification and Young Children’s Access to Print: How Poverty and Privilege Affect Early Literacy Development - Susan B. Neuman, New York University; Donna Celano, La Salle University

• How Class Stratification Affects At-Risk Children and Literacy Development: The New Digital Divide - Donna Celano, La Salle University; Susan B. Neuman, New York University

Discussant

• Richard Rothstein, Economic Policy Institute