Educational Inequality in the United States and International Achievement Outcomes: Are the Poor Really to Blame for the United States' Underperformance?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Socioeconomic Inequality and Student Achievement

Abstract

Scholars, media outlets, and educational policy makers have demonstrated a growing concern for the low performance of the United States relative to other high-income nations. Furthermore, they have suggested that growing income inequality coupled with the underperformance of low-SES students on achievement tests are responsible for these low scores. However, these assumptions have not been empirically tested. We use 2012 PISA outcomes to examine the achievement of high-, middle-, and low-SES students in the US and compare them to the relative performance of students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds in other high-income countries. We find that high- and low-SES students in the US score within the average range for all high-income countries. However, middle-SES students underperform relative to their international peers.

Authors

• Jonathan Jarvis

• Kristie J. Rowley, Brigham Young University

• Florencia Silveira, Brigham Young University

• Mikaela J. Dufur, Brigham Young University