Measuring Socioeconomic Status to Contextualize Educational Achievement: A Discussion on Methods, Applications, and Challenges

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

A wide variety of measures have been utilized by researchers as proxies for socioeconomic status (SES), which is arguably the most widely used contextual variable in educational research. While different operational definitions of SES have been employed by researchers, student SES has consistently been shown to have a strong association with educational outcomes. This symposium will discuss challenges of measuring student poverty, followed by an exploration of relationships between student, school, or neighborhood level SES indicators and proficiency using data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The session will conclude with a broader methodological discussion describing a potential solution to a practical challenge related to measurement error in SES indicators that are measured by self-report.

Sub Unit

• SIG-NAEP Studies

Chair

• Judy H. Tang, Westat

Papers

• Growing Challenges of Aligning Measures of Student Poverty Across States and Over Time - Kristin Blagg, The Urban Institute; Erica Greenberg, Urban Institute

• Relationships Between Socioeconomic Status Indicators and Proficiency Using NAEP Data - Carol Eckerly, Educational Testing Service; Paul A Jewsbury, Educational Testing Service

• Exploring Proxies for Student Socioeconomic Status: The Context of School and Home Resources - Judy H. Tang, Westat; Ning Rui, Amazon

• Understanding the Multifaceted Nature of Educational Advantage Through an Expanded Composite Measure of Socioeconomic Status - Ning Rui, Amazon; Judy H. Tang, Westat

• It is Surprisingly Hard to Measure Income Segregation - Josh Gagné, Stanford University; Sean F. Reardon, Stanford University

Discussant

• Leslie Rutkowski, Indiana University