Racial/ethnic Inequality in Middle School Course-Taking: Unequal Access to Advanced Math Courses Between and Within Schools

• In Event: 3153 - Tracking, Curricular Structure, and Inequality

Abstract

Racial/ethnic gaps in achievement are large and persistent in the K-12 U.S. education system. Interestingly, prior research is quite mixed regarding how much differences in access to advanced courses and the returns to such courses affect the growth in these gaps over time. We examine two main questions in our paper. First, do students’ prior achievement, background characteristics, and the characteristics of the school they attend affect their placements in 8th grade math courses? Our second question focuses on how overall and school-centered achievement scores affect course taking outcomes. Our findings show large advantages in course taking in math for white students relative to black and Latino students in Indiana. However, most of these advantages are driven by differences in prior achievement. In addition, both overall and relative achievement levels affect students’ chances of enrolling in academic math courses.

Authors

• William J. Carbonaro, University of Notre Dame

• Amy Gill Langenkamp, University of Notre Dame