Racial and Ethnic Differences in Associations Between Family and School Resources and Achievement

• In Event: Pathways From Early Risk to Child Adjustment: A new Look at the Family, Neighborhoods, and Schools

Abstract

Rising inequality and segregation patterns have conspired to create unequal educational opportunities for children across family income and race (Owens & Candipan, 2019; Reardon & Bischoff, 2011). Extending work documenting historical resource inequities across schools (Bischoff & Owens, 2019), this study examined how children’s school contexts—namely, levels of school financial and social resources—mediate the relationship between family income and academic achievement. Furthermore, given recent evidence that children of color may derive lower benefits from resources than White children, we tested whether associations between family and school resources with achievement differed across race and ethnicity.
Methods
The study utilized a nationally representative data set of children in the U.S. followed from Kindergarten through the fifth grade as part of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 2011 (ECLS-K:2011), analyzing a subset of children who attended public schools (N=9,213). We merged in administrative school data from the Common Core of Data and Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA), which provided measures of school financial—per pupil expenditures at the district level—and school social resources—from a composite of income, education, occupation, and marital status of parents of children attending public schools. Employing structural equation modeling, we examined associations of family income averaged across elementary school years on fifth grade math, reading, and science achievement, mediated by school financial and social resources. Further, we conducted multiple group analyses by race and ethnicity and performed equality constraint tests for group differences across White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian children.
Results
We found a positive association of family income on school social resources, suggesting higher family income selected children into more highly socially resourced schools. However, family income did not predict school financial resources. Contrary to expectations, higher levels of school financial and social resources did not predict higher levels of achievement. While the direct effect of family income on achievement was significant and positive, indirect effects through school resources were not significant. Differences emerged across race. The link between family income and social resources was significantly stronger for White children relative to Black, Hispanic, and Asian children. Social resources differentially predicted science achievement for Black children versus Whites, Hispanics, and Asians, with social resources being more positively associated with science achievement for Black children. None of the indirect effects from income to achievement through school financial or social resources were significant across groups and subjects.
Conclusions
In summary, family income was linked to attending schools with higher levels of social resources, though significantly more so for White families than Black, Hispanic, or Asian children, while Black children experienced greater gains in science achievement in relation to such resources than other children. The study carries policy import—despite heavy investment in policies creating more equitable distribution of financial resources across schools, disparities in achievement by income and race remain. Results suggest school social resources may serve as an alternative and potentially more effective policy target.

Authors

• Dabin Hwang, Boston College
  Presenting Author

• Rebekah Levine Coley, Boston College

• Daphne A. Henry, University of Pittsburgh

• Bryn Spielvogel, University of Utah