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The Academic Achievement Gap in Grades 3 to 8

• Charles Clotfelter, Helen Ladd, and
• Jacob Vigdor
• Harvard Achievement Gap Conference
• June 20, 2006

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Main findings

• Black-white gap is large and constant.
• Hispanic students are progressing relative to
  whites from grade 3 to 8 SES explains most.
• Asian students are also progressing, and
  surpassing whites.
• From grade 3 to 8, racial gaps between
  low-performing students decline those between
  high-performing grow.
• Few districts or district groups have been able
  both to raise black achievement and reduce the
  black-white gap.

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Raw Gaps Math
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Raw Gaps Reading
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Cohorts vs. All Black-White Gap
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Cohorts vs. All Hispanic-White Gap
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Student covariates used in regressions for
adjusted gaps

• Race/ethnicity (including multiracial)
• Gender (male)
• Age in May of 3rd grade
• Parents education (HS, LT HS)
• Subsidized lunch in grades 7 or 8
• District type (top 5 rural)
• Region (coastal, mountain)

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Adjusted Gaps
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Adjusted Gaps
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Estimates of the Black-White Gap In Math
------3------
------4------
------5------
------8------
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Black and White Math Distribution, 1999 Cohort,
3rd Grade
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Black and White Math Distribution, 1999 Cohort,
8th Grade
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Black and White Math Distribution, 1995 Cohort,
8th Grade
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Comparing Black Student Achievement, by Cohort
  Number of cohorts (out of 5) Number of cohorts (out of 5) Number of cohorts (out of 5)
  Black Ach Gap Both
State 0 0 0
Charlotte-Mecklenburg 3 2 2
Wake 4 1 1
Guilford 0 0 0
Cumberland 0 2 0
Winston-Salem/Forsyth 1 3 1
Urban coastal 1 2 1
Urban piedmont 0 0 0
Urban mountain 5 0 0
Rural coastal 3 4 3
Rural piedmont 0 0 0
Rural mountain 5 5 5
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Background Slides

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Four Groups of Students
A B B C D
1999 Cohort 1999 Cohort 1999 Cohort Not present all 6 years Not present all 6 years
Normal Progress Normal Progress Repeated a Grade Present in 1999 Present in 2004
N 71,625 71,625 7,522 19,431 29,433
Normalized 3rd grade math score 0.169 0.169 -1.023 -0.054 --
Black 28.6 28.6 51.6 26.3 31.5
Hispanic 2.5 2.5 3.0 4.3 10.4
College-educated parents 29.6 29.6 4.1 9.4 12.1
Subsidized lunch 41.9 41.9 65.4 -- 53.7
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Means by Race/Ethnicity, 1999 Cohort
  White Black Hispanic Asian Am. Indian
N 49,619 24,500 2,025 1,163 1,191
Math 0.317 -0.467 -0.206 0.366 -0.179
Reading 0.294 -0.421 -0.321 0.172 -0.293
College-educated parents 0.355 0.118 0.089 0.408 0.126
Subsidized lunch 0.265 0.757 0.764 0.459 0.761
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Cohort vs. All Black-White Gap
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Cohort vs. All Hispanic-White Gap
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Density Plot, White vs. Black, 3rd Grade Math,
1998 Cohort
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Density Plot, White vs. Hispanic, 3rd Grade Math,
1998 Cohort
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Density Plot, White vs. Asian, 3rd Grade Math,
1998 Cohort
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Average Math Scores, 1999 Cohort
  3rd Gr. Score 3rd Gr. Score Change gr. 3 to 8 Change gr. 3 to 8
District/Region White Black Black Gap
Charlotte 0.552 -0.528 0.067 -0.016
Wake 0.573 -0.472 0.074 0.005
Guilford 0.415 -0.551 -0.013 0.068
Cumberland 0.329 -0.353 -0.107 -0.152
W-S/Forsyth 0.367 -0.684 0.114 -0.101
Urban coastal 0.344 -0.403 -0.046 0.005
Urban piedmont 0.369 -0.455 -0.102 0.070
Urban mountain 0.245 -0.525 0.023 0.036
Rural coastal 0.320 -0.463 -0.029 0.025
Rural piedmont 0.281 -0.440 -0.017 -0.030
Rural mountain 0.225 -0.465 0.087 -0.057
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For full paper, see

• Charles T. Clotfelter, Helen F. Ladd, and
• Jacob L. Vigdor
• The Academic Achievement Gap in Grades 3 to 8
• NBER Working Paper 12207, April 2006
• (http//www.nber.org/papers/w12207)