Black-White achievement gaps widen during school periods and shrink during summers among kindergarten through eighth-grade students¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r? · q3
Currency · newest study 2020 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2025: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Black-White achievement gaps widen during school periods and shrink during summers, based on seasonal analysis of K-8 test scores. → Megan Kuhfeld 2020

Evidence¶

Megan Kuhfeld 2020¶

Megan Kuhfeld, Dennis Condron, Doug Downey. (2020). When does inequality grow? A seasonal analysis of racial/ethnic disparities in learning from kindergarten through eighth grade. Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20977854

q3 · i? · associational · r?

Seasonal learning analysis comparing achievement-gap growth when school is in versus out of session, using test scores from over 2.5 million kindergarten to eighth-grade students. The study reports that "Black-White achievement gaps widen during school periods and shrink during summers." No effect size is printed in the available text.

"we find that Black-White achievement gaps widen during school periods and shrink during summers"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Race and Ethnicity — moderator: an instructional effect differs by group

Related Claims¶

• Summer learning loss is common but not inevitable among K-12 students — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• Asian students generally pull ahead of White students at a faster rate during summers than during school periods — related
• Black–White achievement gaps widen during the school year in both rural and nonrural schools — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Schools play less of a role in widening racial/ethnic achievement gaps than children's prekindergarten environments — related
• Schooling has a compensatory effect on inequality in reading, language, and science skills — related
• The study frames schooling as a candidate explanation for the development of racial and ethnic inequalities in academic skills — related
• A seasonal analysis of roughly 2 million students examines racial/ethnic disparities in learning from kindergarten through eighth grade — related
• The seasonal analysis of racial/ethnic disparities spans kindergarten through eighth grade — a broader claim this one bears on
• North Carolina achievement has declined since 2013 and the Black-White NAEP gap widened between 2015 and 2017 in both eighth grade mathematics and reading — related
• Non-linear within-year growth has implications for extending the school year, summer learning loss, and racial/ethnic achievement gaps — related