School test score averages are strongly related to the income of the families a school serves¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q2 · i3 large
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i3 Across Illinois schools in 2019, the percentage of low-income students was strongly negatively correlated with school ELA proficiency (r = -.77) and math proficiency (r = -.79). → Elaine M. Allensworth and Andrew Zou 2020

Evidence¶

Elaine M. Allensworth and Andrew Zou 2020¶

Elaine M. Allensworth and Andrew Zou. (2020). Supporting Neighborhood Schools from Pre-K through High School: Successes and Challenges of the North Lawndale Cluster Initiative. UChicago Consortium Research Report. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/supporting-neighborhood-schools-from-pre-k-through-high-school

q2 · i3 · causal · r2

Observational analysis of 2019 data for Illinois schools plotted in Figure 1, relating percent low income to ISAT proficiency; the figure note reports correlations of r = -.77 for ELA and r = -.79 for math. At schools serving very few low-income students, 70-80 percent of students met testing norms.

"School percent low income is correlated with ELA proficiency at -.77 and math proficiency at -.79, where zero is no relationship and -1.0 is perfectly related."

Studies bearing on this claim¶

Does family income predict achievement and attainment, how large are the gaps, and when do they open? This table gathers the studies behind this claim and the 18 narrower claims that bear on it: 21 distinct studies (13 associational, 3 causal, 3 review, 2 design), q1–q3, 1 of 21 with an effect size coded. One row per study, codes as each entry records them; no effect is averaged and no verdict is drawn. Built by scripts/synthesize_claim.py from eval/synthesis/; a row that looks wrong is fixed on the claim it comes from.

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Socioeconomic Status — predictor: outcomes differ by group: a gap reflecting circumstances and treatment, not a cause

Related Claims¶

• In 2003, eighth-grade public school students in Puerto Rico averaged 212 in NAEP mathematics, 64 points lower than the national average of 276. — related
• On the current path the U.S. will miss its 2020 graduation rate target by 310,000 students, most from low-income families — related
• The Berea College Promise Neighborhood serves counties with per capita income significantly lower than state and national averages — related
• State-level percentage of uncertified teachers correlates negatively with NAEP state assessment performance (r from –.40 to –.63) — related
• Four high-poverty case study schools sustained rising achievement for all subgroups for 5 to 10 years while pursuing personalization — related
• Early socioeconomic math performance gaps grow over time, producing substantial differences by fourth grade — related
• Schools with lower percentages of Proficient and Distinguished observation ratings tend to be higher-poverty schools — related
• The Berea College Promise Neighborhood serves an area where 81 percent of students qualified for free or reduced-price school meals in 2010 — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• On 2022 NAEP 8th- and 12th-grade reading and math exams, students who were both English learners and from low-income backgrounds scored lowest among four student groups, with less than one third scoring basic or above in reading and less than one quarter in math — related
• Concentrated poverty in New Mexico is associated with lower grade-level proficiency and inequitable access to experienced teachers — related
• Achievement gaps between high-poverty and low-poverty schools at kindergarten entry narrowed modestly but significantly between 2010 and 2017 — related
• Children from low-income families enter kindergarten one full standard deviation (15 standard score points) behind higher-income peers in literacy and mathematics (ECLS-K, attributed to Zill & West, 2001) — related
• AP and IB programs in neighborhood high schools serve students with higher-than-average but below selective-enrollment achievement — related
• All middle and high schools in the Berea College Promise Neighborhood are persistently low-achieving — a narrower finding that bears on this claim