Seasonal comparisons can test whether schooling exacerbates, reduces, or reproduces overall skill inequality¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q1
Currency · newest study 2021 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? The article presents seasonal comparisons of school-year versus summer skill growth as a method for distinguishing whether schooling exacerbates, reduces, or reproduces overall skill inequality. → Dennis Condron 2021

Evidence¶

Dennis Condron 2021¶

Dennis Condron, Douglas Downery, Megan Kuhfeld. (2021). Schools as refractors: Change in variance in children's cognitive skills change while in school versus out. Sociology of Education, 94(4), 316-340. https://journals.sagepub.com/home/soe doi:10.1177/00380407211041542

q1 · i? · causal · r?

The abstract describes the study's design: seasonal comparisons on "recent national data" from MAP Growth spanning numerous grade levels and four subjects. This is a methodological statement rather than a measured effect.

"we use seasonal comparisons to examine the possibilities that schooling exacerbates, reduces, or reproduces overall skill inequality in math, reading, language use, and science with recent national data"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Seasonal patterns are discrepant across national data sets — related
• Schooling does not show a compensatory effect on math skill inequality — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Schooling has a compensatory effect on inequality in reading, language, and science skills — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Prior seasonal studies were limited to social-category skill gaps and early grades — related
• Intensive remediation alone will not meet students' needs and, if segregating and stigmatizing, can deepen inequality and trauma — related
• Without attention, educational innovations tend to exacerbate rather than reduce learning gaps between well-off and lower-resourced individuals — 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 — related