SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC MOBILITY: Jane Waldfogel ARE DESTINIES - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC MOBILITY: ARE DESTINIES DIVERGING? Jane Waldfogel

Columbia University & London School of Economics

THREE QUESTIONS

• 1. Are destinies diverging in the US?
• 2. Are patterns similar across countries?
• 3. What can be done to reduce educational inequalities

and improve social/economic mobility?

• 1. ARE DESTINIES DIVERGING IN THE US?

Educational inequalities are one of the most important drivers of social and economic inequalities Fortunately racial/ethnic gaps in achievement have narrowed in the US But Sean Reardon’s work has called attention to large and growing achievement gaps between children from low and high socioeconomic status (SES) families

0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Cohort Birth Year

TALENT NLS HS&B NELS Add Health Prospects ELS SECCYD ECLS-K 1998 ECLS-B ECLS-K 2010 95% CI Fitted Trend

Study

Trend in 90/10 Income Gap in Reading, 1940-2005 Cohorts

Reardon, 2011, in Whither Opportunity

GROWING GAPS IN FAMILY RESOURCES

These growing SES gaps in achievement have occurred in parallel with growing gaps in family resources – a phenomenon that Sara McLanahan called “diverging destinies”

McLanahan, 2004, “Diverging Destinies”; McLanahan & Jacobsen, 2015 “Diverging Destinies Revisited” (Education defined by quartiles)

15 20 25 30 35 40 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Age (median) Low education Middle education High education

Mothers' Median Age (among those with children under age 5), 1960 to 2010

McLanahan, 2004, “Diverging Destinies; McLanahan & Jacobsen, 2015, “Diverging Destinies Revisited”

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Proportion Low education Middle education High education

Single Motherhood, 1960 to 2010

McLanahan, 2004 “Diverging Destinies”

Median Family Income, 1960 to 2000

GROWING GAPS IN INVESTMENTS IN CHILDREN

As family incomes have become more unequal, so too have investments in children

Enrichment Expenditures (2008$) per Child, 1972-2006

Greg Duncan & Richard Murnane, 2011, Whither Opportunity

Robert Putnam, 2015, Our Kids

• 2. ARE PATTERNS SIMILAR ACROSS COUNTRIES?

In a recent book from Russell Sage Foundation, Bruce Bradbury, Miles Corak, Liz Washbrook, and I use cohort data to compare educational inequalities in: US, UK, Canada, Australia

U.S. U.K. Australia Canada Survey name Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) Longitudinal Study of Australian Children Kindergarten Cohort (LSAC-K) National Longitudinal Study

• f Children and

Youth (NLSCY) Cohort birth dates 1992-1993 2000-2002 1999-2000 1991-1994 Ages when children assessed 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14 5, 7, 11 5, 9, 11 5, 7, 9, 11

Box 1.1 The Child Cohort Studies

Sample size (balanced panel) 8,370 11,762 3,940 4,346

MEASURING SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (SES)

We use parental education as our measure of SES – it is a good proxy for permanent income, can be comparably measured, and is an important input to child development Based on the highest educated parent, we code families as

• low SES (HS or less)
• medium SES (some education beyond HS)
• high SES (BA or more)

SES & RESOURCES FOR CHILDREN

Although family resources are skewed by SES in all four countries, this inequality is starkest in the US (often followed by UK) (Fig 3.2-3.7)

Figure 3.2 Over one in five children in US families with low educated parents were born to a teen mother, but only three in

• ne hundred in high-educated households

3% 12% 21% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% High Medium Low Percentage of children born to a teenage mother Parental education United States United Kingdom Canada Australia

Figure 3.3 Children in the U.S. are least likely to be living with both biological parents

83% 63% 52% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

High Medium Low Percentage of children living with both parents at 4/5 Parental education United States United Kingdom Canada Australia

Figure 3.4 Although all four countries have many immigrant parents, in the U.S. children of the least educated parents are most likely to have an immigrant parent – but selective immigration policies means that the reverse applies in Australia and Canada.

16% 15% 28%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

High Medium Low Immigrant parent Parental education United States United Kingdom Canada Australia

Figure 3.7 Highly educated parents are much more likely to read to their children every day. However, Canadian parents with low education read to their children as often as highly educated parents from the other three countries.

58% 43% 33% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% High Medium Low Parent reads to child every day Parental education United States United Kingdom Canada Australia

Figure 3.6 Incomes of high-educated families in the US are 1.8 times as large as in medium-educated families and three times as large as in low-educated families. Income differentials are markedly smaller in the UK, Canada, and particularly Australia.

30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 High Medium Low Median income for a family

• f 4 (thousands of US $)

Parental education United States

United Kingdom Canada Australia

SES & RESOURCES FOR CHILDREN

But, the US safety net and supports for working families do the least among the four countries to combat income inequality (Fig 3.8, Fig 4.4)

Figure 3.8 In the absence of government taxes and transfers, child poverty would be as high in the other countries as it is in the US. But government benefits do more to reduce poverty in the other countries than they do in the US.

Source: Bradbury and Jantti (2001)

31.0 38.5 32.3 29.2 26.3 21.3 17.1 16.0 0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 US UK AU CA Percent Market income Post-tax and transfer income Poverty based on...

78% 70% 60%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

High Medium Low

Children in centre- based care, year before formal schooling

Parental education United States United Kingdom Canada Australia

Figure A4.11 Australia and UK provide universal preschool, but in the US and Canada, enrollment varies by SES.

SES & ACHIEVEMENT – THE US IS MOST UNEQUAL (OFTEN FOLLOWED BY UK)

Figure 5.1 Achievement gaps by parental education are largest in the US

0.46 0.44 0.25 0.29 0.54 0.35 0.22 0.32 0.47 0.54 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 US… US… UK… AU… CA reading Std dev difference High-medium gap Medium-low gap Gaps by parental education:

At age 5

Panel A

0.42 0.34 0.30 0.42 0.56 0.43 0.31 0.28 0.38 0.31 0.10 0.53 0.34 0.26 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 US reading US math UK reading UK math AU reading CN reading CN math Std dev difference

At age 7/9

Panel B

0.45 0.33 0.28 0.20 0.56 0.34 0.45 0.37 0.39 0.23 0.55 0.45 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 US reading US math UK reading AU reading AU math CN math Std dev difference

And at age 11

Panel C

• 3. WHAT CAN BE DONE TO REDUCE EDUCATIONAL

INEQUALITIES & PROMOTE ECONOMIC/SOCIAL MOBILITY?

• 1. Evidence-based parenting and preschool programs to

provide more support for early learning

• 2. Income support policies to raise family incomes for the

poor and near-poor

• 3. Education policies to Improve the quality of teaching

and learning in schools

IN CONCLUSION: TOO MANY CHILDREN ARE BEING LEFT BEHIND – BUT WE CAN DO BETTER

The gaps and challenges in the US – and UK - are sobering But the experience of peer countries suggests the US – and the UK - can and should do better And, recent trends in school readiness within the US offer reason for hope

Insert figure showing dec

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

1998 2006 2010

Math

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

Achievement Gap (Standard Deviations) 1998 2006 2010

Reading

Source: Reardon and Portilla (2015).

Change in Kindergarten Readiness 90-10 Income Gaps, 1998-2010

Sean Reardon & Ximena Portilla, 2016, AERA Open

Daphna Bassok, Rae Lee, Sean Reardon, & Jane Waldfogel, 2016, AERA Open

Narrowing gaps in parents reading books at least 3 times/week with children, use of a home computer for reading or math, and visits to library Computer use Reading Library

MOVING FORWARD

Countries like the US and UK should commit to reduce educational inequalities – which cut across and underlie

• ther forms of economic and social inequality

As rich nations, we can and should do better

THANKS

To Annie E. Casey Foundation, Australian Research Council, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Russell Sage Foundation, and Sutton Trust for supporting the research reported here