Inequality begets inequality: Income inequality and socioeconomic achievement gradients across the United States.

Social scientists have found income inequality is associated with an array of health and social problems, however the implications of income inequality for education are the subject of debate. Across 100 different areas (individual counties or collections of small counties) of the United States, we investigated how income inequality was associated with 1) average mathematics and reading achievement and 2) socioeconomic gradients in mathematics and reading achievement. Using data from the Kindergarten to Fifth Grade waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2011 (ECLS-K 2011), we found areas of the United States with higher income inequality had lower average achievement in mathematics and a larger socioeconomic achievement gradient in reading. In further analyses, we investigated what characteristics of school and home environments mediated the relationship between income inequality and academic achievement. We found the association between income inequality and academic achievement was partly explained by the clustering of disadvantaged students in high poverty schools/districts and more intensive parenting practices among high SES parents (structured activity participation, educational expectations).

Social costs to trying hard in high school: Differences by race-ethnicity.

There is debate whether social costs to trying hard in school are more widespread among black and Latino students than white or Asian students. Studies assessing a burden of "acting white" among black and Latino students have examined how the correlation between GPA and popularity or harassment varies across racial-ethnic groups. Yet, there has been little attention to whether students are aware of these costs or if social costs deter achievement. Using data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we investigated students' perceptions of whether they would be harassed or unpopular for trying hard in their mathematics and science classes. We found black, Latino, and Asian students perceived lower risk of experiencing social costs for trying hard than white students. Perceptions of social costs in 9th grade were associated with less rigorous mathematics course-taking, but not lower mathematics test scores or STEM GPA, later in school.

The proportion of COVID-19 cases that are asymptomatic in South Korea: Comment on Nishiura et al.

The Korean Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reports the asymptomatic case proportion for COVID-19 is 33.3%. The asymptomatic case proportion in South Korea closely approximates the rate of 30.8% reported by Nishiura et al. (2020) among Japanese nationals returning from abroad.

Socioeconomic, Ethnic, Racial, and Gender Gaps in Children's Social/Behavioral Skills: Do They Grow Faster in School or out?

Children's social and behavioral skills vary considerably by socioeconomic status (SES), race and/or ethnicity, and gender, yet it is unclear to what degree these differences are due to school or nonschool factors. We observe how gaps in social and behavioral skills change during school and nonschool (summer) periods from the start of kindergarten entry until the end of second grade in a recent and nationally representative sample of more than 16,000 children (the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 2010-11). We find that large gaps in social and behavioral skills exist at the start of kindergarten entry, and these gaps favor high-SES, white, and female children. Over the next three years, we observed that the gaps grow no faster when school is in than when school is out. In the case of social and behavioral skills, it appears that schools neither exacerbate inequality nor reduce it.

Inequality in Reading and Math Skills Forms Mainly before Kindergarten: A Replication, and Partial Correction, of "Are Schools the Great Equalizer?"

When do children become unequal in reading and math skills? Some research claims that inequality grows mainly before school begins. Some research claims that schools cause inequality to grow. And some research-including the 2004 study "Are Schools the Great Equalizer?"-claims that inequality grows mainly during summer vacations. Unfortunately, the test scores used in the Great Equalizer study suffered from a measurement artifact that exaggerated estimates of inequality growth. In addition, the Great Equalizer study is dated and its participants are no longer school-aged. In this article, we replicate the Great Equalizer study using better test scores in both the original data and a newer cohort of children. When we use the new test scores, we find that variance is substantial at the start of kindergarten and does not grow but actually shrinks over the next two to three years. This finding, which was not evident in the original Great Equalizer study, implicates the years before kindergarten as the primary source of inequality in elementary reading and math. Total score variance grows during most summers and shrinks during most school years, suggesting that schools reduce inequality overall. Changes in inequality are small after kindergarten and do not replicate consistently across grades, subjects, or cohorts. That said, socioeconomic gaps tend to shrink during the school year and grow during the summer, while the black-white gap tends to follow the opposite pattern.

From Kindergarten Through Second Grade, U.S. Children's Obesity Prevalence Grows Only During Summer Vacations.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relative importance of school and nonschool risk factors, this study estimated whether overweight and obesity prevalence grows faster during the school year or during summer vacation. METHODS: In the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11, a nationally representative complex random sample of 18,170 U.S. children was followed from the fall of kindergarten in 2010 through the spring of second grade in 2013. Children's weight and heights were measured in schools each fall and spring. A multilevel growth model was used to estimate growth in mean BMI, overweight prevalence, and obesity prevalence during each summer and each school year. RESULTS: From the fall of kindergarten to the spring of second grade, the prevalence of obesity increased from 8.9% to 11.5%, and the prevalence of overweight increased from 23.3% to 28.7%. All of the increase in prevalence occurred during the two summer vacations; no increase occurred during any of the three school years. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of obesity is higher when children are out of school than when they are in school.

The (Conditional) Resource Dilution Model: State- and Community-Level Modifications.

One of the most consistent patterns in the social sciences is the relationship between sibship size and educational outcomes: those with fewer siblings outperform those with many. The resource dilution (RD) model emphasizes the increasing division of parental resources within the nuclear family as the number of children grows, yet it fails to account for instances when the relationship between sibship size and education is often weak or even positive. To reconcile, we introduce a conditional resource dilution (CRD) model to acknowledge that nonparental investments might aid in children's development and condition the effect of siblings. We revisit the General Social Surveys (1972-2010) and find support for a CRD approach: the relationship between sibship size and educational attainment has declined during the first half of the twentieth century, and this relationship varies across religious groups. Findings suggest that state and community resources can offset the impact of resource dilution-a more sociological interpretation of sibship size patterns than that of the traditional RD model.

Intermediate peer contexts and educational outcomes: Do the friends of students' friends matter?

Sociologists of education have long been interested in the effects of peer relations on educational outcomes. Recent theory and research on adolescence suggest that peers on the boundaries of students' friendship networks may play an important role in shaping behaviors and educational outcomes. In this study, we examine the importance of a key "intermediate peer context" for students' outcomes: the friends of a student's friends. Our findings indicate both friends' and friends' friends' characteristics independently predict students' college expectations and their risk of dropping out of high school (although only friends' characteristics predict GPA). Our models suggest the magnitude of students' friends-of-friends' characteristics are at least as large their friends' characteristics. Together, the association between the peer context and students outcomes is considerably larger when accounting for both the characteristics of students' friends and the friends of their friends.

Dropping out of high school: Effects of close and distant friendships.

Prior research highlights the role of friends in influencing whether a student completes high school. Students who drop out tend to have fewer friends, as well as friends who are less oriented toward school success. We distinguish between close and distant friendships by developing a theoretical framework which predicts close and distant friends likely have distinct effects on dropping out. Close friendships provide valuable emotional support, and forging numerous close friendships at school should decrease one's risk of dropping out. In contrast, the characteristics of distant friends help shape students' social identities and beliefs about "what's normative." Our analyses of the Add Health data set confirm our expectations. Students with more close friendships are less likely to drop out, but close friends' characteristics are unrelated to dropping out. Distant relationships (as measured by affect and regularity of interaction) with friends who have a high risk of dropping out significantly increase a student's own risk of dropping out.