Are Schools the Great Equalizer? Cognitive Inequality during the Summer Months and the School Year
Abstract
How does schooling affect inequality in cognitive skills? Reproductionist theorists have argued that schooling plays an important role in reproducing and even exacerbating existing disparities. But seasonal comparison research has shown that gaps in reading and math skills grow primarily during summer vacation, suggesting that non-school factors (e.g., family and neighborhood) are the main source of inequality. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort of 1998–99, this article improves upon past seasonal estimates of school and non-school effects on cognitive skill gains. Like past research, this study considers how socioeconomic and racial/ethnic gaps in skills change when school is in session versus when it is not. This study goes beyond past research, however, by examining the considerable inequality in learning that is not associated with socioeconomic status and race. This “unexplained” inequality is more than 90 percent of the total inequality in learning rates, and it is much smaller during school than during summer. The results suggest, therefore, that schools serve as important equalizers: nearly every gap grows faster during summer than during school. The black/white gap, however, represents a conspicuous exception.
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Low-income students typically attend lower-performing schools than wealthier students, but the resource differential in summer may be even greater.
“Low‐income students typically attend lower‐performing schools than their wealthier counterparts, but the resource differential in summer may be even greater (Downey, von Hippel, & Broh, 2004).”
From PROTOCOL: Single-track year-round education for improving academic achievement in us k-12 schools: results of a meta-analysis (2018) · cites this paper as Downey, von Hippel, & Broh, 2004
In the United States, inequalities by race, ethnicity, and income in both educational achievement and health are substantial and persistent.
“In the United States, inequalities by race, ethnicity, and income in both educational achievement and health are substantial and persistent.3–10”
Out-of-school time contributes more to socioeconomic inequalities in achievement than in-school time.
“Out-of-school time (e.g.summer) contributes more to inequalities than in-school time (Andreu et al., 2023;Cooper et al., 1996;Downey et al., 2004)”
From Participation in extracurricular activities predicts academic growth and mediates socioeconomic inequalities in primary school (2026) · cites this paper as Downey et al., 2004
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- Authors
- Downey, D. B., von Hippel, P. T., & Broh, B. A.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Ohio State University
- Corresponding author
- Downey, Douglas B.
- ORCID
- Downey, Douglas B.
- Venue
- American Sociological Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2004-10
- Volume
- 69
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 613-635
- ISSN
- 0003-1224 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-8271
- OpenAlex
- W2036711930
- Cited by
- 853
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 70 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 59 · 2019: 53 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 52 · 2015: 58 · 2014: 53 · 2013: 54 · 2012: 44
- FWCI
- 53.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Sociological Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- cognitive inequality, summer learning loss, black-white gap, learning rate, early childhood education
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