The DOI matches its Crossref record; 47 of the 47 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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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In the citing paper
“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 citing paper
“In the United States, inequalities by race, ethnicity, and income in both educational achievement and health are substantial and persistent.3–10”
In the citing paper
“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
Citations
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Little, R. J. A., & Rubin, D. B. (2002) · Wiley Series in Probability and Statistics · doi:10.1002/9781119013563 · Cited by 8,473
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Research works printed but not linked: 8
- 10.2307/2286454 · DOI
- 10.2307/1130611 · DOI
- Karweit Nancy, 1997, Summer Learning: Achievement Profiles of Prospects First Graders
- National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, 2002, User's Manual for the ECLS-K Longitudinal Kindergarten-First Grade Public-Use Data Files and Electronic Codebook
- Raghunathan T. E., 2001, IVEware: Imputation and Variance Estimation Software
- Reardon Sean F., 2003, “Sources of Educational Inequality: The Growth of Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Test Score Gaps in Kindergarten and First Grade.”
- Rock Donald A., 2002, “Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K), Psychometric Report for Kindergarten Through First Grade.”
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic
Engzell, P., Frey, A., & Verhagen, M. D. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2022376118 · Cited by 1,848
4. Regression with Missing Ys: An Improved Strategy for Analyzing Multiply Imputed Data
von Hippel, P. T. (2007) · Sociological Methodology · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9531.2007.00180.x · Cited by 1,495
The Science of Sex Differences in Science and Mathematics
Halpern, D. F., Benbow, C. P., Geary, D. C., Gur, R. C., Hyde, J. S., & Gernsbacher, M. A. (2007) · Gothic.net · doi:10.1111/j.1529-1006.2007.00032.x · Cited by 1,206
Social and Economic Returns to College Education in the United States
Hout, M. (2012) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102503 · Cited by 943
Aikens, N. L., & Barbarin, O. A. (2008) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0663.100.2.235 · Cited by 888
Metadata
- Authors
- Downey, D. B., von Hippel, P. T., & Broh, B. A.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- 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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