Fifty Years since the Coleman Report: Rethinking the Relationship between Schools and

Inequality
Author(s): Douglas B. Downey and Dennis J. Condron
Source: Sociology of Education , July 2016, Vol. 89, No. 3 (July 2016), pp. 207-220
Published by: American Sociological Association

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26383007

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Research Article
A* A
AMCRICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Sociology of Education
2016, 89(3) 207-220
Fifty Years since the Coleman © American Sociological Association 2016
DOI: 10.1177/0038040716651676

Report: Rethinking the http://soe.sagepub.com

f)SAGE
Relationship between Schools
and Inequality

Douglas B. Downey1 and Dennis J. Condron2

Abstract

In the half century since the 1966 Coleman Report, scholars have yet to develop a consensus regard
relationship between schools and inequality. The Coleman Report suggested that schools play little r
generating achievement gaps, but social scientists have identified many ways in which schools prov
ter learning environments to advantaged children compared to disadvantaged children. As a result, a
perspective that views schools as engines of inequality dominates contemporary sociology of ed
However, an important body of empirical research challenges this critical view. To reconcile th
main ideas with this new evidence, we propose a refraction framework, a perspective on schoo
inequality guided by the assumption that schools may shape inequalities along different dimensions
ferent ways. From this more balanced perspective, schools might indeed reproduce or exacerbat
inequalities, but they also might compensate for others—socioeconomic disparities in cognitive s
particular. We conclude by discussing how the mostly critical perspective on schools and inequ
costly to the field of sociology of education.

Keywords
stratification, schools, seasonal comparisons, compensation, reproduction

a product of factors outside of schools than perni

The authors of the 1966 Coleman Report famously
cious school processes (Downey, von Hippel, and
concluded that variation in academic performance
Broh 2004; Entwisle and Alexander 1992; Heyns
was strongly linked to children's family environ
1978). The evidence that schools temper the
ments but hardly at all to per pupil expenditures
or other measurable school characteristics (Coleof socioeconomic inequality in academic
growth
man et al. 1966). In the decades following the
skills presents a serious challenge to the critical
report, many social science scholars resisted
perspective.
this Black/white learning gaps, however,
position and articulated the ways in which may grow faster when school is in session versus
schools
reinforce or even promote inequality (e.g.,out, complicating the picture regarding how
Bour
dieu 1977; Bowles and Gintis 1976; Cookson schools matter (Condron 2009). These patterns
and Persell 1985; Kozol 1992). This "critical
perspective" uncovered a wide range of school
practices favoring the advantaged. 'Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
More recent scholarship has called the critical 2Oakland University, Rochester, Ml, USA
perspective into question. Compelling evidenceCorresponding Author:
from studies comparing school-year growth toDouglas B. Downey, Ohio State University, 238
summer growth suggests that socioeconomic Townshend Hall, 1885 Neil Ave, Columbus, OH, USA.
achievement gaps in cognitive skills are more Email: downey.32@sociology.osu.edu

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 208 Sociology of Education 89(3)

have led to a state of theoretical

effective learning environments thanvertigo
others (Con in th
dron 2008;
sociology of education; itGamoran
remains 1992; Oakes 1985).
unclear whe
the pendulum currently In our view, it is important
rests. Dotoschools
distinguish simp
reproduce preexistingbetween whether schools reproduce do
inequalities, inequality
they ma
nify them, or do theyor exacerbate
help it. If schools reproduce
reduce them?inequality,
then they pass on the inequalities received at kin
dergarten largely unchanged as children pass
THE CRITICAL VIEW OF SCHOOLS through the education system. Much of the
"reproduction" literature, however, articulates
From the perspective of a body of scholarship an even more pernicious—exacerbatory—role
much too expansive to review in detail for schools. Both sides describe a critical per
here,
schools either reproduce or exacerbate the spective on schools and inequality, but the two
inequalities that students bring with them (for use are distinct. And while reproductive and exacer
ful overviews, see MacLeod 1995; Mehan 1992). batory positions are sometimes mixed in the liter
Bowles and Gintis's (1976) argument that schools ature in a confusing way, a third possibility, that
provide the capitalist economy with workers who schools may reduce inequality, has been largely
know their place and are prepared for their roles, overlooked.

along with Bourdieu's (1977) perspective that

schools favor the "cultural capital" of middle
class and elite students, form the basis of
The Challenge to the Critical
a "reproduction" paradigm, in which schools are
Perspective
seen as part of the process through which advan
The 1966 Equality of Educational Opportunity
tage and disadvantage are passed on from one gen
eration to the next. Numerous sociological studies
(EEO) study influenced a separate line of scholar
ship that placed less importance on schools them
of education draw on this paradigm to investigate
how schools reproduce inequalities (e.g., Paino
selves and greater emphasis on non-school sources
and Renzulli 2013; Roscigno 1998). of disparities in children's educational opportuni
ties and outcomes. Often referred to as the Cole
Others go a step further and argue that schools
do not simply reproduce inequality but rather man Report, the study was commissioned by the
Department of Education and involved more
exacerbate it. This position has gained stature for
good reason, as scholars have documented than 650.000 students and 4,000 schools. One
a wide range of school practices and mechanisms finding that had the greatest influence on future
that favor high socioeconomic status (SES) chil work was summarized as follows (Coleman et al.
dren. Prominent among them are "savage inequal 1966:325):
ities" in funding (Kozol 1992), which can lead to
poorer school facilities, dated textbooks, and One implication stands out above all: That
larger classrooms for disadvantaged children schools bring little influence to bear on
(Darling-Hammond 2010; Mosteller 1995). More a child's achievement that is independent
recently, the narrative has shifted toward the of his background and general social con
unequal distribution of teacher quality in the text; and that this very lack of independent
wake of evidence from experimental studies sug effect means that the inequalities imposed
gesting that children improve 10 percentile points on children by their home, neighborhood,
in a year if assigned a top- versus bottom-quartile and peer environment are carried along to
teacher (Gordon, Kane, and Staiger 2006). In addi become the inequalities with which they
tion, residential segregation results in concentra confront adult life at the end of school.
tions of disadvantaged children in the same
schools, which has been shown to contribute to Further supporting this claim, Jencks (1972:53)
achievement gaps (Berends, Lucas, and Penaloza explored the same question with different data and
2008; Card and Rothstein 2007). Finally, curricu agreed with the broad conclusion about schools:
lum differentiation practices within schools (e.g., "Educational inequality does not explain cognitive
ability grouping and tracking) might exacerbate inequality to any significant extent." Some misin
preexisting skill differences as some children are terpreted Coleman's and Jencks's research as
exposed to more challenging material and more arguing that schools do not matter; but more

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 Downey and Condron 209

accurately, Coleman
learning gains over a and Jencks
year) rather than predict an p
schools outcome
only aat one
playpoint in time. By role
minor predicting learn
in sha
ment gaps. ing gains, scholars effectively start all children at
Even 10 yearszerobefore Bowles
and give schools no credit (or punishment) and
(1976) book, Coleman and
for children's beginning colleagues
skills. These strategies
duced evidence aresuggesting
only partly effective, however, because why
non-sch
some children learn faster
ments are the primary than others is behind
force largely
unknown. Fordecades,
gaps. In subsequent example, in models attempting
however to
ogy of educationestimate
hasas much variation
focused in children's summer
more on
learning as possible,Report
tors, and the Coleman Burkam and colleagues fell ou
stemming in part(2004)from
used both methods and explained less
methodologica
than 15 percent
Critics pointed out, of the variance, highlighting that
correctly, how C
Jencks may havemost of the non-school
left characteristics that influ
unmeasured the
aspects of schoolsence children's
that learning generate
go unmeasured in large ineq
teacher quality). surveys. Studies attempting to understand
Enthusiasm how
for und
families' role in schools matter using these traditional
inequality was techniques
already
due to a hostile likely overestimate school effects
response to because
the their 1965
Report, which was statistical adjustments
critiqued for non-school factors
as are "blam
tim" (Ryan 1976; insufficient.
see also Skrentny
cally, while the The second hurdle for understanding
Coleman Report how in
seen as conservative schools influenceforinequality is that we need to
implicating
communities as the source of socioeconomic consider how all school processes—both exacer
achievement gaps and Bowles and Gintis were batory and compensatory—stack up against each
other. Some studies address the first problem
seen as radically left, by the early 1980s, conserva
tives had embraced the view that schools are the (i.e., isolating school effects) by using random
problem (e.g., National Commission on Excel assignment, but these studies typically target a sin
lence in Education 1984). gle school process (e.g., the Tennessee Project
Star experiment on classroom size), which consti
tutes just one piece of the larger puzzle. This kind
of research has value—we learn something about
Understanding How Schools Influence
whether a particular school practice increases
Inequality inequality—but it is limited for helping us under
It is difficult to adjudicate between the varying stand schools' overall effect on inequality. We are
perspectives on schools and inequality without left wondering whether the magnitude of all exac
thinking carefully about the kind of evidence erbatory school processes outweighs that of com
that is most useful. We identify three hurdles. pensatory ones (those that reduce inequality).
First, children are influenced in important ways The third hurdle is crucial—even if we suc
by both their families and their schools, so how cessfully isolate school effects and determine
do we separate the two? The average 18-year-old whether exacerbatory school processes outweigh
in the United States has spent just 13 percent of compensatory ones, we still need to know whether
their waking hours in school (Walberg 1984), school inequality outweighs non-school inequal
highlighting the importance of non-school envi ity. Scholars traditionally have framed the ques
ronments. Children are not randomly distributed tion narrowly, such as, "How well would a partic
to schools, so it is difficult to know whether out ular student perform if they attended school A
come differences between schools are a function versus school B?" This approach identifies varia
of school processes or the widely disparate homes tion in school quality, but it tells us little about
and neighborhoods where children spend most of how schools matter within the stratification sys
their time. A common strategy scholars use to iso tem. Instead, we recommend that scholars broaden
late school effects is to statistically equalize chil their scope by considering the counterfactual:
dren across measurable dimensions of family "What would inequality look like if schools did
background, such as socioeconomic status, family not exist?" (Raudenbush and Eschmann 2015).
structure, and race/ethnicity. Another approach is This is important because schools may vary
to predict how much children change (e.g., greatly in quality, but non-school environments

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 210 Sociology of Education 89(3)

may vary even more In addition,

(Downey comparing whether
et al.group 2004).
A, starting If th
is the case, even unequal low on a scale, gains more thancould
schools group B, starting
be equa
ing forces by reducing high, requires
the interval-level
level scalesof where
inequality
gains at
would observe in their absence. The traditional the bottom are comparable to those at the top—
counterfactual, however, does not account for like equal stair steps. Some of the better scales
that possibility. of cognitive skills may approach this requirement
and reduce problems associated with ceiling
effects that trouble longitudinal comparisons, but
the field would benefit from greater discussion
Seasonal Comparisons
of this issue and perhaps greater use of nonpara
Seasonal comparison study designs offer one way
metric methods that do not depend on interval
of meeting these methodological hurdles. Theassumptions
sea (Ho and Reardon 2011). Finally, are
sonal nature of the U.S. school calendar—nine
the patterns we observe in the summer really
months of school followed by a three-month asum good indicator of what would happen if there
mer break—provides a natural experimentwere forno schooling? If parents knew their children
understanding how schools matter (Gangl 2010).would not return to school in the fall, would they
Similar to a crossover design in medical research,
behave the way they do in the summers? The field
where patients are observed on and off treatment,
would benefit from a more energetic discussion of
seasonal comparison researchers observe howthese assumptions. Nevertheless, we believe they
achievement gaps change when children are areon
more plausible than the assumptions required
treatment (in school) versus out (summer). for
Thismore traditional methods, that is, (1) models
method circumvents the problem of trying topredicting
iden learning gains and/or statistically con
tify all the various school processes at stake.trolling
The for observable differences in family back
overall consequence of all mechanisms (both ground can successfully isolate school effects, (2)
exacerbatory and compensatory) is observable in
we know how all exacerbatory and compensatory
how inequality changes when school is in session
mechanisms stack up against each other, and (3)
versus out of session. And seasonal comparisonsschool inequality is greater than non-school
provide a way of estimating what inequality would
inequality. As a result, seasonal comparison stud
look like if children did not attend schoolsies by
prompt great interest.
leveraging the summer as an estimate of that coun
What do we learn from seasonal comparison
terfactual. Finally, unlike randomized experi
studies? Remarkably, they find that socioeco
ments, which can be weak in generalizability, sea gaps in cognitive skills grow faster when
nomic
sonal comparisons can be applied to nationally
school is out than when it is in. Evidence of this
representative data, producing results strong in
pattern began to emerge as early as the 1970s.
both internal and external validity. Heyns's (1978) analysis of over 3,000 sixth and
Like all empirical methods, seasonal compari
seventh graders in 42 Atlanta schools during the
sons require assumptions. For example, the 1971 to 1972 school year and summer uncovered
method assumes there is little treatment spillover. a groundbreaking key insight—children's learning
We must assume that school practices in the spring during the summer is a product of non-school fac
have little influence on summer learning so that
tors, whereas learning during the school year is
the school treatment does not contaminate esti a product of both school and non-school factors
mates of non-school learning. In practice, this(for other early seasonal comparison studies, see
assumption is nearly always violated because stu
Hayes and Grether 1983; Klibanoff and Haggart
dents are not tested precisely on the first and last
1981; Murnane 1975). Observing how achieve
days of school. Scholars try to reduce the extent ment gaps change between the seasons thus pro
of this problem by modeling the school segments
vides important leverage for understanding how
of learning and subtracting them from estimatesschools matter. Subsequently, Entwisle and Alex
of summer learning. In addition, school practices ander brought even greater attention to seasonal
in the spring, like sending children home with patterns with their analyses of children's progres
a summer reading list, could influence summer sion through Baltimore schools in the 1980s
learning. Although there is little evidence of this(Alexander, Entwisle, and Olson 2007; Entwisle
kind of contamination among young children
and Alexander 1992, 1994). The credibility of
(Downey et al. 2004), it remains difficult to assess.
the seasonal pattern was bolstered by the first

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 Downey and Condron 21

nationally representative,
during kindergarten and first grade than seasonal
during
data, the Earlythe summer in between, consistent with the
Childhood view
Longitu
that schools generate of
Kindergarten Cohort inequality1998
(Downey et al. (ECLS
et al. 2004). The 2004). Muddying the waters further,
magnitude of black/white
the pat
from one study skillto disparities are well formed at kindergarten
another, but each
entry finding:
the same overall (Downey et al. 2004). Black/white gaps in
Socioecono
cognitive skills
skills grow faster when appear to growschool
before kindergar is ou
ten because of non-school
Alexander (1997:12) explains factors, whereas thethe r
of the seasonal
datacomparison patter
from kindergarten through first grade impli
cate schools. There
comes to inequality, is also provocative evidence
"schooling is m
from the'part
the solution' than ECLS-K and Northwest
of Evaluation
the probl
Scholars also Association
have (NWEA)
begun data that schoolsto may under
appl
methods to mine the
other performance of Asian Americans
dimensions of ine
the results are (Downey et al. 2004; Yoon and Merry von
provocative, 2015); H
the patterns for Hispanics the
leagues (2007) analyzed are unclear. ECLS-
Overall,
found that children gained
early seasonal studies body
suggested that schools are
probably compensatory
(BMI) roughly twice as fast with respectin
to race, but
the s
the moreyear.
during the school recent analysesBlack,
of larger-scale ECLS-K
Hispa
and NWEA data
SES children were reveal more troubling patterns—
especially vulne
gain during thewhite children may benefit more
summer from school than
months. A
do black or
tempting to infer Asian children.schools promo
that
obesity, given whatThe evidenceisfor the racial patterns leans
often in the
available
to eat and drinkdirection
at of schools
school,as exacerbatory, but the pat
clearly sc
the level of terns for socioeconomic achievement
childhood obesity gaps chal tha
lengeabsence.
observe in their the critical view of schools.
More Are schools recen
driving some2011
the newer ECLS-K inequalities while
datasimultaneously
replic
reducing others?
terns (von Hippel and Once seasonal
Workmancomparison stud n.
Workman, and von
ies expand Hippel
to consider (2016) a
outcomes beyond cognitive
ECLS-K 2011 data for
skills (e.g., seasonal
health, graduation, and earnings), will patte
and behavioral outcomes: Teachers rated children schools' pernicious effects become more appar
in terms of a set of learning behaviors (e.g., keeps ent? We, suggest that the time has come for
belongings organized, shows eagerness to learna new framework for theorizing and analyzing
new things, works independently, easily adapts schools and inequality that can accommodate the
to changes in routine, persists in completing tasks,provocative compensatory seasonal patterns for
pays attention well, and follows classroom rules); socioeconomic gaps in cognitive skills and child
gaps in these social and behavioral skills are largeren's obesity yet has the flexibility to consider
across SES, race, and gender at kindergarten entryhow schools' effect on inequality may vary across
but show little evidence of increasing faster when other dimensions of inequality.
school is in versus out of session between kinder
garten and second grade.
To date, the seasonal comparison method THE REFRACTION FRAMEWORK
points to schools as compensatory when it comes
to socioeconomic gaps in cognitive skills and At the core of our framework is the idea that
children's obesity and as neutral with respect to schools are "refractors" of inequality. Much like
social/behavioral skills, but the patterns for race light is refracted when it enters a new medium
and cognitive skills are less clear. Heyns (1978) (e.g., from air to water), we argue that inequalities
found that black/white gaps grew faster in the are refracted when children enter schools. Light
summer than in the school season in Atlanta, sug refracts in different ways, depending on whether
gesting that schools are also compensatory with it enters a slower, faster, or similar speed medium.
respect to race, but black/white patterns were Similarly, how inequality changes once children
less clear in Baltimore (Entwisle and Alexander enter schools depends on how the new medium
1994). And in the nationally representative (schools) influences inequality's trajectory vis-a
ECLS-K data, the black/white gap grew faster vis the previous medium (the non-school

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 212 Sociology of Education 89(3)

environment). "good" schools

Schools' role (Johnson
could2006). Although
be (1) the neutr
(no change to inequality), public views (2) the system as rewarding people
exacerbatory (mak
inequality worse), or (3)
fairly, compensatory
they also (reduc
put the onus of responsibility on
inequality). One advantage individuals to find the best
of schools and
this work
perspective
that it elevates the hard while in them.
compensatory possibility t
a position where it can In academia,
compete seasonal comparison
with research
the othe
more dominant views. It also underscores how provides the strongest evidence that schools are
compensatory with regard to socioeconomic gaps
inequality is well established and on a meaningful
trajectory prior to school entry, elevatinginthe cognitive skills. Of course, it may not be clear
why seasonal comparison evidence is viewed as
importance of early childhood experiences (Caudi
llo and Torche 2014; Heckman and Masterov supporting the compensatory position, given that
2007). We believe schools potentially can influ
high and low SES children typically learn at
roughly
ence inequality in all three of these ways, but we the same rate when school is in session.
Does that not suggest a neutral role for schools?
focus here on the case for schools as compensatory
because this view is the least developed. In some cases, high SES children even learn a little
faster than low SES children, yet scholars still
conclude that schools are compensatory (e.g.,
Downey et al. 2004). If schools are not reducing
Schools as Compensatory
achievement gaps in the absolute sense, and some
In the nineteenth-century United States, education
times even allowing them to continue to grow
reformers argued that mass education woulda pro
bit, how can schools be compensatory?
vide a common experience for children and thereAn analogy may help. Suppose we assess
fore an avenue for social mobility (Giroux 2005).
a year-long weight loss program by randomly
U.S. proponents of public schooling contrastedassigning
the subjects to either treatment or control
system they were creating with their European
groups. And suppose that upon completion, the
counterparts, whose education system remained
treatment group has not lost any weight. On its
closely linked to social class. Horace Mann surface, this result suggests that the treatment
(1848), the well-known advocate for public failed. But the proper way to assess the causal
schooling, wrote, effect of the treatment is in comparison to results
for the control group. If the control group gained
According to the European theory, men are five pounds, on average, then the weight loss pro
divided into classes—some to toil and earn, gram had a positive effect even if the treatment
others to seize and enjoy. According to the subjects lost no weight. One can even imagine
Massachusetts theory, all are to have an a scenario where the control group gained, on
equal chance for earning, and equal security average, five pounds during the study while the
in the enjoyment of what they earn. . . . treatment group gained two. Even though the
Education then, beyond all other devices treatment group experienced weight gain, we
of human origin, is a great equalizer of would still define the treatment as a success
the conditions of men.
because it reduced the weight the treatment group
would have gained in its absence. Similarly, the
This view continues to have credibility among proper way to assess schools' effect on achieve
the general public, with some caveats. In the 1984
ment gaps is not to focus solely on school year pat
General Social Survey (GSS), the last year the terns but to compare the school year (treatment)
question was asked, over 70 percent of respond and summer (control) patterns. Schools are com
ents answered yes to the question: "Does everyonepensatory whenever achievement trajectories are
in this country have an opportunity to obtain more
an equal when school is in versus out of session.
education corresponding to their abilities and tal
ents?" The public view appears to be that schools
serve as a vehicle for social mobility—the school
Compensatory
system is a reasonably fair institution that rewards Mechanisms
hard work. At the same time, however, most peo
Given that many of the patterns from seasonal
ple acknowledge large disparities in school quality
comparison research suggest that schools are com
and try very hard to get their own children into pensatory with respect to socioeconomic gaps in

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 Downey and Condron 213

cognitive skills,andweMiller 2007). Most school funding

begin by comes
conside
school mechanismsfrom local and state sources,might
that so a look at how reduc
Our goal here is not
resources to across
are distributed identify
children with spe all c
cial needs versus honors
school mechanisms. students at the state levelwe
Rather, me
a discussion of is school processes
informative. As one example, in 2007 in Ken th
tially compensatory
tucky, the averagewhen child with special it needs come
received an additional $ 11,970 per year, whereas
nomic learning disparities.
the average child
First, schools may reducedeemed gifted received an addi
achievemen
curriculum consolidation.
tional $62 per year (Seiler et al. 2008). Sociolog
more familiar with Finally,
theit is possible
term that although much is
curriculum
tion, referring made
to of theschool
cultural mismatches between teachers
practices in
children are exposed to students,
and disadvantaged different
many teachers operate mater
ing conditions than others,
in a mostly such
egalitarian manner. The as
kinds of people abili
tracking, and retention practices.
attracted to teaching are distinct from the general But
consolidate children's
population—they arelearning
more interested in helpingexper
ing them together
others andeven
more likely to when their sk
endorse relatively egali
rate. For example, schools
tarian views. For example, in the can
GSS data, 47organiz
per
many ways, butcent of non-teachers said that "lack of
children's effort" is
chronologi
a "very important"
default basis upon which reason why some people are
children are
do not disagree poor, compared
with that to just 32 percent of teachers but
practice n
result is a powerful mechanism
(authors' calculations). And a national survey ofby wh
of widely teachers found
varying that when askedare
skills who was most
exposed
curricular challenges.
likely to receiveTo understand
one-on-one attention, 80 percent h
this mechanism ofis for
teachers promoting
said "academically struggling students" equ
consider the distribution of cognitive
while just 5 percent said "academically advanced"
children in students (Duffett, Farkas,first,
kindergarten, and Loveless 2008).
and fi
the ECLS-K. We see
Teachers may substantial
favor the advantaged under someover
tive skills acrossconditions,
grades: but overall, teacher
40 behaviors
percentexacer of
ners outperform bating the bottom
inequality may 10 per
be outweighed by teachers'
graders in reading, and
greater tendency a the
to favor nontrivial
disadvantaged. n
dergartners read better than fifth grad
calculations). What do schools tend to d
THE
high-performing COSTS OF IGNORING
kindergartners? A f
ated through the system
SCHOOLS' by
COMPENSATORY skipping
even this practice is unlikely to exp
POTENTIAL
challenging material. Some of these
so far ahead of their age-based pee
We believe that the best evidence currently indi
would need to skip multiple grades to
cates that schools play a meaningful compensatory
lum in their sweet spot. Most remain w
role with respect to socioeconomic gaps in cogni
group peers, a practice that is likely c
tive skills, and schools' compensatory role might
because it is difficult for these studen
extend further. If schools are playing a more sig
academic gains while exposed to mat
nificant compensatory role than is currently appre
below their level.
ciated, what are the costs of this mistake?
Second, schools may reduce achievement gaps
by targeting resources toward disadvantaged chil
dren. It is important not to overlook the many edu
The Cost to Research
cation policies designed to improve school condi
tions for disadvantaged children. Title 1, Head Underestimating schools' compensatory role can
Start, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the lead researchers to overlook the important role
Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 all were that social conditions outside of school play in
intended to improve the quality of school experi shaping the magnitude and malleability of
ences for low SES children (and to varying achievement gaps. For example, it turns out that
degrees have succeeded in doing so; see Ludwig socioeconomic-based achievement gaps are

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 214 Sociology of Education 89(3)

mostly formed prior Finally,

to theit is unclear
onset how conditions
of formaloutside of scho
schools shape schools'
ing. Perhaps the strongest compensatory comes
evidence power. fro
Downey and
the 1998 ECLS-K study, colleagues (2004)
which suggest that asthe be
provides
inequality
data on a large sample ofoutside of school grows,
children schools' com
followed fro
kindergarten throughpensatoryseveral years
power also increases because theof
differschoo
The 90th to 10th income-based achievement ence in school versus non-school environments
becomes more acute—schools become an even
gaps in reading grew about 12 percent between
kindergarten and eighth grade, and the math gapimportant haven for the disadvantaged. But
more
actually narrowed (Reardon 2011; see also Dun
does schools' compensatory power really increase,
ad infinitum, as social conditions outside of
can and Magnuson 2011). If socioeconomic-based
achievement gaps form primarily prior to kinder
schools become more disparate? One might expect
garten and then increase only modestly (and some to this relationship—that when social con
a limit
times even narrow) once children are in school,
ditions become highly unequal, children arrive at
then most of the action regarding achievement
kindergarten with achievement gaps so large and
gaps occurs in early childhood. entrenched that schools' compensatory power
Another way to understand how broader begins
social to wane. Have we reached that point?
conditions matter is by comparing achievement
These kinds of contextual questions—how the
gaps across countries. Significant cross-national
gap at kindergarten entry changes over time,
howchil
work has explored variations in test scores for it compares across countries, and how
dren already exposed to schools, but these schools'
studies compensatory power changes over
mix the effects of school and non-school conditions time—are where sociologists shine, yet they
in unknown ways. It is especially useful, therefore, have received insufficient attention.
to compare gaps in skills among children who have
yet to start school. A study of U.S. and Canadian
children's reading skills highlights this point. Merry
(2013) documents how Canadians are ahead of U.S.
The Cost to Policy
It is one thing if academics develop the wrong
children by a sizeable .30 standard deviation units
(nearly a year's worth of learning) in the Pro explanations for inequality; it is another if those
gramme for International Student Assessment explanations frame public discussions that lead
(PISA) reading test given to 15- to 16-year-olds. to suboptimal policy advice. If we are currently
Merry also compared similar-cohort Canadian and underestimating schools' compensatory power to
U.S. children on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary the extent that the seasonal comparison evidence
Test (PPVT) reading test at ages 4 to 5, before for suggests, then education policy is misinformed
mal schooling had started, and found that a similar by underestimating the quality of schools serving
gap of .31 standard deviation units was already in low SES children. As a result, education scholars
place at that age. are likely overestimating the extent to which
This pattern prompts us to rethink school-based school reform is the most attractive mechanism
explanations for differences in international test for reducing achievement gaps. If socioeconomic
scores and consider forces outside the control of gaps are mostly formed prior to formal schooling
and change little after that, then it makes more
the education system (e.g., access to health care,
sense to target early childhood policies that will
income inequality, racial/ethnic inequality, racial
and income-based housing segregation, theprevent large gaps from emerging in the first place
strength of organized labor, family structure,
rather than focus on school policies aimed at reme
immigrant status, mass incarceration, the real
diating those gaps.
value of the minimum wage, unemployment bene Yet, a significant portion of current education
fits, and family leave options). Merry's (2013)
research emphasizes the importance of teacher
quality (Goldhaber 2016; Hanushek 2010). We
study raises the possibility that international dif
ferences in test scores among adolescents may
agree that some teachers raise children's skills
more effectively than others, and improving
have little (or maybe nothing) to do with schools.
Perhaps Finland's impressive test scores, which
teacher quality is a laudable goal. But what are
have prompted great interest in their teachers
the implications for achievement gaps? Most
scholars assume that low SES children endure
and schools, are mostly a product of its successful
social welfare programs. poorer teachers and that this plays an important

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 Downey and Condron 215

role in explaining colleagues gaps. If between

found no relationship we their meas
quality in terms measure
of of school quality (i.e., the difference in
qualifications, ex
whether teachers majored
schools' summer in the
vs. school-year learning rates) su
they teach, thenand wethe percentage
find of children
evidence in the school con
this view—low SES children are exposed to receiving free or reduced lunches (Downey et al.
poorer teachers than high SES children. But these 2008). Along the same lines, other work notes
observable teacher characteristics hardly predict that private schools do not produce more learning
students' learning. Most scholars now agree that than public ones (Lubienski and Lubienski 2013).
when measuring teacher quality, we should focus These studies lead to a remarkable conclu

on what really matters: how much students learn. sion—the distribution of teacher or school effec
If we evaluate teacher or school quality via tiveness (defined as promoting cognitive skills)
how much students learn, the evidence is more may be only weakly related to socioeconomic sta
mixed regarding whether low SES children endure tus. The traditional story is that low SES children
substantially poorer learning environments. Some attend dramatically poorer schools and, as a result,
data support the notion that high SES children are far behind their high SES peers. It is probably
enjoy more effective teachers. For example, more accurate to say that low SES children arrive
a report from the Tennessee Department of Educa at kindergarten far behind but then mostly stop
tion, which uses a value-added approach for eval losing ground once in school. Current accountabil
uating teachers, concludes that "Tennessee's ity schemes therefore most likely underestimate
teacher effectiveness data indicate that students the performance of teachers and administrators
in high poverty/high minority schools have less serving disadvantaged children, leading to unde
access to the 'most effective' teachers and more served labels and sanctions. Parents and policy
access to the 'least effective' teachers than stu
makers also receive poor information about which
schools are the best, undermining market mecha
dents in low poverty/low minority schools" (Ten
nessee Department of Education 2007). A similar
nisms that might promote better schools (Downey
et al. 2008).
analysis in Louisiana found comparable patterns,
although it did not replicate in Massachusetts If low SES children currently enjoy roughly
(DeMonte and Hanna 2014). similar learning environments relative to their
The value-added models favored by many high SES peers, what does this mean for reducing
researchers, however, may not adequately isolate the achievement gap via school reform? It means
teachers' contributions to learning. One problem that reducing gaps would require more than just
is that they usually gauge learning from one yearraising the quality of schools serving low SES
to the next, for example, between the spring children
of to the level of those serving high SES
third grade and the spring of fourth grade, and children—it
so would require creating substantially
the summer in between biases the estimate better school learning environments for low SES
because high and low SES children's skills children. This may be what happens when small
diverge for reasons unrelated to schools. Growth scale projects are able to close achievement gaps
models constructed with 9-month data remove to some degree. For example, black children
summer noise and correlate only around .50 with
who were chosen via lottery for the Harlem Child
ren's Zone and experienced several years in the
traditional growth models using 12-month data,
program demonstrated eighth-grade skills on par
demonstrating that summer noise is a nontrivial
problem (Atteberry 2011). with white children in New York City while their
There is not yet consensus over which kind counterparts
of who were not chosen continued to lag
value-added model is most valid for isolating
behind (Dobbie and Fryer 2009). The Knowledge
Is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools also
teacher or school effects, but as education scholars
have raised disadvantaged children's skills, in
develop better techniques, one pattern stands
out—models that more persuasively isolate these part by increasing the amount of time children
spend in school and perhaps by attracting high
effects suggest that the differences in effectiveness
between schools serving high and low SES chilquality teachers ("Student Characteristics and
dren are modest or even nonexistent (Downey, Achievement" 2010). It is important to note that
von Hippel, and Hughes 2008; Lauen and Gaddisthese occasional "high-flying" schools probably
succeed by providing disadvantaged children
2013). For example, analyzing a nationally repre
sentative sample of 287 schools, Downey and with substantially better schools than their

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 216 Sociology of Education 89(3)

advantaged peers attend.

support the
An notion
obstacle
that schools reproduce
for or reducin
exac
inequality erbate inequality,
via school reform but compelling empirical
therefore is that evi doi
dence suggests
so would require scaling upthat schools are compensatory
similar efforts an
importantly, making whenthem
it comes to aavailable
key dimension of educational
to low SE
inequality—socioeconomic
children while denying them to high achievement
SES gaps.childre
Or, at the least, low SES children
It may turn would
out that socioeconomic gaps in need
cog t
enjoy greater benefits than
nitive skills high
(and children's SES
body mass childre
index) are
from the school the exceptions, the
treatments only dimensions of inequality
provided.
for which
Relatedly, one of the schools are
best compensatory. Maybe
investments U.S
policymakers couldschools
make would
are an engine be inequality
of socioeconomic to move
away from the for mostagriculturally
current, other outcomes. But if future work finds
based scho
calendar and extend thatthe school
schools promote year.
inequality Yet
for most other out poli
makers, influenced by comes, we would need school-based
popular to explain why the school rhet
ric, reasonably ask, "Why mechanisms spendthat reduce SES-based
money cognitive skill
increasin
the quantity of schooling gaps do not extendwhen to these other the
outcomes,quality
high
schools serving disadvantaged lighting the need to understand children
schools' compen is s
poor?" Scholars have satorypromoted
mechanisms better. This the view
gap in the sociol tha
schools serving low ogySES children
of education literature remains are of very
a significant
poor quality, thereby obstacle.undermining support f

increasing school exposure. Another possibility, Thisand one we isfindunfortuna

more per
because a longer school suasive, year,
is that schools are considerably
with school more quali
distributed as it currently compensatory than is, would
previously thought. improve
Coleman's t
cognitive skills of U.S. children
conclusion—that schools play ain general
largely neutral a
benefit the disadvantaged role in influencing
theachievement
most gaps—was (i.e., by leng
ening the period of wrong, time but for
in a different
which reason thanthey
most cri lose le
ground to high SES tiques of his work suggest. Coleman may not
children).
Of course, even if have measured whatare
schools matters already
about schools well, compen
satory and not the source but he also did notofmeasure the non-school envi
socioeconomic gap
they still may be an attractive
ronment well, and that error policy lever fo
was even greater.
reducing gaps further. Through
The primary need for change, school reform
in our view, lies
we can readily influence in how education
a broad scholarsrange
frame their of questions.
childre
But recall that these gaps
Scholars emerge
tend to during
ask, are there school processes early
childhood and are nearly that favor advantaged
completely children? If they find
formed b
kindergarten entry. them, When we
then they conclude consider
that schools are culprits. scho
based reforms for reducing We do not dispute that achievement
some school practices gap
we need to know more about the cost-benefit anal likely make inequality worse, and indeed we
ysis of broader societal policies that could preventboth have researched some of these practices our
gaps from emerging in the first place versus schoolselves (Condron 2008; Downey and Pribesh
reforms aimed at remediating gaps. The question2004). But we contend that the literature typically
is not whether it is possible via school reform tofails to compare the magnitude of exacerbatory
reduce achievement gaps; the question is whetherschool mechanisms against that of compensatory
school reform is the best strategy for reducingones, resulting in a one-sided view of schools
them. and inequality. In addition, even if exacerbatory
school mechanisms do outweigh compensatory
ones, we still need to know if the inequality pro
CONCLUSIONS duced by schools is worse than that produced by
non-school environments.
Fifty years after the Coleman Report, a We
critical
call for a more contextual understanding of
view of schools has come to dominate the sociol how schools matter, a view that was initially
ogy of education, with scholars identifying a wide
undermined by the No Child Left Behind legisla
range of school mechanisms thought to reproducetion. When No Child Left Behind was first imple
or exacerbate inequality. The field is now atmented, it was clear that schools were to be eval
a crossroads. The dominant ideas continue to uated on the basis of children's test scores at one

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Downey and Condron 217

point in time, and there would

Education not b
scholars
ments based on varying
moting school
non-school
reform
en
This made no sense,
denceof that
course, given
almost cer
school achievement
from gaps are signific
non-school effe
lished at the onset of kindergarten.
notion that schools
credit, many states
promoteabandoned eva
more learnin
schools based on test scores
vantaged at onean
children, p
and have moved fact
toward
thatvalue-added
skill gaps
schooling
in which statistical models and school
more per
do more to
late schools' contribution to reduce
childre
They have
This change represents highlight
a noteworthy
mote much
ment by policymakers more lea
that context m
Can this
victoryand for then the implied "contex that
expanded? students
Two more shifts areare exposenece
the public needs black/white
to understand achiev that s
achievement gaps 2006) form even primarily though b
teachers
schooling and schools probably serving do mobla
those
than increase them. If the serving public whit
and
knew this, they Hanushek
likely(1992:106) explains
wouldthe focus on ackno
achievement gapsschools: "While
are family inputs to education are
generated and
indeed extremelyoutside
primarily by forces important, the differential
a schoo
and they might impacts
be of schools
more and teachersinclined
receive more to
broader social conditions generating
attention when viewed from a policy viewpoint.
Second, the public needs
This reflects simply to under
that the characteristics of
once compared schools
fairly,
are generally more schools
easily manipulated serv
children provide learning
than what goes on in the family." environm
on par with schools serving
But should current high S
political conditions regard
When we say this, we
ing what is considered dopolicy
the easiest notreform mea
shape scholars' willingness
that schools serving to identify the real
disadvantaged c
causes ofnot
perfect and would achievement gaps? The assumption
benefit from i
or that certain that
practices
policy affecting families andwithin
neighborhoods sch
advantageous for high
is out of bounds SES
and school policy childre
is the only lever
mean is that available has
when been a significanteffects
school obstacle to under are
lated, there is standing
surprisinglyhow schools really matter. This littlefocus e
schools serving high
promotes the narrativeSES children
that social conditions out
side of schools and
job promoting math are somehowreading
natural and indepen learn
schools serving dent low SES
from policy decisions. Theychildren.
are not (Fischer
et al. 1996). Earlier we mentioned
should be at the forefront of thatmaking
Canadian t
4- to 5-year-olds outperform
textual understanding of schools U.S. children on bett
We recognize reading
that the
tests before schools haveU.S.
a chance to matpublic
tional in the wayter. It isthey
noteworthy that Canadians are ahead
view publicby in
the largest margin at action
schools as a legitimate the bottom of the perforof the
yet are skepticalmance distribution—the
of state United States has a longer
involveme
means. People in tailthe
of poor performers
United (Merry 2013).States
The Cana are
dian people have
tant than Canadians or made Europeans
a wide range of different to h
policy decisions that have
via non-school policies made it easierincreasi
(e.g., to be
mum wage, greaterpoor in Canada than in the United States.
public transpor
generous familyA cynical—and
leave entirely plausible—interpreta broa
policies,
tion of the greater emphasis on
health care, pro-worker reforming schools
legislation,
mass incarceration)
relative to reforming (Katz
other institutions 2013;
is that it M
serves a purpose: It distracts
This cultural position has peopleconseque
from the
real sources of efforts
often directs policy inequality, thereby serving the
toward
the source of interests
the of those who benefit from current
problem is social
elsewher

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 218 Sociology of Education 89(3)

arrangements. Spring (2013:14), for instance, p

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