The Impact of School Environment on Early Academic Progress: The Formation of the Racial Achievement Gap

Deleena Patton, University of Washington

This article examines explanations for the growth in racial achievement gaps between American schoolchildren from kindergarten and the end of 3rd grade. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), I find that, in addition to traditional measures of social class, school factors contribute to the growth in the gap between kindergarten and 3rd grade. My analyses suggest that racial minority students continue to attend worse schools than white students, and this leads them to gain fewer points from year to year than similar whites.