Reflect and connect
You've explored key concepts of the scientific study of developmental psychology and the way humans develop across their lifespan. It's now your turn to reflect and share your thoughts with other learners.
Does socioeconomic status affect development?
The achievement gap refers to the persistent difference in grades, test scores, and graduation rates that exist among students of different ethnicities, races, and—in certain subjects—sexes.
What we know
Research suggests that these achievement gaps are strongly influenced by differences in socioeconomic factors that exist among the families of these children. While the researchers acknowledge that programs aimed at reducing such socioeconomic discrepancies would likely aid in equalising the aptitude and performance of children from different backgrounds, they recognise that such large-scale interventions would be difficult to achieve.
Therefore, it is recommended that programs aimed at fostering aptitude and achievement among disadvantaged children may be the best option for dealing with issues related to academic achievement gaps.
Low-income children perform significantly more poorly than their middle- and high-income peers on a number of educational variables. They have:
significantly lower standardised test scores, graduation rates, and college entrance rates.much higher school dropout rates.
There have been attempts to correct the achievement gap through state and federal legislation, but what if the problems start before the children even enter school?
The work of Betty Hart and Todd Risley
Psychologists Betty Hart and Todd Risley spent their careers looking at early language ability and progression of children in various income levels. In one longitudinal study, they found that although all the parents in the study engaged and interacted with their children, middle- and high-income parents interacted with their children differently than low-income parents.
After analyzing 1,300 hours of parent-child interactions, the researchers found that middle- and high-income parents talk to their children significantly more, starting when the children are infants.
By 3 years old, high-income children knew almost double the number of words known by their low-income counterparts, and they had heard an estimated total of 30 million more words than the low-income counterparts. And the gaps only become more pronounced.
Before entering kindergarten, high-income children score 60% higher on achievement tests than their low-income peers.
There are solutions to this problem. Experts are working with low-income families, visiting them at their homes, and encouraging them to speak more to their children on a daily and hourly basis. Other experts are designing preschools in which students from diverse economic backgrounds are placed in the same classroom.
In this research, low-income children made significant gains in their language development, likely as a result of attending the specialised preschool.
Talking point
Within the Discussion, consider sharing with other learners your thoughts on the following:
Do these differences start before children enter school?
What other methods or interventions could be used to decrease the achievement gap?
What types of activities could be implemented to help the children of your community or a neighbouring community?
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