Source: Brookings Institute and Stanford University – March 19, 2012
The Brookings Institute recently published a new report, Starting School at a Disadvantage: The School Readiness of Poor Children (March 2012) by Julia B. Isaacs, which shows that only 48% of poor children are ready for school at age five, compared to 75% of children from families with moderate and high income, a 27 percentage point gap. The paper discusses why poor children are less ready for school and evaluates three interventions that can improve their school readiness.
On a related note, new findings from a Stanford study show that the gap in test scores between wealthy and poor children has grown by about 40% since 1960 and is now nearly twice as large as the black-white achievement gap. The Stanford researcher who conducted the study suggests that early childhood interventions might be the best way to start bridging the gap.
