Results from last year's fourth-grade reading test illustrate the pattern. In schools where more than three-quarters of students got lunch aid, only 25 percent were reading at grade level. Even for the college-bound, family income is a factor. Colorado high-schoolers taking the ACT and SAT college entrance exams are asked to estimate family earnings on their test forms. Last year, as in years past, test scores rose with reported income.
Some researchers argue the achievement gap begins long before school starts.
Brain studies indicate talking to babies and playing with them results in better language and motor skills. One study even found interaction with infants builds bigger brains. But poor parents, many of them single moms and dads, may have little time to work with their kids. I see parents having a couple of jobs. Once in school, poor kids appear to learn at similar rates as their classmates, said Geoffrey Borman, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University.