LSU study: Socioeconomic status a major factor in achievement gap

Socioeconomic status, rather than race, has the strongest effect on student achievement, according to a recent study conducted in the LSU School of Human Resource Education and Workforce Development. Looking at data from 40,100 Louisiana students, researcher Johnny Morgan along with Michael Burnett, director of the LSU School of Human Resource Education and Workforce Development, studied reading achievement of fourth-grade students in public schools across the state and found low socioeconomic status was the major factor influencing low reading achievement. “Our study shows that even though African-Americans make up the highest number of low-socioeconomic households in the state of Louisiana, it is not their race that determines how well they read,” Morgan says. It has been widely accepted that many African-American students get off to a slow start in school and never seem to catch up. “Even if this has been the case, it is also true for other races in similar financial situations,” Morgan says. “If the parents of these children have to work extra jobs to make ends meet, they are probably not taking their young children to the library.” It’s also true that many of these children don’t have suitable literature to read in the home, he says. Burnett, who advocates smaller class sizes to boost scores, says changes should be made in the classroom setting so these children can receive more individual attention. Of the students looked at for the study, more than 60% receive free lunch, which places them in the low-socioeconomic category. Previous studies have shown black students in the U.S. are three times more likely than those of other races to be in this group.