Study Shows That Poor Gifted Students Have Worse Educational Outcomes Than Rich Gifted Students

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Achievement Trap: How America Is Failing Millions of High-Achieving Students From Lower-Income Families, by Joshua S. Wyner, John M. Bridgeland, and John J. Dilulio Jr., finds that even academically talented poor students do not fare as well as their richer peers. The report looks at students in kindergarten through grade 12 from low-income families whose standardized test scores rank in the top 25 percent. Those students are less likely to maintain their high achievement through middle school, attend more-selective colleges, finish college, or attend graduate school than are similarly high-achieving students from richer families, the study found. The report suggests directions for further research and recommends ways national and local educational systems, legislators, nonprofit groups, and leaders of universities can work to alleviate the discrepancy.

Publisher: Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, 44325 Woodridge Parkway, Lansdowne, Va. 20176; (703) 723-8000; http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org; 64 pages; available free for download on the foundation’s Web site.