Examining Student Performance: State Variation and Household Income
NARRATIVE
Before we dive into the main body section, let us briefly explain the motivation for choosing education as our research topic.
Since we are all Berkeley students now and sincerely realize how standardized test scores and rankings played an essential role when we were applying to college, we want to focus our final project on such influences in our education. With that idea in mind, we decided to start working on a couple of research questions: Did household income affect students' SAT scores (and other educational outcomes) between California and West Virginia during the Great Recession? If so, how? Also, did the quality of education change between California and West Virginia during the Great Recession?
Although California and West Virginia are geographically distant and have unique socio-economic landscapes, they provide an interesting background for this study. California is famous for its diversity and prosperous economy, with many technology companies headquartered here, such as Google and Apple. On the other hand, West Virginia, located in Appalachia, stands in sharp contrast with its own challenges and unique socio-economic dynamics focused on extracting natural resources.
Contextualizing Education in West Virginia
In order to figure out the educational quality in West Virginia, we did research on it and found that West Virginia ranks 45th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia in overall education performance, according to information provided by the Report Card on American Education (Feltscher, 2018). The state's performance was determined based on several factors, including the state's academic standards, charter schools, the regulatory burden on home schools, private school choice, teacher quality, and digital learning. The report does not analyze specific details about West Virginia's situation for each of the factors considered. However, the low overall ranking of 45th indicates that West Virginia faces challenges in meeting the standards assessed in the report. In other words, West Virginia is considered to be a poor educational state in the United States.
In addition, according to the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, the decline of the coal industry has indeed had a significant impact on West Virginia's economy (O'Leary, 2012). Historically, the coal industry has been a major source of employment in the state, and the shift away from coal has led to unemployment and economic instability in many communities. The trend of renewable energy has been widely promoted and applied to every sector in our daily lives, so the demand for coal or natural gas will gradually decrease. More broadly, the economic challenges associated with the decline of the coal industry could have an impact on all aspects of life, including educational opportunities and outcomes for students. This resource does not explicitly mention the impact on education, but it suggests that the economic instability caused by the decline of the coal industry could have a wide range of impacts on communities and families, including the potential impact on education and other socioeconomic indicators. Therefore, we found that the resource may be helpful for us to develop our research topic.
Figure 1.1 Comparing average SAT scores between California and West Virginia (2005 - 2015)
Contextualizing Education in California
We conducted a similar analysis of educational quality in California. According to the Report Card on American Education, California ranks 25th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia in overall education performance, which is higher than West Virginia but still close to the bottom half of states and territories (Feltscher, 2018).
According to “The Great Recession and Distribution of Income in California” report by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), incomes similarly fell across the board for Californians during the Great Recession as a result of unemployment and underemployment, leading to budget shortfalls for the state (Bohn & Schiff, 2019). However, this report specifically identified education as one of the driving forces behind the gap between high- and low-income worker employment and unemployment and calls for initiatives to promote opportunities in education. Another PPIC report, titled “Funding California Schools When Budgets Fall Short” and focused specifically on education spending during the Great Recession, finds that school districts across California faced declines in their spending due to budget cuts (Lafortune et al., 2021). Nevertheless, spending cuts varied considerably across districts, and districts most affected by these cuts during the recession had higher shares of disadvantaged students, such as low-income students, Latino students, and African American students. Consequently, one might expect that marginalized students attending lower-resourced schools would receive less quality education and thus score lower on standardized tests.
Figure 1.2 Comparing average SAT scores between income brackets in California and West Virginia (2005 - 2015)
Here is a timeline that provides context for the correlation between household income and SAT scores between California and West Virginia students.
2008: Economic Recession
The Great Recession was one of the worst economic downturns in the United States since the Great Depression. Therefore, we try to find out what role the Great Recession played in the relationship between household income and academic performance.
The article “The Impact of the Great Recession on Student Achievement: Evidence from Population Data” discusses the questions we are concerned about (Shores & Steinberg, 2017). According to the latest population-level achievement data from the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA), the recession had a significant impact on student achievement in math and English language arts (ELA). The researchers used a "difference-in-difference" strategy that accounted for both cross-regional differences in economic shocks from the recession and cross-group differences in how school-age children were affected by the recession within districts to be able to estimate the impact. The findings show that the onset of the Great Recession led to significant declines in student achievement in math and language education. Importantly, the negative effects of the recession on student achievement were more pronounced in school districts serving economically disadvantaged and minority students. Thus, the negative consequences of the recession were not evenly distributed across the U.S. student population. In addition, the recession's academic impact was more severe for older students who were exposed to the recession for the first time than for younger students. This suggests that students who were nearing key educational milestones experienced greater academic setbacks as a result of the recession.
After situating ourselves with this comprehensive background, let us now shift our attention to our research topic questions. The economic recession of 2008 had a significant impact on household income levels and the overall socioeconomic landscape, making it relevant to our research topic exploring the correlation between income and students' SAT scores in California and West Virginia. The economic recession has led to widespread unemployment, declining wages, and economic difficulties for many families. This has led to a widening income gap, with some households experiencing a decrease in income while others' income remained relatively unaffected. Studying the correlation between income and student SAT scores during this period can allow us to examine how the economic recession and income inequality may affect educational outcomes. From our dataset, we can clearly see that the Total Math scores decreased from 518 to 517 and Total Verbal scores remained at 499 from 2007 to 2008 in California. Meanwhile, in West Virginia, the Total Math scores also decreased from 509 to 503 and Total Verbal scores declined from 516 to 512 from 2007 to 2008. Additionally, California appears to consistently have higher Total Math scores and lower Total Verbal scores than West Virginia, but both states appear to consistently rank in the lower half of math and verbal scores for the United States.
Economic recessions can exacerbate existing educational inequities. Students from low-income families may face greater challenges in accessing resources and opportunities that contribute to academic success, such as quality educational materials, tutoring, and extracurricular activities. Exploring the correlation between income and SAT scores in the context of recessions can help us identify the potential impacts of economic hardship on educational outcomes and highlight the need for targeted interventions and support for economically disadvantaged students.
Economic recessions can create additional stressors for families, potentially affecting students' academic performance. Financial strain and economic uncertainty may lead to increased stress levels and reduced access to educational resources, such as books, technology, or educational support services. Understanding the relationship between income and educational outcomes, including SAT scores, during this challenging economic period can provide insights into the specific difficulties faced by students from lower-income households and inform strategies to mitigate the impacts of economic recessions on educational achievement.
Other contributing SAT-related and education-related events:
November 1996: California Proposition 209
Californians vote to prohibit affirmative action programs in public employment, public contracting, and public education.
January 2002: No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
The NCLB is signed into law, attempting to close achievement gaps for disadvantaged students and requiring that states implement standardized testing to receive federal school funding.
December 2015: Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
The ESSA is signed into law, replacing the NCLB with policy modifications that included more flexibility to states in education.
March 2020: COVID-19 Pandemic Begins
Nearly all schools across the United States transition to online learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning with the 2020 application cycle, many colleges and universities also become test-optional or test-blind.
August 2021: COVID-19 Pandemic
Nearly all schools across the United States reopen for full-time in-person instruction.
June 2023: Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina
The Supreme Court rules that affirmative action programs in college admissions processes are unconstitutional.
The Great Recession
Figure 1.3 Relationships between SAT scores and median household income
Figure 1.4 Comparing SAT scores based on income quartiles
Figure 1.5 Comparing average SAT scores based on income brackets over time
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Figure 1.6 Comparing SAT scores based on gender, subject, and household income
Tying This Back To The Class
In our research project on education, we integrated various class concepts to gain a comprehensive understanding of the underlying dynamics:
1
Marxist Theory
Drawing from Marxist theory, we examined the impact of social class and economic disparities on students' educational outcomes. By applying this theory to education, we identified that students from low-income families face significant disadvantages, such as limited access to resources like clubs and extracurricular activities.
2
Feminist Theory
We incorporated feminist theory into our analysis, focusing on the examination and challenge of gender inequality. In the context of education, feminist theory shed light on how gender stereotypes and biases affect academic performance. We highlighted the prevalent stereotype that males excel in math and science, which can discourage females from pursuing these subjects and contribute to gender gaps in those fields.
3
Critical Race Theory
Critical Race Theory examines how racism influences social structures, behavior, and experiences. Critical Race Theory in education can explore racial unfairness in educational outcomes. For example, students of color are more severely impacted by systemic problems that have an effect on their educational performance, such as a lack of funding for schools in neighborhoods that are largely made up of minorities, unfair standardized testing, and the school-to-prison pipeline.
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Figure 1.7 Comparing SAT scores based on subjects and income brackets between genders