The American Dream promises that individual talent will be rewarded, regardless of where one comes from or who one’s parents are. But the reality of what transpires along America’s K-12-to-career pipeline reveals a sorting of America’s most talented youth by affluence—not merit. Among the affluent, a kindergartner with test scores in the bottom half has a 7 in 10 chance of reaching high SES among his or her peers as a young adult, while a disadvantaged kindergartner with top-half test scores only has a 3 in 10 chance.
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Disparities Are Prevalent in Kindergarten
Environmental disparities in measures of children’s achievement are evident even from an early age. Only about one quarter of lowest-SES kindergartners have top-half math scores, compared to about three quarters of highest-SES kindergartners.

People of all abilities and backgrounds stumble throughout their academic journeys. But advantaged students have safety nets to keep them on track. Because less-advantaged peers do not, they are more likely to fall behind and stay behind. Among children who show similar academic potential in kindergarten, the test scores of economically disadvantaged students are more likely to decline and stay low during elementary, middle, and high school than the test scores of their high-SES peers.

Among highest-SES kindergartners, 74 percent start out and stay in the top half of math scores through the eighth grade, compared to 30 percent of students from the lowest SES quartile. However, for those highest-SES children whose scores do fall, more than half return to the top half again by the eighth grade. In all, only 12 percent of highest-SES kindergartners with top-half math scores have bottom-half math scores in eighth grade, compared to 49 percent of lowest-SES children.
Source: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce analysis of Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten (public use data), 2006.
Gaps in Student Success Vary by Race
The gap in student success also varies by race. Black (51%) and Latino (46%) tenth graders with top-half math scores are more likely to earn a college degree within 10 years than their peers with bottom-half math scores (23% and 22%, respectively). But, they are still less likely to earn a college degree than White (62%) and Asian (69%) tenth graders with top-half scores.

The disparities in immediate college enrollment are jarring for tenth graders with bottom-half math scores—54 percent of those who are lowest SES do not immediately enroll in any college, compared to 16 percent who are highest SES. Those who are highest SES are more likely to enroll in a four-year college (46%) than their lowest-SES counterparts (14%).
Family class plays a greater role than high school test scores in college attainment. The highest-SES students with bottom-half math scores are more likely to complete college degrees than the lowest-SES students with top-half math scores.

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