Forget the haves and have-nots – in today’s world, the greatest divide may be coming between the learned and the unlearned.
“Education leaders have warned of the trend toward increasing educational inequality for much of the last decade,” lamented Kevin Mahnken for The 74, noting a recent study from Brown University’s Annenberg Institute.
“In the vast majority of schools around the United States, the academic gap between the highest- and lowest-achieving students has grown significantly since 2005 … . The divergence was largely driven by stagnation among struggling students, which turned into steep learning losses during the (COVID-19) pandemic.”
Study researchers focused on the “90/10 gap,” which refers to the difference in scores between the 90th percentile and 10th percentile of test takers for the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
“Their estimates show that the academic gaps grew fastest in public schools,” Mahnken wrote. “In each of the two decades between 2005 and 2024, scores for fourth graders at the 90th percentile increased by about four points in math and three points in reading; 10th-percentile scores dropped by roughly three and five points, respectively, resulting in a net disparity that was seven points larger in both subjects.”
