Cognitive skills, test scores, and social stratification: The role of family and school-level resources on racial/ethnic differences in scores on standardized tests (AFQT)

Abstract

In recent years, high stakes testing has become a major preoccupation of politicians, school administrators, parents, academics, and of course, the many students that have to subject themselves to standardized tests. This paper examines the effects of family and school level resources on racial\ethnicational origin differences in scores on a standardized test. The main finding of the paper is that family and school level resource variables explain a significant amount (at least forty percent) of the variation in scores on the AFQT. This suggests that social structures and differences in material resources impact individual and group level differences in educational outcomes.