A review of the literature on socioeconomic status and educational achievement

Abstract

The foundations of socioeconomic inequities and the educational outcomes of efforts to reduce gaps in socioeconomic status are of great interest to researchers around the world, and narrowing the achievement gap is a common goal for most education systems. This review of the literature focuses on socioeconomic status (SES) and its related constructs, the association between SES and educational achievement, and differences among educational systems, together with changes over time. Commonly-used proxy variables for SES in education research are identified and evaluated, as are the relevant components collected in IEA’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Although the literature always presents a positive association between family SES and student achievement, the magnitude of this relationship is contingent on varying social contexts and education systems. TIMSS data can be used to assess the magnitude of such relationships across countries and explore them over time. Finally, the literature review focuses on two systematic and fundamental macro-level features: the extent of homogeneity between schools, and the degree of centralization of education standards and norms in a society.