As part of the article's literature review, it mentions two kinds of achievement gaps:

- students from high-income families show better educational outcomes compared to students from low-income families (i.e. over a summer between school years, high-SES students actually show improvement in reading skills while low-SES students decline in reading skills)
- school closures over an extensive period of time can cause a decline in educational outcomes like test scores or success in classes (they cite the 1916 polio pandemic as having caused students to struggle in academics due to missed time in class)

Achievement Gaps- SES and School Closures

The article suggests that, with the ongoing pandemic that started from 2020, the negative effects on educational outcomes (i.e. in reading, math) could be worse for low-SES students while not so much for high-SES students. Even with online learning being a substitute for in-person classes, the pandemic and the possibility of different resources available for high-SES students compared to low-SES students, like technology and parental support, could worsen the socioeconomic achievement gap in favor of high-SES students by as much as 30 percent (estimates from the researchers). 

Pandemic and the Socioeconomic Achievement Gap- Results

To project the potential impact of the COVID school closures on students’ learning, researchers:
- Contrasted projected learning under typical school conditions with projections of COVID-19 learning loss during the time the students would have otherwise been in school,
- Attempted to quantify the effect of COVID-19 related school closures on variability in achievement between individual students
- Examined the potential relationship between learning loss in spring 2020 and academic growth during the following year (2020-2021)
- Projected how the school closures could widen SES-based achievement gaps at the level of the school.

Projecting the Potential Impact of COVID-19 School Closures on Academic Achievement

Looking at gender, age, SES, use of camera for lecturer and students, belief of neessity of distanced education, belief about effectiveness, and belief of negtive impact of pandemic on motivation, they looked at the cyclical effect of distanced learning motivation and it's impact on frequency of class attendence, mediated by anxiety, stress, depression and Intolerence of Uncertainty (IU).

- Women showed higher attendence than men
- men's motivation was higher than women's
- use of computers showed more attendence than use of smartphones
- use of computers showed higher motivation compared to use of smartphones
- urban students attended class more often
- urban students had lower levels of motivation
- depression negatively impacted attendence, though stress positively predicted attendence
- stress is not significantly associated with distance learning motivation 
- inhibitory IU was positively associated with depression, anxiety and stress, but negatively with motivation.
- IU predicts increase in relationship between anxiety and stress
- Women show higher rates of anxiety, stress, depression and IU during the pandemic
- gender is not related to student satisfaction with learning.

Psycho-demographic variables effects on higher education students during COVID-19 in Turkey

According to one article, the already existing achievement gap between students from high and low-income families could be impacted by the current 2020 pandemic. It discusses the negative effects that both socioeconomic status and school closures have on the educational outcomes of students. Then it goes into detail about how the socioeconomic achievement gap could be made worse by the effect of the pandemic closing schools. 

University of California, Berkeley

Persistent and significant gaps in academic performance and/or educational attainment between high- and low-income students.

Income Achievement Gap

Haeck, Catherine & Lefebvre, Pierre. (2020). Pandemic School Closures May Increase Inequality in Test Scores. Canadian Public Policy. COVID-19. Accepted versio. 10.3138/cpp.2020-055. 

Pandemic School Closures May Increase Inequality in Test Scores

Socioeconomic Achievement Gap During The Pandemic

The effects of poverty on academic achievement

Using student performance data gathered from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the last 50 years, Hanushek et. al has observed that the achievement gap has failed to close. By plotting standard deviations observed between the 90th-10th percentiles and the 75th-25th percentiles in socioeconomic status, the following trends were observed:
- For both comparisons, the gap in achievement has remained relatively consistent. 
- When comparing free/reduced-price lunch students and students ineligible for free/reduced-price lunch, the gap in achievement has also remained relatively consistent.
- When factoring in ethnicity, the gap between African American and White students decreased.
- Students between the ages of 13 and 15 (8th grade) have made improvements in learning gains over the last 50 years, while students older than 17 (12th grade) have slowly made less gains over the same period.

Overall, Hanushek et. al posit that while achievement gaps in education has failed to close, the effect observed is closer to a relative Matthew Effect, rather than an absolute one.


Hanushek et. al - The Achievement Gap Fails to Close

Combining socioeconomic data from the Panel Study on Income Dynamics (PSID) and student achievement data from the Child Development Supplement (CDS), Owens finds that income disparities can exacerbate the achievement gap. In addition, families with low income face different outcomes based race and ethnicity. Using multilevel regression models, Owens comes to the following conclusions:
- The larger the income disparity between families, the larger the gap.
- Low-income white families are less affected by both income disparity and their own income when compared to African American families.
- The more homogenous a district is, the stronger the effect becomes.
- Homogeneity-inducing behaviors, whether intentional or unintentional (redlining, seeking better districts, "white flight"/self-segregation), is likely to translocate income disparities and gaps over to achievement gaps.

Income Segregation and Achievement Gap

Research suggests that certain differences in brain structure between students may correlate with differences in their economic statuses. 

Neuroanatomical correlates of the income achievement gap

 Income segregation creates very wealthy school districts and impoverished school districts, which can greatly impact future outcomes for students by impacting their levels of achievement. Owens argues in the reference paper that income segregation is a reason behind the achievement gap between low and high-income students.

The Impact of Income Segregation on the Achievement Gap

Of the many kinds of achievement gaps that exist in education, there is one in particular between high-income students and low-income students. It has been documented in past and recent studies that high-income students tend to do better than low-income students in education, from test results to completion of college. 

The Income Achievement Gap Between Students

Read the following scenario. Based on the details provided, analyze the key factors related to the students' family income levels that are likely to contribute to a significant difference in their academic achievements.

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