By Kylie Ullmann

Income and racial/ethnic gaps to school readiness have declined among kindergarten students over the last 12 years, a new paper on school readiness trends has found. However, children in kindergarten today may not see the gaps eliminated during their lifetime.

The working paper, titled ‘Recent Trends in Income, Racial, and Ethnic School Readiness Gaps at Kindergarten Entry’, published by the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis provides new evidence on achievement gaps measured by numerous variables to identify if trends from previous research are present within the education sector today.

Sean F. Reardon of Stanford University and Ximena A. Portilla of MDRC discovered that school readiness between ethnic groups narrowed between 1998 and 2010 despite an increase to income inequality and segregation and differences in parental spending on children.

Source: School Readiness Gaps Narrowing, Report Says, But Slowly