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Does schooling increase or decrease social inequality?

Considering the enduring question in educational sociology of whether experience in school increases or decreases social inequality can bring a new perspective to the analysis of school policy. This article adds to the debate by proposing a causal framework that I developed with Robert Eschman for explicitly stating and evaluating claims about the contribution of schooling to social inequality. We use a counterfactual model to synthesize findings from four different types of interventions studied over the past century: universal prekindergarten, extending the school day, extending the school year, and increasing required years of schooling.1

Categories

Education & Training, Inequality & Mobility, Intergenerational Poverty, K-12 Education, Place, Place General