title: Cumulative advantages and the emergence of social and ethnic inequality: Matthew effects in reading and mathematics development within elementary schools?
abstract: This article examines the development of social and ethnic disparities in academic achievement in elementary schooling. It investigated whether reading and mathematics development in 136 mixed-ability classes shows path-dependent processes of cumulative advantage (Matthew effects) from Grades 4 to 6 (Grade 4 mean age = 10.62, SD = 0.57) resulting in growing inequality. Status-dependent processes of cumulative advantage, their interaction with path-dependent processes, and consequences for the degree of social and ethnic inequality are examined. Two complementary methods for analyzing multilevel data are used: growth curve and quasi-simplex models. No evidence for a Matthew effect was found in either domain. A compensation effect emerged for reading, to the benefit of ethnic minorities. A fan-spread effect was found for mathematics, partly attributable to status-dependent processes of cumulative advantage.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, Berlin, Germany. sekbaumert@mpib-berlin.mpg.de
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baumert
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nagy
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lehmann
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008433:Mathematics; D011932:Reading; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors