ABSTRACT
The current political climate in the United States places a strong focus on the achievement of young people. At the heart of the concern is the welldocumented and publicized discrepancy in school achievement outcomes for children from poor socioeconomic backgrounds compared to their more affluent counterparts. The difference between poor and non-poor children is often evidenced even earlier in life, before school entry, as young children from disadvantaged families exhibit lower scores on tests of school readiness and enter school less prepared to succeed. A related issue is the disparity between test scores of African American and European American children, which still persists, though diminished, after accounting for income and other family background differences.2
