ABSTRACT
Alexander and Entwisle (this volume, chap. 5) have written an important chapter on the origins of social class differences in the rate of change in reading and math. Their 8-year study of educational inequality follows 790 children who began as first graders in 20 Baltimore public schools that had been deliberately selected to vary in race and socioeconomic status (SES). Because the Baltimore elementary schools gave achievement tests in fall and spring of each year, this permitted Alexander and Entwisle to partition the total annual growth from spring to spring into its academic year and summer components (from spring to fall and fall to spring, respectively).
