The gap in test scores between indigenous and non-indigenous children is narrowest in the early school years, a Canberra research team has found.
Researchers from the Australian National University looked at data from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children, finding the test score gap for indigenous preschool students was about a year.
"In other words, the typical indigenous five year old performs at about the same level as the typical non-indigenous four year old”, said researcher Dr Andrew Leigh.
“According to other studies, the indigenous/non-indigenous test score gap has grown to about two school years by the time children are in late-primary and early-secondary school."
“The fact that we observe a much smaller gap in the early years suggests that improving school quality for indigenous Australians may help to close the racial test score gap.”
But the researchers also found that about one-third to two-thirds of the score gap could be explained by family demographic factors.
Researcher Dr Xiaodong Gong said policies to improve incomes and parental education might help to close the gap, but were unlikely to entire solve the problem.
The study, Estimating Cognitive Gaps Between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians, is being published in an upcoming edition of the journal Education Economics.
|