Measuring educational inequality: implications for managers and development planners

Abstract

This study shows that it is possible to measure the inequality of education attainment by using a method similar to that for measuring the inequality of income distribution, that is by the use of Gini ratios. For the states included in the sample, the biggest differences were in the proportion that had not completed high school. In all cases, these differences were shown to be significant. Further research will be needed to determine the usefulness of this alternative measure in the modelling of an economic process. Research should also be done to determine the reasons for the differences in the inequality of educational attainment.