UNFULFILLED PROMISE: THE DIFFERENTIAL RETURN ON EARLY SKILLS FOR HIGH-RISK HIGH ACHIEVERS

Abstract

The early academic skills of children tend to serve as precursors for later academic successes or struggles. Being exposed to multiple risk factors early in life (e.g., poverty, unsafe or impoverished neighborhood conditions, and language minority status) is typically associated with having fewer skills at kindergarten entry, but some children come to school from adverse conditions displaying advanced academic skills. In this study, we investigate high-risk high achievers in the United States context (i.e., children who arrive at school [~5 years old] from high-risk environments displaying high-levels of academic skills) to determine if their achievement trajectories remain elevated, like those of their high-achieving peers, or if they take a different trajectory more reflective of their high-risk conditions. We find that across nine years of formal schooling, the average math and reading scores of high-risk, high-achieving students were more similar to the scores of students who were initially medium achievers at school entry and less similar to other high achievers who entered school with fewer early contextual risk factors. Our results suggest that early exposure to numerous risks can flatten children’s learning trajectories, even if they present with advanced skills.