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Reardon, Sean F.
Academic Title
Other Titles
Professor of Sociology (by courtesy)
Director, Stanford Interdisciplinary Doctoral Training Program in Quantitative Education Policy Analysis
Contact Information
Admin. Support
Program Affiliations
My research investigates the causes, patterns, trends, and consequences of social and educational inequality. In particular, I study issues of residential and school segregation and of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in academic achievement and educational success. In addition, my work develops methods of measuring social and educational inequality (including the measurement of segregation and achievement gaps) and methods of causal inference in educational and social science research.
The causes and patterns of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic achievement disparities;
The effects of school integration policies on segregation patterns and educational outcomes;
Income inequality and its educational and social consequences.
Quote
“The income-achievement gap is now more than twice as large as the black-white achievement gap. Fifty years ago, in contrast, the black-white gap was twice as large as the income gap.... At the same time that family income has become more predictive of children’s academic achievement, so have educational attainment and cognitive skills become more predictive of adults’ earnings. The combination of these trends creates a feedback mechanism that may decrease intergenerational mobility. As the children of the rich do better in school, and those who do better in school are more likely to become rich, we risk producing an even more unequal and economically polarized society.” (read more…)
Education
- Ed.D. (Educational Administration, Planning, and Social Policy) Harvard Graduate School of Education (1997)
- M.Ed. (Educational Administration, Planning and Social Policy) Harvard Graduate School of Education (1992)
- M.A. (International Peace Studies) University of Notre Dame (1991)
- B.A. (Program of Liberal Studies; Minor in Honors Mathematics) University of Notre Dame (1986)
Time at Stanford
Since 2004
Professional Experience
The Pennsylvania State University (1999-2004)
Courses Taught
- Causal Inferance in Quantitative Education and Social Science Research (ED 255B/SOC 257)
- Applied Quasi-Experimental Research in Education (EDUC 255C/SOC 258)
- Workshop on Quantitative Education Policy Research (EDUC 339)
Recent Publications
Reardon, S.F. (in press). “The widening socioeconomic status achievement gap: new evidence and possible explanations.” In Richard Murnane & Greg Duncan (Eds.), Social and Inequality and Economic Disadvantage. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
Reardon, S.F., & Bischoff, K. (2011). More Unequal and More Separate: Growth in the Residential Segregation of Families by Income, 1970-2009. Report prepared for the Russell Sage US2010 project. www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Data/Report/report111111.pdf.
Reardon, S.F., Grewal, E., Kalogrides, D., & Greenberg, E. (forthcoming). “Brown fades: The End of Court Ordered School Desegregation and the Resegregation of American Public Schools.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.
Ho, A.D., & Reardon, S.F. (forthcoming). “Estimating Achievement Gaps from Test Scores Reported in Ordinal `Proficiency’ Categories.” Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics.
Reardon, S.F., & Robinson, J.P. (forthcoming). “Regression discontinuity designs with multiple rating-score variables.” Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness.
Reardon, S.F., & Bischoff, K. (2011). “Income Inequality and Income Segregation.” American Journal of Sociology. 116/4: 1092-1153.
Reardon, S.F., & Rhodes, L. (2011). “The Effects of Socioeconomic School Integration Plans on Racial School Desegregation.” In Erica Frankenberg, Elizabeth DeBray-Pelot, and Gary Orfield (Eds.), Legal and Policy Options for Racially Integrated Education in the South and the Nation. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Strunk, K.O., & Reardon, S.F. (2010). “Measuring the Strength of Teachers’ Unions: An Empirical Application of the Partial Independence Item Response Approach.” Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics 35(6): 629-670.
Reardon, S.F., Arshan, N., Atteberry, A., & Kurlaender, M. (2010). “Effects of Failing a High School Exit Exam on Course-Taking, Achievement, Persistence, and Graduation.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 32(4): 498-520.
Reardon, S.F., & Raudenbush, S.W. (2009). “Assumptions of Value-Added Models for Estimating School Effects.” Educational Finance and Policy 4(4): 492-519.
Reardon, S.F. (2009). “Measures of Ordinal Segregation.” Research on Economic Inequality, 17: 129-155.
Reardon, S.F. & C. Galindo. (2009). “The Hispanic-White Achievement Gap in Math and Reading in the Elementary Grades.” American Educational Association Journal 46(3): 853-891.
Reardon, S.F., Cheadle, J.E., & Robinson, J.P. (2009). “The effect of Catholic schooling on math and reading development in kindergarten through fifth grade.” Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 2: 45-87.
Reardon, S.F., Farrell, C.R., Matthews, S.A, O’Sullivan, D., Bischoff, K., & Firebaugh, G. (2009). “Race and Space in the 1990s: Changes in the Geographic Scale of Racial Residential Segregation, 1990-2000.” Social Science Research 38:55-70.
Reardon, S.F., Matthews, S.A, O’Sullivan, D., Lee, B.A., Firebaugh, G., Farrell, C.R., & Bischoff, K. (2008). “The geographical scale of metropolitan racial segregation.” Demography 45: 489-514.
Reardon, S.F. & C. Galindo. (2007) “Patterns of Hispanic Students’ Math Skill Proficiency in the Early Elementary Grades.” Journal of Latinos and Education 6(3): 229-252
Reardon, S.F., & Robinson, J.P. (2007). “Patterns and trends in racial/ethnic and socioeconomic achievement gaps.” In Helen A. Ladd & Edward B. Fiske (Eds.), Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Reardon, S.F. (2006). “A Conceptual Framework for Measuring Segregation and its Association with Population Outcomes.” In J. Michael Oakes & Jay S. Kaufman (Eds.), Methods in Social Epidemiology. Pp 169-192.
Reardon, S.F., and Raudenbush, S.W. (2006). “A partial independence item response model for surveys with filter questions.” Sociological Methodology 36: 257-300.
Reardon, S.F., Yun, J.T, & Kurlaender, M. (2006). “Implications of Income-Based School Assignment Policies for Racial School Segregation.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 28(1): 49-75.
Reardon, S.F., & O’Sullivan, D. (2004) “Measures of spatial segregation” Sociological Methodology 34:121-162.
Reardon, S.F., & Yun, J.T. (2003). “Integrating neighborhoods, segregating schools: The retreat from school desegregation in the South, 1990-2000.” North Carolina Law Review 81/4:1563-1596.
Reardon, S.F., & Firebaugh, G. (2002). “Measures of multigroup segregation.” Sociological Methodology 32:33-67.
Reardon, S.F., & Yun, J.T. (2001) “Suburban racial change and suburban school segregation, 1987-1995.” Sociology of Education. 74/2:79-101.
Reardon, S.F., Yun, J.T., & Eitle, T.M. (2000) “The changing structure of school segregation: Measurement and evidence of multi-racial metropolitan school segregation, 1989-1995.” Demography, 37/3: 351-364.
Current Activities
I am currently working on a study of the trends in the income achievement gap and the reasons for its sharp rise in recent decades. I am also working on an ongoing study of the patterns, trends, and causes of racial/ethnic achievement gaps. In addition, I have an ongoing project developing methods of measuring and analyzing patterns of residential and educational segregation and inequality.
