Professor to Discuss Findings From Recent Research

Professor George Farkas is Featured Speaker on April 1 at New York University’s Center for Advanced Social Science Research (CASSR) Seminar Series. The title of his presentation is: "The Early Inequality."

Presentation Summary

I present recent findings on the determinants of educational inequality from birth through twelfth grade. Results are from analyses of the ECLS-B, ECLS-K, and NAEP data. We find that very different family backgrounds and associated differences in parenting lead to large gaps in cognitive performance and learning related behaviors among children. These begin during the preschool years, and are very consequential for later life outcomes.

George Farkas is Professor of Education and Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. Prior to moving to UCI, he was Director of Graduate Studies in Sociology and Director of the Statistics Core in the Population Research Institute at Penn State. His research focuses on educational inequality and how it can be reduced. His tutoring program, Reading One-to-One, helped invent President Clinton’s “America Reads” initiative.