Indigenous test score gaps narrowest in early years

MONDAY 31 MARCH 2008

Test score gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are narrowest in the early years, according to new research from The Australian National University.

The research, by ANU economists Dr Andrew Leigh and Dr Xiaodong Gong, used data from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children to look at the Indigenous/non-Indigenous test score gap at ages 4-5.

The study focused on two cognitive tests. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test is a test of English vocabulary, in which children must choose the picture that best matches a word given to them verbally by the examiner. The “Who Am I?” test is a battery of ten drawing and writing exercises, in which children are required to complete exercises ranging in complexity from copying a circle to writing a sentence.

“On these tests, the Indigenous/non-Indigenous test score gap among pre-schoolers is about one year. In other words, the typical Indigenous 5 year old performs at about the same level as the typical non-Indigenous 4 year old”, said Dr Leigh.

“This gap may sound large, but it is substantially smaller than the gap found in most studies of the Indigenous/non-Indigenous test score gap among older children.

“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 in Australia.”

The researchers also attempted to quantify the extent to which the test score gap can be explained by other demographic factors such as family income, parental age and education, family structure, and living in a remote area.

“About one-third to two-thirds of the Indigenous/non-Indigenous test score gap in the early years is due to family demographics”, said Dr Gong.

“This implies that policies to improve incomes and parental education may partly close the Indigenous/non-Indigenous test score gap, but are unlikely to bring Indigenous children’s test scores up to parity with non-Indigenous children.”

The study, “Estimating Cognitive Gaps Between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians”, is forthcoming in the journal Education Economics. It is available at: http://econrsss.anu.edu.au/~aleigh/

More information: Dr Andrew Leigh: 02 6125 1374 or 0431 706 600