Five Facts About the First-Generation Excellence Gap

Uditi Karna, John List, Andrew Simon and Haruka Uchida

Artefactual Field Experiments from The Field Experiments Website

Abstract: Parents are crucial to children's educational success, but the role of parental education in fostering academic excellence remains underexplored. Using longitudinal administrative data covering all North Carolina public school students, we document five facts about first generation excellence gaps. We find large excellence gaps emerge by 3rd grade across all demographics and persist through high school. Yet, socioeconomic status and school quality explain only one-third of the gaps. The overarching facts reveal that excellence gaps reflect deeper challenges rooted in parental human capital that manifest early and compound over time, rather than merely consequences of socioeconomic disadvantage or school quality differences.

Date: 2025
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Working Paper: Five Facts About the First-Generation Excellence Gap (2025)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:feb:artefa:00825

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